Thoughts of a Wayfarer

The Blog Has Moved!

2006-08-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

I would like to annouce the moving of my blog to www.mijah.com. Any future posts will appear there and not on this blog. For some good reasons why I switched you can see here.

I want to give a special thanks to SKH over at Tohu va Bohu for all of his help in the transfer. In fact, it would be fair to say that with out him, it would not have been possible. Thanks Sean.

Nothing at the new blog is final. I will be tweaking and re-tweaking in the weeks to come. If you have any comments (i.e. likes and dislikes) about the design or name, feel free to let me know.

Check it out - www.mijah.com

Postmodern Anthem

2006-07-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Steve Brown is a concervative talk show host and he has a collection of comedy pieces on his website. This one, the Postmodern Anthem, I found particularly funny. I hope you enjoy it too, just click play on the player below.

Why I Proclaim Jesus Christ

2006-07-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

I received this comment on a post a couple of weeks ago and I would like to respond to it publicly.

A question for you (and your readers), as a non-Christian that is devout to her own faith and very respectful of those who are devout to theirs (even if I don't agree with them, those genuinely religious often share common morals and values), I always find that when people go out on a public sphere and start to specifically call on Jesus and thank him, it isolates me from them because as much as I love Jesus the Prophet, I don't believe he is God.
At the same time, I'm a teacher in a public high school and two fellow teachers who I'm friends with and respect dearly are very devout Christians and we often talk about faith -- if someone is addressing an audience that is not entirely Christian (or in an institution that is not Christian), why the dogmatic approach of "I must declare my love for Jesus"? Why not just keep it to a generic "GOD" and let people make of that what they will (and I'm sure her classmates would know what God meant for her)?

It's not being ashamed of your religion, but it welcomes people to it rather than isolating them...

I appreciate the questions and understand the issue that you are addressing can be dividing. But as much as we may have common beliefs about God or may both be devoutly religious, we do not have the same faith. Yes, we follow after and love God, but your god and my God are completely different. You may not see it as important to designate between the two, but without the truth about who God is, we are eternally lost. I am not concerned about making people comfortable within their own belief system, I am committed to declaring truth.

The truth that God has revealed to man is found in His Word, the Bible. The Bible tells us that God is holy and perfect, demanding the same from mankind. It also says that ALL men has fallen short of His demands and sinned (Romans 3:23). The consequence or result of that sin is death - eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23). Without a substitute to pay the penalty for our sin, we would be utterly lost with no hope of being reconciled to God. But God, being rich in mercy and abounding in love, sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, from heaven to earth in order to die on a cross to take the punishment that you and I rightly deserved (John 3:16, Ephesians 4:5). Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless Son of God, innocently died for sins that He didn't commit.

It is then, through His death that we have the opportunity to go to heaven. He has reconciled us to God and provided the only way for us to have eternal life. Through His death, we have life. But we must believe (1) that we are completely lost and unable to save ourselves (2) and that God has provided a Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and then rose from the dead, conquering death forever and giving us eternal life.Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." I love Jesus because He is my Savior, my only hope for salvation, and my God. I proclaim that truth because I want others to have the same benefit of living forever with God in heaven and that is only going to happen if they believe in the sacrifice of Jesus for their sins.This truth about Jesus is good news and the nations must hear it.

I would agree and disagree with your claim about how speaking about Jesus isolates rather than welcomes. Well, this truth welcomes people to God, rather than isolating them from Him. But it also distinguishes who are true believers of the one true God and who are not. It isn't an issue of being ashamed of the religion, so to speak, but more an issue of whether I share with you the truth that I know and the hope that I have.

If I DO use a generic "GOD" and not the specific name of Jesus Christ, then I am blurring the truth. I am not interested in letting people make God who they want Him to be, but rather letting them know about the only God in which is found hope of salvation. Out of love for others, I want to give them the whole truth, not only the partial truth for then they remain deceived about God and how He has provided for man to get to heaven.

I proclaim the name of Jesus Christ for "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

Silence of the Wayfarer

2006-07-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

I understand that I have been quite non-existant from not only the blogosphere, but the internet in general for over a week now, but a good reason for that is that I have been heavily involved in one28's World's For Sale for the past week. Being the intern, I was responsible for organizing all of the details and people to make our youth ministry's only fundraiser happen.

God graciously allowed me to survive the event, while providing necessary funds for the ministry. Thanks to all the students and parents who gave their time and energy to make WFS 06 a success.

