More Thoughts on Criticism
August 11, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Many thanks to one of the faithful readers of this blog who shared with me a great addition to the words I had written last week about giving correction. To read what I had written, click here.
John Piper just wrote a word to his congregation that touches on this same theme. A few people told me they were encouraged/challenged by what I had written on criticism, and I believe Piper’s words will also challenge and encourage us. I know that I was convicted as I read it. To check out what he wrote to his flock, click here.
In his book the Peacemaker, Ken Sande writes that gossip happens any time someone shares negative information to another person who is not a part of the problem nor a part of the solution. I believe it is great advice!
Laboring to speak only that which is edifying and seasoned with grace,
Larry
Divine Sovereignty, Prayer and “Free Will”
August 10, 2006 | Leave a Comment
So with Joe at the shore this week, he is really going to have a lot to respond to! But I know he would want me to keep blogging it up, so here is something that struck me this morning.
I was reading the end of 1 Chronicles and David is offering up a prayer shortly before his death. He prays in 29:18, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.””
Because I esteem the sovereignty of God, those who oppose my views sometimes say, “If God is sovereign over human choices, why do you pray?” They believe that to say that God is sovereign and directs the heart of humans (Proverbs 21:1 among others) is an offense to the idea of free will.
So here is David praying for his beloved people, and his own son, and he prays, “Keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.” Now to me that sounds like David wants God to override the free will of His people. What if they would rather direct their hearts toward Baal? David does not simply pray, “Lord, let the autonomous wills of Your people direct their hearts wherever they please, and if it lands on You that would be nice.” Rather he asks God to direct their hearts toward Himself. And again in verse 19 he prays specifically for Solomon, “Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he might keep your commandments…”
I am not opposed to the idea of free will, but it seems to me that too many people who speak of free will have not sufficiently thought about what free will is, and have chosen to ignore large amounts of Scripture in which God’s people ask Him to overcome the free wills of His people to decisively do something in their hearts.
So why is this important to us? Many believe that the “debate” between divine sovereignty and free will is meaningless babble that has no relevance in their lives. With all my heart, I believe it has relevance. One place where I find evidence of this in the Scriptures is Jeremiah 32:40, “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”
My hope today of not abandoning my profession of Christ, making ship-wreck of my faith and plunging head first into the fires of hell, is this promise of God (and the same is stated in different words in Jude 24-25, Philippians 1:6 and others in the N.T.) to keep me, to guard me, so that I may not turn from Him. My hope is not in my will, but in God’s sovereign, omnipotent grace. And when that is where my hope is, all praise and honor and glory for my conversion and perseverance in faith go to God alone!
Praising the glory of God’s sovereign grace,
Larry
A Rebuke from Martyn Lloyd-Jones
August 9, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Recently I read a book by Martyn Lloyd Jones called Preaching & Preachers. What an outstanding book! I have done a lot of preaching in the last year, and Lloyd-Jones reminded me over and over again of how much I need to grow as a preacher. Reading this book was like reading one long rebuke, but in an encouraging way. It made me love the act of preaching more, and made me more grateful to God for using me in this glorious work.
One of my favorite quotes is short but sweet:
“Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.”
Lord, raise up men around this nation, and around the world, who would burn with the truth of the gospel of the glory of Christ. How paltry is the fire within me! Awaken my weary heart, Lord, that in my preaching others might see a man set on fire by the glories of Jesus Christ!
Larry
Musing on James 1:17
August 9, 2006 | Leave a Comment
I’ve been trying to put into practice what I preached this past Sunday, about the discipline of the mind when it comes to worshiping God. So as I came to the Word this morning I knew that I could not just read James 1:17 without pausing to do some meditation:
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.“
I gave some thought only to the first portion of the verse, that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. It is astounding how little this verse elicits wonder within me! We contemplate the innumerable gifts that God has lavished upon us far too infrequently. So I considered the number of good gifts that I had enjoyed in just the one hour I had been awake before I read this verse.
