I Love Theology!

So, I really like theology. An especially good bit of theology can be found right here at HeartCry Missionary Society. Check out this snapshot of God: "There is but one God, the Maker, Preserver and Ruler of all things, having in and of Himself all perfections, and being infinite in them all; and to Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence and obedience. "

It really is refreshing to read good, solid theology. It is good to be reminded of the nature of God and the nature of man. Our own thoughts so often deceive.

I see theology as an overview and compilation of all that is in the Bible. The theological statement I linked to above is something that we should all be reminded of daily. Since we can't read the whole Bible every day, it's good to study snippets theology so that our view of God and His Word will continue to be enlarged and not limited to the experiences of our day or the few chapters we've read in the Bible.

I just ordered Bitesize Theology: An ABC of the Christian Faith by Peter Jeffrey. I'm looking forward to reading it! If you want a more extensive, systematic study, I think the best thing out there is Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. It is really formatted well and includes a hymn after every chapter that relates to the theological point just made. It's an excellent reference to have!

"Theology announces not just what the Bible says but what it means." ~J. Kenneth Grider

To Be My 'For As Long As It Works Out' Cohabitant...

Interposed His Precious Blood

This is one of my all-time favorite hymns. Aren't the words so rich! All of the lyrics are beautiful, but my favorite stanza is highlighted. The verses before and after the highlighted part are a close second.

I think it's so exciting to sing words that have been sung for 100 of years--it makes me feel connected to the history of faith and perseverance of God's people!! I think a hymn should be sung at every church service!

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
by Robert Robinson, 1758

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

Another neat story!

I found out about this neat story on NPR through a blog called Desiring God. It's like the one about the lady robbed at gunpoint that I posted a couple days ago. I love these kinds of stories! This one is called, A Victim Treats His Mugger Right. Hope you like it!

Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm." Read the rest here.

What is NPR?

God's Central Attribute

I was reading this post at Pyromaniacs which is a pretty darn good post in itself. But then, as I was reading the comments that followed, I found this comment (it's the second one down by Johnny Dialectic):

I do think God's holiness is his central attribute, of which all others are inextricably a part. The Bible does not say God is "love, love, love." It does say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."

Unless and until we understand, accept and bow to that truth, our church life and personal life in Christ will certainly NOT be "our best life now."

I love it! Most people always emphasize God's love and they try to love Him. But, what about holiness? I think it's interesting in Ephesians 5:1-10 that there is just one sentence on how we should be like Christ in our love, but then there are many sentences, almost a whole paragraph, on how God's people need to be holy. God does say "Be holy, because I am holy." God's people must be holy! Because GOD IS HOLY.

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person–such a man is an idolater–has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.

May we all grow in holiness and do the things that please the Lord! And may we all understand God's holiness and have a proper respect and awe for Him and His Word.

Planning To Read

So this is the next book I'm going to read. It's called Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) by Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck. The title is referring to the Emerging Church movement. Wikipedia has some good information on this movement.

I plan to write some of my thoughts on the book once I'm finished. Also, I did finish reading Doing Things Right In Matters of The Heart and it was really good! I'm planning to write some of my thoughts. I definitely recommend it!!

You can also read a review of this book here at Discerning Reader. In their own words, "Discerning Reader is a site dedicated to promoting good books--books that bring honor to God. At the same time, we hope to help Christians avoid being unduly influenced by books and teachers that are not honoring to God".

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Awww... What a neat story! : )

92-year-old grandmother witnesses to man trying to rob her

Wasn't that story so sweet?! It made me cry. It made me think too. This woman was so sweet when someone was trying to rob her at gunpoint... Wouldn't it be nice if we could respond this way when someone just simply cuts us off in traffic or steals our parking space?

You can read the full story on WMCTV.COM.

And thanks to the bloggers at Symphony of Scripture for posting it too. It's a good blog. Check it out! : )

Something Funny

Kristi said I should put something funny up here. She said I'm too serious with all my 'theological' blogging. Well, I beg to differ. Anyone who is 'too serious' would not be found constructing a 'city' with every last plastic block and animal in the church nursery. So, I thought all my friendly blogger friends (all two of you, that is) would enjoy viewing Christine's and my 'creation' just in case you too, thought I was too serious. Please forgive the commentary included with the pictures. Christine is responsible for the detailed picture taking.

Our Creation (An Arial View)

Detailed view of the tunnel and 'grazing' sections

More Details (isn't Christine great at picture taking?)

Two by Two (except for the giraffe--he's single)

My favorite 'inhabitant' of your 'city'.
(According to Christine, he will now give us a tour of the tunnel.)

Isn't he cute?

According to Christine, he's talking about the structure and creation of the tunnel.

Hehe. Christine said this is as far as the media is allowed to go.


So, how's that for being 'unserious'... Maybe too much?

What is the chief end of man?

I love the Westminster Shorter Catechism. "The purpose of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is to educate lay persons in matters of doctrine and belief. The WSC is in a simple question and answer format to facilitate memorization. Typically, the parents and the church would use the shorter catechism to train their children in the ways of the Lord." (Wikepedia.com)

There are 107 questions and answers in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I love the first question & answer! It makes me so happy! Here it is (you can click on the numbers to see the Scriptures that back up the statement):

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy him forever.[2]

So, I guess, to me, 'chief end' means the best (chief) outcome (end) a man could and should strive for. I would imagine that the 'chief end' would not be an easy place to get to but doesn't it sound amazing! Imagine if everyone was striving for that 'chief end' or highest outcome--God would be glorified and we would all be happy and content simply in Him. I wonder if while I was growing up that this thought would have been in the forefront of my mind. I challenge you to keep these two things at the forefront of your mind: 1. Glorify God! 2. Enjoy Him!

