A Minister's Strength (10/18/09 - 8 Comments)
The prayer immediately before a sermon is one where the congregation is prone to drift off. This prayer is usually a minister's plea for God to grant him words to speak and for God to grant the ability to hear and understand for those who listen to the sermon. I've noticed, though, that when I am the one who is to preach immediately afterward, this prayer takes on a new dimension of desperation. The one...
A Nursery for Heaven (10/04/09 - 2 Comments)
This is one of my favorite prayers in The Valley of Vision. It is a prayer for family, asking God not only for grace in raising a family in a way that brings him glory but also asking God for grace in the lives of other family members. I think it is notable that a prayer for family first begins with soul-searching prayer about self. In fact it moves seamlessly from adoration of God to...
An Easy-Going God (10/03/09 - 12 Comments)
Here is some food for thought from John Stott. It comes courtesy of The Cross of Christ. ***** The kind of God that appeals to most people today would be easy-going in his tolerance of our offenses. He would be gentle, kind, accommodating. He would have no violent reactions. Unhappily, even in the church we seemed to have lost the vision of the majesty of God. There is much shallowness and levity among us. Prophets...
Giving Himself Willingly (09/27/09 - 6 Comments)
I have (slowly) been reading Bruce Gordon's new biography of Calvin (titled simply Calvin) and recently came to a chapter describing the situation in France during Calvin's ministry in Geneva. As a Frenchman, Calvin's influence spread beyond Geneva and into his native land. There Protestants, some connected to Calvin and others not, were being killed as part of a systematic effort to root out the seditious faith. Many were hunted down, tortured and executed. This...
Broken Promises Ever Renewed (09/26/09 - 6 Comments)
Here's a thought-provoking quote from Todd Gitlin, author of Media Unlimited. In just a few words he shows the emptiness of the pursuit of more and the emptiness of the promise of consumerism. ***** [T]he Great Depression was a turning point, frightening workers with the burden of an impoverished free time. After World War II, pent-up consumer demand for a high-consumption way of life was boosted by government subsidies (via the low-interest mortgages and expensive...
A Colloquy On Rejoicing (09/19/09 - 5 Comments)
I'll be honest. What first stood out to me about this prayer (drawn from The Valley of Vision) was the title, "A Colloquy On Rejoicing." I immediately looked up colloquy and found that it is simply a kind of formal conversation and that the word is often used in a religious context. So it makes good sense here. This prayer represents a Christian's conversation with himself as he reflects on his desire, his responsibility, to...
False Reverence (09/12/09 - 20 Comments)
Here is a great (and famous) quote from Mortimer Adler's classic How To Read a Book. ***** There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best...
Business for the Glory of God (09/07/09 - 7 Comments)
Today is Labor Day, a holiday here in Canada, and it seemed a good opportunity to post a short excerpt from Wayne Grudem's book Business for the Glory of God. In this book Grudem seeks to show the moral goodness of business and one of the ways he does that is by discussing the goodness of the employer/employee relationship. Here is what he says: **** Employer/employee relationships provide many opportunities for glorifying God. On both...
The Puritans and Sex (09/06/09 - 7 Comments)
I have unashamedly stolen this quote from my friend David. He shared it at his blog earlier this week and it struck me how so much of what we are sure we know about history is wrong. In fact, so much of what we know about life is wrong. We hear things and assume after a while that they are true but do not investigate for ourselves. Ask the average person what they know of...
The Long Silence (08/30/09 - 10 Comments)
Yesterday I came across a "playlet" (the first time I've ever heard the term) called "The Long Silence." If you've read John Stott's The Cross of Christ you've probably read it before. I haven't been able to find out who authored it or when he did so (though judging by the word "negro" it must have been a few years ago), but I do know that it is well worth reading and pondering. ***** At...
A Disciple's Renewal (08/23/09 - 2 Comments)
Once again this Sunday I turned to The Valley of Vision and found there a great prayer. This one is titled "A Disciple's Renewal." ***** O My Saviour, help me. I am so slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb; I am in the foothills when I should be in the heights; I am pained by my graceless heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the heavenly...
Human Development (08/22/09 - 6 Comments)
A friend sent this to me earlier in the week, a quote from John N. Oswalt's The Bible Among the Myths (Zondervan, 2009). What grabbed me in this quote was the author's insistence that we cannot measure human progress apart from our God-given purpose. It's worth thinking about. ***** I question whether we can talk about 'development' of any sort apart from the unique biblical perspective. Does 'the historical process' teach us about development or...
A Minister's Preaching (08/16/09 - 3 Comments)
This week a friend, a pastor, sent to me one of his favorite prayers from The Valley of Vision. Since it is a prayer by a minister for his preaching, it is one I had never paused over. But what a great prayer it is. ***** My Master God, I am desired to preach today, but go weak and needy to my task; Yet I long that people might be edified with divine truth, that...
Love Constrained to Obedience (08/15/09 - 16 Comments)
A couple of days ago I stumbled across this old hymn (or poem--you pick) by William Cowper. What a great poem it is. I thought I'd share it with you in case you've never read it or, as in my case, have read it in the past but have forgotten all about it. It is called "Love Constrained to Obedience." No strength of nature can suffice To serve the Lord aright: And what she has...
The Dearest Hold (08/08/09 - 2 Comments)
I came across an interesting quote in Joshua Kendall's book The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus. It is a biography of Peter Mark Roget, the man behind the creation of the famous thesaurus that bears his name. In 1824 Roget married Mary Hobson (who, like her husband, was of Huguenot stock) and, by all accounts, they had a very happy marriage. Sadly, the marriage lasted only nine...
A Prayer Following Prayer (08/02/09 - 1 Comments)
This is one of my favorites from The Valley of Vision as much for the concept of the prayer as its actual words. This is a prayer meant to follow prayer. Read it and I'm sure you'll see, as I do, just how weak and listless my prayers actually are and how much even my best efforts in prayer and praise and petition are in need of God's grace. Bewail your prayers and thank God...
Oppositional-Defiant Disorder (08/01/09 - 40 Comments)
Here are three brief quotes quotes from Leonard Sax's Boys Adrift. I thought of this book recently as I was talking to my parents and heard them describe a person they know whose child apparently suffers from "Oppositional-Defiant Disorder." That explains the third quote. The other two are just good to think about. If you've got boys of your own, do take a look at Boys Adrift; it is a good read. ***** "Forty years...
Vacations, Emergent and Miscellania (07/27/09 - 52 Comments)
The first week of my summer vacation has come and gone. It was excellent. This week, week two of vacation, I am going to be a little busier with family stuff. Therefore I will not be much in the way of original content on the blog. I should have a book review or two along the way, but do not intend to spend a lot of other time writing. Therefore I am queuing up a...
A Humble but Flawed Servant (07/25/09 - 66 Comments)
As George Whitefield sailed from his native England to Georgia where he was to be a missionary, he ministered to those on board the ship. Here is an excerpt from his journal where he discusses a ministry encounter with a particularly willful child: Had a good instance of the benefit of breaking children's wills betimes. Last night, going between decks (as I do every night) to visit the sick and to examine my people, I...
Delight in the Lord's Day (07/19/09 - 9 Comments)
Today is the Lord's Day and I thought I'd pass along some advice pertaining to the day. It comes courtesy of Donald Whitney. His book Simplify Your Spiritual Life offers a long series of short chapters, each offering wisdom on a specific part of the Christian's walk with the Lord. And here he offers some valuable wisdom for getting the most out of your Lord's Day. This is something I read quite a few years...