There was the bed with covers and a soft pillow to sleep on. A roof over my head for shelter. Air conditioning to cool the apartment. Running water — hot or cold — at the mere turning of a knob. Clean water to drink. A granola bar to eat. Electricity to lighten the study area where I was meditating on my Bible. A desk and chair to sit at. A brain with which to contemplate infinite depths of God’s splendor and glory. The Bible translated into my own language for my enjoyment, and the original languages to deepen my study. The sun rising upon this wicked town so full of hypocrisy and the neglect of God. A healthy body, free from sickness and pain. A wife across the way who was likewise meditating on the glories of Jesus.
Every one of these gifts comes directly from the God of infinite mercy and grace, coming to a hell-deserving sinner who had done absolutely nothing to deserve even a breath of fresh air. What a lavish Giver is God Almighty!
May we give abundant thanks to the Giver of all good things, but may our minds and hearts not rest merely on God’s gifts. Let us look beyond His gifts — both the pleasant and the painful ones – to the Giver Himself, who is the satisfaction of our souls’ thirst.
Desiring to drink from the River of His Delights,
Larry
More on Billy Graham
August 9, 2006 | Leave a Comment
So I read the Newsweek cover story on Billy Graham this morning, and as I suspected, was disheartened by many parts of it. As I suspected from reading Justin Taylor’s comments, there is an emphasis on Graham’s “maturing” in his understanding of Biblical innerancy (which means he doesn’t believe in it) that the author comes back to several times.
It is hard to tell how much of this Graham actually caused with his words, and how much of it was speculated by the author given what Graham really said. But in Graham’s own words, “I’m not a literalist in the sense that every single jot and tittle is from the Lord…this is a little difference in my thinking through the years.” Sounds to me like a big difference, but Graham does not elaborate on how he determines what should and should not be taken literally.
Probably the saddest part of the article was this quotation:
A unifying theme of Graham’s new thinking is humility. He is sure and certain of his faith in Jesus as the way to salvation. When asked whether he believes heaven will be closed to good Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or secular people, though, Graham says: “Those are decisions only the Lord will make. It would be foolish for me to speculate on who will be there and who won’t … I don’t want to speculate about all that. I believe the love of God is absolute. He said he gave his son for the whole world, and I think he loves everybody regardless of what label they have.”
I think that makes it clear why Graham is so beloved around the world; he has compromised the Biblical teaching on the necessity of personal faith in Christ as the only basis for salvation. Had he said what the Bible says, namely, that apart from conscious faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, all are bound for hell, and that the only hope of eternal life and joy is found in fellowship with Jesus Christ, Graham’s world-wide popularity would be no more. But it seems that Graham is unwilling to say that, either because he doesn’t believe it or because he doesn’t want to offend people by saying what he knows is true.
Peter’s dealing with Cornelius in Acts 10-11 is especially helpful to me in responding to Graham’s sentiments. One can easily point to verses like Acts 4:12 or John 14:6 to show that salvation is through Christ alone, but it may still be objected that there is nothing in those verses that says people must consciously believe in Jesus in order to be saved. Perhaps Christ saves people without their knowing Him or having believed in Him; CS Lewis suggested this possibility in Mere Christianity.
But the story of Cornelius makes clear that God accepts people only on the basis of their receiving the message of salvation through Christ, not on the basis of their being devout followers of their own religion. Acts 10:2 tells us that Cornelius was “a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.“ Now this seems like the man that Graham and Lewis are suggesting could be saved by Christ, though they didn’t actually put their faith in Him. He was devout, God-fearing, a man of prayer and generous in his giving.
Yet Peter was sent to Cornelius to bring him a message by which he and his family would be saved. When recounting to the Church the news of Cornelius’ conversion, Peter told them, “And he [Cornelius] told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’” (Acts 11:13-14)
That makes pretty clear that Cornelius was not accepted and saved because he lived a devout life doing good and believing what had been revealed to him of God. Peter was sent to Cornelius because without that message of salvation by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he would not have been saved.