Thursday begins our ministry's summer camping retreat, ichthus. I am speaking twice at the retreat along with Andy Bowers, Jonathan Sarr, Curtis Wentling, and SKH. The theme is "Christ is Life" and I know that God will be glorified through it.

P.S. - No, my parka was not at World's For Sale.

A Generation for God

2006-07-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

I ran across this amazing quote by E.M. Bounds.

"Men are God's method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. . . . What the church needs today in not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men - men of prayer. . .
The training of the Twelve was the great, difficult and enduring work of Christ. . . . It is not great talents or great learning or great preachers that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God - men always preaching by holy sermons in the pulpit, by holy lives out of it. These can mold a generation for God."

On Preparing For Sunday

2006-07-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

To go along with the series that I am preaching on Sunday morning, I refer you to my friend Bekah's blog, who has posted an article by Lance Quinn on a similar vein.

Saturday Thought For Sunday Morning

My Questions and God's Desire

2006-07-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

My pastor, John Zimmer, has been preaching through 1 Timothy on Sunday nights and a couple of weeks ago he taught on chapter 2. Verse 3 and 4 says,

"This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

He explained it well, saying that God has two wills - His revealed or specific will and His permissive will. This verse shows His specific will. He wants people to repent from their sins and to turn to Him as the only One who can satisfy them for eternity, but that doesn't happen. Obviously, everyone who has ever lived has not been redeemed. I then asked myself why that didn't happen - well, because it doesn't give God the most glory. God does not save everyone because He is jealous for His own glory, and saving every man doesn't give Him all that glory. So then, my perplexing question is this:

Why does God desire something that doesn't give Him the most glory?

Why does God desire all people to be saved, when saving all people doesn't give Him the most glory?

I understand that I may be suggesting blasphemy, but I'm not entirely sure how to resolve it at this moment in time. There is either a flaw or hole in my argument or there is something else that I still have to learn about God's will and both of those could be true. I love it when I come to these texts that intially look like a contradiction or that twist my mind in knots, for God's thoughts are not our thoughts and it shows the complexity and greatness of our God. Wrestle with these texts, be completely biblical and don't give up.

Pics from the Trip

2006-07-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested, I have posted pictures of my family's trip to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, courtesy of Google's Picasa.

Lugg's Summer Vacation 06

So Long Teen Years

2006-06-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

As many of you figured out, yesterday was my 20th birthday. I crossed a threshhold of life, sealing the lid on my second decade of life and beginning my third. As my good friend, Steve Crawford, reminded me of the fact that twenty is a strange age - not a teenager, but not a legal adult. O well, we can still live our twenty-first year of life powerfully for the glory of God.

Many people showered me with Happy Birthday's and gifts. I was happily surprised by all of the people from school and IBEX that took the time to pass on their best regards. And so, to all of you, I give one big heart-felt thank you.

Well, as we know from John Piper and C.S. Lewis, our enjoyment in things is not complete until it is expressed in praise. So I wish tell you of a few things I received yesterday.

My sister, Charissa, gave me a coffee maker, from which I am drinking some Starbucks French Roast. The glory of this experience cannot be described in words.

Mom & Dad, Ian, Nathaniel, Josiah, and Kimberly went together to get me a new speaker system for my car. What a blessing it will be to crank Steven Curtis Chapman without it sounding like he's spitting.

My sister made a killer glazed strawberry pie. I tasted glorious, especially because the strawberries were freshly picked from our garden.

I received some other things too, such as a Starbucks card, Subway in the park with my dad, and new shoes from my Grandma.

I am so blessed by the people around me and thank God above all else because it is only through His infinite love for Himself that I have any value or worth. I would be not be where I am after 20 years without His sovereign, sustaining power.

Questions We Fail To Ask

2006-06-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

My friend from school and fellow IBEXer (and Washingtonian), Ryan, posted on some questions that he has had floating around in his mind recently. I found them very profitable and thought you could benefit from them as well.

1. Do I really understand how depraved I am and how incredible God's grace is that He gives constantly? I feel like I am painfully learning that I cannot live "successfully" even in the easy times without God. And I've tried. Over and over again. And God welcomes the prodigal.

2. Do I really understand how depraved everyone else is around me? Sometimes I realize the evil in my own soul, but somehow still think other people don't share those struggles. What a lie.

