Ah! What a remarkable picture, on several levels!
Here's one takeaway: Life in a fishbowl swims a fine line between wonder and dinner.
Can I get a witness? :-)
Friday, June 19, 2009
Life in a fishbowl
Ah! What a remarkable picture, on several levels!
Here's one takeaway: Life in a fishbowl swims a fine line between wonder and dinner.
Can I get a witness? :-)
The meaning of destiny conferred
The soul's value as an ever-present, ever-living reality
Men will still hear of the soul if it be a true soul that speaks — no smatterer, and no self-seeker. They will still hear of the great value of the soul. They will even hear of its absolute value, its pearl of price for whose sake all other pearls are but a currency, and all other ends but means… This is the Christian, the New Testament faith.
The Hebrew idea was different [than the Hellenstic]. The Jews thought of the soul as immortal not in itself but in a destiny conferred on it. They thought of its immortality and perfection as given by God. Its destiny was there as the result of the will and choice of God. That destiny was due to the divine purpose, and it existed there, not in the soul’s fibre, so to say. It was written not in the soul’s creation but in its Creator, not in its germ but in its Maker. Accordingly what was said to pre-exist was not the soul in its independent nature, as a sort of fiery particle forming an exception from the great universe of inert existence, but the will of God for the soul, its destiny as a purpose and choice of God. And as the purpose is that of God, to whom all things future are present, therefore in Him our destiny is an ever-present and ever-living reality. Thus the soul’s absolute and final value was found in Christ, in the pre-existent Christ, eternally chosen, God’s personal purpose, eternal and unbegotten, in whom we were and are created.
Selah
P.T. Forsyth, "The Preacher and the Age," Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind (Independent Press LTD: London, 1953), 94-95.
Men will still hear of the soul if it be a true soul that speaks — no smatterer, and no self-seeker. They will still hear of the great value of the soul. They will even hear of its absolute value, its pearl of price for whose sake all other pearls are but a currency, and all other ends but means… This is the Christian, the New Testament faith.
The Hebrew idea was different [than the Hellenstic]. The Jews thought of the soul as immortal not in itself but in a destiny conferred on it. They thought of its immortality and perfection as given by God. Its destiny was there as the result of the will and choice of God. That destiny was due to the divine purpose, and it existed there, not in the soul’s fibre, so to say. It was written not in the soul’s creation but in its Creator, not in its germ but in its Maker. Accordingly what was said to pre-exist was not the soul in its independent nature, as a sort of fiery particle forming an exception from the great universe of inert existence, but the will of God for the soul, its destiny as a purpose and choice of God. And as the purpose is that of God, to whom all things future are present, therefore in Him our destiny is an ever-present and ever-living reality. Thus the soul’s absolute and final value was found in Christ, in the pre-existent Christ, eternally chosen, God’s personal purpose, eternal and unbegotten, in whom we were and are created.
Selah
P.T. Forsyth, "The Preacher and the Age," Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind (Independent Press LTD: London, 1953), 94-95.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Crowns of glory are His right
Crowns of glory, ever bright
Words: Thomas Kelly (1769-1855)
Tune: Harts
Crowns of glory, ever bright,
Rest upon the Victor's head;
Crowns of glory are His right,
His, who liveth and was dead.
Jesus fought and won the day;
Such a fight was never fought;
Well His people now may say,
See what God, our God, has wrought.
He subdued the powers of hell;
In the fight He stood alone;
All His foes before Him fell,
By His single arm o'erthrown.
They have fall'n to rise no more;
Final is the foe's defeat:
Jesus triumphed by His power,
And His triumph is complete.
Selah.
Words: Thomas Kelly (1769-1855)
Tune: Harts
Crowns of glory, ever bright,
Rest upon the Victor's head;
Crowns of glory are His right,
His, who liveth and was dead.
Jesus fought and won the day;
Such a fight was never fought;
Well His people now may say,
See what God, our God, has wrought.
He subdued the powers of hell;
In the fight He stood alone;
All His foes before Him fell,
By His single arm o'erthrown.
They have fall'n to rise no more;
Final is the foe's defeat:
Jesus triumphed by His power,
And His triumph is complete.
Selah.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Living from one true center
Can a faithful person serve both flesh and Spirit?
A religion which teaches men to live from two centres instead of one, and that one the conscience, is a non-moral religion; it serves God and Mammon. It has a fearful looking for of judgment. It has the soul of schism in it, which takes effect in the wars of churches, classes, and nations.
Selah.
