Soul... Smug, Complacent, and Judgmental (continued)

Ok, so I admit that 2 months is a bit long to wait to continue something, but we've been pretty busy lately (no new kids joining our family, but we do have a new roof and a newly-borrowed tandem bicycle, along with some new responsibilities for our oldest son). And now I realized that in typing the first entry on my "smart" phone I made some typos -- I think I found and corrected them now.

Most non-Christians (and quite a few Christians, I'm afraid) have gotten their idea of what it is to be (negatively) judgmental from the world, and its twisting of Matthew 7:1 ("Judge not, that you may not be judged").

Good practices in Bible study once more steers us clear of the pitfalls of a world that screams "don't you dare judge me!" when confronted with its sin and depravity. For the rest of this passage on both sides (don't forget that the chapters and numbers were added after the original inspiration) gives us our marching orders (look to God and His sovereignty in Chapter 6) and puts the first verse in context (FIRST take the beam out of your own eye, in verse 5, and THEN you will see clearly to cast the splinter out of your brother's eye -- Jesus never for a moment asks us to assume that we are to leave it there!)

Speaking of the world, most of our modern "enlightened" society has decided that Paul's letters are far too confusing to be taken seriously (and why wouldn't it, since Paul presents so much truth in one chapter of Romans as to insult most American Christians if they really read and believed it, rather than trying to pass it off as "simply" meaning something different than it says, which can either be explained away or glossed over?). But Paul is to be taken seriously, as God's vessel for expounding upon much of His revelation to us (J.I. Packer calls Romans chapter 8 "the high point of Romans", which book he calls the "high point of scripture"). In First Corinthians chapter 5 and 6 Paul makes it very clear that it is our RESPONSIBILITY to call those around us to account for their lives and actions -- first Christians, to whom it is given to "keep the feast" of the sacrifice of Christ (5:7-8), then to those who would call themselves Christians but their actions betray them as otherwise (5:1-13), and then the world in general (6:2-3).

One of my favorite speakers once gave a sermon in which he several times over made the comment that truth is found most accurately in scripture when we use "Biblical terms with Biblical definitions" (comment on this entry if you are interested in the source of that quote, and I will look up that sermon and see if I can find a link to it in SermonAudio). And that is exactly what is needed here -- for just as the world cannot understand the difference between judging in righteousness and "being judgmental", neither can it understand what true love is. For God does not display (nor does He call His children to!) the sort of puny "love" the world preaches, that "forgives and forgets" the immense destructiveness of sin. The Son paid a price too huge for us to understand in atoning our sin and purchasing our justification (if we are His, or are to be), to deliver us into His forgiveness. How then can we disobey God by being too "non-judgmental" and/or "loving" to warn those around us of the consequences of their sin?

For as Paul says in First Corinthians 6:9-10 (in a set of verses that "could curl your toes", to borrow a phrase from one of my mentors), "Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God"!

To those of us who seek God's glory as that of our Father, through obedience to His Word, how can we fail to bring glory to God by being clear (not harsh, but clear) about the sin around us? And for those few (OK, maybe there aren't any!) Armenians and man's-free-will thinkers who for some reason have continued reading this long, if you truly believe that the destiny of someone's soul somehow depends on your actions (it does not, though by no means will any of us be absolved of responsibility for all of our words and actions!), how could you fail to warn those around you of the cost of their sin, if they remain slave to it?

Soul... "Smug, complacent, and judgmental"

The last thing in the world I want to be is smug, complacent, or judgmental. How can I be any one of those things and not be dishonorable before God? (Notice I did NOT say dishonorable TO God, for God can not and will not be dishonored, despite the best efforts of demons and men.)

Yet those of us who hunger and thirst after God, and so seek to be firmly-grounded, God-focused, and holy are often accused of these very things. It is therefore worthwile to examine each of these accusations in turn.

As is always the case in doctrinal discussions, we must begin by thrusting aside the emotional psycho-babble that permeates society, and look at these things in the clear light of scripture. We must always be on guard as well not to become stodgy, sour-faced Christians, for we have been blessed with true hope and true joy. However, this too will sometimes be misunderstood by the world, for we are admonished to be sober and purposeful (God is not glorified by foolishness!). As A.W. Tozer wrote in Pursuit of God, ours is the triumphant joy of the gulag (Communist prison), not the giddiness of an ignorant fool.

(to be continued...)

Body... Bicycling Accessories 101

Here is my list of items for beginning bicyclists (once you have a good bike!), in my order of priority. Remember, you usually don't get more out of something than you invest into it! (But you also don't have to buy all of this stuff at once -- I would consider down through #9 to be the most critical initially, especially if you consider riding alone more than a mile from your house -- forget going anywhere without a helmet and some bright clothing.)

1) helmet (make sure is well-vented, fits well to protect both forehead and back of head, and is ASTM or Snell rated)
2) "High-Viz" (Lime green) shirt, vest, jersey, and/or jacket, preferably with some reflective trim or details (Be Seen!)
3) gloves (fingerless are probably best for road, full-fingered for mtb)
4) water bottle cage (preferably 2) and water-bottles (at least 16 ounces each, preferably with auto squeeze-valve, such as Nike and Camelback running/cycling bottles have)
5) padded shorts -- try to get breathable fabric, good chamois pad, and leg-hems rather than "grippers" -- I haven't had very good luck with "gel" pads, and rubber leg-grippers make a lot of people break out (or at least itch) once they start sweating, especially in direct sunlight
6) rear "blinky light" (red, flashing) -- a good bright one, such as Blackburn or Trek, for riding at dusk or in foggy/misty conditions (you never know when you might need it, to be seen)
7) "frame-pump" air-pump with mount (to mount between water-botle cage and frame) -- make sure nozzle will work on at Presta valves (WITHOUT an adapter), preferably both Presta and Shrader ("regular" US car-style valves)

8) seat-bag (for mounting under saddle with velcro straps) -- Bell medium-size bag for approx. $8-$10 from Wal-Mart works well, but these can get as fancy as you want -- to hold following items ("8a" through "8g")
8a) spare tubes (Presta-valve 700x20-25c for road, 700 x 25-35c for touring, 26x1.9-2.2 for 26" mtn, 29x1.9-2.3" (equiv to 700 x 50-55c) for 29er -- Presta valves are always best, but make sure you have at least one pump to match) -- approx. $2.75 each at CoolByke in Hannibal
8b) tire-levers
8c) tube patch-kit WITH glue (the glueless patches DO NOT work, especially for road-tubes)
8d) allen-wrench tool or set, or (better yet) bicycle multi-tool with allen-wrenches, screwdrivers, and chain-tool
8e) chain tool, if not included with multi-tool above (at least get the $3 model from WalMart, which will work a few times before it breaks)
8f) emergency poncho or stuffable rain-jacket
8g) replacement "quick-link" chain-link -- SRAM and others sell them for a couple bucks each

9) glasses (for eye protection, from sun, radiation, debris, pavement, deer antlers, etc.) -- clear ones for night and early morning (small safety-glasses work fine, and are widely available for around $5), good medium-tint UV blocking for day-- I prefer the auto-darkening glasses from Optic Nerve, Performance, Nashbar, etc. -- these will run $30 to $200 (or more!), but good optics are worth it, and the better the features and clarity the higher the price
10) breathable cycling jersey, with zip-front (full front-zip is best) and rear pockets -- "HIGH VIZ" (lime green) is by far best color
11) energy bars, drinks, and/or gels (you'll need to average at least two per hour on all rides more than 2 hours long) -- Cliff bars are by far the best, and a box of 6 can be had from WalMart for less than $6; GU energy gel is the best, and can be a get-home saver if your muscles start cramping; Gatorade still works fine as an energy drink, though we have to re-condition ourselves to not be afraid of calories while we're riding -- glucose syrup works best, but regular processed sugar (sucrose) is still better than artificial sweeteners
12) water-resistant helmet-cover
13) cycle computer (includes speed and distance)
14) helmet-mount light (WalMart has some strap-headlights that will let you be seen and at least see your computer and shifters; the best light systems can run as much as $400 or more, though prices are falling as LED and battery technology continues to improve) -- a light is necessary for others to see you, but a really bright light is critical for you to see the road or trail if riding before dawn or after dusk
15) white "steady" handlebar-mount headlight, preferably LED with 3-4 AA's, such as Cateye EL500, but almost any steady white LED light will at least let you be seen after dark (to truly see the road or trail with it you probably need at least 1 Watt, or 60 Lumens)
16) tools (Park tools are the best, though Nashbar and PricePoint both sell a "home" tool kit for around $45 - $60 (depending on sale price at the time) that works fairly well for a lot of things)
17) work-stand
18) enough grease, lubes, and small parts to cover most situations (note: it's important to learn which types to properly use where -- using something that "works" can cause catastrophes later)

