Hymn Stories: Just As I Am

Just As I Am” is one of the few hymns for which we know not only the author’s story but also the exact circumstances in which it was written. Charlotte Elliott of Brighton, England (1789-1871) was either born, or in early life had become, an invalid. Her life was a testimony to patient endurance in suffering, not only physical, but also emotional and spiritual. This was the context in which she wrote the hymn, as her nephew the Rev. Handley C. G. Moule recounted it in 1897:

But ill health still beset her … it often caused her the peculiar pain of a seeming uselessness in her life while the circle around her was full of unresting service-ableness for God. Such a time of trial marked the year 1834, when she was forty-five years old, and living in Westfield Lodge, Brighton… .

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Weekend A La Carte (5/11)

W.W. Jay-Z? - Writing for Christianity Today, Russell Moore suggests “how Christian hip-hop could call the American church back to the gospel—and hip-hop back to its roots.”

A Week of Groceries - I always enjoy photo collections like this one. Here is a week of groceries from different families around the world.

How Introverted Pastors Love - John Piper has some helpful thoughts on the introverted pastors. He makes many other observations on 33 years of pastoral ministry.

National Geographic Photo Contest - Here are some of the best photos from this year’s National Geographic Traveler Magazine photo contest. Some of them are nothing short of spectacular.

Porn and the Brain - One fascinating area of research today is the effect of pornography on the brain. The connection does not absolve addicts of blame, but it does warn us of one more negative effect of pornography and explain why the addiction is so difficult to destroy.

Every Generation Is the Me Generation - There have been many interesting reactions to Time Magazine’s cover story on the “Me Me Me Generation.” But as this article explains and displays, every generation is considered the “me generation” at one time or another.

There is no better test of growth than that a man desires God because he is God. —Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Free Stuff Fridays

Free Stuff Fridays
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays sponsored by Truth for Life. Truth for Life is, of course, the Bible-teaching ministry of Alistair Begg. They are offering a great prize package. There will be 5 winners this week, and each of the winners will receive all of these items:

TFL Package

Giveaway Rules: You may enter one time. As soon as the winners have been chosen, all names and addresses will be immediately and permanently erased. Winners will be notified by email. The giveaway closes Saturday at noon.

Ordinary: Christian Living for the Rest of Us

Not every idea becomes a book. Not even every good idea becomes a book. Between the author and the bookstore stand agents, editors and publication committees tasked with deciding on the few books worthy of time, effort, advances and marketing dollars. I have had far more ideas rejected than accepted. Books on simplicity, the environment, evangelism, pornography and probably many more besides have received the trademark “Thanks, but no thanks.” There is one that haunts me: Ordinary: Christian Living for the Rest of Us.

Yesterday I did some maintenance in Evernote, an application I use to store ideas. I came across the files for Ordinary and my finger hovered over the “delete” button for a moment. It was tempting, but something compelled me instead to open my word processor and begin to write. I couldn’t kill the idea because it is just too near to me. It has been on my mind for three years, at least, and in the back of my mind for far longer than that.

I believe there is an intangible kind of value in living a book before writing a book. The best books are the ones that flow not out of theory but out of experience. Better still are the ones that combine proven theory with actual experience, the ones the author writes in that sweet spot, that point of overlap between the two. Theory is easy to come by; experience is hard won. Theory comes quickly—you need only read a book or two; experience comes only with the slow march of the time that challenges and so often obliterates the theory. I can almost always tell a book that is all theory and no experience. It is a book of head instead of heart, law instead of grace, impossibility instead of practicality.

Ordinary is a book I have lived. I live it every day. I live an ordinary life, pastor an ordinary church full of ordinary people, and head home each night to my ordinary little home in an oh-so-ordinary suburb. I preach very ordinary sermons—John Piper or Steve Lawson I am not and never will be—and as I sit with the people I love I am sure I give them very ordinary counsel. A friend recently confessed his initial disappointment the first time he visited my home and got a glimpse of my life. “Your house is so small and your life is so boring.” Indeed. It’s barely 1,100 square feet of house and forty hours every week sitting at a desk.

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A La Carte (5/10)

What Separates Us From the Bible? - Tony Payne follows up a previous article: “I was suggesting last week that the Bible is not written from an alien, different world, but addresses the world we live in. But there is something that stands as a divide between us and the Bible; something that prevents us from grasping hold of the Scriptures and applying them rightly to our lives.”

World’s Worst Violaters - “The worst countries for religious freedom are either Muslim or atheist.  (Burma is Buddhist.) We understand about Islam, but atheists like to present themselves as tolerant.  What does it tell us that no countries of Christian heritage are on the list?”

Hymnals Have a Future - I suspect the better headline here is “Why I Really Hope Hymnals Have a Future.” But I could be wrong and maybe hymnals really do have a future.

