Heidelberg Catechism Week 8

24. Q. How are these articles divided? A. Into three parts: God the Father and our creation; God the Son and our deliverance; God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

25. Q. Since there is but one God, why do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? A. Because that is how God has revealed Himself in His Word: these three distinct persons are one, true, eternal God.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

The topic of the Trinity is a major one! I still try to comprehend the richness of Trinitarian doctrine, and probably always will.

But just two thoughts extracted from DeYoung's book:

-- "It is only with a Trinitarian God that love can be an eternal attribute of God."

-- "With a biblical understanding of the Trinity, we can say that God did not create in order to be loved, but rather, created out of the overflow of the perfect love that had always existed among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who ever live in perfect and mutual relationship and delight."

Heidelberg Catechism Week 7

20. Q. Are all saved through Christ just as all were lost through Adam? A. No. Only those are saved who by true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all His blessings.

21. Q. What is true faith? A. True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in His Word is true; it is also a deep-rooted assurance, created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others, but I too, have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation.

22. Q. What then must a Christian believe? A. Everything God promises us in the gospel. That gospel is summarized for us in the articles of our Christian faith - a creed beyond doubt, and confessed throughout the world.

23. Q. What are these articles? A. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended to hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

A good synopsis: "The object of our faith is the whole point. Our faith, no matter how sincere, will be sincerely mistaken if it trusts in something other than the gospel. The gospel, after all, is the power of salvation to everyone who believes" (Kevin DeYoung).

And those essential articles of our faith is considered in the "Apostles' Creed," the common name for the statements found in Q. 23. The churches I have been a part of have not had the habit of reciting this creed, but would hold to its tenets. Perhaps there can be some debate pertaining to the understanding of some of its phrases (i.e., "descended to hell," "holy catholic church"), but it is outside the scope of this one entry. That shall come in the weeks that follow.

But I think it all boils down to this: We must know what we believe and why we believe it!

To my Valentine

My dear one, 

I can't bear the thought that we have had to spend so many Valentine's Days apart. Praying with all my heart that next year we will be together. Hopefully you were able to get through the day tolerably well! I didn't have to teach at all, but when I ran over to my office for a few moments this morning, I discovered that the music secretaries had spoiled us by laying out such a royal spread of sweet treats in the faculty lounge. What a bright spot in my day!

The roads are much improved - the winter storm seems to have moved through, and today's sun brought on a quick thaw - so I ventured out to my favorite little coffeeshop downtown for a muffin and chai latte this afternoon. Such a pleasant little spot to bury myself in a book! You should have been sitting in that chair across from me though. Honestly, a part of me wishes to find you there someday...

Time marches on. God is good. And I love you, my unknown Valentine!

Links that make me think: Part 7

The Valentine's Day edition...
 
Nine Lies in the Not-Yet-Married Life (John Piper)

1. I’m selfish because I’m still single, and I don’t have anyone to care for my needs and feelings.
2. I’m anxious because I’m still single, and I don’t know if God will ever bring me a spouse.
3. I’m impatient because I’m still single, and I’ve waited a long, long time to be married.
4. I can be cold and indifferent toward others because I’m still single, and I have a hard enough time dealing with my own stuff.
5. I don’t value virtue and integrity like I should because I’m still single. I’ll work on those things when I get married and have a family.
6. I’m flakey and unreliable because I’m still single, and you can’t expect single people to make or keep commitments.
7. I’m harsh with others because I’m still single, and they don’t understand how hard I have it.
8. I’m undisciplined and keep sinning because I’m still single. The freedom feels good and no one knows, cares, or is affected by my behavior.
9. I’m depressed and miserable because I’m still single, and I won’t really be happy until I get married.

Friendship and Marriage (Jay Younts)

The world wants people, including Christians, to see romance as the foundation of marriage. Christians must become transformed in their thinking, so that they see friendship is the foundation. Romance is volatile by nature. The fact that romance tends to run hot then cold, and then hot again, is one of the worldly attractions of romance. This may be a great attraction for movies and the social elite scene, but for marriage, not so much! Friendship that flows from romance will be as up and down as romance and romantic feelings tend to be...

If friendship comes first, then romance can be built on a solid, lasting foundation. With this perspective, romance can become stable and grow in warmth and excitement... Romance that flows from friendship will have a sure foundation. This may not make for exciting headlines, but it will make for love that can withstand the storms of life and our sin.

