Tried With Fire

Yesterday Pastor Ryan preached on 1 Corinthians 13 . Yes, it's the obligatory passage read at many weddings, but it is much more than that. I probably heard this text preached in the context of the book for the first time . Paul didn't just have "a slew of weddings to perform." He was getting to the root of the problems the Corinthian church were struggling with. They were lacking love, and it showed. Just read the first 12 chapters. "Gifts to the nth degree and service to the nth degree are nothing without love." As I was sitting in the pew yesterday, I was wishing that this sermon would be mandatory listening for Christians on social media. Reformed Twitter, I am specifically thinking of you because there's been a lot more heat than light, a lot more snark than love, and more unwillingness than willingness to listening and respectively disagree. And I'm not just pointing a finger out there. I need to hear this word too. I love the doctrines o...

Say unto my soul, I am your salvation. Psalm 35:3 There are some who say it is better that a man should stand in jeopardy of his soul every hour— better for him to be exercised with doubts and fears, than that he should grow confident, and have the joy of knowing assuredly that he is a saved man, is in the favor of God, and shall never be condemned. We will hear these objectors for a moment, and answer them speedily. One of them advances, and he says, “First, I object to your preaching this morning, the doctrine of full assurance, because I believe it to be impossible. I cannot conceive that any man can know in this life whether he shall be saved in the life to come. Perhaps I may grant you that, in the dying hour, some men may get a little confidence; but, with the exception of a few of the eminently holy, and the profoundly spiritual, it cannot be possible that Christians should attain to a full confidence, and an infallible assurance of being saved. ” To this, sir, I reply th...

This is the only picture. I promise. When we were visiting my sister and brother-in-law recently, we had carryout from their favorite pizza place - a deep dish pizza with portobello mushrooms seasoned with balsamic vinegar, roasted red bell peppers, and shrimp. The combination of the mushrooms and the peppers was so tasty that I wanted to recreate an easy version without the dense crust. I was able to get all the ingredients from my local Lidl, so I don't think they should be too hard to find. The measurements are guesstimates as I tend to throw in what looks good when I cook. Ingredients: 1 T olive oil 1 T butter 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 pkg baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 1 pkg portobello mushrooms, 2 caps, cleaned and chopped. (I removed the gills because I saw it on a food video. Why did they? I have no idea.) Salt to taste, maybe 1/4 tsp? 2-3 T balsamic vinegar 2-3 T white wine 1 small jar pesto 1 jar roasted red peppers 1 pkg shredded mozz...

Culture and history are a powerful combination. It is all around us and affects our thinking whether we are aware of it or not. I was pretty clueless about this until I went through a dramatic theological shift from Arminianism to reformed theology. It was then that I embarked on a journey to learn about what I believed now, what I formerly believed, and why. It was difficult at times but worth digging up the roots of ideas I had taken for granted as gospel truth which were not. The journey has only continued, and since the 2016 election I am making a feeble attempt to understand the blending of evangelicalism and American culture that brought us to where we are today. My intent isn't to blame but to understand so I can be a bridge builder. It grieves me to see professing believers so sharply divided in the last few years particularly when it comes to issues of ethnicity and gender. Perhaps I can be someone who asks questions to get people to think about things they have not con...

Even to your old age I am He; and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. Isaiah 46:4. An old man is not anxious about many things, as we are, for he has not so many things for which to concern him. He has not the cares of starting in business, as he once had. He has no children to launch out in business. He has not to cast his anxious eyes on his little family. But his concern has somewhat increased in another direction. He has more concern about his bodily frame than he once had. He cannot now run as he used to do. And he must walk with a more sober gait. He fears, every now and then, that the pitcher will be “broken at the cistern,” for “the noise of the grinders is low.” He has, no longer, that strength of desire he once possessed—his body has begun to totter, to shake and to quiver. The old tenement has stood these 50 years and who expects a house to last forever? A bit of mortar has gone off from one place an...

See updates at the bottom of the post - This sister-in-Christ is currently at the PCA General Assembly. She is waiting to see if her concerns will be addressed regarding how her domestic abuse was handled by her local church . The following video contains her interaction with the presbytery clerk . "Over the next year and a half, there was no acknowledgement from any of the Presbytery officers dealing with my case nor any of the elders at Faith Presbyterian that Charles had sinned, been abusive, or done anything seriously wrong at all. In one meeting I attended with two friends present, one of the Shepherding Committee officers compared Charles Garland’s tone to that of Jesus and the prophets in Scripture calling out those who were self righteous. The chair of the committee said he couldn’t be sure the recording was even real; perhaps I had digitally altered it." I know that all SBC leaders/pastors are not like Paige Patterson. Neither are all PCA leaders/pastors l...

