Next Friday Dutch turns one year old. In the next few days I will be posting short memories of our son from his first year. My chief privileges in life are being a husband, and now a father. Dutch has been very patient with me this year, helping me to grow in my understanding and nurturing of my little boy. Thank God for His all-sufficient grace. And thank God for our Dutcher!
I came across the Robbie Seay Band (pronounced SEE) a few months ago, but realized I hadn’t listened to them much since downloading their latest album, Give Yourself Away. The second track is “Song of Hope (Heaven Come Down).” Its message on the Incarnation has been resonating with my soul as I’ve studied for finals in the last week. I’ve probably listened to this song 50 times since the weekend. Since God Himself is the great good of the Gospel, it follows that for our broken yet beautiful world He is in Christ our song of Hope. May we be compelled to love other sacrificially as God demonstrated towards us.
Here are the lyrics:
All things bright and beautiful You are
All things wise and wonderful You are
In my darkest night, You brighten up the skies
A song will riseI will sing a song of hope
Sing along
God of heaven come down
Heaven come down
Just to know that You are near is enough
God of heaven come down, heaven come downAll things new
I can start again
Creator, God
Calling me Your friend
Sing praise, my soul
To the Maker of the skies
A song will riseI will sing a song of hope
Sing along
God of heaven come down
Heaven come down
Just to know You and be loved is enough
God of heaven come down, heaven come down
The eighth song on the album is “Stay.” It begins:
Hope is the call
That is ringing in my soul
But I can’t pretend that I see
Much light in front of me
The blindness in the fog, to not be able to comprehend the light, must be overcome. God, you must intervene — You are our only Hope! And the verse in the middle of the song that struck me so distinctly is this one:
Pride is the friend
Who betrays me in the end
Stealing joy, as it goes
Leaves me longing for a home
How true! I find that my greatest sin is pride. All of my sins come from my pride, my self-sufficiency and self-reliance. It is the “far idol” that stands behind my “near idols” (to borrow a phrase from Tim Keller). It is the supposed “friend,” which of course does nothing by betray me in the end. The lyrics of the song continue to the end:
I’ll wait to find You here
Though I’m thrown away
I can’t give up
I’ll wait to see You here
I have gone astray
And I believe I’ll sing until You’re here
Though I’m lost and afraid
I can’t give up
I wait to find You here
I have gone astrayYou will always stay beside me
And Your sun will rise above me
And Your light will shine upon me
And Your skies are clear above me
And You will always stay
You will always stay
Kari has a reflection on Christmas and the birth of our son almost a year ago, and how that reminds her of when God became a Man, the baby Jesus. Read her reflection on her site.
I recently began reading Overcoming Sin and Temptation, the updated and edited version of John Owen’s classic Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (find it on CCEL here). This edited version is helpful, not just because of the updated language and comments, but also because it brings Owen to life for a new generation who need his influence, insight, theology and boldness. One may download the new book, Overcoming Sin and Temptation, from JohnOwen.org here (PDF).
Owen was…
Here’s one of my favorite quotes from Owen:
Do you mortify;
do you make it your daily work;
be always at it while you live;
cease not a day from this work;
be killing sin or it will be killing you.
Dutch is hanging with Mommy and Papa and Oma tonight as Daddy dives into studying for his Biblical Theology final tomorrow morning. Here’s the topics covered this semester:
I. Biblical Theology of Individual Authors and Books
II. OT Biblical Theology
III. NT Theology - its connection to the Old
IV. NT Theology
A highlight at the end of a long and rewarding week:
There are unique lessons learned in making mistakes. So often we learn by doing wrong, from a simple error in math, to a project gone wrong, to sinning (im)morally. If we are paying attention those experiences are opportunities that can be invested for our benefit.
When it comes to our relationship with God, we must strive to remain in thriving fellowship with Him. (We are not alone, for He is in fact seeking us, so our seeking Him is a response to His initiation, and certainly not the other way around. By way of analogy, when we run to him we then realize that the treadmill is already on, and He has been drawing us.)