I cannot understand how Billy Graham’s comments that he is not sure about whether devout Muslims, Jews, etc. will be saved, because “those are decisions only the Lord will make,” can be reconciled with clear teaching of Scripture. Indeed, it is a decision that only the Lord will make; but He has told us quite clearly in His word that none will be saved unless they trust in the redemption that is found in Christ. That is the decision that He has made!
I have some thoughts on why Billy Graham went wrong on this, but perhaps I will write some about that later. It will take some more time and thought to write out, which I don’t have time for right now!
Jealous for the Fame of Jesus Christ,
Larry
PS — To read the Newsweek article, click here.
Hudson Taylor Rue
August 8, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Late last night our good friends Tim and Allison Rue were blessed with their first child, a baby boy who they have named Hudson Taylor, after the missionary to China. When I heard the news in the wee hours of the morning today I thought immediately of the words of David in Psalm 139, which happens to be the psalm that I am preaching from this Sunday night. There David says,
“13For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.“
Having no children of my own yet, I think I fail to marvel at the miracle of human life. Speaking with Tim this morning, he described the wonder of seeing this little head coming out into the world and how stunning it is to behold. I can only imagine at this point. And what a wonder, that from before the foundation of the world, God has numbered little Hudson’s days and made him in a unique way in which he alone can glorify the King of kings.
Ironically, as I was preparing to post this entry, a friend of mine had posted on his online journal a quote from Hudson Taylor: “God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him.”
Lord, this is our prayer for little Hudson Taylor Rue, that in the course of time, You would grant him to see how weak and feeble he is, and grant Him to lean on You for his life and breath and joy and salvation. As he does, we pray You would use him for the glory of Your name and the spreading of Your kingdom. We pray that Your name would be praised in this little boy’s life, and as was true for the man who he is named after, give him a passion to see the glory of Christ spread among all the peoples of the earth. May you teach him from an early age that his worth as a human being is found not in what people think of him, but in his ability to magnify Your infinite worth for the enjoyment of others. Your works are indeed wonderful, Lord, and we give You the glory on this day of celebration for our beloved friends in Christ.
Larry
Billy Graham on Reading
August 8, 2006 | Leave a Comment
On his blog, Justin Taylor posts the following on Billy Graham, the subject of this week’s Newsweek cover story. The quote that Taylor posts seemed relevant to me in light of the conversation we had last week concering the importance of reading. Taylor writes,
Newsweek’s Jon Meacham profiles Billy Graham in the cover story for Newsweek. Lots of things in the article will generate discussion, I’m sure. (Meacham returns over and over again to the idea that Graham is now a humble moderate on all sorts of things from inerrancy to inclusivism.)
Here’s one paragraph that stuck out to me.
“If he had his life to live over again, Graham says he would spend more time immersed in Scripture and theology. He never went to seminary, and his lack of a graduate education is something that still gives him a twinge. “The greatest regret that I have is that I didn’t study more and read more,” he says. “I regret it, because now I feel at times I am empty of what I would like to have been. I have friends that have memorized great portions of the Bible. They can quote [so much], and that would mean a lot to me now.”
Certainly I am eager to read the rest of this article. The link in Taylor’s blog connects to the article. I am waiting for my hard copy to come in the mail today. It appears to be one that may generate some controversy, and if I find anything in particular that strikes me, I will post in the next couple of days.
Larry
The Wonder and the Responsibility of Having a Mind
August 7, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Well, Joe is down at the Shore with family this week, and apparently without an internet connection. So it is up to me to keep this blog moving for the week. Sorry I haven’t done such a great job of that over the past couple of days!
Anyway, I preached last night on Psalm 77, a psalm which is fast becoming one of my favorites. The first 9 verses are totally miserable; Asaph feels abandoned by God and even the thought of God makes him feel troubled. But something dramatic happens in the middle of the psalm, in which Asaph resolves to remember, ponder and meditate on the mighty deeds of God in the past. And that resolve produces passionate worship of God. Asaph seems to become a totally new person, because of his resolve to discipline his mind for the purpose of God.