Soul... Knowing God, Day 4 -- The People who know their God

J.I. Packer begins chapter 2 of Knowing God with a story about a man he obviously looked up to, and it stands in sharp contrast to our Contemporary-Christian tendency to glorify everything BUT God (how often do you hear someone say "I'm so thankful that so many people have been praying for me -- I just know it's all those prayers that have brought me through this" (my emphasis added in bold type)?).

Packer presents his story as follows:
"I walked in the sunshine with a scholar who had effectively forfeited his prospects of academic achievement by clashing with church dignitaries over the gospel of grace. 'But it doesn't matter,' he said at length, 'for I've known God and they haven't.' The remark was a mere parenthesis, a passing comment on something I had said, but it has stuck with me and set me thinking.
"Not many of us, I think, would ever naturally say that we have known God. The words imply a definiteness and matter-of-factness of experience to which most of us, if we are honest, have to admit that we are still stangers..."
"Nor, I think, would many of us ever naturally say that in the light of the knowledge of God which we have come to enjoy, past disappointments and present heartbreaks, as the world counts heartbreaks, don't matter..."

May we glorify God in obeying His commands and in striving to know Him more on His terms (namely, through spending time studying, praying over, and meditating on His Word), and in doing so build our hunger for knowing Him -- and realize the joy that comes from letting the things of this world matter less and less to us.

Soul... Knowing God, Day 3 -- The Study of God (part 2)

Packer does not leave us in the middle of a road without a map, as it were, when it comes to the study of God. For after he gives us good reason to study God and to consider it as worthwhile (and logical, for a sane person who has resources readily available to do so), he outlines the basic themes that he proposes we use as the outline for our study:
"We shall have to deal with the Godhead of God, the qualities of deity which set God apart from humans and mark the difference and distance between the Creator and His creatures...
"We shall have to deal with the powers of God: His almightiness, his omniscience, his omnipresence. We shall have to deal with the perfections of God, the aspects of his moral character which are manifested in His words and deeds...
"We shall have to take note of what pleases Him, what offends Him, what awakens His wrath, what affords Him satisfaction and joy." (Knowing God, copyright 1973 by J.I. Packer, Text Americanized and completely retypeset in 1993, Published in the USA by InterVarsity Press.)

But it's Packer's next statement that resonates within my mind as being so true and yet at the same time so sad:
"For many of us, these are comparatively unfamiliar themes. They were not always so to the people of God. There was a time when the subject of God's attributes (as it was called) was thought so important as to be included in the catechism which all children in the churches were taught and all adult members were expected to know. Thus, to the fourth question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, 'What is God?' the answer read as follows: 'God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.'...
"Few children today, however, are brought up on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and few modern worshipers will ever have heard a series of sermons covering the doctrine of the divine character in the way that Charnock's massive Discourses on the Existence and Attributes of God (1682) did. Few, too, will ever have read anything simple and straightforward on the subject of the nature of God, for scarcely any such writing exists at the present time..." (page 21).

Thanks to God's use of J.I. Packer (and, I might add, several others like him who likewise bless us in these present times, including R.C. Sproul and John Piper), there are now writings on the subject of the nature of God which are simple and straightforward (without being simplistic or inaccurate) -- may we not fail to take full advantage of their availability to us!

Soul... Knowing God, Day 2 -- Who Needs Theology?

In the first part of his chapter entitled "The Study of God" (chapter one of his book "Knowing God"), J.I. Packer begins by examining the reasons to (properly) study God. He answers a hypothetical questioner, who is asking why a series of studies on the nature and character of God are really necessary and worthwhile, in the following manner:
"The questioner clearly assumes that a study of the nature and character of God will be impractical and irrelevant for life. In fact, howeer, it is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God Whose world it is and Who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God" (page 19, emphasis added by me in bold text).

Packer goes on to warn us that, though the study of God is worthwhile, we must start by "setting out in a storm", plugging our ears to the slogans and inaccuracies of the so-called debate about God, which asks us to buy into the lie that "knowledge about God is strictly a nonentity. Types of teaching which profess such knowledge are written off as outmoded -- 'Calvinism,' 'fundamentalism,' 'Protestant scholasticism,' 'the old orthodoxy'." (Page 19.)

Studying God in spirit and in truth, according to His Word, means that we are, after all, pursuing the Holy One of the universe, on His terms, in obedience to His commands -- what journey could be more worthy of our persistence, no matter what we are accused of or called?

Soul... Knowing God, Day 1 -- Preface (1973)

"Knowing God", by J.I. Packer (copyright 1973 by J.I. Packer, published in the U.S.A. by InterVarsity Press, Americanized and retypeset in 1993) is not the best book that I've read after the Bible. It is the second -- Packer's "Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God" was the best for me, in terms of thoughtfulness on the part of the author and impact on my life. However, "Knowing God" has a much greater breadth and scope, in that it examines (respectfully and worshipfully!) many of the characteristics and aspects of God Himself, along with practical advice for the means to know Him.

As I study "Knowing God" for the third time (this time for an "accelerated" 8-week study at church), I found it helpful to highlight certain portions of this collection of amazing and helpful insights, and so I want to start including them here.


Reading the "preface" to books seems to be mostly a matter of habit for many readers -- I know several readers who do not feel they've read a book completely until they've read it cover to cover, including the preface, while many others normally skip it. Packer's preface from 1973 is not to be missed, for in it he shares his reasons behind writing "Knowing God".

On page 12, Packer states that "The conviction behind the book is that ignorance of God -- ignorance both of His ways and of the practice of communion with Him -- lies at the root of much of the church's weakness today", and he goes on to identify two "unhappy trends" which "seem to have produced this state of affairs."

The first trend that Packer identifies is "that Christian minds have been conformed to the modern spirit: the spirit, that is, that spawns great thoughts of man and leaves room for only small thoughts of God" (my emphasis added in bold text). Part of the effects of this trend is that "churchmen who look at God, so to speak, through the wrong end of the telescope, so reducing Him to pygmy proportions, cannot hope to end up as more than pygmy Christians...".

Why do we not yearn for more, or at least fervently plead (as David did) for God's grace in making us yearn after Him? This is a futile question, I'm afraid, and a disappointing line of thought, for those who do not hunger and thirst after that which is truly good will have no desire to ask to hunger and thirst!

The second trend, Packer says, "is that Christian minds have been confused by the modern skepticism. For more than three centuries the naturalistic leaven in the Renaissance outlook has been working like a cancer in Western thought. Seventeenth-century Arminians and deists, like sixteeth-century Socinians, came to deny, as against Reformation theology, that God's control of His world was either direct or complete, and theology, philosophy, and science have for the most part combined to maintain that denial ever since" (page 13; my emphasis added in bold text).

This second trend strikes me as being similar to, or perhaps even the cause of, the pervasive "evolutionary" world-view which so many people (sadly, including many who might be Christians) now profess and even defend. Once we make God remote, or better yet, dependent on and "internal" to each individual, then we have little trouble pleasing ourselves -- after all, if God is relative and His works are easily explained (and if He is gentle, meek, and mild, "patiently waiting" for me to "invite Him to come in") then I have little trouble justifying any sort of compromise or even godlessness that seems right (or best suited for my purposes) to me at the time!