3. Am I a little boy playing at being a man, or am I a man struggling with acting like a little boy?

4. Is there more to the Bible saying "our enemy the Devil prowls around...looking for someone to devour" ( 1 Peter 5:8) that I give credence to?

5. Do I know how to give life to others by my words? Do I purposefully encourage my mom and sisters with my words, as a godly son and brother should?

6. Am I seeking to develop my practical life skills or am I lazily watching time fly by? Could I fix the car? Could I plan a budget? Could I lead a household?

7. Do I know how to rest with passion, letting go of my anxieties?

8. Am I dying to my will for the sake of Christ's will?

9. Am I willing to be wrong? Am I willing to take criticism? Am I willing to look stupid for a good reason?

10. If I'm not a good son, brother, friend, what deludes me into thinking I would be a good husband?

11. Sin starts in the mind. What's on my mind? Do I hate sin?

12. Why do I feel superior when I have been forgiven so much?

Baxter on Christian Education

2006-06-26T23:24:00.001-07:00

I found some interesting comments by Richard Baxter in his work The Reformed Pastor about why Christian education is necessary.

"Nothing can be rightly known, if God be not known; nor is any study well managed, nor to any great purpose, if God is not studied. We know little of the creature, till we know it as it stands related to the Creator. He who overlooks Him who is the 'Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,' and sees not Him in all who is the All in all, does see nothing at all."

"None but a Christian can read one line of his Physics so as to understand it rightly."

"Your study of physics and other sciences is not worth a rush, if it be not God that you seek after in them. To see and admire, to reverence and adore, to love and delight in God, as exhibited in his works - this is the true and only philosophy. This is the sanctification of your studies, when they are devoted to God, and when He is the end, the object, and the life of them all."

"Theology must lay the foundation, and lead the way in all our studies. If God must be searched after, in our search of the creature, then tutors (or teachers) must read God to their pupils in all; and divinity must be the beginning, the middle, the end, the life, the all, of their studies."

"Our physics and metaphysics must be reduced to theology; and nature must be read as one of God's books, which is purposely written for the revelation of Himself."

"If tutors would make it their principal business to acquaint their pupils with the doctrine of salvation, and labor to set it home upon their hearts, that all might be received according to its weight, and read to their hearts as well as to their heads."

And here is his word to teachers

"You, that are schoolmasters and tutors, begin and end with the things of God. Let some piercing words fall frequently from your mouths, of God, of the state of their souls, and the life to come. Do not say, they are too young to understand and enterain them."

Stained Testimony

2006-06-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

The Christian community has been holding up Brittany McComb as an example of suffering and taking a stand for Christ. She had been awarded the title of Valedictorian and had the opportunity to speak at her high school graduation. She submitted a script of her speech at the school's request, which was edited and given back to her. They told her that she could not make references to God and Christ because it was a school endorsed function and thus could not promote a single religion, promising her that if she did that they would turn off her microphone. She agreed to give the edited speech. But when she actually gave the speech she recited the full, unedited manuscript. The school officials then killed her microphone. For more information and some videos, click here.

Many people, youth and adult alike, are applauding Brittany for her testimony for Christ. In the face of opposition (the school board), she dared to take the risk and talk about the the impact that Jesus Christ had in her life. Although I don't think that the school did the right thing by turning off her mic, I don't think that Brittany was entirely in the right.

What do unbelievers think when they see this girl who claims to be a Christian, who rebels against authority, and who goes back on her word? She said that she would give the unedited speech, but then without informing anyone, gave the other one instead. So, the very mouth that said that Christ was her greatest influence, lied directly in the face of her authority.

I understand that we must disobey our earthly authority if it is commanding us to disobey our heavenly authority, but you must decide which one you are going to obey. Don't switch your allegience half-way through. Show from start to finish that you answer only to God.

Widows

2006-06-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
James 1:27

I'm struck once again by the bluntness of Scripture. Christians today try so many different ways to act out their religion. They try Bible studies, support groups, outreach events, and potlucks. God's Word doesn't prohibit or condemn any of those things, but it does give us specfic instructions as to what our responsibilities are as believers.

James says that if we want to present to God religion that is pure and holy, undefiled by sin, then we are to do the two things listed. I first thought that it presented some conflict with the teaching of Jesus and the apostles because they focused on the heart - the issue with all of Christianity is who you love, God or yourself. It seemed that this statement that the religion that God wanted was concerned with actions rather than the heart.

