Jul
25
Baxter: Lord, it belongs not to my care
Filed Under Ave atque vale, Christian Living, Holiness, Puritans, Tragedy, Worship | Leave a Comment
Here’s some potent verse from English Puritan pastor Richard Baxter (1615-1691), who is generally better know for his prose than his poetry:
Lord, it belongs not to my care,
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve thee is my share,
And this thy grace must give.If life be long, I will be glad
That I may long obey;
If short, yet why should I be sad
To soar to endless day?Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than he went through before;
He that unto God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet
Thy blessed face to see;
For if thy work on earth be sweet,
What will thy glory be?Then shall I end my sad complaints,
And weary, sinful days,
And join with the triumphant saints
That sing Jehovah’s praise.My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But ’tis enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with him.
Mar
5
Prosperity gospel: John Piper’s assessment
Filed Under Blogging, Christian Living, Evangelism, Nota Bene, Tragedy | Leave a Comment
Gripping words from John Piper. The Sweet Dropper found this on Justin Taylor’s blog Between Two Worlds
Nov
16
In everything give thanks
Filed Under Christian Living, Tragedy | Leave a Comment
In the past I’ve shared (with permission) some of the thoughts of Buddy Wood, brother-in-law of one of our FPC members, as he grows in grace while being treated for multiple brain tumors. Last week Buddy, who lives in Maryland, underwent gamma knife surgery to deal with lesions on his brain. All went well, and I wanted to pass along to you some of his thoughts about suffering and thankfulness:
GLIMPSE INTO THE GARRISON (#71): Thanksgiving is overflowing inside the garrison these days and, given the season, perhaps it is a good time to share some recent thoughts about thanksgiving.
First, it is God’s will that I thank Him in everything:
“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
This is a pretty straightforward statement of God’s will for Buddy. Certainly it would be good to “just do it” (i.e. give thanks) and press on.
But sometimes I don’t feel thankful. Life-threatening disease can feel like an emotional roller coaster ride of ups and downs, good scans and bad scans, good labs and bad labs, successful and unsuccessful surgeries and procedures. My natural tendency is to give thanks for the good things and complain about the rest.
Would it be hypocritical to give thanks when I am not really thankful?
Notice the phrase “in everything”. I understand this phrase to indicate broad context or sphere of occurrence. In other words, in the context of everything or all things, give thanks. The broad view presents a powerful perspective that gets beyond the dynamics of daily circumstances. What would the broad context look like?
The broadest possible context would be God’s magnificent character, goodness and kindness. Getting the focus off of me and getting focused on Him creates an natural overflow of thanksgiving out of my heart.
“All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:15)
Remember the objective to glory God somehow in this experience? The natural overflow of thanksgiving is a part of getting there.
John Piper puts it this way:
“Gratitude honors God. Gratitude is the echo of grace as it reverberates through the hollows of the human heart. Gratitude is the unashamed acceptance of a free gift and the heartfelt declaration that we cherish what we cannot buy. Therefore gratitude glorifies the free grace of God and signifies the humility of a needy and receptive heart.” (Proud People Don’t Say Thanks, Sermon, 11/20/83)
I must recognize the obvious fact that God has been extraordinarily gracious to me during this season and most of my medical results have turned out great. But even then, limiting my focus to the good things I have received is an unnecessarily narrow focus. It must all come back to Him - the one who is absolutely packed with Glory.
Second, there is a strong connection to thanksgiving in the garrison verses, Philippians 4:6-7:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard [garrison] your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
The phrase “WITH THANKSGIVING” suggests that our specific requests are to be made in association with thanksgiving.
Third, thanksgiving has been described as a spiritual thermometer that reflects our spiritual health. When we are thankful it is a good sign that our spiritual lives are in tune and that we have the broad view. Conversely, loss of thanksgiving is a warning sign that we are slipping down the slippery slope to debauchery, as described in Romans: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”(Romans 1:20-21)
I want to be thankful. I will give thanks.
Jul
17
Lives for sale
Filed Under Culture, Missions, Tragedy | Leave a Comment
The Sweet Dropper has existed for nearly a year now, and a perusal of the archives would tell you that we are not much for stomping about the latest assault on ‘family values.’ If you’re like me, you get more than your share of forwarded emails about these things as it is (and, if you’re like me, you don’t read them either). There is a certain self-righteousness about being perennially indignant about the cause du jour. In fact, if you listen to voices on the far left and the ‘Christian right,’ you’d think they were reading off the same script (’The world as we know it is coming to an end! ______ is the most outrageous and egregious assault on _________ to date and a danger to our country/heritage/environment/rights/liberties/pets, etc. You must join us in taking action/protesting/signing the petition/donating/spaying, etc.”). All this to say: The Sweet Dropper is not a place where we go on and on about “issues.”
Having said that, I do think Christians and others concerned about justice, mercy and faithfulness should be aware of the issue of global slavery. Those who study these things, including the U.S. State Department, estimate that 27 million people (including children) are in debt bondage, forced labor slavery, forced prostitution or trafficked as chattel. In other words, there are more slaves in the world today than were bartered and bought as chattel during the 400 years of the European and American slave trade!
A good place to begin learning about the problem (both as statistics and the human side) is the latest issue of Mission Frontiers, the journal of the U.S. Center for World Missions. Recently, National Geographic magazine shed light on this global blight, and their site contains more resources than you can shake a stick at–as we sometimes say around here. One more resource is International Justice Mission, whose site is also quite good.
If you check out any of this information, I’ll leave it to you as to what to do next. But let’s don’t find ourselves on the receiving end of the same indictment that Jesus made against the Pharisees: ‘you have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness…Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!’ [Matthew 23:23-24]. And I promise: no annoying emails.
Apr
16
Tragedy at Virginia Tech
Filed Under Tragedy | Leave a Comment
Foxnews is currently reporting that a gunman killed 32 and injured another 21 today on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. Pray for everyone affected by this tragedy but pray especially for the pastors who will lead their people and the students through this devastating event.
I’m specifically asking you to pray for the pastors who I know are in that city from my own denomination. Pray for Chris Hutchinson and Kyle Kockler, pastors of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Blacksburg, Va. I was just with them last week at the Twin Lakes Fellowship. Especially pray for J. R. Foster who is the RUF campus minister at Virginia Tech.
