On Helping Myself

I expect nothing from myself, and everything from Christ.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

That this work [i.e., the mortification of sin] is not to be done without the Spirit I have also shown before. Whence, then, do we expect the Spirit? From whom do we look for him? Who has promised him to us, having procured him for us? Ought not all our expectations to this purpose to be on Christ alone? Let this, then, be fixed upon your heart, that if you have not relief from him you shall never have any. All ways, endeavors, contendings that are not animated by the expectation of relief from Christ and him only are to no purpose, will do you no good. Yea, if they are anything but supports of your heart in this expectation, or means appointed by himself for the receiving of help from him, they are in vain.
- John Owen

Salvation from the Pleasure of Sin

From A. W. Pink:

"The sincere Christian is often made to seriously doubt if he has been delivered from the love of sin. Such questions as these pain-fully agitate his mind. Why do I so readily yield to temptation? Why do some of the vanities and pleasures of the world still possess so much attraction for me? Why do I chafe so much against any restraints being placed upon my lusts? Why do I find the work of mortification so difficult and distasteful? Could such things as these be, if I were a new creature in Christ?...

"How may one be assured that he has been saved from the love of sin? Let us point out first that the presence of that within us which still lusts after and takes delight in some evil things, is not incompatible with our having been saved from the love of sin, paradoxical as that may sound. It is part of the mystery of the gospel that those who be saved are yet sinners in themselves. The point we are here dealing with is similar to and parallel with faith. The divine principle of faith in the heart does not cast out unbelief. Faith and doubts exist side by side within a quickened soul, which is evident from words “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24), In like manner the Christian may exclaim and pray, “Lord, I long after holiness, help Thou my lustings after sin.” And why is this? Because of the existence of two separate natures, the one at complete variance with the other within the Christian.

"How, then, is the presence of faith to be ascertained? Not by the ceasings of unbelief, but by discovering its own fruits and works. Fruit may grow amid thorns — as flowers among weeds — yet it is fruit, nevertheless. Faith exists amid many doubts and fears. Not-withstanding opposing forces from within as well as from without us, faith still reaches out after God. Notwithstanding innumerable discouragements and defeats, faith continues to fight. Notwithstanding many refusals from God, it yet clings to Him, and says, “Except Thou bless me I will not let Thee go.” Faith may be fearfully weak and fitful, often eclipsed by the clouds of unbelief; nevertheless the devil himself cannot persuade its possessor to repudiate God's Word, despise His Son, or abandon all hope. The presence of faith, then, may be ascertained in that it causes its possessor to come before God as an empty-handed beggar beseeching Him for mercy and blessing.

"Now just as the presence of faith may be known amid all the workings of unbelief, so our salvation from the love of sin may be ascertained notwithstanding all the lustings of the flesh after that which is evil. But in what way? How is this initial aspect of salvation to be identified? We have already anticipated this question in an earlier paragraph, wherein we stated that God saved us from delighting in sin by imparting a nature that hates evil and loves holiness, which takes place at the new birth. Consequently, the real question to be settled is how may the Christian positively determine whether that new and holy nature has been imparted to him? The answer is, “By observing its activities, particularly the opposition it makes (under the energizings of the Holy Spirit) unto indwelling sin.” Not only does the flesh (the principle of sin) lust against the spirit, but the spirit (the principle of holiness) lusts and wars against the flesh."

Bible Envy

Crossway recently released the ESV in a Personal Size Reference Edition. I found out more than I ever wanted to know about it from this review -- which has me looking more closely at bindings and page designs than I ever have before. But it sold me on the TruTone cover over the stiff leather. I ordered one, and it really is great. It's especially nice to read the Psalms all spread out with room to breathe on the page. Much better than the cramped double-columns which break the lines of poetry down to indentations and sub-indentations.

And now the ESV Study Bible looks incredible! I like the design for the most part, especially the Tan TruTone. But more importantly, the list of contributors really is outstanding. And it's good to see Covenant Seminary so well represented.

