Friday Thoughts

1. Rest with God & he will give you rest; rest without him & you will find anxiety.

2. Luke 24:46-48. Christ Died; rose from the dead; established his Church. Gospel.

3. Participation in the gospel is the same. We've died with Christ; risen with Christ; are building with Christ.

4. We become partners in the grand discussion when reading books and talking. The discussion is founded & moderated by Scripture alone.

5. The story of Joseph is interrupted by Judah. Makes since.

6. Abortion is a central fight against the gospel. It is a direct affront against man being made in the image of God & therefore worth saving.

7. Have we sacrificed community for missions? These shouldn't be at odds, but so often are.

8. When we agree with the world it isn't for the same reasons as the world.

9. Morality cannot be changed at will.

10. Be relationship rich and experience poor.

The Title Explained: Why my blog is called what it's called. (Pt 2)

Just after I became a Christian as a graduation gift from my brother-in-law I received a box full of books – just a box full of books, no fancy graduation wrapping or anything – just a box of books. As an 18-year-old kid this was, well to be honest, it was a little underwhelming. The names on the spines of the books read, “Spurgeon,” and it was a name I was hardly familiar with.

There were three sets of books some brown ones, green ones, and some that looked like they’d been printed in the sixties because of the cheesy cover art on the front. But there was something that kept drawing my mind and eye to these books among all the other gifts.

Little did I know that my world and view of the Christian tradition was about to be moved and transformed in such a way so as to never be the same and never to want look back. John Piper talks of Lewis as coming over the horizon of his life, and this is how I speak of Spurgeon, he walked over the horizon of my life and brought me into many green pastures of growth, guided me in long walks among quiet rivers and taught me the meaning of silence, prayer, words, and true eloquence. This under-shepherd of the true Shepherd herded my life along even though it was more than one hundred years after his final breath.

A shift happened for me here, I began to wonder about all these other names I’d heard about and the depth of insight they too might offer to a kid wanting to be a pastor. Names like Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Lewis, Stott, Packer, Augustine and many others became my teachers in those early days. And all of them echoed the glorious truth of the authority, inerrancy, and infallibility of Scripture – that it is, “Divine Writ.”

Spurgeon taught me what it is to be a pastor, more than any other man I’ve worked for or with he has taught me what it is to be a man in the Word. Discipleing me to follow God and no other, to let the times change and the Scripture remain unassailably the same; to preach incessantly and unapologetically the gospel; to speak with heart-burning conviction; to not let up, or back off, or give in until Christ himself welcomes me with, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Therefore the title of the blog, “Aspiring Spurgeon,” might be simple to decode now. By the mercy and grace of God almighty I hope that words I write will someday impact the heart of one person in such a way that Spurgeon has impacted me. It’s a tall order to be sure, to desire to impact someone’s life for all eternity, but God has used men throughout all of history to impact and grow other men – that’s why we’re called ‘ambassadors’ – so I believe he can use the wretch that I am to impact one other person.

Now is Important, right? (pt 2)

Last week I blogged on some musings from 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 in a posted called “Now is Important, right?” (Read it here). I’d like to continue the theme from that post, applying it to something different.

We all want to be loved. To be hugged and cherished, to be - perhaps - swooned over and recognized for what we are or who we are. The way we dress, the way we speak, what we read, and what we own all of these things are attempts at placing ourselves in the realm of the people we esteem. We want to be cool.

Not to be the odd nerd in the corner or to be the guy with his nose stuck in a book. But to be the one everyone loves, that’s what we want, but why?

Why do we want to be loved by everyone? Becoming social chameleons to be hated by none. We even do this in the church, changing and adapting and lying to not be left out or given the cold shoulder.

But shouldn’t the church be the one place where you are capable to be you? To not worry about what the “cool folks” do and feeling the pressure to conform to their image?

God has made us. He has made us who we are and wired us the way we are wired for one reason, and for one reason only, to glorify himself. But we take this body, personality and characteristics and cannibalize them, ripping them limb from limb and duct taping them together to make this Frankenstein of a monster for the sake of being cool.

How would things look if you were the person you are when your alone all the time? And to say it wouldn’t be pretty is to say that what God created is ugly.

Made to Last

I like old things. If you’ve ever been to my house you’ll understand immediately what I mean. Trunks, radio, books, tables, all these things have seen time and, “lived to tell about it.” A few items take places of prominence, a hundred year old copy of Edgar Allen Poe’s Poems, two family Bibles that came from the motherland (Scotland) and a radio from the 1920’s (which still works).

Trinkets I could live without very easily, but things holding special places in my heart. Poe has always been my favorite poet because of his raw use of words and his vast understanding of depression. The family Bibles teach my more than just where I came from, they teach me who I am. The radio, though for most is an interesting talking point, still works ninety years later – it was made to last.

Faith. Belief. Biblical terms thrown around like paper airplanes in a fourth grade classroom. Often I worry/wonder at why I use the words I use. For I wholeheartedly agree with Dumbledore but will adapt him for reality: Words are the only real magic we know.

If we understood faith like Poe understood depression; if we gleaned information from belief through the love of Scripture; if we looked at faith and belief as made to last longer than the radio how would things be different?

Rather than seeing faith as a cheap trophy for your shelf to see it as a treasure to be protected, loved, polished and grown. Things just might change. Rather than seeing belief as all about what you do to see it as made for eternity by the Eternality. This just may push you over the edge of fiction into reality.