I was struck this past week at the remarkable gift we have, that we have brains. That we can think about God and His mighty deeds, past present and future. Of all God’s creation, we humans are the only part of creation that can use our brains to meditate and ponder in such a way. Birds cannot do this; trees cannot do this, the sun cannot do this. As much as these reflect the glory of God, they have no capacity to contemplate God the way we do. Yet how little do we praise Him for the inexpressibly great gift we have in the human mind!
And it also struck me this week how poorly we have used this great gift that God has given us. In Philippians 4:8 Paul sets the bar really high on what our minds should be set on: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.“ And David vowed in Psalm 101, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.”
But instead, too often we fill our minds with triviality and downright garbage, letting our godless culture dictate what we will set on our minds on. Kent Hughes says in his book The Disciplines of a Godly Man,
“It’s impossible for any Christian who spends the bulk of his evenings, month after month…watching the major TV networks or contemporary videos to have a Christian mind. This is always true of all Christians in every situation!”
These are challenging words, but I think Hughes is exactly right. But as always, the real question is a matter of “why?” Why do you invest so much time in thinking about earthly things which quench passion for Jesus, when the infinite, almighty God offers Himself to us for our contemplation and love and delight?
Let us use our minds for the purpose for which God gave it to us: to ponder and know and love and worship Jesus Christ.
Larry
An Oldie but Goodie
August 4, 2006 | Leave a Comment
“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last”
I know this is not a new quote, but isn’t it sad the way familiarity breeds contempt? What a profound truth stated in so few words! What profit there would be in daily pondering this truth for even five full minutes! Everything that we do on this earth that is not done for Christ’s sake and out of a desire to spread His fame is totally insignificant.
How soon it will be until we fly away into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air! Will we have used our days well?
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
Protect us, Lord, from living like this world is home!
Groaning for the New Jerusalem,
Larry
Grief-filled Anger
August 3, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
I definitely hear you when it comes to a guy like Joel Osteen, and I know you said that is an extreme example. But even with him (and with the many smaller scale examples that we will come across so often), I am not suggesting that we should simply bite our tongues and suck it up. You know the Apostle Paul wouldn’t have done such a thing! In fact, that is one of the things that I brought up with Jim. I’ve had many experiences when I have felt what I believed to be godly sorrow or anger over a false teaching, and was told that I was joyless. But when Paul cried out at the beginning of Galatians, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed,” we don’t regard him as joyless because he spoke out in indignation against the dissemination of lies!
And as I said in my post, I know that being called critical, judgmental, joyless, will be a part of the reproach we bear for loving the truth of the glory of Jesus Christ. Perhaps that sounds a bit dramatic, but I believe it. Nevertheless, we are still obliged (and I trust you agree) to expose what is false and not glorifying to God with a broken and contrite spirit. At least for me, that is where I need your frequent prayers.
Nobody dished out more truth than Jesus, but I am struck at how His rebukes were so often mingled with sorrow. In Mark 3:5 it says of Jesus, “And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart…” And after His biggest rebuke of the Pharisees, He uttered His great lament (likely with tears, as seen in Luke’s account) over Jerusalem.
I think if our constructively critical eyes are to be received in such a way that they bring change rather than dissension, they’ll have to be shared with tears. And since we can’t manufacture those, we ought to do two things: pray earnestly for the tears that we should have when Christ’s fame is belittled and scorned, and diligently strive to let every word that comes from our mouth be filled with the sorrow of Jesus, even if we don’t have tears.
Just some thoughts after reading your response. Got some pretty serious stuff going on with a part of the family; not something to share with Blog Nation, but Michelle and I are in need of your prayers about how to shine the light of Jesus into a tough situation.
Thanks brother,
Larry
Speakers and Preachers
August 2, 2006 | Leave a Comment
I know, I know, I am becoming quite the blogging fool! If you want me to slow down to give you a chance to respond let me know, but Michelle is watching Lord of the Rings #3 at the Bowers’ house tonight so I have a rare night to myself.
