From God, For God

We tend to focus on what we do not have, but forget or take for granted what we do have.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him." - Acts 17:24-27a (ESV)

"What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" - 1 Corinthians 4:7b (ESV)

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God's gift to man." - Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 (ESV)

Everything we have (and do not have) is from God, for God.

The Road Ahead

One man on an island

One drop in the sea

All it takes to set a wave in motion

Is a single word, an action

A hope that we can be

The change that we've been longing to see

For our home, our land, our family

It's all within our reach

See this island, every grain of sand

Hear this anthem, it's the voices of our friends

Come whatever on the road ahead

We did it before, and we'll do it again

When the moments turn to hours

And the day's last light is gone

Look around us always and remember

There were times we were uncertain

But we just kept walking on

It's always darkest just before the dawn

See this island, every grain of sand

Hear this anthem, it's the voices of our friends

Come whatever on the road ahead

We did it before, and we'll do it again

Our home, the home we share

Where the garden always grows toward the light

Though the road ahead is daunting

I know we're gonna be alright

See this island, every grain of sand

Hear this anthem, it's the voices of our friends

Come whatever on the road ahead

We did it before, and we'll do it again

See this island, every grain of sand

Hear this anthem, it's the voices of our friends

Come whatever on the road ahead

We did it before, and we'll do it again

Everyday Faithfulness

"When we seek to abbreviate God-ordained waiting, we lose an opportunity to learn that He is the source of contentment."

- Glenna Marshall, Everyday Faithfulness

None Like Him

"Our greatest need has been dealt with once and for all. How much more will He supply all our lesser needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus?"

"The antidote for anxiety is to remember and confess that we can trust the future to God."

- Jen Wilkin, None Like Him

35

I decided to make a list of 35 things to thank God for as I turn 35. I couldn't stop at 35!

Trust and Obey

Just remember: the Lord wants His will and mission and purpose to be accomplished in your life more than you do. And as you abide in Him, as you are totally surrendered to Him, He will lead and guide and direct your steps. You go through the obedience of what God puts in front of you day by day by day by day. And trust that He is going to lead and guide those steps in a way that will make His glory known in wonderfully creative ways.

- David Platt, Finish the Mission

Jesus is our strength

"We are free to confess weakness because Jesus is our strength." - Paul David Tripp, Lead

Grace and Gratitude

Be grateful to your gracious God.

It has been truly said that in the New Testament the doctrine is grace and the ethic - that is, the prescribed behaviour - is gratitude. And the gratitude is prompted by both the knowledge of the grace of Christ in one's head and the power of that grace in one's heart, with Christ as the centre of attention at all times in both.

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). Giving to God should ever express unending gratitude for almost unbelievable grace.

- J. I. Packer, Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength

Weakness Is the Way

My own recognition that the Christian way of life and service is a walk of weakness, as human strength gives out and only divine strength can sustain and enable, may well be rooted in my youth. A solitary and rather somber child, I had to wear at school, for ten years, a black aluminum patch covering a hole in my head, the result of a road accident, and hence I was unable to play outdoor games. During those years I felt out of most of what mattered, which is of course one form of the feeling of weakness.

This sense of things, sinful as it is in many ways, has hovered in the background throughout my life, and it has certainly been deepened over the past three years by the experience of a hip disintegrating (two years of hobbling and wobbling discomfort, leading to a year of steady but slow recovery from its surgical replacement). I was told that since the surgery was invasive, its initial impact would be to shock the system - like being knocked down in the street by a truck - and full recovery for mind and body would take time, with creativity (in my case, power to write) at first noticeably in abeyance.

During these three years, my firsthand awareness of physical and cognitive weakness has grown, as has my acquaintance with Satan's skill in generating gloom and discouragement. My appreciation of 2 Corinthians has also grown, as I have brooded on the fact that Paul had been there before me, and this little book is the result. Its contents have helped me, and I hope will help others too. 

- J. I. Packer, Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength

The Death of Death in the Death and Resurrection of Christ

Death is the ultimate showstopper. But Jesus has defeated death!

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)

God

God is the God who creates and redeems out of nothing.

Trust Him.

Firstfruits or Crumbs

 Are you giving God/others your firstfruits or your crumbs?

Candles of Advent

*Link to Baptist Theological Seminary publication*

Bethlehem (House of Bread), what a quiet little town, located a few kilometres away from the bustling city of Jerusalem, yet a census brought the holy family to Bethlehem so that the Saviour may be born there. In the Bible, Bethlehem began to take on significance in the book of Ruth. The book begins with Bethlehem, the house of bread, having no bread. This is a literary device signalling that something was amiss in the city. Yet when the book ends, there is a promise of restoration and a sense of hope. Ruth, a Moabitess, is revealed as the great grandmother of King David of Bethlehem.