This initial incongruency turned into perfect fusion of how obedience to the first and second commandments given by Jesus is fleshed out in visiting orphans and widows in their affliction and keeping oneself unstained from the world. James is not saying that these things are the only thing that will constitute true piety or that nothing else is essential to religion, but holds these up as examples. If one is truely worshipping God in way that is "pure and undefiled" from wrong motives then that worship will be practiced and bear fruit in these two ways. That true worship will show itself in many other ways too, but the apostle James holds these two up as important and necessary. If these two characteristics are absent from one's life, then true religion does not exist.

This passage was on my mind today because I spent most of the day with two widows in our church: my grandma, Jeannie Marzolf and Jan Leaf. One of them lost their husband almost 15 years ago and the other one, only a month ago. Both women are faithfully serving their God in the absence of their soul mate. In both of my conversations with them, their husbands came up
and my heart went out to these two women who have to deal everyday with the fact that the man that they loved so much and gave themselves completely to . . . was no longer there. They have to do things on their own and live by themselves.

What a great opportunity the church has to minister to these faithful women. Most of the time, they are old and cannot do many of the things that the younger generations can do. Let us apply the words of Scripture and to take the initiative to visit such people and not wait until they tell us about a pressing need.

God Will Satisfy

2006-06-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Psalm 80:10,16 - "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

A couple of observations:

1. God identifies the problem. He saw that Israel was bowing down and worshipping other gods. They were not looking to God to provide and they put their satisfaction in their own hands, which ultimately came up empty.

2. God promises the solution. God says that He will fill them. The satisfaction and the delight will come from no one but God Himself. He doesn't say that He will give them something else to satisfy them, but that He will fill them, for He is the Lord your God.

3. God promises the best. He promises to give the finest wheat and the honey which is a delight. Their wanton craving God would satisfy with the best things. But the things that God gave them were not to be rejoiced in, but were given to point back to God. God must be glorified as the one who provides the satisfaction.

4. God commands the action. We must open our mouths for God to fill them. If we are unwilling to let God bring our satisfaction, then He will not fill us. The picture here is that of a robin feeding her young, who are scrambling and shouting for the food that their mother has brought. It would be foolish for one of the babies to refuse the worm. The difference with man is that when we refuse God, it is wicked and evil, not just foolish. O turn to the Great Provider and Satisfier! Let Him fill you with Himself that you may not be lacking. With Him are pleasures forevermore.

Commending Comments

2006-06-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comments.

meChurch

2006-06-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Below is a comical video about people wanting church their own way.

Not Bound by Scripture

2006-06-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

While reading the transcript from Dr. Mohler's appearance on Larry King Live, I came across this statement by man who wants to become a bishop in the Episcopal Church, but he is openly homoosexual. When told that his life does not follow the guidelines laid out for leaders, he responded with this:

Well, I would say that none of us are able to conform our lives to scriptural standards. In the gospel of Luke, for instance, Jesus said if you want to be a follower of mine you must give up all your possessions. I don't see many of us doing that. We all fall short in one way or another. The miracle, the good news, is that we're not worthy, but we're made worthy by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the good news we have to give to the world and God has said to me and to all of God's children what God said to Jesus at his baptism, you are my beloved. In you, I am well pleased. The world is desperate to know a God like that.

The world is desperately looking for God to accept them in their sin, not to save them from it. They want to be able to continue to live a way that brings them pleasure and they want God to be pleased with their choice of lifestyle. They say that they want God to love them. They desire God to love them by making much of them, rather than much of Himself. God wants the best thing for us, namely Himself. So, out of God's infinite love for us, He gives us Himself that we might be satisfied eternally.

Anyone can eventually come to believe that he can live how he wants, if he convinces himself that he is no longer required to obey Scripture, and this is the fatal flaw of this man.

Attack on Biblical Authority

2006-06-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

My semester in Israel created within me a love for biblical archaeology. It was much easier to get excited about something that could be seen a few minutes away compared it now being half a world away. My Land and Bible professor, Todd, introduced us to the magazine - Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR). It is a great magazine that has scholarly articles and great pictures. It is a great way to stay informed with what is happening in the field (I would also suggest frequenting this blog for the same purpose, but from a conservative, evangelical perspective).