23 Things That Love Is (Paul David Tripp)

1. LOVE IS... being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.
2. LOVE IS... actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward another while looking for ways to encourage and praise.
3. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.
4. LOVE IS... being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding.
5. LOVE IS... being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing, or being right.
6. LOVE IS... a making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.
7. LOVE IS... being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.
8. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to another is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.
9. LOVE IS... being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.
10. LOVE IS... being a good student of another, looking for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support them as they carry it, or encourage them along the way.
11. LOVE IS... being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.
12. LOVE IS... being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.
13. LOVE IS... recognizing the high value of trust in a relationship and being faithful to your promises and true to your word.
14. LOVE IS... speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack the other person’s character or assault their intelligence.
15. LOVE IS... being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-opt the other person into giving you what you want or doing something your way.
16. LOVE IS... being unwilling to ask another person to be the source of your identity, meaning, and purpose, or inner sense of well-being, while refusing to be the source of theirs.
17. LOVE IS... the willingness to have less free time, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called you to be and to do as a spouse, parent, neighbor, etc.
18. LOVE IS... a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding, and active love in your relationships.
19. LOVE IS... staying faithful to your commitment to treat another with appreciation, respect, and grace, even in moments when the other person doesn’t seem deserving or is unwilling to reciprocate.
20. LOVE IS... the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of a relationship without asking for anything in return or using your sacrifices to place the other person in your debt.
21. LOVE IS... being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt the other person, or weaken the bond of trust between you.
22. LOVE IS... refusing to be self-focused or demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.
23. LOVE IS... daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cruciform love without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.

Links that make me think: Part 6

Stop Comparing Yourself to Others (Joshua Becker)

I need to take this one to heart. I didn't go to my 10-year college reunion last month because I knew it would break my heart to see all those classmates and see how my "achievements" fall short. (I would have thought that certainly, ten years after having graduated, I would have a wonderful husband, happy children, etc...)

• Comparisons are always unfair. We typically compare the worst we know of ourselves to the best we presume about others.
• Comparisons rob us of precious time. We each get 86,400 seconds each day. And using even one to compare yourself or your accomplishments to another is one second too many.
• You are too unique to compare fairly. Your gifts and talents and successes and contributions and value are entirely unique to you and your purpose in this world. They can never be properly compared to anyone else.
• There is no end to the possible number of comparisons. The habit can never be overcome by attaining success. There will also be something—or someone—else to focus on.
• Comparisons often result in resentment. Resentment towards others and towards ourselves.
• Comparisons deprive us of joy. They add no value, meaning, or fulfillment to our lives. They only distract from it.

25 Ways to Communicate Respect (Jennifer Flanders)

This list technically doesn't apply to me now, but if I were married, I'd print it out for sure!

1. Choose joy
2. Honor his wishes
3. Give him your undivided attention
4. Don't interrupt
5. Emphasize his good points
6. Pray for him
7. Don't nag
8. Be thankful
9. Smile at him
10. Respond physically
11. Eyes only for him
12. Kiss him goodbye
13. Prepare his favorite foods
14. Cherish togetherness
15. Don't complain
16. Resist the urge to correct
17. Dress to please him
18. Keep the house tidy
19. Be content
20. Take his advice
21. Admire him
22. Protect his name
23. Forgive his shortcomings
24. Don't argue
25. Follow his lead

Life Won't Begin at Your Next Milestone (Cara Joyner)

If we view today as less than tomorrow, we choose to live in the imagined picture of a story that hasn’t happened, sacrificing joy and adventure that could be ours in the present. We get caught in the idea that this is just the green room, and if we plan well and press on, we’ll eventually walk out on the other side and a great narrative will unfold.

Perhaps without meaning to, we tell ourselves, the world around us and even God that this isn’t enough. It’s as if we took a look around and said, “no thanks, I’ll pass and wait to see what comes up down the road.”

We cannot be sincerely grateful for our lives if we are breathing in the anticipation that soon this will wrap up and make way for something more exciting. That doesn’t sound like thankfulness, and it looks nothing like contentment…

Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.” The bigger story of our life begins the moment we understand this truth. Life does not begin when you get married, land your dream job or board a plane to travel the world. It is found in the beautiful, powerful love of Christ, which changes us in the midst of all circumstances, especially the ones we find most difficult. We need only be willing.

Snow Day Joy

 

My dear one, 

I'm sitting at my kitchen table, watching the snow fall outside my window. A good number of "southern" friends are currently complaining about it on Facebook, and I almost threw my phone out in the snow because they just don't get it!! I can't begin to express how much I love this weather! Its beauty actually brings me to tears. Is that so strange? 

There are people out there who love the snow like I do. Hopefully you will be a "snow connoisseur," my love. Maybe you will have grown up in the north as I did. Perhaps we will one day live back in a snowier clime where we can enjoy snow days together. But for now, I am simply overjoyed to have this rare gift of a southern snow day. A quiet day at home is just what I needed in this busy week. If you were here I would make you a hot drink to go with the muffins I just baked, and we'd watch the Olympic ice skating together.

Heidelberg Catechism Week 6

16. Q. Why must He be truly human and truly righteous? A. God's justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for its sin; but a sinner could never pay for others.