P.T. Forsyth, “Salvation Theological But Not Systematic,” The Justification of God: Lectures for War-Time on a Christian Theodicy (Independent Press LTD: London, 1957), 96.
A religion which teaches men to live from two centres instead of one, and that one the conscience, is a non-moral religion; it serves God and Mammon. It has a fearful looking for of judgment. It has the soul of schism in it, which takes effect in the wars of churches, classes, and nations.
Selah.
P.T. Forsyth, “Salvation Theological But Not Systematic,” The Justification of God: Lectures for War-Time on a Christian Theodicy (Independent Press LTD: London, 1957), 96.
The potential idolatry of postmodern intuition
A diseased and wasted church
Such views of theology as postpone experience to belief, practice to creed, conscience to assent, or regeneration to impression… are among the chief reasons why the Church has such a weak moral impact on the world, and why its theological foundations seem irrelevant to righteousness and impotent for crisis in history and society. They do not coincide with the foundations of the moral world. Therefore they are regarded as themes instead of being felt as powers. They are treated as academic principles instead of life-giving spirits.
Such considerations help to explain why the Gospel of God’s Kingdom… does not come home to the rations, why it does not take charge of the pubic conscience on a universal scale either to inspire courage or to sustain fortitude.
Selah.
P.T. Forsyth, “Salvation Theological But Not Systematic,” The Justification of God: Lectures for War-Time on a Christian Theodicy (Independent Press LTD: London, 1957), 95-96.
Such views of theology as postpone experience to belief, practice to creed, conscience to assent, or regeneration to impression… are among the chief reasons why the Church has such a weak moral impact on the world, and why its theological foundations seem irrelevant to righteousness and impotent for crisis in history and society. They do not coincide with the foundations of the moral world. Therefore they are regarded as themes instead of being felt as powers. They are treated as academic principles instead of life-giving spirits.
Such considerations help to explain why the Gospel of God’s Kingdom… does not come home to the rations, why it does not take charge of the pubic conscience on a universal scale either to inspire courage or to sustain fortitude.
Selah.
P.T. Forsyth, “Salvation Theological But Not Systematic,” The Justification of God: Lectures for War-Time on a Christian Theodicy (Independent Press LTD: London, 1957), 95-96.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Alaskan child development
Monday, June 15, 2009
The friendship of the Lord
The covenant of God for the friends of God
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us.
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. — “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” — “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him!”
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” — “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.”
Deut. 29:29; Ps. 131:1, 2; Ps. 25:14; Dan. 2:28; Job 26:14; John 15:15; John 14:15-17
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us.
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. — “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” — “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him!”
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” — “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.”
Deut. 29:29; Ps. 131:1, 2; Ps. 25:14; Dan. 2:28; Job 26:14; John 15:15; John 14:15-17
Sunday, June 14, 2009
On belonging to God
The surprise of belonging
"He who does what the Lord tells him is in the kingdom, even if every feeling of heart and brain told him otherwise."
George MacDonald, "The Understanding," The Marquis' Secret (Bethany House: Minneapolis, MN 1982), p. 197. Note: Originally published as The Marquis of Lossie, by J.P. Lippencott and Co., 1877.
"He who does what the Lord tells him is in the kingdom, even if every feeling of heart and brain told him otherwise."
George MacDonald, "The Understanding," The Marquis' Secret (Bethany House: Minneapolis, MN 1982), p. 197. Note: Originally published as The Marquis of Lossie, by J.P. Lippencott and Co., 1877.
The positive of negative past
All things work together for good
"The greatest value of the past is how wisely we invest it in the future."
Jim Rohn
"The greatest value of the past is how wisely we invest it in the future."
Jim Rohn
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
A place of rest in Almighty Hands
Here's a point of meditation for today: rest... rest in Hands much larger than you! Dare to be a child in heart, trusting and dancing to life, perhaps like long ago you trusted... or perhaps like you've never trusted but always longed and hoped to do. The time is now; it's not too late, you are a called, loved child of God!
Selah.
The loving slowness of awful omnipotence
How God conquers evil
Subtitle: Why this long valley of suffering, waiting and pain?
There are many who think to reverence the Most High by assuming that He can and should do anything or everything that pleases Him in a mere moment. In their eyes power is a grander thing than love. But His Love is higher than His omnipotence. See what it cost Him to redeem the world! He did not find that easy, or to be done in a moment without pain or toil. Yes, God is omnipotent -- awfully omnipotent. For He wills, effects, and perfects the thing which, because of the bad in us, He has to carry out in suffering and sorrow. Evil is a hard thing, even for God to overcome. Yet thoroughly and altogether and triumphantly will He overcome it. But not by crushing it underfoot -- any god of man's idea could do that! -- but by conquest of heart over heart, of life over life, of life over death, of love over all. Nothing shall be too hard for God that fears not pain, but will deliver and make true and blessed at His own severest cost.