Perhaps some Christians struggle with feelings of condemnation when they sin. Okay, perhaps most Christians struggle with feeling inept and worthless and condemned. This is in fact a healthy thing, for conviction is from God and for our good. What would it be like if we never felt bad, never had remorse, and were not able to will to do better next time? But condemnation is different than conviction. Condemnation is a legal guilt before God where His wrath justly abides. For us in Christ there is no longer any condemnation (Romans 8:1). Period.
But what about conviction? Ah, there is the needed thing, for our loving Father convicts and comforts. He seeks after us by His Spirit and reveals the false motives and depraved thinking and actions in our life. His conviction is with a purpose in mind: our growth and His glory. The more we yield to His convicting touch and are aware of our need of Him, the more grace He pours out. This motivates us to life holy lives, for grace motivates far better than fear. And a holy life magnifies God, for we reflect His character in all of life (inwardly and outwardly) in a more increasing measure.
So, then, how do we get from sin to glory? Apart from Christ, there is no way, for we have each in our depraved state exchanged God’s glory for (and preferred) the glory of our own lives and creation around us (Romans 1). Trust Christ and He will make you new! God will exchange your sin and shame and His wrath for the perfect righteousness of His Son Jesus, credited to your account. Washed, renewed, forgiven, redeemed, saved. (The list of our benefits goes on and on.) The key: in coming to Christ, we get GOD. He is the Gospel.
A new relationship with God at the center and us absorbed into Him becomes the living, dynamic reality of our lives. We are His. He opens His life to us, and we can now enjoy God. In fact, this enjoyment becomes a primary way of glorifying Him, for our entire heart, mind, soul and strength is doing that which we were created to do, namely, love and enjoy God.
So sin for the believer in Jesus does not destroy this relationship (as in reverse all that God has done). Rather, it negatively impacts fellowship. Something must be done, and the wrong has been wrought by us and not God. He has open hands, but we must confess our sins to Him.
First John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This is not mere theological nor theoretical jargon. Re-read it, in parts:
Is this once-and-for-all? Believing in Jesus is a first-time event, but what is written about here in 1st John is for believers who sin. It is a continual reality, not just a one time event; one of repentance (turning), confessing (agreeing) and walking in this new cleansed life. (Repeat.) More than just “daily” and certainly more than just recited as a prayer at church on Sunday. This is the very lifeblood of a living and dynamic relationship with God in Christ — we can be near to Him and must endeavor to rid our lives of any obstacle that does not gain us the most possible enjoyment in God. Do you feel conviction from sin? Agree with God on your current state, press in to seek His forgiveness, know it will be given on the grounds of God’s own promises in His Son who died in our place. That is the faithfulness and the justice. God is not soft on sin and has not turned a blind eye. Every sin, evil and selfish and wicked, has been meted out to its depths. Just that the wrath for it is no longer on me, but Jesus took it instead (in my stead).
Hosea 6:1 “Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”
Notice the third verse: “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.”
Return and be actively knowing Him.
This past summer I read a short little book by Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? It was a quick, good read, and I highly recommend the book.
Recently, permission was given to New Attitude to post the first chapter of the book, free to read and download (PDF). Find it here.
Much of Dever’s ministry is emphasizing and developing nine marks of healthy churches.
I have grown in my understanding, appreciation and devotion to the local church. God had to tear down my pride, humble me by painful circumstances and bring confusion before allowing me to see the light of the beauty of His Bride, the Church, and her geographical representative, the local church assembly. I want to see her become better.
We are on high ground, with power and very blessed, yet there are thousands displaced by the storms and flooding, whether stranded at the coast without power and fuel, or the flooding all over the region. Keep the people of Pacific Northwest in prayer as communities try to respond and recover from the worst flooding since the famous one of ‘96 (some say this is worse is some areas).
Tonight the Molalla River rages (I presume, as I am at class). The flow (cubic-feet per second) has increased more than ten times in the last 24 hours, and the water level has risen more than seven feet.
(Update: According to the USGS readings the water level tapered off a bit late Monday night, reaching just above 12,000 cubic-feet per second, matching the highest total recorded for this date. It has rained a total of three inches in the last seven days.)
Kari's latest Patterson Family Margin
A video from Wednesday:
From tonight (sorry poor lighting, and who’s the yahoo behind the camera?!):