17. Q. Why must He also be true God? A. So that, by the power of His divinity, He might bear the weight of God's anger in His humanity and earn for us and restore us to righteousness and life.

18. Q. And who is this Mediator - true God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous? A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God.

19. Q. How do you come to know this? A. The holy gospel tells me. God Himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later, He proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; finally, He fulfilled it through His own dear Son.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

Theological terms addressed in these questions:

Expiation: Christ's death removed our sin and guilt.
Redemption: Christ's death ransomed us from the curse of the law and the punishment and power of sin.
Reconciliation: Christ's death restored our relationship with God.
Propitiation: Christ's death appeased or placated the wrath of God.

This is not just "dry theology" - this is the gospel message that brings hope and peace and joy to the condemned sinner! So many people have a twisted or inferior understanding of the gospel. The gospel is not a cliché or a theory or a superstition. And as Kevin DeYoung states it, neither is it "a summons to kingdom living or a message about what we can do for God or a description of our efforts at cultural transformation. The gospel, according to Paul's summary in 1 Corinthians 15, is the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again on the third day."

A debtor to mercy alone,
Of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear, with Thy righteousness on,
My person and off'ring to bring.
The terrors of law and of God
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour's obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view.

The work which His goodness began
The arm of His strength will complete;
His promise is yea and amen,
And never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now,
Not all things below or above,
Can make Him His purpose forgo,
Or sever my soul from His love.

My name from the palms of His hands
Eternity will not erase;
Impressed on His heart it remains,
In marks of indelible grace;
Yes, I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is giv'n;
More happy, but not more secure,
The glorified spirits in heav'n.

(Augustus M. Toplady)

Random glimpses into my current days

My dear one, 

I watched the Ken Ham/Bill Nye debate tonight. It gave me a renewed love for God's beautiful and mysterious creation and a renewed hunger for the Scriptures. The gospel was proclaimed and God received the glory. (By the way, my continued reading of Stephen Meyer's Signature in the Cell has been very thought-provoking and awe-inspiring ... the detail to which the Master Artist has shaped and molded living things is incredible!) An elderly lady who lives in my apartment building and rides to church with me came over and watched the debate with me on my computer. 'Twas nice to have the company.

Sunday evening I visited with other neighbors in my building for a "Stupor Bowl party." It was quite hilarious. The five of us sat munching our chips and chili dip in relative silence: three playing SET, the other two watching lacrosse of all things. Yes, we're pretty counter-cultural! So thankful to have like-minded friends.

Saturday morning I attended the memorial service for a dear friend. It was such a sweet time of worship and praise. I proceeded to spend that afternoon reading for the first time the book he published about a year ago - words of wisdom and counsel that provided fresh perspective on my calling as a Christian artist. I will treasure the years I spent learning from that man, and my heart overflows to think that the godly legacy he left will continue to instruct me and so many others. Sweetheart, I truly hope that you have mentors in your life who encourage you and point you in the right direction.

I must end these ramblings now, for tomorrow morning will be an early one - time for the weekly breakfast "book club" meet-up!

Sleep well, my dear one.

Heidelberg Catechism Week 5

12. Q. According to God's righteous judgment we deserve punishment both in this world and forever after: how then can we escape punishment and return to God's favor? A. God requires that His justice be satisfied. Therefore the claims of His justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or another.

13. Q. Can we pay this debt ourselves? A. Certainly not. Actually we increase our guilt every day.

14. Q. Can another creature - any at all - pay this debt for us? A. No. To begin with, God will not punish another creature for what a human is guilty of. Besides, no mere creature can bear the weight of God's eternal anger against sin and release others from it.

15. Q. What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then? A. One who is truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

This week's questions continue along the theme of "the crisis of the human condition." We are challenged through these questions to acknowledge our inability to atone for our sins. No one cannot bear the weight of divine wrath! We need a Deliverer!

Kevin DeYoung explains where the catechism is leading its students: "Heidelberg's logic is marching us in a straight line to Christ. Our Deliverer is not named until [Week Six], but that's the only option Question 15 leaves on the table."

I think about my friend who professes a rather liberal Orthodox religiosity. She does not attend church but seems confident of her position before God. The truth is, her version of God is that He is the loving Father of the entire world. Her optimistic view of man's condition fails to recognize sin and its eternal consequences, and thus has no need of a Saviour. Any problem she faces, she attempts to resolve through persuasion, psychological insight, or other man-made contrivances. 

She often shares with me the relational difficulties in her life, and they always boil down to humanity's condition of selfishness, pride, and depravity. I pray that my continued friendship with her might be a means of leading her to an understanding of Christ as the only Way!

Thy work alone, my Saviour,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within.

 (Horatius Bonar)