There is a fountain
February 25, 2010
A serious topic: NPR news is broadcasting a series entitled “Campus Rape Victims: A Struggle for Justice.” The stats are alarming: one out of five college women report being the victim of a sexual assault! My experience in campus ministry and as a local church pastor (including 4+ years in a large state university town) has given me more opportunities than I would like to face this ugly reality.
Despite efforts to curb these assaults over the last decade, there’s not much evidence of progress. Why? Simple answers include: victim shame, the haze of alcohol (it tends to reduce clarity about whether sex was consensual or not), the desire of the male to deny and cover up, and (very sadly) the fear in some leaders who worry too much about false accusations. Yes, people do lie. However, the ones who bear that cost are usually victims.
The shame felt by victims stays with them a long time. It hinders marital intimacy and oneness, as a victim often does not tell her husband about “what happened in college,” afraid that he would not marry her if he knew the truth. The victim feels like damaged goods and ends up feeling ruled by the shame.
As Christians, it’s not a question of if we will deal with such issues; it’s more a question of when. Most of us can present the gospel in a way that deals with sins for which we bear responsibility and guilt. While this is true and essential, we also need to speak clearly about the ways the gospel addresses sins that have been committed against us. You cannot repent of being abused, tortured, or raped; however, the blood and righteousness of Christ speak of cleansing and hope for shame and defilement. Your identity must be marked only by what Jesus Christ has done for you and no longer by what has been done by you or to you. The scriptural language of atonement, cleansing, washing and purifying speaks a powerful truth to such souls. Jesus’ sacrifice takes away sin and shame forever for those who trust him. It’s a simple truth, but, as John Owen would say, “exceedingly difficult to exercise faith upon.”
Mark Driscoll and Garry Breshears’ Death by Love: Letters from the Cross has a chapter which addresses this issue wonderfully.
Grace like manna
January 5, 2010
Eight or so years ago I went with an elder to visit an elderly widow on a blistering cold day (much like today). She had recently moved closer to one of her grown children and had been coming to our church with her family. On this get-to-know-you-better kind of visit, I knew what to expect. This elder and I had good teamwork in these situations. He is affable, warm, quick-witted. He sets a good, engaging kind of tone to these visits, and I bring the heavy artillery. I usually asked the question or made the comment that moved things from friendly chit-chat to more serious and spiritual directions. But on this day, I was surprised. The widow gave a clear and credible testimony of her faith in Christ. She said that frequently she thought about death. While she was not afraid to die, she said she was often afraid of dying. “I wonder sometimes if I have the strength and courage to face the process,” she said. 
Before I could formulate a response, the elder (usually the silent partner at this point in the conversation) spoke up and answered better than I could. “O you don’t have to worry about that. When you need that grace, the Lord will give it to you. You feel like you don’t have it right now, but you don’t need it right now. It’s like manna. It’ll be there.”
Reading Edward T. Welch’s Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest reminded me of that cold afternoon. In one chapter Welch teases out our specific fears of death: fears of eternity, fears of the way you might die, fears of hardship for loved ones, fear of the unknown, and fear of judgment. He addresses the second fear, fear of the way you might die, like my friend and fellow elder did that day. Let me share Welch’s version with you. Read the rest of this entry »
Read it again in 2010
December 29, 2009
READ THE BIBLE FROM COVER TO COVER IN 2010. You can start at Genesis and go right through to Revelation if you like. My favorite plan involves reading three chapters a day (and five on the Lord’s Day). In this plan you read a different genre of Scripture each day of the week (wisdom literature, Pentateuch, OT histories, prophets, gospels, epistles). The variation has helped me push through the low seasons that come during the year, and it helps me see the interconnectedness of all of God’s Word. I first came across this scheme about twenty years ago when Dr. Douglas Kelly included it as an appendix in his book If God Already Knows, Why Pray? I have passed it along to many others through the years.
Sundays: read five chapters in the Psalms. When done, read through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.
Mondays: read three chapters in Genesis. When done, read through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Tuesdays: read three chapters in Joshua. When done, read through Judges, Ruth, 1& 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings.
Wednesdays: read three chapters in Job. When done, read through 1 & 2 Chroniclers, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
Thursdays: read three chapters in Isaiah. When done, read through Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Fridays: read three chapters In Matthew. When done, read through Mark, Luke, John, and Acts.
Saturdays: read three chapters in Romans. When done, read through 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude, and Revelation.
FURTHER ADVICE
- Set a distinct time of day and place for your reading, as free as possible from distractions. Turn off that electronic device that bosses you around.
- Use a good, readable translation. I recommend, in the following order: English Standard Version, New King James Version, New International Version, King James Version, and New American Standard. But the best translation of the Scriptures is one you are actually reading! I don’t recommend a study Bible. All those extra notes and comments can be distracting, and you might need an orthopedic specialist if you haul around an ESV Study Bible for 365 consecutive days.