- Isaac Teng, The Gift of Bethlehem

Several years ago, I was waiting to board a flight at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, which in the days before COVID-19, was the busiest airport in the world. The boarding area was chaotic. People were talking loudly to be heard over the din. In addition to constant boarding and security announcements, there was construction going on. And sitting directly opposite to me was a young mother with her small child. There was a sudden crash from a piece of falling scaffolding, startling the child who then immediately burst into tears. The mother quickly scooped up her child and held him close. Within minutes that child was fast asleep, softly breathing to the rhythm of his mother's heartbeat. Nothing else had changed in that chaotic hall, except the position of that child. He was secure in the calm embrace of his mother.

In the day when Advent calm is fully realised, all nations will know how to walk in the light of life and will find deep rest in Him. But today - even amidst the ever-encroaching darkness - believers are called to bear testimony of our confidence in the coming calm by walking each day secure in the embrace of our loving Father. Let us all, as we wait for the coming calm, respond to the call of Isaiah and "walk in the light of the LORD!"

- Ian Buntain, The Coming Calm

Peace

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." - John 14:27 (ESV)

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)

Lost and Found

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

- Luke 15:4-10 (ESV)

Adjectives

It has been wisely said that the adjective is the enemy of the noun. If we make a habit of saying 'The true facts are these', we shall come under suspicion when we profess to tell merely 'the facts'. If a crisis is always acute and an emergency always grave, what is left for those words to do by themselves? If active constantly accompanies consideration, we shall think we are being fobbed off when we are promised bare consideration. If a decision is always qualified by definite, a decision by itself becomes a poor filleted thing. If conditions are customarily described as prerequisite or essential, we shall doubt whether a condition without an adjective is really a condition at all. If a part is always an integral part there is nothing left for a mere part except to be a spare part.

Cultivate the habit of reserving adjectives and adverbs to make your meaning more precise, and suspect those that you find yourself using to make it more emphatic. Use adjectives to denote kind rather than degree. By all means say an economic crisis or a military disaster, but think well before saying an acute crisis or a terrible disaster. Say, if you like, 'The proposal met with noisy opposition and is in obvious danger of defeat'. But do not say, 'The proposal met with considerable opposition and is in real danger of defeat'. If that is all, it is better to leave out the adjectives: 'The proposal met with opposition and is in danger of defeat'.

- Sir Ernest Gowers, Plain Words

Good and Evil

Good and evil both increase at compound interest.

That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.

The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.

An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.

- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

When you delay something, you are not just delaying that thing, but what could result from that thing (both good and bad).

Balancing Literary Nature and Historicity

"Literary" just means there's a style to it, there's an artistry to it, it has a literary form to it. It does not at all need to be contrary to a robust sense of biblical history. For me, it's like a lot of things in the Christian life and in theology - it's a both-and. If you try to force a dichotomy - it's got [to] be this or it's got [to] be that, it's like the two natures of Christ, or it's like human freedom and divine sovereignty - when you pit them against one another where one gets to win and the other has to absolutely lose, you're not going to be a good theologian.

I think we ought to approach all of the Scriptures in the same way and that is to recognise it's a very human book full of human failings, in terms of the characters that are presented, human in terms of the personalities of the authors that come through very strongly, and the experiences of the authors that come through very strongly all the way through the Bible. But at the same time, the Scripture itself says these men who were authors of Scripture were carried along by the Holy Spirit. There's an impetus and a divine agency so that this truly is not merely human words about God, but this is God's word to humanity. There is no reason in the world that we can't fully appreciate both of those aspects. I think if we take one at the expense of the other, we're not going to understand Scripture in all of its richness.

- Phil Ryken, How to Become a Better Bible Reader

Legalism vs Discipline

Underlying much of the conscious rejection of spiritual discipline is the fear of legalism. For many, spiritual discipline means putting oneself back under the law with a series of draconian rules that no one can live up to - and which spawn frustration and spiritual death.

But nothing could be further from the truth if you understand what discipline and legalism are. The difference is one of motivation: legalism is self-centred; discipline is God-centred. The legalistic heart says, "I will do this thing to gain merit with God." The disciplined heart says, "I will do this thing because I love God and want to please Him."

There is an infinite difference between the motivation of legalism and discipline! Paul knew this implicitly and fought the legalists bare-knuckled all the way across Asia Minor, never giving an inch. Now he shouts to us, "Train [discipline] yourself for godliness!" If we confuse legalism and discipline, we do so to our soul's peril.

- R Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man

Life Lessons from Bridge

1. You can only play the hand you are dealt.

2. Count the cost before bidding.

3. Partners must be on the same page.

4. Having a good fit is as important as having many points.

5. Know when to take control and when to transfer control or exit.