This One's For My Wife

Every Wednesday, a song dedicated to my wife...this one's almost too mushy and cute, so you've been warned. However, Sixpence is always worth listening to...

Humble Orthodoxy

"I really dig theology." Those are my own words, but I'm pretty sure Luther or Calvin or Spurgeon said them, too. Those guys were giants, however, and I'm just 5'11" and have been since high school.

Theology is fascinating, of course, because of the subject matter and is more rewarding than wealth, strength or brainpower. Just hover your mouse over Jeremiah 9:23-24 to find out more about that. Even in the knowledge of God, however, we can become boastful.

I quote Josh Harris from his book "Dug Down Deep" :

"Do you want to keep your orthodoxy humble? Try to live it. Don't spend all your time theorizing about it, debating about it, or blogging about it. Spend more energy living the truth you know than worrying about what the next guy does or doesn't know. Don't measure yourself by what you know. Measure yourself by your practice of what you know."

Theology must go beyond knowing facts to understanding the subject (even though we may begin to apprehend, we will never fully comprehend Him!). There is a qualification in the verse above, that those who know God should understand, not facts only, but also that He exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth. One should be able to say, yes, I know God - but more importantly, I have seen His works, I am known by Him and belong to Him.

I've found that I can be prone to get excited about knowing things about God without an equally increasing zeal for God Himself. What I know should change my heart, and therefore my actions as well.

Unrelenting Homiletic Bummer

The title of this post is how Eric Metaxas describes Dietrich Bonhoeffer's January 1934 sermon on the prophet Jeremiah, at least from the perspective of the congregation that undoubtedly was wanting or at least expecting something more upbeat.

This sermon, delivered in London while the Third Reich was rising ominously in Germany, was powerful and even prophetic. You can't help but imagine that Bonhoeffer saw his own future as he described the woes of Jeremiah:

"The path will lead right down into the deepest situation of human powerlessness. The follower [of God] becomes a laughingstock, scorned and taken for a fool, but a fool who is extremely dangerous to people's peace and comfort, so that he or she must be beaten, locked up, tortured, if not put to death right away. That is exactly what became of this man Jeremiah, because he could not get away from God...He is a prisoner and he has to follow. His path is prescribed. It is the path of the man whom God will not let go, who will never be rid of God."

Wow! Take THAT Joel Osteen! The life of Jeremiah is indeed intriguing, even troubling, if a person tends to believe that being a Christian is easy and nice. Victory isn't wealth, it isn't health, and it isn't marshmallowy sweet relationships. More from the sermon:

"The triumphal procession of truth and justice, the triumphal procession of God and His Scriptures through the world, drags in the wake of the chariot of victory a train of prisoners in chains. May he at the last bind us to his triumphal carriage so that, although in bonds oppressed, we may participate in his victory."

Victory is identification with Christ and His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, so that we will one day identify with Him in His resurrection!

Wednesdays Are Wife Days

It's Wednesday and time for another post dedicated to my wife. This song is "God Gave Me You" by Dave Barnes, and the first verse starts it off well:

I’ve been a walking heartache
I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be
But you stay here right beside me
Watch as the storm goes through
And I need you

I want to remember that life is brief, and I've been blessed - there's no time or place for bitterness.

Wednesdays Are Wife Days

Yeah. I know it's Thursday and the title says "Wednesday." Golly, you might even be reading this on Friday! However, the topic at hand demands a certain priority. You see, I'm falling in love again. No worries - it's with the same woman I've been married to for 19 years. I think this time around though, instead of "falling" in love, we're "building" love.

My wife and I love each other mightily but we've suddenly realized that we've slowly been dancing apart from one another at the sockhop, getting lost in the crowd. We've been working hard raising five sons, homeschooling those same children, being ministers in our local church and working other jobs to keep the fridge full. We've poured our love and energy into a lot of people...and now we are astonished to find that the pitcher is nearly empty and there's not much left to share with each other. We've not lost our love - just the vital connection we used to enjoy. So we stand there, as the dust settles, kind of looking at each other saying, "Whoa! What just happened?"

So, in the interest of honoring the girl of my dreams (my sons are cringing at that statement), and celebrating the greatest gift from God this side of salvation, I shall devote each Wednesday on this blog to my wife. And this is the beginning, on a Thursday. Kinda quirky, just like us.

Here's a song that reminds me of US. (Lyrics below, VIDEO HERE)

On Laundry and Learning Young

So this morning my 12 year old son comes upstairs laughing because he had turned one of his undershirts pink while doing his laundry. There are two very precious items in this short story. First, my 12 year old is doing his own laundry! Second, he learned the lesson of separating whites before going to college, which is where I learned that I do not like pink underwear.

Lessons learned while you're still young are as good as gold, in part because we are still young and malleable enough to learn. We can also enjoy the benefit of skipping out on a whole lot of foolishness while growing up because we've already learned a thing or two. Even at a youthful 40 years old, I can sense myself growing a more stubborn. My prayer is that God would keep my heart tender until the end.

Lamentations 3:26-28
26 So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline:
28 Let them sit alone in silence
beneath the Lord’s demands.

The Prideful Prince

"My pride is so infernal that there is not a man on earth who can hold it in, and all their silly attempts are futile; but, then, my Master can do it, and He will."

OK! Who said this? Yes, yes, it could have been you. Indeed, I've said the same thing in so many words before, when despairing over my own condition. So, whose quote is this? Click HERE and check the answer...

See? Even the best of us struggle. We are all just men, made just by Jesus Christ and in the process of being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.