I just read this quote from Voddie Baucham, who is “speaking” at the upcoming Desiring God National Conference. His topic is the Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World, and apparently Voddie doesn’t like to be called a speaker. Here’s what he says, and I know this is close to your heart:
“I don’t know when I adopted it, but my motto is ‘Speakers come from Radio Shack; I come to Preach!’ I believe that our unwillingness to use the term ‘preacher’ today is due to the fact that preaching has fallen out of favor. Our culture has sayings such as, ‘don’t preach to me.’ ‘Preach’ has become a bad word. Nevertheless, that is exactly what preachers are called to do. We do not merely ’speak’ or ‘dialogue’ with people, we preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:2).”
I don’t know anything else about him, but that quote certainly has me eager to hear his message!
Larry
Wisdom from John Newton
August 2, 2006 | Leave a Comment
I’m doing some reading up on William Cowper for my message this Sunday night; found out that Cowper wrote the great hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” after an evening of meditating on Psalm 77, my text for this Sunday night. The link to the hymn shares a fascinating (though unsubstantiated) story on how the hymn came to be written. If it’s true, it is an amazing story indeed!
Anyway, as I was reading about Cowper I came across this great quote from John Newton:
“If, as I go home, a child has dropped a halfpenny, and if, by giving it another, I can wipe away its tears, I feel I have done something. I should be glad to do greater things, but I will not neglect this. When I hear a knock at the door, I hear a message from God; it may be a lesson of instruction, perhaps a lesson of penitence; but since it is his message, it must be interesting.”
In our talk about being used to do great things for the glory of God (and I do love how you dream big dreams brother; keep challenging me to do the same!), let us not forget to give a cup of cold water to a little one for the sake of Christ.
To read more about the life of John Newton, click here. For the life of Cowper, here.
For His Glory,
Larry
Amen!
August 2, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
Just want to give a hearty Amen to your recommendation of Tim Challies’ post concerning Christians and film. That was outstanding, and proof that some people will actually read extraordinarily long posts on a blog! I mean that guy makes you look like Dr. Seuss!! You know I say that lovingly of course!
Seriously, the whole time I was reading I had in my mind, “We can’t pick our movies (or our TV shows or our music or anything) by asking the question, “What’s wrong with it?”, but rather by asking, “What’s right about it? How will it help me worship the risen Christ and stand in awe of Him and satisfy me with His splendor and help me to point others to Him?”
And then Tim said it almost perfectly in the very last sentence of his post: “When assessing a film, we should not ask if we can watch it without falling into sin, but whether watching this film will equip or hinder our calling as we seek to bring glory to our God.”
Amen Tim! And thanks Joe for bringing this to our attention. I plan to send this to the members of Koinonia because I believe it’s extremely important for them to read and seriously consider.
Seeking to set my mind upon heavenly things,
Larry
On Giving Criticism
August 1, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
I hate to delay any further discussion on reading, as we were planning to get back to that, but your post has some things brewing in me that I want to share. As for the previous discussion, I think you hit it exactly when you shared the verse that “to whom much is given, much is demanded.” We are privileged to have access to resources that the vast majority of Christians around the world do not have, and we ought to be taking advantage of those resources! Paul said, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20). Our indifference to reading and growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ with the tremendous advantages we have in this country reflects that something is wrong in our pursuit of God. I don’t know if there’s any more that I need to say than that.
With regard to your previous post on Hebrews 11, I want to thank you for unpacking it as you did. You said what was on my heart, but with greater clarity and conviction than I likely would have been able to say it with. Glad it was a timely word for you.
But the thing that really got me thinking and I think demands some discussion on our part (and I believe you want these kinds of things shared publicly; if I am wrong you know how to edit this thing!) was your discussion of the church you visited. You said that the air about it was that it seemed to be on cruise-control. Though you realized it may sound judgmental, you believe that it was the truth.
Now what really has me thinking is that over the weekend I finally got a response from Jim Bucci. The rest of our readers will not be familiar with the circumstances here, but they are not really relevant. He shared with me his theological viewpoints, but more importantly he shared some very hard things about a negative, critical, self-righteous, joyless spirit on my part that he has observed since I moved away from State College.
