Recondite, but not from its Exaltation

Let me begin with - I hate Pastor Curran's classes. He always assigns pointless work, and he gives us a ton of reading. It is horrible. I should spend my time doing better things.

So, last night, I was reading some of my Church History assignments, and I loved it! It was quite profitable for me to read parts of Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will. I probably would not have read that, but it was part of an assignment.

(Ok, now, before you go on, go back and read the first and second paragraphs and recognize that I was using sarcasm. Pastor Curran's classes are more "in-depth" than others, but I find them to be profitable because of it... Moving on.)

The thought for the day is contained in the section of Luther's work where he answers Erasmus charge that there are some things in Scripture that are just too exalted or majestic for the layman or other person to understand. He says that not everything can be grasped by the normal Chrisitan.

Luther's reponse is that while of course there are things of God that cannot be grasped, there are not things in Scripture that are too high or majestic to be grasped. There are difficult passages, that is, passages that are "Recondite" or "Abstruse" (both of which are new words for me!), but that is only due to our ignorance of grammar or understanding of the word, not because they are too high or too spiritual to be understood.

At the same time, Luther acknowledges that the spiritual things are incomprehensible without the Spirit. So, we are talking about Christian men.

My thought for the day: I am re-encouraged and thankful anew that we can ready our Bibles! We can open them up and with the help of a dictionary, be able to understand the plain meaning of all of them. There might be difficult passages here and there, but rest assured they are explained clearer elsewhere.

KJV Preface:
"But now what piety without truth? what truth (what saving truth) without the word of God? What word of God (whereof we may be sure) without the Scripture? The Scriptures we are commanded to search. John 5:39. Isa 8:20. They are commended that searched and studied them. Acts 8:28-29, 17:11. They are reproved that were unskilful in them, or slow to believe them. Matt 22:29. Luke 24:25. They can make us wise unto salvation. 2 Tim 3:15. If we be ignorant, they will instruct us; if out of the way, they will bring us home; if out of order, they will reform us; if in heaviness, comfort us; if dull, quicken us; if cold, inflame us. Tolle, lege; Tolle, lege, Take up and read, take up and read the Scriptures "

Just a thought...

Enoch

Genesis 5:21-24
(21) And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
(22) And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
(23) And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
(24) And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

There are only a few verses about Enoch in the Bible. You have these ones here, and then Jude mentions him in passing as being a prophet and the seventh from Adam, and Hebrews lists him as being a man of faith, a man that walked by faith.

God "took" Enoch it says in Genesis 5. Hebrews 11 says that Enoch was "translated." I think all spiritually minded Christians would love the idea of being so close to God that He decides to do something miraculous to us, so that, instead of dying, we are just taken up to be with Him!

How then can we be like Enoch? What was it about Enoch and his faith that made him walk with God, a walk which was quite different than the normal walk with God?

Well, one verse jumped out to me with what I think contains the answer: Genesis 5:22 "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:" Don't read that too fast. Take out the prepositional phrase about when the walking was (that is, take out "after he begat Methuselah"), and you get: "Enoch walked with God three hundred years."

300 years? Are you kidding me? I get all excited when I go for a whole week "walking with God." Enoch walked with God for 300 years. Now, you will argue, they lived longer then - the average lifespan was 900 years or so. That is true, but that does not mean that the time went faster for them. Their days were still 24 hours long. Their years were still 365 days or so on the average.

For 300 years, Enoch walked with God. It does not say nor imply that he was perfect. But it does say (I refer to Hebrews) and imply that he was faithful. Every day, every week, every month, every year for 300 years, Enoch walked with God.

That's a long time. What a good example of Faith.

Just a thought...

Jesus Is Coming Back in 24 Hours

(This was supposed to have been posted this morning - I don't know what happened! Forgive me for being late!)

Ok... If I'm right in my title, everyone left behind will have a good time reading this blog!

My real point of this title is this question: If Jesus Christ showed Himself to you right now, and told you that He is going to return in exactly 24 hours (and you couldn't tell anyone about your conversation), what would you do in that time?

...after thinking about it for a few seconds...

Now, look at your schedule for the next 24 hours. Is it different than what your answer was to my question?

...after thinking about that for a few seconds...

How come? I am proposing that our lives are to be lived doing always the things that God would most want us to do.

That's it. Just a thought...

Psalm 127

Psalms 127:1-5
(1) Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
(2) It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
(3) Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
(4) As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
(5) Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

For those of you that haven't heard, Sarah's pregnant again! Child 6 is on his way... or her way. God truly has given us an heritage - blessings that came to us but not from our own labors - and we have been blessed. Maybe if we had ugly kids we would have stopped already, but they're just so cute!

So, for now, there will be this annoying little timeline to show how much longer until the baby comes. (Please, nobody tell Sarah that there are still 213 days left. That just sounds so long!)

I joke about it some, but what a responsibility it is to be given a human life, a human soul, to care for. Except the Lord build this house, we labor in vain.

Just a fact!

But then I would never get to play with it

Am I the only one that will carry out an entire conversation in my head? I did this the other day when one of my kids came to me with an issue. Somebody else took a toy that they wanted to play with.

Now, whenever one of my children come to me in a whiny or angry tone because of something like this, my first correction is usually towards that child. For example, Child 1 says, "Daddy, child 2 is doing something there not supposed to..." (Yes, due to the number of children we have, we have started calling them by numbers.) Well, my first statement to Child 1 will be, "And what did Child 2 say to you when you told them that." I am trying to instill in my children the principles of Matthew 18. If a brother offends, go to the brother first. It's neat when my children will actually turn to one of their siblings and say, "Sibling, would you please stop doing that..." I'm not lying, that has actually happened!

Anyway, so the other day, something like this is said, "They took the toy I wanted." And it was taken by someone who had no intention of ever giving it back either :) So, here's where I had the conversation in my head...:

Me: "That's OK, be giving, and let him (or her) have it."
Child 1: "But it is mine, and I would not be able to play with it then."
Me: "Let him play with it for now, and then you'll get a chance when he's done. It is a good principle to live by - be giving."
Child 1: "But if I do that all the time, then I will never have the opportunity to have my toy."
Me: about to say, "eventually he'll be done with it, but of course someone else would then want it, and you should want to give it to them too..." that's not gonna work. Then I was going to say, "if you always live in a giving manner, then they will start giving things back to you..." then I realized who else I was talking about, and I really can't imagine them giving back ever... Honestly, I don't remember how that conversation really ended with Child 1, but I learned something from it.

Most people probably would think that dad should step in and give back Child 1 her (or his) toy. But the principle to be taught is that of giving. But most would agree with the child that, Yeah, give, but sometimes it is time for me to play with my toy so I should get it.

If we are trying to be Christ-like, and if we are truly to walk in His steps even through suffering, then it seems the principle to learn is always to give. Yup, you might never have a chance to play with your toy - that's possible, but you will have the chance to do the will of the Father. We just have a problem with the whole, "all the time" part of it. We think we should do good for a while, but then it's ok to enjoy what we think is 'rightfully' ours.

Just a thought...