This morning Jared asked a question that I asked myself earlier today. His is a very timely post, and I take it as a sign that the conviction I felt earlier this morning is real. An excerpt is below:

If His Word is written on my heart, why isn’t it flowing in my blood?

It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” — Matthew 4.4 (NRSV)

I have been reading selections from the Apostolic Fathers lately, and one thing that strikes me most about them is just how drenched in Scripture they are. The difference between these documents and more contemporary writings of edification (the so-called “Christian Living” genre) is clear and impressive. These early documents live and breathe God’s written Word.

Take 1 Clement, for example, which is an epistle from the Roman church to the Corinthians, written at the end of the first century and attributed to Clement of Rome. The point of the letter appears to be a correction and a soft rebuke, addressing the fact that young members of the Corinthian church have affected some sort of rebellion, even ousting older (and wiser) members of the church. The primary aim of the letter is restoration.

And the whole thing is riddled with references — some explicit quotes, some incorporated paraphrases — to Scripture passages, both from the Hebrew Scriptures and from the early New Testament canonical tradition. (By the way, the practically equal treatment artifacts like 1 Clement give to both Old Testament documents and to assorted snippets from the Pauline epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and even Gospel sayings is a good indicator of the historic attestation of our New Testament canon.)

Read his entire post; it is fantastic.

And Lord, may the hunger that You have put in me for Your word grow and grow. And may the gift of faith that you have given me, mixed with Your word, produce fruit that is pleasing to You.

In the midst of my own current speechlessness, and the remnants of the five to ten posts I have started recently and haven’t finished, I remain dependent on others for content.

Thank goodness for people like Jared. His new solo blog, a “quiet place” called Shizuka Blog, contains healthy, flowering plants of wisdom such as this one:

The fruit of the Spirit is not automatic. I can’t just think about God and superficially read my Bible every day and “get fruit.”

I have to root my spirit in His, in the nurturing soil of the Word incarnate and the Word written. I have to put myself in locations conducive to spiritual nourishment — family, church community, a quiet corner in which to really pray and study.

In his novel The Fourth Treasure, Todd Shimoda describes the efforts of Japanese calligraphers to perfect their artistry. One sensei instructs his students to perform ten thousand strokes a day for ten thousand days. And then the student might be ready.

And the strokes are not the Japanese characters themselves, but the individual strokes — the “radicals” — that together make a character. That’s ten thousand times a day, for ten thousand days, of practicing the parts of a letter. Can you imagine having to practice drawing the three separate parts of an A for that long before you can attempt to draw the actual letter?

But there is a beauty and a spirit and an emotional substance to expertly rendered Japanese kanji not found in the cold geometry of our twenty-six-letter alphabet.

There is a difference between trying and training.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. — Galatians 6.9

The work of sanctification is God’s. But there is work to be done on my part, as well. The works of faithfulness.

Disciplines to undertake. Hard work. Consistency. Perseverance.

A long obedience in the same direction.

The ever excellent Mr. Standfast today posted some great quotes from John Owen, the 17th century Puritan divine. Nestled in this pile of treasures was this jewel:

I will not judge a person to be spiritually dead whom I have judged formerly to have had spiritual life, though I see him at present in a swoon as to all evidences of the spiritual life. And the reason why I will not judge him so is this — because if you judge a person dead, you neglect him, you leave him; but if you judge him in a swoon, though never so dangerous, you use all means for the retrieving of his life.

Yes.

One reason for my recent posting silence is that words are not coming easy these days. There are issues that I am wrestling with, having to do with the tension between our role and God’s role in salvation and sanctification. I will hopefully be posting on these topics (and other related mullings) over the next few days and weeks.

Peter over at Stronger Church has these thoughts on the message that he gave his church yesterday:

One of the things that I want our people to grasp is that they are not Christians because they prayed a prayer, went forward at an evangelistic meeting, asked Jesus into their hearts, etc. They are Christians because they believed (had faith, trusted – those are biblical responses) in the Gospel of Christ’s death on their behalf, and as a result God declared that they were right with Him.

Maybe it is judgmental to say this, but we evangelicals are not very deep in our understanding of the Gospel. I pointed out that we need to know what salvation is all about for several reasons, one of them being to understand where our security lies. I’ve heard too many people question their relationship with God on the basis of either not knowing if they “really believed,” were “really sincere,” or “really understood” when they prayed a prayer, went forward in an evangelistic meeting, etc. How liberating to realize that our standing before God is not based on what we did, but on God’s unchanging declaration that we are righteous in His sight on the basis of the sinless life and substitutionary death of Christ! [Emphasis mine]

I’ve spent more time than I should have as a Christian stuck in this trap, because I didn’t understand some basic facts. Salvation is not based upon performing a ritual correctly. Neither is it based on my feelings, or what others do or think about me.

Salvation is all about Jesus. It’s about what He has done, not what I have done. And it’s certainly not about what others do.

These are not breakthrough theological insights. They appear quite simple on the page, yet it is so easy to miss them! We’re not called to turn over a new leaf. We’re called to become a new leaf.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

– 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Ever tried to become something entirely new? Impossible! We humans are fragile bundles of insecurities, misconceptions, misperceptions, and broken parts. But when God places us in Christ, we are immediately a new creation. Only our Creator can re-create us! I’m beginning to wonder if there’s really anything we can “do” about this. The growing knowledge of my total dependence on Him for even the basics, like faith for instance, is freeing.

I feel the scriptural tension and balance between God’s sovereignty and His expectations for our behavior and works. For Scripture is surely not silent regarding what we are to do when we are a new creation. A good example of the tension I speak of is the passage below:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

– Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)

Notice that the category for this post is “meditation”, not “theological treatise”. I am working out the tension described in that deliciously contrasting – almost coy! – passage above with fear and trembling, ready to be corrected.

Of this I am sure, though. If God has a will and the desire to work out His good pleasure through me, I know He will do it. Who could possibly stand in His way? Certainly not this cloud of atoms – this vapor – that I am.

I am His workmanship. I believe this from Scripture, and the thought that my Lord would desire to make me into something useful for Him is reason enough to bow down in awe and thankfulness and, like the elders in the Revelation, cast what crowns I have at His wounded feet.