Enough said until Day 2...

Soul... Warning Signs

I realize that there are lots of folks reading Christian fiction these days, which is certainly not a bad thing considering most of the alternatives (and since most any fiction or music that is fairly clean gets labeled, or at least embraced, as "Christian". I saw a display for an entirely secular tweeny-bopper movie in a Christian book-store a couple of weeks ago because it has been embraced as "wholesome".)

However, as with anything we put into our minds via our senses, what we spend our time with affects us to a much higher degree than most of us will admit, especially when that material implies that it presents an accurate view of God and/or Godliness. Therefore, I find the following warnings appropriate:

1) Make sure it's pure, edifying, and glorifies God. Paul's "advice" that "to the pure all things are pure" did NOT mean that we can expect to put any old trash into our minds (no matter what it's called!) and expect to somehow "purify" it. Read that verse (Titus 1:15) carefully in its context, and you'll find that it's surrounded by Paul's admonitions for righteous and holy living. He was actually saying that those who are pure show it by choosing to do things which are pure! (This is another of those verses that so often gets pulled out of context and twisted.) I'm sorry, but I'm afraid Christian "horror" books fall under condemnation if you believe me on this one, unless you can somehow honestly defend reading about men or women being terrified or threatened by other men or women (who are not carrying out Godly justice).

2) Because it really happens does not make it worth reading about. We are to be building ourselves up in Godliness, in order to be useful in instructing others. If you desire to know what true "reality" is like, then read God's Word, which includes His perspectives on the wrongful actions of His children (starting with Adam, through Abram, Moses, Job and his friends, David, etc.) and those who are not His (including Cain, those destroyed by the flood, Aaron's sons, Eli's sons, King Saul, etc.). This does not mean that we are never to read about the troubles of this world, non-believers, or our brothers and sisters in Christ (I heartily recommend Voice of the Martyrs) -- but always in building wisdom and concern, never as "entertainment".

3) Steer clear of anyone or anything, outside of God's Word, that attempts to speak FOR God. (This, of course, is not in the same category as conscientious writers of sound faith and doctrine, who meditate on and attempt to apply God's Word.) If a book has a character or characters representing God (or even worse, identified AS God), it breaks the second of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:4, since the command prohibits making any images of anything in heaven above, including God). Once that characterization (the author's idea of God) speaks a word or takes an action which is not a direct quote from scripture, or uses scripture out of context, then the author has crossed the line into blasphemy. The more I seek to know God on His terms, in the light of His Word, and fall in love with Him, the more vile I find those works of fiction which would be so fool-hardy as to attempt to put men's words into the mouth of God.

4) Know yourself and your motivations. Ironically, we can only begin to truly know ourselves as we draw closer and closer to the One True God, and see ourselves in the light of His Word and His Spirit. This means spending time in His Word, meditating (properly, in His presence and under His guidance) on His Word and applying them properly to our lives. I will not fail to admit that there are those Christians called out by God to be watchers and discerners for Believers (and perhaps non-believers), nor can I dismiss the value of fiction as a resource, especially for those who are young in age and/or in truth, and possibly even in reaching out in some ways to those who are lost (though I must note that it is not specifically listed in the Bible, as is preaching and reading God's Word). However, Christian growth (sanctification) is a process we begin and continue to experience by grace through faith, and as we grow we are to constantly check our forward progress and our ability to "chew" more and more of the "meat" of God's Word.

I pray that God would bless our churches with Christians who truly hunger and thirst after His Word, and so reflect His truth to the people He has given them to influence.

Body... Outdoors

Spring may finally be here! I'm looking forward to a weekend of warmer temperatures in the Midwest (though chances are good it will rain -- again), enjoying the lengthening days, and perhaps even some sun-shine.

One of the greatest "common" blessings that I know of in this life is the chance to be outdoors, enjoying God's creation. But how many of us stop to think about what is really out there, and how much good it can do us if we're fairly wise about it?

I've enjoyed riding my bicycle year-round the last couple of years. Before that, I was strictly a fair-weather outsider -- when the temperature fell below 40 degrees in the morning, or water began to fall from the sky (or even stand in the street), I headed for the gym instead. I've found I have to be careful what I proclaim (words are too easily eaten, and while calorie-free usually taste terrible), but I'm pretty much done with that, at least for now. I used to be miserable all winter, huddling in heavy coats or layers of clothes while my nose ran and I went through one round of illness after another (sinus infections, colds, flu, stomach viruses -- you name it). Now, I feel much better, I rarely get sick, and my tolerance for cold air (and dampness) is much higher (OK, my nose still runs more than it probably should, but I can live with that).

Admittedly, spending more time outdoors, riding and running no matter what the weather brought, was not my only change -- I've learned more about using vitamins and minerals and "toxic cleansing" to head off sicknesses early, I've learned more about which foods to eat (and which ones not to eat), and I do a little better about getting more sleep when I need it. But I'm convinced that hiding-out in the gym for the winter exposed me to more germs, and did very little to build up my immune-system.

The more I learn about what works well for my body, the more I'm convinced that God designed into us more adaptability than we realize (especially true for those who fail to realize that there even is one true God!). So go enjoy the double blessing of the outdoors -- enjoying creation while benefiting from it!

Heart and Soul... What Wondrous Love is This!

John ("the disciple whom Jesus loved", in his own words) twice writes "God is love" in the first of his three letters in the New Testament (1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16). What a glorious and magnificent statement! And yet, it is now so often mis-used and almost universally mis-understood as to have become commonplace and seemingly impotent.

Please do not conclude that I think ANY of God's Word can truly and finally become impotent -- it is, after all, divinely inspired and therefore divinely protected. God's Word is not just a book "of historical significance" or words on a page -- it is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. And yet, for God's own purposes, according to His sovereign will, He allows Satan (the prince of this world) and those of this world to twist and bend and pervert even Scripture to suit themselves (Matt. 4:6, Luke 4:10, etc.). Complacency and lack of wise discernment with regards to God's Word are just as effective in keeping even true Christians from being useful to God as are outright sinfulness and pride -- for who can share a Gospel they don't know, or make disciples for a Master whose commands and statutes they don't take the time, or make the effort, to learn?

Contemporary Christians usually, if not always, take John's words to mean that God can be understood, at least in some ways, in the "light" of a human understanding of "love". Yet between the two statements, John points first not to any love that we have "inherently", but to love that has been revealed in us and given to us (as Christians), "not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation concerning our sins" (1 Jn. 4:10). ("Propitiation" -- what a great, strong word! I am grateful that limited use has made it mostly uncompromised!) John therefore does NOT in any way seek to define God by our limited understanding of "love" (nor does any other part of God's Word!), but, conversely, defines love in terms of God's active grace on the behalf of His elect (I would say His "children", but that term, too, is mis-used and mis-understood). It is only in the light of this grace that we can ever truly understand true love -- the sort of love that creates life (Genesis 1 and 2), judges it (Genesis 3 and 18:20-33), destroys it (Genesis 6 and 19), preserves it (Genesis 6 - 9, 45-50, Exodus 3 - 14), draws it to itself (Genesis 11 - 17, 28, Exodus 19), teaches it (Exodus 20-31), burns with righteous anger against it (Exodus 32:1-10), has mercy upon it (Exodus 32:11-14), and allows his servant to carry out His judgment upon it (Exodus 32:19-28). (All this in the first two chapters of God's Word, even before specific mention is given of the greatest act of love of all, in Christ's propitiation and atonement!)

How could we possibly convey such a tremendous and glorious love by telling people that "God loves you" (a statement which deserves the mockery that it evokes, when put forth to comman man without any background of Scripturally true love), or do it any justice with puny human contrivances such as "the Roman's Road" or the "ABCs of Salvation"?!?



What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”;
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on.

