I highly recommend to you a blog I just discovered; Mark lauterbach’s GospelDrivenLife.

In his latest post, Hypocrisy and the Gospel, Mark delivers some piercing insights. Some of which strike a little too close to home for me . . . Read the whole thing. The conclusion and exhortation of the post is here:

To build your faith — the people who surround you in your local church — your friends and pastors — are the most likely means of grace for your sanctification. Being known by a few for the real temptations you face and the sins you commit — and looking them in the eye day after day — is a powerful grace to you because it means you are killing your hypocrisy and seeking only the favor and grace of God in the Gospel. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. You and I do not need an ‘expert” — we simply need the cross-centered care of a brother or sister whose primary qualification is that they are not us and therefore see us clearly.

Bob at Gratitude and Hoopla points us to this series of posts from Worship Madly (now on the blogroll). Read these posts if you get a chance. Greg’s story of his wife Denise’s death and the struggle of faith involved in that is heartwrenching, worshipful and God glorifying, all at the same time.

A few minutes before 3am I knew I had to get some “rest”. My sister agreed to keep watch and pray over Nece…and I stretched out in the chair…”I love you Nece”, but I knew there would be no reply this time…Oh how wanted to hear those words…my favorite words that I’d heard every single night for almost 8 years…”I love you too, Moshe…” but not this time…not ever again…

My sister swears that Denise was waiting for me to go to sleep…the instant that I started to snore, the strangest and most beautiful thing happened…Denise lifted her head and looked with her blinded eyes towards the door…and she smiled. My sister says it was the biggest, most beautiful smile she had ever seen…my Nece smiled…and she was gone. My sister woke me and she was half laughing, half crying…she was more excited than I’ve ever seen her. She was trying to be sensitive to me, but…she had just watched my wife enter into glory. She was allowed to watch as Nece heard her Bridegroom call her name…and she ran to Him. Before we got married, Denise wrote me an incredible poem that we had framed…near the end of it she said something like “A perfect man God made only once and His bride waits for His return. The perfect man for me He has brought to me and this bride waits no more”. I haven’t thought about that poem in a while…but indeed…her waiting is over…and she will never need medication again.

And His Bride waits…and longs…and moans. Even now I’m struck by the fact that when Denise & first met online, her email address was Rev2217…”The Spirit and the Bride say come…”

That was the cry of her life from the age of 13 when she met Jesus…on June 1st, 2005 He came…to her.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

– Ephesians 1:3-10 (ESV)

Bob over at Gratitude and Hoopla blogs on this passage. I can’t at the moment think of anything to add to what he’s saying:

Think of this a moment. God’s plan for creation included a knowledge that rebellion and sin would enter in, provoking a necessary separation (a “great divorce”) between God and man, who had been intended as the very pinnacle of the plan. But before He ever set the plan in motion, before the construction project of creation had even begun, one member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, volunteered himself to be the vehicle for the restoration of all this fallen creation to its intended perfection.

And here’s the thing: that plan included you, if you have believed on Jesus. Think of it. From the beginning God took account of the rebellion, made a way of salvation nevertheless possible through Jesus Christ, and out of many generations chose those individuals whom he would include in this great plan of restoration. So, to put it another way, in the perfection of the Godhead, before ever the created universe was set in motion, the plan was hatched to save many. And Jesus said, “I will go on their behalf. I will do what is necessary. I will take on mortality, I will bear the violent malice of evil men, I will face down the devil and take the wrath for sin, I will even endure separation from the Father, for the sake of [insert name here].” And all this, I emphasize, before God had ever said, “Let there be light.”

I stand in awe.

Go read his whole post. Heck, go read his whole blog!

I was googling this morning looking for a specific C.S. Lewis quote. I couldn’t find it and instead found this one:

“It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.”

– C.S. Lewis, The Problem Of Pain

It meshed very well with my dark reverie on the bus ride this morning. It is becoming clearer to me that purity of heart is a high calling, and, I believe, really God’s achievement. I can affect purity of manners and speech, I can strive to keep my eyes pure, watch my language, keep my temper in check, and even be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.

These are all good things. But my inner core, is it golden or cardboard? And if my heart is not pure, how does it get purified? Only God can do it; there is no other way. He is the great Alchemist who can turn the hard, discarded rocks that beat in our chests into hearts of gold. Pure. And blessed!

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

– Psalm 51:10 (ESV)

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you . . .”

– Luke 6:27 (ESV)

Below is the story of the selfless (and self-sacrificing) love of 16th century Anabaptist martyr Dirk Willems from Profiles of Mennonite Faith:

Dirk Willems was racing across the thinly frozen pond. He was racing for his life. He knew that returning meant death. Dirk was an Anabaptist (a sixteenth-century name for many Mennonites), and Anabaptists all over Europe were being tortured and put to death. If the guard caught him it would be his life. So he ran as fast as he could. But he was weakened, in fact quite thin and light, from his stay in prison. He was so light that he made it over the thin ice of the pond, the “Hondegat.” But his pursuer, stronger and heavier, did not make it across. The ice cracked, the guard fell in, and soon the cold water swirled above his head. He was gasping as he tried to get out, but the ice kept breaking. The guard was sure he would drown in the icy waters.