- When you forget or fall behind, don’t give up. All is not lost. The devil would like you to give up once you’ve fallen behind. Pick back up right where you were. You can double up to catch up, but you don’t have to. So what if you finish in February 2011?
- Pray every day before you read, and after you read.
- Ask a friend or loved one to join you in the venture. Keep each other accountable.
Cream of blog 12.01.09
December 1, 2009
A few blog posts worth reading…
Cream of blog: 29 September 2009
September 29, 2009
- Explore the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, a vast library of print and audio media files from Colson and many others.
- From Gene Edward Veith’s blog, a glimpse at where the debate about gay marriage is heading for some–the abolition of marriage itself.
- Also from Veith, thoughts concerning the Christian origins of health care as we know it in the West. (Atheists are fond of claiming that Christianity is a toxic presence in the history of civilization.)
- Actions steps for anxiety from Tullian Tchividjian.
- A review of Paul Miller’s A Praying Life from Coram Deo, Omaha, Nebraska.
Depression: a stubborn darkness
August 6, 2009
Dr Ed Welch, of CCEF (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation), shares the story of his father’s depression and some thoughts on how to think biblically about depression. Dr. Welch’s new book Depression: A Stubborn Darkness–Light for the Path is available at Westminster Bookstore. You can also read the first few pages of chapter one.
Cream of blog: 20 May 2009
May 20, 2009
- Ross Douthat in The New York Times on why the popularity of Dan Brown (author of The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons) provides insight into prevailing attitudes toward religion in America.
- David Brooks in the aforementioned periodical on why “organized, dogged, anal-retentive and slightly boring people are more likely to thrive” as CEO’s.
- Tullian Tchividjian has summarized some contrasts Tim Keller has drawn between “Religion” and “the Gospel.”
- Ray Ortlund has shared some penetrating insights into the sin of gossip.
- Today marks the 1,684th anniversary of the opening of the Council of Nicaea (and yes, I still doggedly hold to the “ae”. I also favor ‘aesthetic,’ ‘anaesthesia,’ ‘aeon,’ and ‘mediaeval.’ And, if I’m feeling especially peevish, I’ll use ‘aeroplane.’)
Flannery O’Connor: mercy in extremis
March 26, 2009
Ralph C. Wood of Baylor University has written a splendid short piece in honor of Flannery O’Connor’s birthday (b.1925). Best paragraph this:
The key to comprehending Flannery O’Connor’s life and work is to remember that, in her lexicon, divine grace is never synonymous with human graciousness. On the contrary, it is often abrupt and rude and disrespectful of ordinary proprieties, for the skin of human resistance is exceedingly thick. When asked why her characters meet such violent self-awakenings, O’Connor replied that it’s because their heads are so hard. Grace must wound before it can heal, she declared, and her fiction is filled with both woundings and healings. O’Connor wittily consoled readers that, while a lot of folks get killed in her fiction, nobody gets hurt. In her unsentimental reckoning, there are states of thriving but damnable life far worse than a grisly but saving death.
A word from the original Sweet Dropper
March 13, 2009
This is from Richard Sibbes‘ The Bruised Reed:
Christ’s work, both in the church and in the hearts of Christians, often goes backward so that it may go forward better. As seed rots in the ground in the winter time, but after comes up better, and the harder the winter the more flourishing the spring, so we learn to stand by falls, and get strength by weakness discovered—virtutis custos infirmitas (weakness is the keeper of virtue). We take deeper root by shaking. And, as torches flame brighter by moving, thus it pleases Christ, out of his freedom, in this manner to maintain his government in us. Let us herein labor to exercise our faith, so that it may answer Christ’s way of dealing with us. When we are foiled, let us believe we shall overcome; when we have fallen, let us believe we shall rise again. Jacob, after he received a blow which made him lame, yet would not give over wrestling (Gen. 32:25) till he had obtained the blessing. So let us never give up, but, in our thought knit the beginning, progress and end together, and then we shall see ourselves in heaven out of the reach of all enemies. Let us assure ourselves that God’s grace, even in this imperfect state, is stronger than man’s free will in the state of original perfection. It is founded now in Christ, who, as he is the author, so will he be the finisher, of our faith (Heb. 12:2). We are under a more gracious covenant.
Free ESV Online Study Bible
March 4, 2009
You can get free access to the recently-released ESV Online Study Bible. Here’s the press release:
Crossway publishing is pleased to make the ESV Online Study Bible available free–for anyone and everyone–for a limited time through March 31, 2009. For full access and free trial use of all the Online Study Bible features, users can create a login and password at www.esvstudybible.org/online. Email information will not be shared, nor will there be any obligation to purchase. Crossway invites you to share this information with others–with the hope that many will benefit from this online resource and further experience the timeless truth of God’s Word as a powerful, compelling, life-changing reality.