Words: At­trib­ut­ed to Al­ex­an­der Means.
Music: From The South­ern Har­mo­ny and Mu­sic­al Com­pan­ion, by Will­iam Walk­er (New York: Hast­ings House, 1835); ar­ranged by Will­iam J. Rey­nolds (1920-).
Thanks to www.cyberhymnal.org (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/w/h/a/whatwond.htm).

Soul and Heart... No Greater Love Than This

As I reflected upon Easter tonight, and prepared for the celebration of Christ's resurrection (and our Life because of it!) tomorrow, and tried to help prepare my children's hearts, I was once more struck by the majesty and truth and glory of His LOVE. At the same time, I am deeply saddened by our unintentional and yet very real trivialization of God's love, as we Christians try to "share" God's "love" with a "lost and dying world" (a phrase which is true in one sense and yet unBiblically hopeless in another). In trying to "share" God, we think our "job" as Christians is to tell the world (which is by definition unregenerate and unrepentant, for once someone is seized by God they are no longer of the world) that God "loves" them.

As a preparation for a future post, and for my own edification, I spent quite a bit of time tonight researching some contemporary Christian works of fiction, including "The Shack". I read a lot of good points on several web-sites, including http://hereiblog.com/2008/08/08/the-shack-review/ and http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/the-shack-by-william-p-young.php , but as I read down through the back-and-forth discussion on the first site I couldn't help but notice that many of us Christians (yes, even those of us who identify ourselves as "Reformed") seem to see "truth" and "love" as being in some sort of tension, as though we have to constantly balance upon a tightrope in order to follow Paul's admonition in Ephesians 4:15 that we are to be "speaking the truth in love".

Of course, there is a Biblical basis for differentiating (or at least separately listing) "truth" and "love", as in the above verse and in 2 John 1:3, but as we recognize the majesty and inerrancy of God's Word we should come to terms with the fact that just because two ideas seem contradictory to our limited human minds (the best other example I can think of is God's sovereignty over everything versus man's responsibility for his own sin) does not mean that they are not both equally, Biblically true.

As usual, one of my friends and mentors has already said it first, and best (though for lack of photographic memory I must paraphrase here): there is only one truth, and love is contained within it. Not only is truth cold and hard without true love, but it actually ceases to be actual truth (one could substitute the word "orthodoxy" here, which embodies most, if not all, of true doctrine). And not only is love washed out and useless without truth, but it is NOT actually true love!

"No greater love has man than this, that He lay down His life for his friends." (John 15:13) Thank you, Lord! May we all do a better job of proclaiming the true significance of Your love!

Mind... Right before our eyes

I read with a lot of curiosity and some excitement, in my December 2008 issue of IEEE Spectrum magazine (http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/dec08/7024), that a group of researchers have "discovered" a fourth passive circuit element (the first three being the resistor, the inductor, and the capacitor). One of the things that struck me most about this article, besides the admittedly-somewhat-geeky excitement over the actual existence of an entirely new passive circuit element, was the fact that this device has actually always been there, working in small ways in even the simplest circuits. As the author explains in the article, the influence of "memristance" (the original theorizer's name for the relationship between charge moving through a circuit and the magnetic flux surrounding that circuit) obeys an inverse-square law so that it is a million times more important at the nanometer (10 to the -9 power) scale as it is at the micrometer (10 to the -6 power) scale. Therefore, even though it was there all the time, we haven't really begun to detect its influence until recently, as we've continued the push to build smaller and smaller electronic circuits. (Moore's Law, postulated in the 1950's, stated that number of transistors on a chip would double every two years, though even back then it was foreseeable that physical limits must someday be reached.)


It's really sad and laughable at the same time, how arrogant we humans are, right in the face of all of this evidence of our minute level of understanding of the universe. In fact, as one of my mentors is fond of pointing out, the more we learn the more we (should) realize how much there is that we DON'T know.


Even without all of the human short-comings of propensity for error and limitations of memory, it strikes me as incredible that we trust in our selves at all. In fact, one of our main strengths lies in our ability to ask others around us to help catch our mistakes. (I think this is part of what Proverbs 12:15 means when it says that "the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who listens to advice is wise".)

The world has an on-going, persistent lie that there is no such thing as relative truth, and yet at the same time (illogically!) shouts that we can be confident in our own abilities, that we can somehow achieve a state of security if we just try hard enough on our own.

How much truth do we miss every day because we were too busy or too arrogant to look for it, even though it's right before our eyes?

Heart... Grace and Blessings

He who finds a wife finds what is good (Proverbs 18:22) -- why does God so abundantly bless some of us, who are less than nothing on our own, and yet withhold his grace from others?

Who am I, that I would be so abundantly blessed with a wife who loves God and loves her neighbors? Why have I been so blessed with a partner and help-meet, who God sometimes allows me to bless and who God so often uses to bless me in truth, in wisdom, in spiritual growth, and in accountability? Why have we been so blessed with friends and family who love us and step up to take care of us when stressful times come, and with children who are bright and joyful?

Those of us who are in Christ should not think of ourselves as the depraved, wretched, rebellious enemies of God we were born into -- to do so is to question the value of the cross of Christ, and His sacrifice upon it, and God's redemptive power worked through it. Yet I cannot help but reflect (especially as I see the destroyer at work all around me, and my heart breaks for the blindness and arrogance of those who destroy themselves and those around them) -- why me?

I have no delusions that my whole life can change in an instant, just as Job's did, or that I could not fall into temptation next year, or tomorrow, and hurt people I love -- but why has God blessed me with the fear of it (not just respect, but fear -- the kind that makes me scared to death of pulling away from God, even for an instant)?

Soul... Who is More?

Who is more powerful -- a god who is "standing outside the door", "patiently waiting" for someone to "let him come in", or God, Who breaks down the door, revives a man (or woman) who is dead in sin, and cleanses them from all unrighteousness with the blood of Christ? (Romans 7, 2 Corinthians 5)

Who is more loving -- a god who "loves" those who continually scorn his children and his commands and nurse their own emotions with zeal, who is "waiting" for someone to be "ready to turn to him", and who "longs" for people to ask him for help, or God, Who will judge the wicked, Who works all things for the good of those He has called for His glory, and Who disciplines His children according to His perfect wisdom? (Romans 8, Hebrews 12)

Who is more worthy of worship-- a god who "asks" for "respect" but "wants" everyone to "boldly" claim their "right" to eternity, or God, Who ordains that His children will know him well enough to (literally) fear Him? (Psalm 96)

Who is more worthy to be exalted -- a god who "accepts" us "just as we are", or God, Who cuts out hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh, that we might be justified before He Who is Holy, and Who calls His children to be holy? (Ezekiel 11 and 36, Psalm 99, Psalm 101)

Who is more full of grace -- a god who waits for someone who has no desire to do anything that is truly good to "make a decision" to "turn to him", or God, who has the power and grace to reach down and change the heart and life and mind of anyone, no matter how "hopeless" the world (or religious decision-sellers) might think they are -- even a wretch like me? (Acts 11 (especially verses 17-23), Romans 3 and 4)

Soul... Heart

Inspired by our discussion of Psalm 119:9-16 ("Beth", especially verses 10 and 11) during Bible study Thursday night, I did a word-study of the word "Heart". (If you're not familiar with this method of searching the scriptures, I recommend it as a great way to get a grasp on Biblical terms and context, and as an aid in meditating on God's Word properly.)

Using the Holman Bible Dictionary, Strong's Concordance (Copyright 1990 by Thomas Nelson Publishers), and God's Word (including the Holman CSB and the Hebrew-Greek NASB Key Word study Bible by AMG Publishers), here's what I've found so far (and I've really only brushed the surface on this one!):
- according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, in general terms the word "heart" is used to describe "the center of the physical, mental, and spiritual life of humans", and is connected with functions of the mind (Proverbs 23:7 , 1 Samuel 9:20, and Isaiah 46;8) and acts of the will (2 Cor. 9:7, Acts 5:4, and Romans 6:17), as well as human wishes and desires (Romans 1:24). Also, the Bible Dictionary states that in the Old Testament especially the word "heart" was used to speak of the conscience, since the Hebrew language had no word for conscience.