In the most recent edition of BAR, Michael D. Coogan, professor of religious studies at Stonehill College, wrote an article entitled Question Authority!, in which he says that the Bible can not be held up as an authority on history and life. He has several errors in his argument, but he clearly exemplifies one who doubts the inspiration and authority of the Bible and thus concludes that it is fallible, weak, and equal with all other literary works. His misquote of Scripture is horrendous, but if you can interpret the Bible how you want to, I guess it doesn't matter. Here are some excerpts:

"Knowledge increases, interpretations change. Biblical interpretation is a conversation, a debate, that has been going on for millennia, and one often learns most from those with whom one disagrees."

"'The Bible says' is often regarded as decisive in contemporary debates about such issues as abortion, assisted suicide, the status of women, same-sex relationships, capital punishment and war and peace. The problem is that the Bible is often inconsistent, so much that Shakespeare observed, even "the Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose." No individual believer or community of faith has ever fully followed every Biblical teaching because the Bible does not speak with one voice. It incorporates many different views of different Biblical writers."

"Whether it concerns the Bible itself or the interpretation of the Bible or of archaeological data, there is almost always more than one perspective. Professors, preachers and bloggers who cite only the authorities that support their own presupposition mislead their audiences. Just because something is written on your computer screen, in a book, in the Bible or even in this magazine doesn't mean that it's the only possible view or even that it's true. As one eminent Jewish Christian authority put it, "Judge for yourselves!" (1 Corinthians 11:13)."

Costly Love

2006-06-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

While running last night, I listened to a sermon by John Piper in which he told the following story. It illustrated well how love for God dictates love for others and allows the one to count all things in this life as loss.

An illustration of costly love

Chuck Colson told the story of a group of American prisoners of war during the second World War, who were made to do hard labor in a prison camp. Each had a shovel and would dig all day, then come in and give an account of his tool in the evening. One evening twenty prisoners were lined up by the guard and the shovels were counted. The guard counted nineteen shovels and turned in rage on the twenty prisoners demanding to know which one did not bring his shovel back. No one responded. The guard took out his gun and said that he would shoot five men if the guilty prisoner did not step forward. After a moment of tense silence, a nineteen-year- old soldier stepped forward with his head bowed down. The guard grabbed him, took him to the side and shot him in the head, and turned to warn the others that they better be more careful than he was. When he left the men counted the shovels and there were twenty. The guard had miscounted. And the boy had given his life for his friends.

Can you imagine the emotions that must have filled their hearts as they knelt down over his body? In the five or ten seconds of silence the boy had weighed his whole future in the balance—a future wife, an education, a new truck, children, a career, fishing with his dad—and he chose death so that others might live. Jesus said in John 15:13, ""Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." To love is to choose suffering for the sake of another.

An infinitely more costly love

Jesus has loved you this way. Only, O so much more! Consider the life he laid down. One of the reasons that story hits us so hard is because the boy was nineteen years old. If he had been 89 years old and the others nineteen, we might say it was a beautiful act of love, but with a full life behind him it would not feel like the same kind of sacrifice as when your whole life stretches in front of you. So consider the life that Jesus sacrificed for you.

1. First of all, he was young too.

2. Second, he was the oldest son of a widowed mother.

3. Third, he was the most kind and caring and wise and courageous man who ever lived.

4. Fourth, he was the Son of God. This life was of infinite value—not the way other humans are of value, but the way God is of infinite value, namely, as the basis of all human value.

5. Fifth, as the Son of God Jesus was supremely loved by his Father in heaven. He left the glory of heaven and took on human nature so that he could hunger and get weary and in the end suffer and die.

The nineteen-year-old boy was a wonderful picture of love. But compared to Jesus he was only a picture. His death was quick and relatively painless. Jesus' death was one of the worst kinds of torture devised for human pain. So when Ephesians 5:2 says, "Christ loved you and gave himself up for us," don't breeze over the words: "gave himself up." His love is great in proportion to the costliness of his sacrifice. And his sacrifice was horrendous.

The Verdict Is In

2006-04-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I received a letter, informing me that I was selected to be an RA (Resident Assistant) next school year. I turned in the application back in early March and then had my interview two weeks ago. I am really excited to see how our faithful God will use this experience for His glory.

(P.S. - IBEX fall 05 is taking over Master's College dorm staff: Hannah, Mary, Robby, Christian, Philippe, and I were all selected for RA.)