Selah.
George MacDonald, "Down the Hill," The Gentlewoman's Choice, edited by Michael R. Phillips.
Subtitle: Why this long valley of suffering, waiting and pain?
There are many who think to reverence the Most High by assuming that He can and should do anything or everything that pleases Him in a mere moment. In their eyes power is a grander thing than love. But His Love is higher than His omnipotence. See what it cost Him to redeem the world! He did not find that easy, or to be done in a moment without pain or toil. Yes, God is omnipotent -- awfully omnipotent. For He wills, effects, and perfects the thing which, because of the bad in us, He has to carry out in suffering and sorrow. Evil is a hard thing, even for God to overcome. Yet thoroughly and altogether and triumphantly will He overcome it. But not by crushing it underfoot -- any god of man's idea could do that! -- but by conquest of heart over heart, of life over life, of life over death, of love over all. Nothing shall be too hard for God that fears not pain, but will deliver and make true and blessed at His own severest cost.
Selah.
George MacDonald, "Down the Hill," The Gentlewoman's Choice, edited by Michael R. Phillips.
A counterintuitive climb: stairway to heaven
Kingdom vs. the world: down vs. up
"How often, on the steps of this world, when you think you are going down, you are really ascending!"
George MacDonald, "Down the Hill," The Gentlewoman's Choice, edited by Michael R. Phillips.
"How often, on the steps of this world, when you think you are going down, you are really ascending!"
George MacDonald, "Down the Hill," The Gentlewoman's Choice, edited by Michael R. Phillips.
In your hearts enthrone Him
At the name of Jesus
Words: Caroline Maria Noel (1817-1877)
Tune: Gute Bäume bringen
At the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow,
every tongue confess him
King of Glory now.
'Tis the Father's pleasure
we should call him Lord,
who from the beginning
was the mighty Word:
Mighty and mysterious
in the highest height,
God from everlasting
very light of light:
in the Father's bosom
with the Spirit blest,
love, in love eternal,
rest, in perfect rest.
At his voice creation
sprang at once to sight,
all the angel faces
all the hosts of light,
thrones and dominations,
stars upon their way,
all the heavenly orders
in their great array.
Humbled for a season,
to receive a name
from the lips of sinners
unto whom he came,
faithfully he bore it
spotless to the last,
brought it back victorious
when from death he passed.
Bore it up triumphant
with its human light,
through all ranks of creatures
to the central height,
to the throne of Godhead,
to the Father's breast;
filled it with the glory
of that perfect rest.
Name him brothers name him,
with love as strong as death,
but with awe and wonder,
and with bated breath;
he is God the Savior,
he is Christ the Lord,
ever to be worshiped,
trusted and adored.
In your hearts enthrone him;
there let him subdue
all that is not holy,
all that is not true:
crown him as your captain
in temptation's hour;
let his will enfold you
in its light and power.
Brothers, this Lord Jesus
shall return again,
with his Father's glory,
with his angel train;
for all wreaths of empire
meet upon his brow,
and our hearts confess him
King of Glory now.
Selah.
Words: Caroline Maria Noel (1817-1877)
Tune: Gute Bäume bringen
At the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow,
every tongue confess him
King of Glory now.
'Tis the Father's pleasure
we should call him Lord,
who from the beginning
was the mighty Word:
Mighty and mysterious
in the highest height,
God from everlasting
very light of light:
in the Father's bosom
with the Spirit blest,
love, in love eternal,
rest, in perfect rest.
At his voice creation
sprang at once to sight,
all the angel faces
all the hosts of light,
thrones and dominations,
stars upon their way,
all the heavenly orders
in their great array.
Humbled for a season,
to receive a name
from the lips of sinners
unto whom he came,
faithfully he bore it
spotless to the last,
brought it back victorious
when from death he passed.
Bore it up triumphant
with its human light,
through all ranks of creatures
to the central height,
to the throne of Godhead,
to the Father's breast;
filled it with the glory
of that perfect rest.
Name him brothers name him,
with love as strong as death,
but with awe and wonder,
and with bated breath;
he is God the Savior,
he is Christ the Lord,
ever to be worshiped,
trusted and adored.