- the Hebrew words translated "heart" appear over 650 times in the Old Testament; of those instances Strong's # 3820 and 3824 occur most often by far (approximately 300 times each), followed by #5315 (approximately 10 times) and a few others, mostly derivations of # 3824 (numbers 382o through 3825).

- Strong's number 3824 (Hebrew "lebab") is itself from 3823 (Hebrew "labab") which means to be enclosed or to transport. Strong's says 3824 ("lebab") means literally "the heart (as the most interior organ); used also like 3820:-- +bethink themselves, breast, comfortably, courage, ... midst, mind, ... understanding".

- the word translated "heart" in Psalm 119 is almost always 3820 (Hebrew "leb"), which according to Strong's is "also used (figurative) very widely for the feelings, the will, and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything:--- + care for, comfortably, consent, ... courag[-eous], friend[-ly], ([broken-]), ...". There is only one other instance of the word translated "heart" in Psalm 119, in Psalm 119:7, and it uses the Hebrew word "lebab" (Strong's number 3824).

- the Greek words translated "heart" in the New Testament appear over 75 times total, most of which are Strong's Greek / New Testament number 2588 (Greek "kardia", meaning "the heart, i.e. (figurative) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the midlle:--- (+broken-) heart (-ed)". The remaining instances are Strong's number 4641 (Greek "sklerokardia", hardness of heart) in Mark 10:5 and 16:14, and Strong's number 5590 (Greek "psuche", or the part of the "soul" held in common with others creatures in God's creation) which appears in Ephesians 6:6.

The "heart" is often used to indicate man's desire for evil, or even to point to his own sin-nature (usually associated with God's judgment upon it), as in Jeremiah 17:9-10 and in Matthew 15:17-20. Thus man's natural, sinful heart indicates the depths of his true depravity, and God is just in condemning and punishing him for it (so much for "there is good in every man", and for that matter, for the merit of following the worldly advice to "follow your heart"!).

One thing I did not find in either the Old or New Testaments was God or His servants ever commanding or asking anyone to "invite God" (or Jesus, God-made-flesh) "into their heart". This usage seems to be based upon several verses in the New Testament, including 2 Cor. 1:22, Ephesians 3:17, and Romans 5:5, which speak of God giving us the down-payment of the Spirit in our hearts (as adopted children of God), expressing the desire that the Messiah may "dwell in your hearts through faith", and of God pouring out His love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. However, the Reformist in me is obliged to point out that all of these instances are verses to true Christians (that is, those who have already been seized by God, by His grace, through faith in Christ Jesus), and so the idea of God dwelling in the "hearts" (center of being) of His children is consistent with His action in making each chosen heart His dwelling-place (or giving His children a new heart, as in Ezekiel 11:17-20), not in waiting to be invited in.
Thus it makes sense (and carries extra significance) that David would count on God to "enlarge [his] heart" in Psalm 119:32 (NASB) and ask God to "incline [his] heart to Thy testimonies..." in Psalm 119:36 (NASB), to name just a very small portion of such requests within the Psalms and the Old Testament.

I am once more struck with awe at God's grace in giving us His Word (and even more, His Word made flesh) and with horror at our neglect of it, as we allow our ears to be numbed and our minds made complacent by the constant noise of the world, including their trumpet-call to leave behind the meaningfulness of words as being no more than semantics. May we never stop seeking after God with our whole heart, and this includes hungering after His Word with a zeal that does not allow words as "common" as "heart" to become "commonplace" to us when contained and used within His living and active Word.

Heart... This Momentary Marriage

John Piper's book, "This Momentary Marriage" is now available for FREE download from his web-site, at http://www.desiringgod.org/media/pdf/books_bmm/bmm.pdf . It's a fairly "quick" read, at only 192 pages long, but as is usually the case in Piper's books, it is full of insightful depth, meaningful quotes, and the clear light of scripture. (By the way, Chapters 9 and 10 deal with being single in Christ, in this life as well as in the next. Married or single, if you're an adult then you're missing out on some keen insight if you don't spend some time with this book.)

Pastor Piper's reasons for the title he chose for this book were unclear and even a little concerning to me (lest it be misinterpreted by many) at first, but his grasp on the depth of life as a child of God made his title more evident as I read the first chapter, including:

"Thinking about martyrdom may seem like a strange way to begin a book on marriage. If we lived in a different world, and had a different Bible, I might think it strange. But here is what I read.
" 'Let those who have wives live as though they had none.' (1 Cor. 7:29)
" 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.' (Luke 14:26)
" 'Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers
or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive
many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.' (Luke
18:29–30)
"I take those verses to mean: Marriage is a good gift of God, but the world is fallen, and sin abounds, and obedience is costly, and suffering is to be expected, and 'a person’s enemies will be those of his own household' (Matt. 10:36). High romance and passionate sexual intimacy and precious children may come. But hold them loosely—as though you were not holding them. This is what Bonhoeffer represents. To keep his life and meaning before us throughout this book, I will let him speak briefly on the facing pages at the beginning of each chapter.
"Romance, sex, and childbearing are temporary gifts of God. They are not part of the next life. And they are not guaranteed even for this life. They are one possible path along the narrow way to Paradise. Marriage passes through breathtaking heights and through swamps with choking vapors. It makes many things sweeter, and with it come bitter providences."

Dealing with "Faith and Sex in Marriage" in Chapter 11, he writes,

" Turn with me now to reflect on the implications of Hebrews 13:4–5. 'Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money.' It is remarkable that the writer puts money and the marriage bed side by side. It is not a coincidence that most counselors today would put money and sexual relations near the top of their lists of trouble spots in marriage. Agreement in money matters and harmony in the marriage bed don’t come easily. Our focus is on the marriage bed. But don’t lose sight of how closely connected the two are. The pursuit of power and pleasure mingle in these two areas as in no others."

Since many of us (yes, even true Christians) struggle in this area, I was particularly interested in his insights into what many others have called marital "intimacy" (the contemporary Christian word for the gift of sex in marriage). Would he end up repeating the same half-hearted, ambiguous lines about finding common ground and making it "easy" on one another that we hear and read so often from many "Christian marriage" seminars and authors, or would he address the subject boldly in the light of God's Word?

Pastor Piper certainly does not disappoint here, either, in fact so much so that I almost hate to take just one excerpt, so, with apologies for the long quote (in order to try to keep from taking it out of context even more than quoting necessitates), consider the following just an imperfectly-grabbed bit of a chapter which is worthy of so much more (and so should be read in full):

"The third thing that we can say about faith and sexual relations in marriage is that faith uses sex against Satan. Consider 1 Corinthians 7:3–5:
'The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so
that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.'
"In Ephesians 6:16 Paul says we should ward off Satan with the shield of faith. Here he says to married people, 'Ward off Satan with sufficient sexual intercourse. Don’t abstain too long, but come together soon, so that Satan will gain no foothold.'
"Well, which is it? Do we guard ourselves from Satan with the shield of faith or the shield of sex? The answer for married people is that faith makes use of sexual intercourse as a means of grace. For the people God leads into marriage, sexual relations are a God-ordained means of overcoming temptation to sin (the sin of adultery, the sin of sexual fantasizing, the sin of pornography). Faith humbly accepts such gifts and offers thanks.
"Notice something else in 1 Corinthians 7:3–5. This is very important. In verse 4 Paul says that the man and the woman have rights over each other’s bodies. When the two become one flesh, their bodies are at each other’s disposal. Each has the right to lay claim to the other’s body for sexual gratification.
"But what we really need to see is what Paul commands in verses 3 and 5 in view of these mutual rights. He does not say, 'Therefore stake your claim! Take your rights!' He says, 'Husband, give her the rights that belong to her! Wife, give him the rights that belong to him!' (v. 3). And in verse 4: 'Do not refuse one another.' In other
words, he does not encourage the husband or wife who wants sexual gratification
to seize it without concern for the other’s needs. Instead, he urges both husband and wife to always be ready to give his or her body when the other wants it.
"I infer from this and from Jesus’ teaching in general that happy and fulfilling sexual relations in marriage depend on each partner aiming to give satisfaction to the other. If it is the joy of each to make the other happy, a hundred problems will be solved before they happen.
"Husbands, if it is your joy to bring her satisfaction, you will be sensitive to what she needs and wants. You will learn that the preparation for satisfactory sexual intercourse at 10 p.m. begins with tender words at 7 a.m. and continues through the day as kindness and respect. And when the time comes, you will not come on like a Sherman tank, but you will know her pace and bring her skillfully along. Unless she gives you the signal, you will say, 'Her climax, not mine, is the goal.' And you will find in the long run that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
"Wives, it is not always the case, but usually it seems that your husband wants sexual relations more often than you do. Martin Luther said he found twice a week to be ample protection from the Tempter.1 I don’t know if his wife, Katie, was up for it every time or not. But if you’re not, give it anyway, unless there are extraordinary
circumstances. I do not say to you husbands, 'Take it anyway.' In fact, for her
sake, you may go without. The goal is to outdo one another in giving what the
other wants (Rom. 12:10). Both of you, make it your aim to satisfy each
other as fully as possible."

It is by the grace of God that our world is blessed commonly, and that His children are blessed specifically. I am reminded to be immensely thankful for both when I consider the writings of men such as John Piper.

Body... Recovery

One of the most-talked about "discoveries" this year, at least for amateur athletes, has been "recovery". Professional athletes have been using cycles of four-days-on, two-days-off for years, but how many amateur athletes have the time or patience to let their bodies just do nothing for two days, when an hour-long work-out in the morning is exceptional rather than minimal (especially those of us who have families and jobs that require physical activity)? Likewise for massage, saunas (who but a pro has the time or money?), and relaxation techniques.

But now there are some really good products and techniques on the market that don't cost a lot of money, and us amateurs can take advantage of them for a few minutes a day and still reap some significant benefits. My favorite in the past has been zen-style meditation with a decidedly Christian twist (I taught myself how to clear my mind before God seized me, but now that I am His I meditate on His Word, or pray to relax, rather than focusing on something meaningless or trying to find the "core" of my "being"), but this year I've been really impressed with a product called simply "The Stick" (http://www.thestick.com/ ). (I've got the link on my main page as well as here in this post.)

Maybe sometime I'll tell the story on here of how I intersected paths with that of a deer last year, on April 17th, 2008 (yes, I definitely do sympathize with Matt Lauer), but for now let's just say that the result of that crash left my left hip and lower back very stiff. Just running The Stick over those areas for a few minutes each day has helped bring back some flexibility and feeling, and the results for my legs have been significant as well. I actually don't worry as much about pushing too hard on my strength-interval days, because I know that I can get rid of most of the muscle soreness in my legs on that same day with The Stick, and what remains is usually gone by the third day I use it.

I got my "travel" model from an on-line retailer, but lots of sporting-goods stores and bike shops are starting to carry them (just google "the stick massage" to see lots of places to buy). I recommend the travel size as a good starter, since it costs less than $35 most places and is easy to shove into a gym-bag or suit-case, or carry with you in the car (using The Stick while driving is by no means recommended or endorsed by me -- use it once you get to your destination, or while your spouse drives!).

As God tells us in His Word (remembering the Sabbath day is part of The Ten Commandments and Old Testament law, and Jesus expounded on God's reasons for the Sabbath in the New Testament), "down" days are required of us as humans, and smart recovery depends on us taking the time to treat our bodies well. The Stick is a great invention, but it really just makes use of God's magnificent design of our bodies, including their ability to heal themselves and make themselves stronger.

Soul and Body... Discipline

I found this article on CNN interesting: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/27/fall.dogs.cats/index.html . Did you notice the quotes from the pet-expert (Dr. Doverspike) about how proper training (discipline) brings freedom to the pet itself, in that it knows what to expect?

Why do we want to reduce Godliness to a bunch of psychobabble and/or mysticism (the common theme seems to go something like, "if I just pray about it long enough then I'll feel 'convicted' of what's right"), when God has already provided detailed instructions, telling us exactly what He expects? Why do we as American Christians spend so much more time (and money) "watching" and listening to and reading the "news", and talk-shows, and gossip-magazines, than we do reading His Word and meditating on it? (I'm pretty sure I know the answer, so maybe I'll write about that some other time.)

Wise athletes (especially those of us who would be mediocre otherwise!) discipline their bodies through training, practice, and exercise; those who hunger and thirst after God discipline their hearts and minds through study and meditation on God's Word, through time in prayer, and through true fellowship (not just sitting around talking about the football game!) with other Christians.

Discipline is NOT a bad thing, for heart, mind, body, or soul -- we've just accepted the lie that it is. Growing in grace requires that we vehemently and completely reject such lies.

(Psalms 94:1-13 , Proverbs 3:11-12, Hebrews 12:5-13)

Mind... Our "simple" world

In my job as an engineer, I'm sometimes told that "you're making things complicated." I usually smile and finish my explanation, or try to explain in simpler or more meaningul terms, but what I really want to tell them is that our world is infinitely complicated on its own, and I just exposed a small portion of that complexity to them.

With apologies to all engineers, doctors, scholars, physicists, and anyone else thought to be intellectual out there, I'll share a closely-guarded secret: the world is infinitely complex, and so are the very simplest portions of it. What we engineers do is all based on modeling: we take an infinitely complex system and model it in terms which are so crude that we can understand them, hopefully in a way which will approximate the truth closely enough to allow us to predict some of the results of acting upon it. And engineers are not alone. Think your doctor thoroughly understands your body? Ask him or her to describe the quantum mechanics involved with keeping just one of your cells intact, or even to explain with certainty how any single drug will behave within any single patient on any given day.

As J.I. Packer wrote in his excellent work, Knowing God, what we know about someone or something becomes exponentially more complex as the someone or something becomes more complex. That is, it's easier to "know" a bug (or at least anticipate how it will behave in a given situation) than it is to "know" a horse, and it's almost impossible to really "know" a person (which is why we husbands have the blessing and challenge of continuing to study our wives, recognizing that their feelings and interests can and often do change throughout our lifetimes).

There are lots of reasons for this, including the fact that each mechanism within the physical world has an almost infinite number of parameters affecting its operation. Think of a drop of water running down a window-pane -- it can and will be affected by the size of the water droplet (which also affects surface-tension of the droplet and a host of other parameters), the slope of the window, the frictional coefficient of the window's surface, the gravitational pull on the droplet, the ambient temperature, the speed and direction of the wind, the amount and direction of light (photons), and on and on and on (it makes one's head spin!).

Why then are we surprised, as Christians who believe in an infinite, all-powerful God, that He is infinitely more wise and complex than we are? (My guess is that as limited creatures we get very uneasy, if we are honest with ourselves, with the realization that our sphere of control does not extend as far as our sphere of responsibility, even if it is "our" God who is in control of it all!) There is an aspect of doctrinal understanding that says that God does not just reign over His creation, He sustains it. That is, without His continuous, powerful control over all things, they would all fail within an instant.

The knowledge of this adds to my life one more blessed paradox -- that being confident of God's goodness and wisdom I can know that all things work together for true good, and yet I can have little confidence in the results of my own abilities (but for His grace). I've met engineers who were confident that any and every problem could be overcome if they just thought about it and worked on it long and hard enough, but that is just not the case. God is good in keeping His physical laws constant (our God is a God of physical order), but we usually don't have the resources to predict all of their interactions. I am called upon to be excellent in all I do, and so my limited human mind often necessitates that I fool myself into attacking each problem as though it can be solved, and yet I must take care to continuously call for help from God, Who is the only one who can really solve every problem.

Once again, reality points me to the One True God, for in a world of infinite complexity why would I want to worship a god who is small and definable enough for such a limited creature as me to understand?!?

Body.. Complete with instructions

The One True God is far above any one analogy or role, or even entire sets of comparisons, and yet as I've grown as His child I find that my faith has grown as a result of my growth as an engineer. God is far more than the greatest of engineers, but in engineering we follow rules and guidelines which I see reflected in His creation.

The first of these rules is that things NEVER get better on their own, and in fact the most reliable mechanisms and electronics have "Mean Times Between Failures" and "Uptimes" which are counted in minutes or hours, but seldom in days or weeks. Even the simplest, best-designed processes require maintenance every few days, and none of them are self-sustaining. A few are starting to be called "learning" because they can amass enough data to begin to make better and better "decisions" or even to go faster and faster, but in reality they cannot begin to "learn" until they are set in motion by their human builders, and they cannot sustain themselves without human intervention, including cooling, lubrication, replacement of worn parts, electrical power, and a host of other critical resources.

When God created us (originally perfectly), he too built in certain needs -- food, companionship, emotional fulfillment, warmth, air, sunlight, etc. The fact that we are not self-sustaining points to God, while the fact that we are fragile, limited, immoral, and self-destructive reminds us of our downfall -- sometimes called "original sin". These limits, none of which are outside of God's control, in the light of His Word show us our sin, His Goodness, and our dependence on Him.

One of the other "rules" in engineering is that a process is only as good as those who use it, and maintain it. I would be a pitiful engineer if I set up the most brilliant process in the world and then handed it over without further explanation to people totally unfamiliar with its workings or its maintenance needs, setting them "free" to do whatever they wanted with it. A good manual, and/or set of drawings and instructions, is critical for the process to do what it was designed to do.

God is not limited by engineering rules, but I believe that He too has provided a manual for proper operation and maintenance, in the form of His Word. Countless lives have borne out the impact of His Word upon spirit, emotions, and even mental health, but I believe that His Word also contains the best instructions for healthy physical living. After all, why would the designer's instructions not be the best?

This is a "Body" post, and I realize that I've already gotten way too spiritual for some, so I'll limit my remarks here to God's instructions for our bodies. I recognize God's hierarchy, that our spiritual well-being is far more important than that of our physical bodies, but in calling us to be excellent in all things I am assured that God does not intend for us to neglect our physical bodies at all. On the contrary, His "Old Testament laws" as found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, as well as throughout the rest of His Word, are not to be ignored (except those which Jesus specifically replaced, that is the priesthood and the sacrifices) and in many cases deal with physical well-being.

"Modern research" has borne out what God told His people thousands of years ago; in fact, I would hazard to guess that few of us would live up to "newly" recognized standards for diet, exercise, and rest (often called "recovery" today) as well as an Israelite in 500 BC would have done. Don't eat shellfish, hogs, bottom-feeders, and other toxin-collectors (God designed them for the specific purpose of cleaning up stuff that would be deadly to much of the rest of His creation); work hard for 6 days; rest completely on the seventh day -- God's instructions to His people were specific, intentional, detailed, and good. Dr. Don Colbert does a terrific job of expounding on many of God's dietary and physical laws and instructions, and how to apply them, but really we can get a pretty good understanding of how God's "Levitical laws" aid in our physical welfare by just taking the time to literally read them.

I realize that many, if not most, Christians today, even those who are disposed to careful reading and understanding of the Old Testament, dismiss many of the Levitical laws as not being relevant to us, in the light of Christ for our salvation, and cite the example of Peter's vision of "unclean" foods in Acts 10 as evidence that we don't have to follow the Old Testament dietary guidelines. But Peter's vision led him to take the Gospel to non-Jews -- those he had formerly considered "unclean", and so it was intended (and he understood it) as spiritual teaching, not dismissal of good physical instructions. Jesus Himself said that He came to fulfill the Law, not to destroy it, and Paul pointed out that the Law, given by God, was as such good, even though it was never intended to bring the righteousness of salvation (but instead was intended to show that we could never achieve righteousness apart from God).

There are plenty of Christian cliches I dispute as misleading (or outright lies), but here's one I like: "Read the manual."

(Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Acts 10 and 11, Matthew 5, Romans 7)

Soul... It's Easy (and other lies)

One of the most common inaccuracies I hear in marriage seminars is "men, it's easy for your wives to submit to you if you're doing a good job of loving her and leading your household". I want to jump up and yell, "No it's not! It's IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to fully submit constantly, just like it's impossible for anyone to selflessly love constantly!"

This inaccuracy is often presented to us as "encouragement" for men to love selflessly, as Christ loves the Church, usually within the context of improving "sexual intimacy" within marriage (giving us men the idea that our sweet and somehow-less-sinful wives just need to be nurtured into giving us all we desire when it comes to sex). (Don't get me wrong, we men are commanded to love selflessly, just as our wives are commanded to submit completely, and this includes the arena of sex within marriage -- huge blessings follow obedience to God's commands, but they often don't include the results we want.) Why the people who put on and write material for Christian marriage seminars want to promote this lie baffles me, just as it baffles me that we want to make excuses for God rather than admitting that He's in control of everything, including those destined for salvation.

In fact, we who are saved by His grace are the ONLY ones who have even a chance of submitting, or of loving selflessly sometimes, for just as Augustine wrote, we are the only ones who can choose that which is not sin. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit, living within us, that we can do that which is otherwise impossible.

Don't believe me? Check out Genesis 3:16, where God pronounces His judgment upon women for Eve's sin. I'm incredulous (and cynically amused) that some Bible scholars actually interpret this verse to mean that woman's sexual desire will be for the man (though many women would no doubt think that to be a curse!). No! Women (and therefore men, whom they were designed to help) are cursed with women's desire to take the role of leadership AWAY from men, and our society (and churches) are loaded with examples of women "stepping up" because men "won't" (or won't quickly enough to suit the women watching and waiting).

The Christian life is not easy, or "simple" (though it is for those who are simple, as a word-study within God's Word shows), any more than human life on Earth is. Even becoming a child of God is impossible... except with God! (Matthew 19:26)

(Genesis 3, Matthew 19:16-26)

Soul... Bible Study update

We'll be starting Psalm 119 at 8 pm at Java Jive this Thursday night!

If you're not already in a weekly Bible study group, please consider joining one. If you've studied enough to be Biblically accurate, please consider forming one!

Body... Velocomp iSport

My favorite new "tool" is my iSport from Velocomp (http://www.ibikesports.com/ ). Yes, $210 or so is a lot of money to spend on something that essentially sits on your bicycle handlebars and provides feedback about what your body is doing with said bicycle, but when you consider that a device to get the same feedback costs $1,000 more from any other manufacturer it suddenly becomes a relative "bargain"!

I realize that there are a lot of people out there who just ride their bicycle for fun or to save on gas, and even more people who don't ride a bicycle at all, so I'll keep this fairly short. If you're interested you can find out more about the iSport (and all its big brothers, the iBike Pro and iBike Aero) at Velocomp's website -- just don't pay too much attention to most of what you read about it on the rest of the internet, because most of it is out-dated. Oh, and don't bother trying to pick up a used one "cheap" on eBay, because the current models (Generation III) are a huge step above the Generation I and II units you'll find eBay littered with.

The guys at Velocomp are unusually responsive and customer-oriented, and their product shows a level of thoughtfulness that I usually don't see in electronic devices (and I see a lot of electronic devices). Check their forums on their web-site (http://www.ibikeforums.com/) and you'll see that they answer most questions within a day or two.

One of the best things about the iSport, besides the fact that it displays calculated real-time power in Watts (which is HUGE to a cyclist), is that once you set it up for your bike and do a 20-minute "fitness test" then there are three different workout-types you can choose from, each with at least two "levels" you can select. This means you can work on strength-training one day and cardio the next, and the displays will guide you by telling you what your target wattage should be, along with your actual wattage at that time.