Happy are the people whose God is the LORD! Psalm 144:15

Love and Marriage: Luther Style

I loved reading this article (click on the picture) by Justin Taylor! It's about Martin Luther's marriage. (Luther is the guy who wrote the 95 Thesis inspired the Protestant Reformation.) The article is definitely worth reading and gives such an interesting perspective on marriage. It's actually the kind of marriage that I would want. One of my favorite snippets from the article is this: "Martin and Katie viewed marriage as a school for growing in godliness. Both of them took God seriously; and both knew how to correct the other when one of them was ignoring God and taking life too seriously. One day Luther was depressed and despairing. So Katie decided to put on a black dress for the day. Luther asked, "Are you going to a funeral?" "No," she responded, "but since you act as though God is dead, I wanted to join you in the mourning!" Exactly what Luther needed to hear. "

Also, the author of the article runs a blog called Between Two Worlds: A Mix of Theology, Philosophy, Politics & Culture. Check it out! It has lots of great information on everything from politics to marriage from a Christian perspective.

Someone like me! : )

I just found a cool new blog called Generations of Virtue I'm posting an article entitled, "The 'plight of singles'? Think again." that I thought was great! I've included my response below. Sorry for posting again on singleness but, hey, it's my blog I can do whatever I want. : )

"I’m tired of reviewing singles books. As some of you know, we at Generations of Virtue have read through every book we carry, and for each book we choose you can count on us having read at least 3 along the same lines before deciding to carry that particular one. We read every new Christian book that comes out on the market regarding relationships, parenting, dating, courtship etc.

For singles books, it’s safe to say that 97% of them are depressing, negative and are full of the victim mentality (the other 3% we have on our website). I’m tired of it! I’m single, always have been, and I can’t identify with these sentiments. OK….not anymore, at least.

We as singles need to put our time and energy into being productive, finding out what God’s will is for this season and DOING IT. One of my favorite stories is one of many shared by Elizabeth Elliott in her book Quest for Love. The story centers around a woman living on the Canadian east coast, and a man living on the west coast. God had placed on both their hearts the desire to spread the Gospel in Africa, but they initially hesitated because they both were single. Each made the decision to do the will of God – even if it meant serving alone – and went. A year later the woman was driving in the Sahara Desert when to her dismay she had a flat tire. The first person who stopped to help her was the man from her home country, who had been working on the opposite side of the desert. Would they have found each other had they decided to wait in Canada?

There is so much to be done to build the Kingdom of God in the world. But when we’re so caught up in “looking”, we honestly can’t see what work God has for us. That’s because our focus is inward, centered on ourselves, instead of being centered on God. Something I’ve noticed in my life is when I stopped looking, stopped expecting that the next guy I met would be the one, my life really began to change. I started asking God to open my eyes; I’m convinced they were practically shut from being self centered. Even my thought patterns began to change. For the first time in my life, I’m beginning to believe that if God calls me to be single, that’s ok. I never dreamed I’d feel this way. The reality is there is work to be done and very few people who will actually look beyond themselves to do it. I’m tired of being the kind of person who’s so self centered they can’t see the bigger picture. The flip side has been so avoided and ignored because it’s uncomfortable. It doesn’t feed your flesh, self life, or necessarily make you look good to anyone but God, which is the most important anyway. One of my favorite quotes, one that I’ve spent a lot of time pondering is something Julie Hiramine says: “If your heart is motivated out of love to Him instead of a bunch of rules, it will be so much easier to follow what He says.”

Think about this: if you’re intent on finding the person God has for you, and God is calling you to Southern India, you’re better off there than here."

FINALLY someone is making some sense!! : ) I say if God gets the most glory in me being single then so be it. If He gets the most glory in me being married, then so be it. Either way I am NOT going to complain and pout and sit around and wait. It’s not really about me and my wants, it’s about Him and His Glory and that His Name would be made great! This life is so short and in light of eternity marriage doesn’t really matter a whole lot. Don’t get me wrong I would love to be married and have children and learn from the struggles married life brings, but at the same time I WILL be happy and content in whatever the Lord chooses for my current circumstances!! I WILL listen to the Spirit as He guides and directs whether it be towards continued service to the Lord as a single or continued service to the Lord and to my husband as a married woman. I know many say that being married makes you more like Jesus and I believe it, HOWEVER, I also believe (and know) that God is not unable to also provide other circumstances in your life (besides marriage) to make you more Christ-like. Yay for being happy in all things and in ALL circumstances. May we all grow in contentment in singleness AND marriage.

P.S. It only took about 8 years of God (ever so gently) knocking me over the head to get here… I’m a bit of a slow learner. : )

More on God's Discipline

"Look upon your chastening as God's chariots sent to carry your soul into the high places of spiritual achievement." - Hannah Whitall Smith

"Better to be pruned to grow than cut up to burn." - John Trapp