Suddenly he saw a hand reaching for him and a voice telling him to hold on and to be calm. Slowly but surely Dirk pulled him from the water and to the safety of the pond’s edge. Soon the exhausted guard realized that it was Dirk who had saved him. The prisoner trying to escape had come back to save the guard. The guard, exhausted but happy to be alive, had no choice but to take Dirk back to prison.

Some weeks went by as Dirk languished in prison. One day the guard heard the judge in the courtroom next to the jail handing out the sentence. “Whereas Dirk Willems, born at Asperen, at present a prisoner has . . . confessed, that at the age of fifteen . . . he was rebaptized in Rotterdam, at the house of one Pieter Willems, and that he further, in Asperen, at his house, at diverse hours . . . permitted several persons to be rebaptized . . . therefore, we the aforesaid judges . . . do condemn the aforesaid Dirk Willems that he shall be executed with fire, until death ensues.”

Dirk Willems, imprisoned and condemned for his faith, was put to death in the flames.

[Hat tip The Christian Century via Michael Spencer]

Blo read this to us Sunday night at the IHOP mini-moot.

God is faithful. This is a great reminder.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

who keeps faith forever;

who executes justice for the oppressed,

who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the sojourners;

he upholds the widow and the fatherless,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever,

your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the Lord!

– Psalm 146:5-10 (ESV)

May the Lord lift those who are bowed down, watch over the sojourners, uphold those who have lost parents, husbands, wives, children.

Winds blow, waves rise, rains lash, buildings crumble, our works fade. The Lord will reign forever, and He will make all things right.

Blessed be His name.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

– Hosea 1:2 (ESV)

This is the first thing the Lord said to the prophet Hosea. The first thing. Not to make light of this, but I would love to have seen the look on Hosea’s face.

There was worse to come . . .

So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy [Lo-ruhama], for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People [Lo-ammi], for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

This seems like a breathtaking rejection, does it not? A few things strike me. First, the word of the Lord to Hosea truly changed the course of his life, affecting who he married, how his kids were named, everything. Consider Hosea; the messages he’s received from the Lord have caused him to marry a hooker named Gomer and now they are raising little Jezreel, No Mercy and Not My People.

Hosea was faithful. The prophetic message that was delivered through him was harsh, and he suffered for it. His family became a living picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness and of God’s rejection of her.

Yet God’s rejection was not final. It’s late, I’m sleepy, and I have no words of wisdom to add to what you are about to read. I only ask you to drink it in, because it’s blowing me away. This is the ending of chapter 2:

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

And there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

“And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.'”

– Hosea 2:14-23

God you are my God! The priviledge of even uttering those words is beyond me. I am undone at the thought of it.

Thank you.

I’m feeling just a bit low tonight. But this helps . . .

This is just a snippet of the monologue of the Lord to poor, grieving, hurting Job at the end of the book of the same name. There’s something about these words that bring me great comfort.

The answer I would give is, of course, the same as Job. No, Lord, I can’t do anything described above. I can’t bind the chains of the constellations, or tip the waterskins of heaven. I can’t send forth lightnings. I don’t know the ordinances of the heavens. Half the time I can’t even find my socks.

I just love this passage. Because He can do all of these things. And what a comfort that is! our God is amazing, ahd He reigns in power!

Amazing!

I think if confronted with this I might run. To my shame.

Brad at Broken Messenger posts this horrifying picture and the story behind it. This picture was taken in the Sudan in 1993. The photographer who took it, though winning a Pulitzer for this photograph, took his own life in 1994 (for many reasons).

Let this sink in.

Lord, knock me out of my complacency. I pray this little girl survived and is healthy and happy today.

Kevin Carter’s Pulitzer prize winning photograph of a Sudanese girl in the spring of 1993 was instrumental in brining international attention to the growing hunger crisis in Sudan. Despite taking over 20 minutes to take the photograph and eventually chasing the vulture away, Kevin ultimately only watched the little girl continue her struggle on to a U.N. food station (estimated at about one kilometer away) and then left her, never to know of the girl’s fate.

Why didn’t he help her? This has been the question of many since learning of Kevin’s story following his award. Why didn’t he take that frail, precious little girl up into his arms and carry her to safety?

His inaction is not all that hard to imagine after learning about his past experiences and of his work. Kevin witnessed and was exposed to attrocities that occurred routinely in his own nation of South Africa, before even seeing the horrors of Sudan. Like any seasoned pro, he had learned to keep an emotional distance from his subjects in order to stay focused on his work.

But Kevin was never able to put a full emotional distance from the events in Sudan following his return back to South Africa. Soon having brushes with death himself following his work in Sudan, and witnessing further horrors surrounding apartheid, his vices and personal troubles were only heightened by the day-to-day image capture of human tradgedy. Kevin was also known to suffer from frequent mental breakdowns following photo shoots, including those in Sudan. Sadly, his elation of winning the Pulitzer in 1994 was short lived, as it was soon followed by his suicide only two months later. Many believe that he took his life as a result of what he experienced in Sudan, some believe that his past failings led to his death, others believe that it was a combination of past and recent events.