• Hans Bayer on Mark (his area of specialty),
• Brian Auker on Joel, Micah, and Haggai,
• David Chapman as NT Archeology Editor, on Hebrews, and several articles,
• Jack Collins as OT Editor (which he also did for the original ESV translation) and on the Psalms and Song of Solomon (I use his notes from "Psalms and Wisdom Lit." a lot -- excellent class!) plus some of the articles,
• Dan Doriani article on How to Interpret the Bible,
• Kenneth Lalng Harris on Exodus and Proverbs (listed as a CTS visiting instructor, but I don't know who he is, and he isn't on CTS's site)
• Jay Sklar on Leviticus (he did his Ph.D. on the clean/unclean laws),
• Andrew Stewart also on Song of Solomon,
• Robert Vasholz on Hosea,
• Greg Perry on OT time lines...

So I'm guessing Dr. Collins was able to pull some strings. :) But I'm glad he did.

Now... how about I read the Bible(s) I have before I keep buying more. I'll probably get the ESV Study Bible for reference, and I am glad I got the Personal Size edition. But at the end of the day, consumerism with a pietistic veneer is still consumerism. One well-read Bible is infinitely better than fifty nifty editions that sit on the shelf and look cool.

"Greediness of study"

That's one sin John Owen lists in The Mortification of Sin. And it stopped me dead in my tracks. Busted! We all tend to make time for that work we most enjoy doing, and I love to read. But even the best things can subtly become distractions from what ought to be done at a given moment. That's how idols function. And idols, like dragons, need slaying -- no matter how majestic, and strong, and important they may seem. To paraphrase Owen, "Be killing greedy study (with Gospel weapons) or it will be killing you."

Sorry you lost...

I'll be speaking at UNC's RUF large group tonight. I'll try not to mention the game last Saturday, although one NC State fan suggested I wear a red shirt just to make them mad. Probably not the best way to win a hearing. It's all about a preacher's ethos right?

Sharon Begley points out the differences between collectivist and individualist cultures. Show a group of three pictures -- a monkey, a panda, and a banana -- to folks in Japan and to folks in Great Britain. Ask them which two go together and you'll likely get different answers. The British Westerners tend to think in terms of classification, so they put the two mammals together. But the Japanese see a functional relationship between the monkey and the banana. It's classification vs. relationship. And the differences seem to be related to climate. I.e., the closer to the equator you get, the more group-minded the societies get; while the colder climates host more individualistic cultures. Now some researchers think it all might be related to the prevalence of pathogens in warmer climates, and the survival-need to form close groups which shun outsiders.

A horrible kind of freedom

"The existentialist finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist, for there disappears with Him all possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven…. Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist, and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend upon either within or outside himself…. We are left alone, without excuse. That is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free."

Jean Paul Sartre, "Existentialism is a Humanism"

A Salute... and a Handshake

Laurel and Hardy

mnftiu

Drinking Like a Man

"Going to an adult bar, far from having the dangerous effects that so many pillars and pillaresses of the community were prone to assume, altered this man's drinking habits for the better. He said:

"I also discovered how to drink at Schultie's. I already knew how to chug-a-lug. I knew how to get puking drunk and passed-out drunk but I didn't know how to drink a couple of enjoyable beers and go home clear-headed. My first couple of beers at Schultie's went down quick. I never let go of the bottle until it was drained. The older fellows would let their beers sit off to the side for several minutes at a time. When the talk was lively, they seemed to forget the beer altogether. They'd sip a little during the lulls and there weren't many lulls. Those guys taught me how to relax, or at least they tried. In the adult tavern, many a young man learned to detach himself physically from his bottle or glass with quickly diminishing separation anxiety--learned, that is, to drink less like an infant and more like an adult."

Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place

Gerard Manley Hopkins

The title for this blog comes from Gerard Manley Hopkins, a favorite poet of mine. I love the concrete reality of the physical creation conveyed by his phrase "the air things wear."


In the Valley of the ElwyI remember a house where all were good
To me, God knows, deserving no such thing:
Comforting smell breathed at very entering,
Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood.

That cordial air made those kind people a hood
All over, as a bevy of eggs the mothering wing
Will, or mild nights the new morsels of Spring:
Why, it seemed of course; seemed of right it should.

Lovely the woods, waters, meadows, combes, vales,
All the air things wear that build this world of Wales;
Only the inmate does not correspond:

God, lover of souls, swaying considerate scales,
Complete thy creature dear O where it fails,
Being mighty a master, being a father and fond.