Shaping a Child’s Soul - Timothy Paul Jones strikes a good balance in this article. “If your goal is organizational efficiency, equipping parents to disciple their children may be an inefficient use of your time, and turning over children's spiritual lives to professionals at church might make perfect sense.”

Refusing the Search - I had wondered this in the aftermath of the Boston Marathan bombing: During the lockdown, what would have happened if someone had refused to allow his house to be searched by police? I didn’t hear of anyone claiming that right when the SWAT team banged on the door.

Texting and Driving - Be sure to talk to your teens about this! Texting and driving now kills more teens every year than drinking and driving. After all, kids don’t drink 24 x 7, but they do check their text messages all day every day.

A Jesus who never wept could never wipe away my tears. —C.H. Spurgeon

The History of Christianity in 25 Objects: The Gutenberg Bible

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin contains a copy of what many people consider the most valuable book in the world. The Gutenberg Bible is not only the oldest surviving book to be printed using moveable type, but also the first complete book to be produced with that technology. The volume in the University of Texas is one of only 20 complete copies to survive. Though its value is merely speculative as it has been almost 40 years since a copy was last sold, there is no doubt that if it were put on the market today, it would shatter all existing records. (The edition at the Harry Ransom Center was purchased in 1978 for $2,400,000.) As we survey the history of Christianity in 25 historical objects, Gutenberg’s Bible represents his great contribution to history in the movable type printing press.

Gutenberg Bible
Johannes Gutenberg is one of those rare individuals whose invention literally changed the world. When A&E closed out the second millennium with their list of the 100 most influential people of the millennium, few were surprised to see Gutenberg's name at the very top, above Newton, Darwin, Columbus, Marx and so many other notables.

Movable type had been invented in Asia as early as the fifth century A.D. and in its earliest form used handcut wooden blocks that could be coated in ink and pressed onto paper. The earliest book from this time was printed in China in the ninth century but it has long since been lost. It would be centuries before the art was discovered or rediscovered in Europe.

Johannes Gutenberg was born around the year 1400 in Mainz, Germany. History has recorded few facts about his early life, though we know he was at first a goldsmith. It was not until he was near the age of forty that he began to experiment with printing.

Gutenberg HThe genius of Gutenberg’s invention was not in the press itself as much as in the type. At that point in history, almost all books were handwritten, painstakingly produced by scribes so that a single Bible might take years to complete. Block printing was also becoming popular, but it, too, was slow as it required an entire page to be carved into a wooden block before being coated in ink and pressed onto paper. Because of the onerous process of production, books were both rare and expensive. Gutenberg understood that printing could be made exponentially faster by splitting text into its most basic parts and using movable blocks of letters and punctuation marks. Sets of these characters could be arranged to form a page of words which could then produce a near-infinite number of facsimiles.

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A La Carte (5/9)

There are several books on sale for Mother’s Day: Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick ($5.99); Five Conversations You Must Have With Your Daughter ($4.99) and Five Conversations You Must Have with Your Son ($4.74) by Vicki Courtney; Beyond Bath Time by Erin Davis ($1.99); Comforts From Romans by Elyse Fitzpatrick ($3.99); Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney ($3.99); Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes ($4.99); Through HIs Eyes by Jerram Barrs ($5.99). (More Kindle deals at the bottom of this post)

The Struggle To Trust - Every parent can identify with the struggle to trust the Lord with your childrens’ salvation. “The way I hope my kids will come to salvation is quite narrow. I want them to soak in God's word and truth by osmosis until one pretty spring day while we're sitting under a big oak tree and enjoying a picnic, their little eyes open to the truths of God.”

Crossway Flood - In the aftermath of a devastating flood, Crossway is looking for your assistance. “Your willingness to stand with us today will help Crossway recover and carry forward our not-for-profit ministry and our strategic efforts to reach the world with the gospel and the truth of God's word.”

Top Preaching Mistakes - Julian lists the top mistakes he makes in preaching, both in preparation and delivery.

A Close Encounter With Abortion - Marlin Stutzman: “Recently, after speaking on the House floor about the horrors of Dr. Kermit Gosnell's abortion clinic in Philadelphia, I began wondering if my mother had ever thought about ending her unplanned pregnancy. My parents never gave any indication that it was ever a consideration, but was it?”

License Plate Readers - The sheer volume of information being collected and archived these days is amazing. License plate readers are just one of the most recent and most troubling.

What! Get to heaven on your own strength? Why, you might as well try to climb to the moon on a rope of sand! —George Whitefield

Remember that the Kindle editions of the NIV Application Commentary set are on sale for just $4.99 each. This is considered a very good popular-level series. I've asterisked volumes especially recommended by the various experts I rely on to help me sort through commentaries: Genesis*; Leviticus, Numbers; Deuteronomy*; Joshua; Judges and Ruth*; 1 & 2 Kings; 1 & 2 Chronicles*; Esther*; Job; Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs*; Isaiah; Jeremiah, Lamentations; Ezekiel*; Daniel*; Joel, Obadiah, Malachi; Hosea, Amos, Micah; Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah; Haggai, Zechariah; Matthew; Mark*; Luke*; John; Acts*; Romans*; 1Corinthians*; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians*; Colossians & Philemon*; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Timothy & Titus*; Hebrews*; James; 1 Peter*; 2 Peter & Jude*; 1, 2, & 3 John*; Revelation*.

