We should read the Old Testament with a deep breath and anticipate the messiah. When the Incarnation occurs, we must allow ourselves to be blown away by the incredulity of the story.
August in Music
The month of August has been good to me musically. I won free tickets to the three day Austin City Limits Festival in October.
In Medias Res
We are characters in a story, we are not the author. We are placed in the plot and given roles. We enter stage right or stage left and are called upon to recite our lines and act.
The Barefoot Man
For Christ, the putting on of human flesh led to the full exposing of humanity on the cross before God. Similarly for the Christian, putting on Christ is the full exposing of ourselves to our Heavenly Father.
God Aims at the Whole Creation
Jesus has initiated this glorious redemption and he has ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty from whence he has poured out His Spirit on His Church who will continue the work of redemption until all of Christ’s enemies have been made a footstool under his feet (Psalm 110:1).
The Aesthetic of the Suffering God
I would suggest that the sort of transcendent beauty discussed is not the world-saving beauty that Dostoevsky points us to; rather, the beauty that saves the world is actually quite ugly.
The Unsettling Gospel of God
By allowing the Gospel of Matthew to tell the story it wants to tell (rather than telling the story of a doctrine) Leithart brings out
shadowlands
I've discovered that travel only "sinks in" for me if I am going with, to, or returning home to, people I love. This rules out a lot of the "finding yourself" travel-related nonsense a more whimsical version of myself might still be tempted to go looking for.
No Day But Today
So, then, let us love like our God who is and has defined love.
Joyfulness
My children take great joy in the smallest things. And I enjoy their joy. Christian obedience is something like this. God, through His Spirit, works in us the smallest of obedience. This becomes the smallest of pleasures. And it pleases Him.
John Calvin and the Civil Magistrate (Part 5)
Get our troops off of foreign soil and return to a true Christian magistrate.
The Great Commission
Once you begin to understand the ways in which the Bible refers to itself, you begin to peel back layers to passages that before were seemingly shrouded in mystery and hid their glory from you.
Objections to Holy Deception
It should not be surprising that a slew of posts on "why it is okay to lie" might receive some push back. It is time for me to address a couple of objections that went untouched in my posts.
jameson & carol
A crowd of migrant workers, waiting to be picked up by anyone, stepped closer to the car. He waved them off solemnly. When he asked me if I had a facebook, I said no.
Personhood & Abortion
In the end, it should not matter whether the fetus is human life or not. Humans are to view the world through the understanding that they are in dynamic relationship to everything around them.
Defying Evil Through Deception
This is not merely God using poor circumstances. This is God reversing a false judgment set forth by humanity. This is God overturning the false righteousness of the world.
Joy Abides
Joy is no slave. Joy stands outside of that list, for it is hidden in what God has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. Joy abides. Joy looks at the ebb and flow of life and says, “But God.”
Deception in Genesis
Joseph is actually a pre-fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. The whole world is blessed through him. Genesis 41:57 says "all the earth" came to him for bread <cough> and wine <cough>.
Commands Vs. Relationships
We must focus on God's revelation as the center of sin. With this underneath us, we can look at sin as relational not merely ontological.
Reading & Laying Down Your Life
C.S. Lewis makes an argument that “good reading” consists in laying down one’s own point of view. This, Lewis explains, is a type of “dying,” but in this dying, we find that we truly become ourselves as we escape ourselves.