A Word about God's Love

2006-04-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

In the book Understanding Christian Theology, J. Carl Laney Jr. says this about God’s love for us:

“Because God’s love is based on His unchanging nature rather than our personal behavior, He will never stop loving us. Perhaps you have heard someone say the sad words, “I don’t love you anymore.” These words would be impossible for God to speak. He told His people Israel, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). This is equally true of His relationship with the body of Christ, His church (Ephesians 5:25). His love is so vast and inexhaustible that, as F.B. Meyer once wrote, 'The love of God toward you is like the Amazon River flowing down to water a single daisy.'"

One Thing You Lack

2006-04-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace Ministries blogs about how Jesus pinpointed the rich young ruler's problem: he loved his riches more than he loved God.

Check it out here; it's worth the read.

MacArthur's List of Failures

2006-04-02T23:30:00.000-07:00

15 Devastating Consequences of a Failure to Peach the Bible Expositionally

Given by Dr. John MacArthur in chapel at The Master’s College on March 22 & 24, 2006

It usurps the authority of God over the soul.
It removes the Lordship of Christ from His Church.
It hinders the work of the Holy Spirit.
It demonstrates appalling pride.
It severs the preacher from the sanctifying grace of Scripture.
It clouds the true depth & transcendence of the message.
It prevents the preacher from fully developing the mind of Christ.
It depreciates, by example, the need for personal Bible study.
It prevents the preacher from being the voice of God in every issue.
It breeds a congregation who is as weak and indifferent to the glory of God as the preacher is.
It robs the people of the only true source of help.
It encourages people to be indifferent to Scripture and divine authority.
It lies to people about what they really need.
It strips the pulpit of power.
It puts the responsibility on the preacher to change the people by other means.

He Loves Thee Too Little

2006-04-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

“For he loves Thee too little who loves anything together with thee, which he loves not for thy sake. O love that ever burnest and art never quenched! O Charity, my God, enkindle me!” -St. Augustine

This line from Augustine reveals a simple yet profound reality regarding our love for God. The Lord remains, from before time began, the greatest and most glorious being. He sits enthroned above all earthly powers and demands worship from his creatures. He requires love. In fact, when our love goes to another, Jeremiah describes it as seeking for water in broken cisterns, rather than diving into the fountain of living water that gushes forth divine satisfaction. The only appropriate reaction to this evil is shock and awe.

With incredible boldness, Augustine declares that if you love anything equal with God, you love God too little. Your affections for Him are weak and half-hearted if you put the infinitely lovely God on equal level with His creation. God has placed a gap between Himself and man. When we seek to close that gap or eliminate it all together, we sin against the holy God by not giving Him the proper glory and recognition.

Well, Augustine not only presents the problem, but he gives us a prayer that should be upon our hearts everyday. We must pray for God to ignite love for His name inside of us, because we are incapable of such passionate affection apart from the Spirit. Pray that the Lord would set the truth of Scripture aflame within your heart, otherwise described as logic on fire. History is filled with examples of God answering this request within men and women.

God demands your love. Does your love for Him ever burn; Is it never quenched? Pray that He would enkindle that kind of affection within your heart.

Praying Like a Puritan

2006-02-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

Many years ago, my small group leader gave us a puritan prayer to read over. I pulled it out the other day and was blessed by it again. I hope that you are encouraged by it as well.

Morning Dedication
Almighty God,
As I cross the threshold of this day I commit myself, soul, body, affairs, friends, to Thy care. Watch over, keep, guide, direct, sanctify, bless me. Incline my heart to thy ways. Mould me wholly into the image of Jesus, as a potter forms clay.

May my lips be a well-tuned harp to sound Thy praise.
Let those around see me living by Thy Spirit,
trampling the world underfoot,
unconformed to lying vanities,
transformed by a renewed mind,
clad in the entire armour of God,
shining as a never-dimmed light,
showing holiness in all my doings.

Let no evil this day soil my thoughts, words, hands. May I travel miry paths with a life pure from spot or stain.

In needful transactions
let my affection be in heaven,
and my love soar upwards in flames of fire,
my gaze fixed on unseen things,
my eyes open to the emptiness, fragility, mockery of earth and its vanities.

May I view all things in the mirror of eternity, waiting for the coming of my Lord, listening for the last trumpet call, hastening unto the new heaven and earth. Order this day all my communications according to Thy wisdom, and to the gain of mutual good. Forbid that I should not be profited or made profitable. May I speak each word as if my last word, and walk each step as my final one.

If my life should end today, let this be my best day.