In your hearts enthrone him;
there let him subdue
all that is not holy,
all that is not true:
crown him as your captain
in temptation's hour;
let his will enfold you
in its light and power.
Brothers, this Lord Jesus
shall return again,
with his Father's glory,
with his angel train;
for all wreaths of empire
meet upon his brow,
and our hearts confess him
King of Glory now.
Selah.
Monday, June 08, 2009
God as the basis of covenant success
The Lord God is with you
The Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. — Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. — “Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”—“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. — “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today. . . Lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” — “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not given you peace on every side?”
Gen. 39:3; Ps. 128:1, 2; Ps. 37:3, 4; Josh. 1:9; Mat. 6:33; 2 Chron. 26:5; Deut. 8:11, 17; 1 Chron. 22:18
The Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. — Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. — “Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”—“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. — “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today. . . Lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” — “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not given you peace on every side?”
Gen. 39:3; Ps. 128:1, 2; Ps. 37:3, 4; Josh. 1:9; Mat. 6:33; 2 Chron. 26:5; Deut. 8:11, 17; 1 Chron. 22:18
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
If hell is God's then hell is not evil
Serving heaven by learning to hate evil more than hell
The mission of Jesus was from the same source and with the same object as the punishment of our sins. He came to work along with our punishment. He came to side with it, and set us free from our sins. No man is safe from hell until he is free from his sins; but a man to whom his sins, that is the evil things in him, are a burden, while he may indeed sometimes feel as if he were in hell, will soon have forgotten that ever he had any other hell to think of than that of his sinful condition. For to him his sins are hell; he would go to the other hell to be free of them; free of them, hell itself would be endurable to him. For hell is God's and not the devil's. Hell is on the side of God and man, to free the child of God from the corruption of death. Not one soul will ever be redeemed from hell but by being saved from his sins, from the evil in him. If hell be needful to save him, hell will blaze, and the worm will writhe and bite, until he takes refuge in the will of the Father. 'Salvation from hell, is salvation as conceived by such to whom hell and not evil is the terror.' But if even for dread of hell a poor soul seek the Father, he will be heard of him in his terror, and, taught of him to seek the immeasurably greater gift, will in the greater receive the less.
Selah.
George MacDonald, "Salvation from Sin," The Hope of the Gospel.
The mission of Jesus was from the same source and with the same object as the punishment of our sins. He came to work along with our punishment. He came to side with it, and set us free from our sins. No man is safe from hell until he is free from his sins; but a man to whom his sins, that is the evil things in him, are a burden, while he may indeed sometimes feel as if he were in hell, will soon have forgotten that ever he had any other hell to think of than that of his sinful condition. For to him his sins are hell; he would go to the other hell to be free of them; free of them, hell itself would be endurable to him. For hell is God's and not the devil's. Hell is on the side of God and man, to free the child of God from the corruption of death. Not one soul will ever be redeemed from hell but by being saved from his sins, from the evil in him. If hell be needful to save him, hell will blaze, and the worm will writhe and bite, until he takes refuge in the will of the Father. 'Salvation from hell, is salvation as conceived by such to whom hell and not evil is the terror.' But if even for dread of hell a poor soul seek the Father, he will be heard of him in his terror, and, taught of him to seek the immeasurably greater gift, will in the greater receive the less.
Selah.
George MacDonald, "Salvation from Sin," The Hope of the Gospel.
Give us ourselves and thee to know
Come, O thou all-victorious Lord
by Charles Wesley
Come, O thou all-victorious Lord,
Thy power to us make know;
Strike with the hammer of thy word,
And break these hearts of stone.
Give us ourselves and thee to know,
In this our gracious day;
Repentance unto life bestow,
And take our sins away.
Conclude us first in unbelief,
And freely then release;
Fill every soul with sacred grief,
And then with sacred peace.
Impoverish, Lord, and then relieve,
And then enrich the poor;
The knowledge of our sickness give,
The knowledge of our cure.
That blessèd sense of guilt impart,
And then remove the load;
Trouble, and wash the troubled heart
In the atoning blood.
Our desperate state through sin declare,
And speak our sins forgiven;
By perfect holiness prepare,
And take us up to heaven.
Selah.
by Charles Wesley
Come, O thou all-victorious Lord,
Thy power to us make know;
Strike with the hammer of thy word,
And break these hearts of stone.
Give us ourselves and thee to know,
In this our gracious day;
Repentance unto life bestow,
And take our sins away.