As I read your post, I thought to myself that it seems like we Seek-Himmers have a reputation of being impossible to please. We are always pointing out the negative and very infrequently pointing out the positive, and when we do point out the positive it is to set up something negative that we really want to focus on. I think that is the way Jim has found me to be recently (though I would say he has spent very little time with me to see very thoroughly).
Since I got his letter I have given thought to how I can act differently and not reflect the kind of attitudes that Jim has observed, without losing my passion for the Savior and for His Church. Our voices will likely not be heard by people who think we are critical, self-righteous and impossible to please. I have come up with two significant things that I can do to stand firm in my convictions yet lose the reputation for judgmentalism (whether that reputation is deserved or undeserved).
First, my affirming words must become far more frequent. If the only time I raise my voice is to complain about what’s not being done right, and I do not give equal time to sharing the evidences of grace that I see, then I will be seen as critical. Jim has heard me say much in opposition to the theology embraced at the church in question, but he was shocked when we talked on the phone Sunday afternoon and I told him there were things about this church that I missed and wished we had more of our present church. So I must labor to be more positive and affirming in the areas in which I see evidence of grace.
Second, when I have humble, constructive criticism to share, I must share it with the people who can do something about. I have made a lot of statements to Jim about things I disagree with, but have done relatively little talking with the pastor who can actually do something about it. We have a tendency I think to get together and lament about things that are not going well, but do we share our concerns with the people who are in a place to do something about our concerns?
In your case, you visited a church and now you are sharing with Blog Nation how you perceived that church to be on “cruise-control”. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, I wasn’t there. I think you have a pretty discerning eye so you’re probably right. I would encourage you to speak to that pastor or another elder in the church, maybe write a letter if you must, to share what you observed as a first-time visitor to the church. I would think that they would be concerned about the impression they give to their visitors. So then if you share these things with the right people, along with sharing with him the ways in which you were encouraged and found evidence of grace, then I don’t think anyone can accuse you of being judgmental. But if you walk away and say nothing to the people who can do something, but tell us about what was wrong with the church, then I think someone could accuse you of being critical/judgmental. Maybe you have shared those things with the people that need to hear it, and for that I would commend you. I know you are never shy to share what’s on your heart!
Don’t get me wrong, I am not accusing you of being judgmental in this. Because of our closeness of friendship, I know your heart better than most. But I am giving thought lately as to how I can present myself to others who don’t know me very well, and how I can reflect the heart and mind of Christ to them. Paul said, “We aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man” (2 Cor. 8:21). I know this is your desire too, and we certainly need to challenge one another in this area of giving correction in a way that honors God and striving to put to death every bit of negativity and judgmentalism that is in us.
Sometimes a passion for truth will always be perceived as judgmental, no matter how hard we strive to proclaim it humbly and in a spirit of loving correction. But let us strive for excellence in this area. “Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” (Romans 12:17).
Let’s urge one another to that, brother. I know I have a lot of work to do, as Jim pointed out. I am thankful that he did, even though I disagree with him at some points. He shared what he did in love, and after talking with him for over an hour on Sunday we understand one another a lot better. But I want to be very careful to not present myself as one who is impossible to please, one who always acts like I have the answers and no one else does. So let’s strive to stand boldly for truth and exhort others to the same, but let’s do it with a humility that will not bring praise to us, but to Him.
Probably not what you were expecting from that last post! Again, if I have misunderstood the nature of this blog and should have simply talked to you in private, feel free to delete this stuff and let’s talk about it.
Larry
I’m Still Here
July 31, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
It’s been a chaotic couple of days here so I will try to wrap up my thoughts on your previous post regarding reading tomorrow. But since I know how jealous you are that something be posted daily, here is something I read this morning from Hebrews 11. Very familiar words I know, but how earnesly I pray that we could live them out day after day!
“24By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”
May the infinitely great reward that is Christ be so much more satisfying than the fleeting pleasures of Egypt that we are not lured away by their deceptively sweet taste.
Larry
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