I'm excited to be part of the launch team for Aimee Byrd's new book Why Can't We Be Friends?. The topic of biblical friendship brings forth strong opinions among Christians. Some say men and women cannot be friends because of the temptation to sin which affects our witness to the world. Others say we can and should be friends for the good of the body of Christ and our witness to the world. I am of the latter persuasion.  In many Christian circles for the sake of purity, cross-gender relationships are discouraged among teens because one needs to save one's self for a future spouse, not just physically but emotionally too. I get that this is a reaction to "casual" dating and to avoid immorality. Some avoid cross-gender friendships even after marriage. But this can set up marriage as the be all and in end all. It can also set up one's spouse as the sole fulfillment of every need - physical, emotional, and spiritual. (pg. 24) I'm still proces...

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6. [I]f those who have believed in Christ are not saved, then surely all the attributes of God are in peril; if He begins, and does not finish His work, all the parts of His character are dishonored. Where is His wisdom? Why did He begin that which He did not intend to finish? Where is His power? Will not evil spirits always say “that He could not do what He did not do”? Will it not be a standing jeer throughout the halls of hell that God began the work, and then stayed from it? Will they not say that the obstinacy of man’s sin was greater than the grace of God, that the hardness of the human heart was too hard for God to dissolve? Would there not be a slur at once cast upon the omnipotence of divine grace? And what shall we say of the immutability of God, if He casts away those whom He loves? How shall we think that He does not change? How wi...

I can so relate to this excerpt by Michael Horton. Been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt. Lived with this fear, and carried its heavy weight. I am so glad for the freedom of the gospel. Not the freedom of license to sin, but the freedom that comes from trusting God, who will complete what He has started. "According to the Reformation position, regeneration inevitably results in a changed life. Anyone who is truly born again by grace alone will be a "new creature," and therefore will be eager to love and obey God even when he or she ends of falling short of the mark constantly, as we all do. Looking back at those calls to "higher life," realizing that there is no such thing as a Christian who wants to be simply carnal, I can see how the call to enter into the "victorious Christian life" was appealing to all of us. We wanted it desperately. We would do anything for it. And, as [Zane] Hodges puts it, discipleship is not free in this system. It ...

Given the number of books and limited time, this is really an I-may-finish-some-of-these-by-the-end-of-the-year book list. Anyhow, it reminds me of what is waiting on the shelves. Theology/Christianity: Anxiety: Choosing Faith in a World of Worry - Amy Simpson Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation - Michael Horton Devoted to God - Sinclair Ferguson The Doctrine of God for Every Woman - Rebecca Stark Neither Complementarian Nor Egalitarian - Michelle Lee-Barnewall (reread) Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down - Marva Dawn Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, and Marginalized Women of the Bible - Sandra Glahn Why Can't We Be Friends? - Aimee Byrd Domestic Abuse: Fractured Covenants - Marie O'Toole How He Gets Into Her Head: The Mind of the Male Intimate Abuser - Dan Hennessy The Asian American Experience: At America's Gates, Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era: 1882-1943 - Erika Lee Looking Like the Enemy - Mary...

I was away last week helping my sister with elder care issues. She and my brother-in-law deserve medals for all they do for my parents because it isn't easy. The next step will be moving them from independent living to memory care for my mom and assisted living for my dad. Tackling practical stuff will be hard work, but I think it is harder seeing the decline even over the last few months. When I say goodbye, I can't help but wonder if I will see them again in this life because anything can happen. When I came back, I read this post at A Cry for Justice . This is a survivor's story, and it cut me to the heart because this line could have been my own: I didn’t tell you all these things because I was a good little Christian girl who doesn’t make waves and still thought I had to protect my abuser in some way. To compound this, I picked up a pamphlet among my dad's many books that we were trying to cull. Being a glutton for punishment, I read it when I should have b...

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31.  God the Father cannot be against us. He is our Father! He cannot be against His own children! He has chosen us—He will not cast us away—He has adopted us into His family, He will never discard us; He has been pleased to ordain us unto eternal life, He will never reverse the decree. He was for us in the covenant of grace when He planned the way to save rebellious man. He has been for us in the great ordering of providence—all things have worked together for good for us until now. We wonder how we have arrived where we now are—but surely providence, under God, has worked wondrously on our behalf! He is for us in all the decrees which are yet to be fulfilled; there is not a single line in the great book which is against the Christian. You may rest assured that whether the earth shall rock and reel, or the moon is black as a sackcloth of hair, or the earth is licked up with tongues of fire, still Jehovah has not a single thoug...