Conclude us first in unbelief,
And freely then release;
Fill every soul with sacred grief,
And then with sacred peace.
Impoverish, Lord, and then relieve,
And then enrich the poor;
The knowledge of our sickness give,
The knowledge of our cure.
That blessèd sense of guilt impart,
And then remove the load;
Trouble, and wash the troubled heart
In the atoning blood.
Our desperate state through sin declare,
And speak our sins forgiven;
By perfect holiness prepare,
And take us up to heaven.
Selah.
Monday, June 01, 2009
A divine measure of love
How a man truly loves a woman
A heart has to be taught to love, and its first lesson, however well learned, no more makes it perfect in love, than the A B C makes a philosopher. The man who loves most will love best.
The man who thoroughly loves God and his neighbor is the only man who will love a woman ideally -- who can love her with the love God thought of between them when he made man male and female. The man, I repeat, who loves God with his very life, and his neighbor as Christ loves him, is the man who alone is capable of grand, perfect, glorious love to any woman.
Because his love was towards everything human, he was able to love her as others were not able to love her. To that of the most passionate of unbelieving lovers, his love was as the fire of a sun to that of a forest. The fullness of a world of love-ways and love-thoughts was his. In sweet affairs of loving-kindness, he was in his own kingdom, and sat upon its throne.
And it was this essential love, acknowledging and embracing, as a necessity of its being, everything that could be loved, which now concentrated its rays on the individual's individual. His love to her stood like a growing thicket of aromatic shrubs, until her confession set the fire of heaven to it, and the flame that consumes not, but gives life, arose and shot homeward. He had never imagined, never hoped, never desired she should love him like that. Only from her own lips could he have come to believe that she would view him more than a nobody, a mere burning heart running about in tattered garments.
His devotion to her had forestalled every pain with its antidote of perfect love, had negated every lack, had precluded every desire, had shut all avenues of entrance against self. Even if "a little thought unsound" should have chanced upon an entrance, it would have found no soil to root and grow in: the soil for the harvest of pain is that brought down from the peaks of pride by the torrents of desire.
Immeasurably the greater therefore was his delight, when the warmth and scent of the love that had been from time to him immemorial passing out from him in virtue of consolation and healing, came back upon him in the softest and sweetest of flower-waking spring-winds. Then indeed was his heart a bliss worth God's making. The sum of happiness in the land, if gathered that night into one wave, could not have reached half-way to the crest of the mighty billow tossing itself heavenward as it rushed along the ocean of his spirit!
.
Selah.
George MacDonald, The Baronet's Song.
A heart has to be taught to love, and its first lesson, however well learned, no more makes it perfect in love, than the A B C makes a philosopher. The man who loves most will love best.
The man who thoroughly loves God and his neighbor is the only man who will love a woman ideally -- who can love her with the love God thought of between them when he made man male and female. The man, I repeat, who loves God with his very life, and his neighbor as Christ loves him, is the man who alone is capable of grand, perfect, glorious love to any woman.
Because his love was towards everything human, he was able to love her as others were not able to love her. To that of the most passionate of unbelieving lovers, his love was as the fire of a sun to that of a forest. The fullness of a world of love-ways and love-thoughts was his. In sweet affairs of loving-kindness, he was in his own kingdom, and sat upon its throne.
And it was this essential love, acknowledging and embracing, as a necessity of its being, everything that could be loved, which now concentrated its rays on the individual's individual. His love to her stood like a growing thicket of aromatic shrubs, until her confession set the fire of heaven to it, and the flame that consumes not, but gives life, arose and shot homeward. He had never imagined, never hoped, never desired she should love him like that. Only from her own lips could he have come to believe that she would view him more than a nobody, a mere burning heart running about in tattered garments.
His devotion to her had forestalled every pain with its antidote of perfect love, had negated every lack, had precluded every desire, had shut all avenues of entrance against self. Even if "a little thought unsound" should have chanced upon an entrance, it would have found no soil to root and grow in: the soil for the harvest of pain is that brought down from the peaks of pride by the torrents of desire.
Immeasurably the greater therefore was his delight, when the warmth and scent of the love that had been from time to him immemorial passing out from him in virtue of consolation and healing, came back upon him in the softest and sweetest of flower-waking spring-winds. Then indeed was his heart a bliss worth God's making. The sum of happiness in the land, if gathered that night into one wave, could not have reached half-way to the crest of the mighty billow tossing itself heavenward as it rushed along the ocean of his spirit!
.
Selah.
George MacDonald, The Baronet's Song.