Podcast: Minor Prophets & Wisdom Literature

  • Tim Challies
  • 05/08/13

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Download: Audio File |

As you know by now, David Murray and I are taking a course together and we have invited everyone else to take it with us. Together we are going through R.C. Sproul’s course on the Old Testament’s Prophets, Poetry, and Wisdom Literature. Week-by-week we are recording a podcast to share our thoughts and answer some questions.

In this week’s podcast we look at Joel, Micah, and Habakkuk and then turn to Dr. Sproul’s introduction to Wisdom Literature. We also talk about the baby David and Shona are expecting any day now.

The Boundaries of Evangelicalism

As I survey the contemporary church, one of my gravest concerns is the power and prevalence of mysticism. It appears in pulpits, books, and conversation. It is at the heart of Sarah Young’s bestselling Jesus Calling, it is in all the much-loved books by John Eldredge, it fills the pages of so many books on spiritual disciplines or spiritual formation, it is almost everywhere you look. Language that was once considered the distinguishing language of mysticism is now commonly used by Evangelicals.

Mysticism was once regarded as an alternative to Evangelical Christianity. You were Evangelical or you were a mystic, you heeded the doctrine of the Reformation and understood it to faithfully describe the doctrine laid out in Scripture or you heeded the doctrine of mysticism. Today, though, mysticism has wormed its way inside Evangelicalism so that the two have become integrated and almost inseparable. In an age of syncretism we fail to spot the contradiction and opposition.

Several years ago Donald Whitney attempted to define the boundaries of Evangelical spirituality--the boundaries of how we may rightly live out our Christian faith. His paper has been very helpful to me as I’ve thought this through.

Before we proceed, we need some definitions, and I will turn to Whitney: Evangelical theology is “the theology and practice considered orthodox by a consensus of the heirs of the Reformation.” These are the five solas of the Reformation, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the necessity of his atoning work, and so on--the core doctrines of historic Protestantism. Mysticism refers “those forms of Christian spirituality which attempt direct or unmediated access to God.” Mystics are those who expect to experience “a direct inner realization of the Divine” and an “unmediated link to an absolute.”

I want to track with Whitney as he expresses his concerns and challenges us to think carefully.

The Big Boundary

The first thing Whitney does is tell us where we can and must go to find the boundaries that must surround Evangelicalism. He says that they will and must be found in “the written self-revelation of God.” Whatever the boundaries are, they are God’s own boundaries and have been revealed to us. We cannot depend upon ourselves, our own wisdom or our own desires, to teach us about how we may experience God. The Bible points us to two forms of revelation: natural revelation and special revelation.

In natural revelation God reveals himself through creation, but this is incomplete and insufficient revelation. “It reveals Him to us only as Creator. It does little, if anything, to reveal Him to us as holy, as Judge, as Son, as Savior, or as Spirit.” For us to know God as he is and for us to obey him, we must have more than the revelation God gives us through what he has created.

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A La Carte (5/8)

There are a couple of new Kindle deals that may interest you. A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Joni & Ken; it has now been marked down to $3.79. Couples of the Bible by Robert & Bobbie Wolgemuth was in my recent list of New & Notable books and is now just $3.99.

More Than Half of Humanity - This map shows something incredible: that more than half of the people on earth live in a very, very small area.

Do We Have to Mention Jesus? - I like John Koessler’s answer to the question, Do we have to mention Jesus in every sermon?

You Won’t Remember This Article - “Do you understand and remember more after reading from a page than reading from a screen? As Ferris Jabr reports for Scientific American, the book itself binds your understanding.”

Plosky Tolbachik Volcano - “Plosky Tolbachik is a massive basaltic volcano. On November 27, 2012, the remote Russian volcano Plosky Tolbachik erupted and as of today (February 6, 2012) fluid lava continues to erupt from the volcano.” This is an amazing 360 degree aerial panorama of it all.

Ian and Larissa - DG: “It's been one year since we released this video, very simply titled: "The Story of Ian and Larissa." The response was (and continues to be) stunning -- over 1.5 million plays online from viewers around the world. But such impressive numbers only faintly echo the measure of grace in the lives of Ian and Larissa Murphy. And to mark the one-year anniversary of the video release, we wanted to reconnect with them for a quick update through this written interview.”

We must not conceive of prayer as overcoming God's reluctance but as laying hold of his highest willingness. —Richard Trench