The Gospel calls us to live as if people matter. It calls us to live lives of selfless concern. We are to pay attention to the needs of others (Deuteronomy 22:4). We are to demonstrate concern for the poor (Psalm 41:1). We are to show pity toward the weak (Psalm 72:13). We are to rescue the afflicted from violence (Psalm 72:14). We are to familiarize ourselves with the case of the helpless (Proverbs 29:7), give of our wealth (Deuteronomy 26:12-13), and share of our sustenance (Proverbs 22:9). We are to “put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12). We are to become “a father to the poor,” and are to “search out the case of the stranger” (Job 29:16). We are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31) thus fulfilling the law (Romans 13:10). It is only as we do these things that we are able to earn the right to speak authoritatively into people’s lives.
In writing to Titus, the young pastor of the pioneer church on the island of Crete, the Apostle Paul pressed home this basic truth with persistence and urgency. In the midst of a culture marked by deceit, ungodliness, sloth, and gluttony (Titus 1:12), Titus was not only to preach grace and judgment, he was also to make good deeds a central priority in his ministry. He was to exercise charity. Paul wrote, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14).
This was a very familiar theme for Paul. It wasn't aimed exclusively aimed at the troublesome Cretan culture. For instance, he had earlier written to the Ephesian church with essentially the same message, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
God saves us by grace. There is nothing we can do to merit His favor. Because of our sin, we stand utterly condemned. Thus, salvation is completely unearned and undeserved. But, we are not saved capriciously, for no reason and no purpose. On the contrary, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are His own possession, set apart and purified to be zealous for good works.
Our concern for others begins right in church pew—as we greet one another, extend hospitality to one another, and meet the needs of one another. As the Westminster Confession asserts, “Saints by profession are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities. