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.