If you ride your bicycle for fitness of any type, whether your goal is losing weight, gaining strength, or punishing your fellow competitors at your next triathlon, this is a product worthy of consideration. Forgive me for sounding like a marketing slogan, but it's true (and no, I've not received anything from Velocomp other than good advice and the iSport, which I paid full price for).

Soul... Tickling the Tale of the Dragon?

One of the men who has been a great influence and mentor to me tells the story of a "game" some physicists used to "play" back in the early days of nuclear experimentation called "Tickling the Tale of the Dragon" (my mentor is a nuclear physicist himself). My understanding is that it involved placing two radioactive materials close enough to each other to start loosing free electrons (which would register as quickening clicks sounded by a Geiger counter), without getting them so close to one another that a full nuclear reaction began (which would register on the Geiger counter as well as on any human soft-tissue nearby!). Predictably, the "game" usually ended with just a few extra clicks of the Geiger-counter, but on a few rare occasions it ended in disaster for the participants -- at least one physicist died of radiation poisoning and burns from this experiment, and many students who witnessed "mistakes" during the "game" had long-term effects which would have been impossible for anyone to predict back then.

He uses this as an illustration of how we often make "mistakes" in dealing with sin. Things that are not sin in and of themselves become idols to us, or themselves have sinful elements that are easy to loose on ourselves before we even realize what we've done.

Biblically, this list includes drinking (not a sin in itself, but can lead to drunkenness, which is), comfort (which God's people are sometimes blessed with, but often leads to complacency), sensuality (sinless only within the context of Biblical marriage), self-pleasuring (which can theoretically be done without sinning, but which in practice takes the focus off of our spouse and replaces it, often with adulterous thoughts and/or images), and a host of other "traps".

"Be holy as I am holy." Wow -- what a huge command! Why in the world would God command such an impossible thing of His children? Peter implies that it is both for our own good ("girding up the loins of your mind") and for God's glory ("at the revelation of Jesus Christ") that God calls us to be holy in conduct, "not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance...".

In God's standard of holiness, ignorance is not bliss, it is sin, and in fact may be an indication that we are not who we think we are, for only by God's work to give us a new heart and make us a new creation can we claim the power of the Holy Spirit to help us strive for holiness.

By the way, this is the opposite of "self-righteousness" (though those striving for holiness will often be accused of self-righteousness by the world) -- only by dependence on God and knowledge of His grace in working to change us can we ever hope to keep moving toward holiness.

So do we stay completely away from anything that might cause us to sin? The admonition to flee from sin is not to be ignored, or justified away, and yet we have freedom in Christ to enjoy His creation. The question that I have to keep asking myself is, "Why?" Am I stepping out on faith, taking a risk for God's eternal glory, or just "Tickling the Tale of the Dragon" because it's something that (if I'm honest with myself) I selfishly want? If it doesn't glorify God on all four corners, it's likely I'll get burned -- and act shamefully before God in the process.

(1 Peter 1:10-21, Leviticus 11:44)

Soul... What if Joshua's actions took place yesterday?

[Associated Duress Article, March 22nd, 2009:]

In a brutal act of hostility and violence, the leader of the large group of militant religious followers known simply as "Joshua" ended his week-long siege on the peaceful city of Jericho by somehow causing the walls of the great city to tumble to the ground. This horrific event was followed by unprovoked bloodshed by Joshua and his guerilla warriors upon thousands of innocent people, including women and children. There are unconfirmed reports that one family may have been taken hostage by the invaders, but at this point there is no indication that anyone else survived what appears to have been unmitigated religous genocide upon the citizens of Jericho.

In addition to the massive carnage, it appears that all of Jericho's rich culture of art, entertainment, and sexual freedom may now be lost forever.

The fanatics, whose numbers are estimated to be in the millions, have so far managed to somehow survive long periods in the harsh desert environments of the region, and are reported to be marching into lush green valleys overflowing with resources such as milk, honey, and grapes large enough to be carried on poles between two men. Hysteria over their invasion is on the rise, and religious leaders world-wide have called upon Joshua to halt his horrible reign of violence and tyranny. Unabashed, Joshus has stated that he is "following God's commands ... to destroy all those who now possess the land promised to God's 'chosen people', the 'children of Israel'."

Leaders of many Christian churches in American have distanced themselves from Joshua and his remarks, noting that their god loves everyone and would never harshly judge people who are innocently living out their chosen lifestyles, thus depriving them of their free will to choose eternal salvation.

[(Joshua chapters 2 and 6)]

[Follow-up Note: I got to worrying after I posted this that some readers might misunderstand my perspective as encouragement to break God's commands (such as to not murder) "because God told them so" or even for the sake of God's other commands. My intent was not to address such complexities, but rather just to make us think about Who God really is, what His sovereignty really means, and how He views sin.]

Body... To ride

I'm really looking forwarding to riding some tomorrow, so I'd better go to bed so I have the energy to do it.

Riding is another paradox for me (my life seems full of them, which is of course no accident!) -- it gives me time for spiritual reflection and yet often distracts me from spiritual action; it broadens my circle of friends and narrows my circle of influence. This would all be very confusing if I didn't entrust it all to God (which does NOT mean that I absolve myself of any responsibility for it)!

God gives mercy and justice, blessings and judgments, treasures and snares. Were I not His child, I might think it a worshipful thing to ride. As it is, I'll take the blessing, while taking care not to let any of those two-wheeled things (or even the act of being on them) become an idol.

My Love gave me a poster with a cyclist on it (a mountain biker coming over a peak, to be exact) with the rising sun in the background and Genesis 1:1 quoted at the top. The caption on it says simply "Thank You." There are lots of good reasons to ride, as we care for these human shells, but if my heart isn't right then it doesn't really matter what I do with my body.

Heart... my Best Friend

I have an awesome best friend, who God has blessed me abundantly with and through, and who I get to spend time with most days.

However, we live in a fallen, sinful world, in this complex paradox where fallen, sinful bodies and minds are yet at the same time a miracle of design and, often, of grace. So one of the trickiest, most rewarding pasttimes that I've found is letting my best friend know how awestruck I am, while at the same time trying to be careful not to be so awestruck that I forget to do a good job, or in any way cause my best friend to think she's too awesome for God (or me!).

Ever notice how the most difficult things God calls us to do are often the most rewarding?

(Song of Songs 6:10; Proverbs 27:1-21)

Heart... Love and

(Don't you love challenging verses?!?)

(Ephesians 5:15-33)

I know this passage is a bit longer than we're often used to seeing all together, but I try to be careful not to take ideas out of context. In fact, even truth as full as that contained this passage is not complete outside of the context of the rest of the Canon, so in emphasizing it we must draw on a Biblical understanding of God's commands.

One such understanding is that God's commands are not conditional. That is, when he tells me to do something the actions of those around me really have very little to do with whether He expects me to obey or not.

Therefore, in living my heart first for God and then for my wife, my responsibility to lead (including helping encourage and account for areas as tough as submission) never eclipses my responsibility to love as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it(!)

In asking her to submit herself to me that day I have to first ask myself how I've done in loving her selflessly that day.

Speaking of which, the kids need to go to bed in 10 minutes, and Kate is calling, so maybe I'll get back to this later!

Soul... Have you ever really read the words to this?

I know it's not divinely inspired in the canonical sense (in reality isn't everything actually "divinely" inspired, or at least divinely transpired?), but I'm often amazed at how grace overflows in the words of those who have hungered and thirsted.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.


Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin.

Here I raise my Ebenezer,
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.


Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.


O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.


O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace.

Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.




(Words: Ro­bert Ro­bin­son, 1758; ap­peared in his A Col­lect­ion of Hymns used by the Church of Christ in Angel Al­ley, Bi­shop­gate, 1759.
Music: Net­tle­ton, Wyeth’s Re­po­si­to­ry of Sac­red Mu­sic, Part Se­cond, by
John Wy­eth, 1813)

(thanks to http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comethou.htm )