Tried With Fire

I'd vote for her:

Lord willing, I will be reviewing Hannah Anderson's new book,  Humble Roots , in a couple weeks. I have not finished reading the entire book yet, but this passage was too good not to share: "Failure at small things reminds us of how helpless we are in this great, wide world. When little things spiral out of control, they remind us that even they were never within our control in the first place. And this is terrifying. Jesus understood this. He understood that small things can unsettle us more than large things; so when He called the people of Galilee to leave their anxiety—when He calls us to do the same— He does so in context of very mundane, very ordinary concerns." Read the rest here .

This attribute renders God a fit object for trust and dependence. The notion of an unholy and unrighteous God, is an uncomfortable idea of him, and beats off our hands from laying any hold of him. It is upon this attribute the reputation and honor of God in the world is built; what encouragement can we have to believe him, or what incentives could we have to serve him, without the lustre of this in his nature? The very thought of an unrighteous God is enough to drive men at the greatest distance from him; as the honesty of a man gives a reputation to his word, so doth the holiness of God give credit to his promise. It is by this he would have us stifle our fears and fortify our trust (Isa. 41:14): “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:” he will be in his actions what he is in his nature. Nothing shall make him defile his own excellency; unrighteousness is the ground of mutability; but the promi...

C3PO Crashes a Pentecostal Revival:

It's been a while since I've posted regularly. Life has been very full in a good way, and that is where my priorities need to be. I have a couple posts in the works, but they need a little more meditation and marinating. So in lieu of a "real" post here are some things I have been thinking: 1. We don't need to learn patience or kindness if everyone gets it right all the time. Maybe we should stop expecting people to not be normal human beings with normal human frailty and struggles. After all, 1 Corinthians 13 isn't just for weddings. 2. A curmudgeonly character may be funny, even endearing, in a novel, but I don't want to be like that as I get older. See 1. 3. All Christians are not like Mr. Great-Heart in Pilgrim's Progress. Mr. Ready-to-Halt was received at the Celestial City, too. See 1. 4.  Our stories are very real, but they are not normative. My bad experience doesn't invalidate your good one. But just because you haven't walked...

It's that time again... ht: The Awkward Yeti

Since Diane and Kim have been posting on Bible study and hermeneutics at Out of the Ordinary, I am going to follow in their train with a repost from 2014. Lately I've been digging into the nuts and bolts of Bible interpretation. This was triggered by a journal article I had read which examined different views among conservative Christians on a particular subject. These differing views stemmed from different interpretations of a  single  New Testament (NT) word which in turn led to different applications. On one side, the meaning was derived with emphasis on the root definition. On the other side, the context was given more weight. As a result, I've been consulting D.A. Carson's  Exegetical Fallacies ,   Invitation To Biblical Interpretation   by Drs. Kostenberger and Patterson, and  this  Tabletalk article. These resources shed quite a bit of light on the pitfalls of interpreting Scripture and the fallacies we inadvertently commit. It's also bee...

This creation of things from nothing speaks an infinite power. The distance between nothing and being hath been alway counted so great, that nothing but an Infinite Power can make such distances meet together, either for nothing to pass into being, or being to return to nothing. To have a thing arise from nothing, was so difficult a text to those that were ignorant of the Scripture, that they knew not how to fathom it, and therefore laid it down as a certain rule, that of nothing, nothing is made; which is true of a created power, but not of an uncreated and Almighty Power. A greater distance cannot be imagined than that which is between nothing and something; that which hath no being, and that which hath; and a greater power cannot be imagined than that which brings something out of nothing. We know not how to conceive a nothing, and afterwards a being from that nothing; but we must remain swallowed up in admiration of the Cause that gives it being, and acknowledge it to be withou...

We learned this song in church yesterday: When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast; When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast. I could never keep my hold Through life’s fearful path; For my love is often cold; He must hold me fast. He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast; For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast. Those He saves are His delight, Christ will hold me fast; Precious in his holy sight, He will hold me fast. He’ll not let my soul be lost; His promises shall last; Bought by Him at such a cost, He will hold me fast. For my life He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast; Justice has been satisfied; He will hold me fast. Raised with Him to endless life, He will hold me fast ‘Till our faith is turned to sight, When He comes at last! Verses 1-2, Ada Habershon (1861-1918), public domain. Alt. lyrics verses 1-2, verse 3, & music. Matt Merker ©2013

The wisdom of God appears, in giving us this way the surest ground of comfort, and the strongest incentive to obedience. The rebel is reconciled, and the rebellion shamed; God is propitiated, and the sinner sanctified, by the same blood. What can more contribute to our comfort and confidence, than God’s richest gift to us? What can more enflame our love to him, than our recovery from death by the oblation of his Son to misery and death for us? It doth as much engage our duty as secure our happiness. It presents God glorious and gracious, and therefore every way fit to be trusted in regard of the interest of his own glory in it, and in regard of the effusions of his grace by it. It renders the creature obliged in the highest manner, and so awakens his industry to the strictest and noblest obedience. Nothing so effectual as a crucified Christ to wean us from sin, and stifle all motions of despair; a means, in regard of the justice signalized in it, to make man to hate the sin which ...

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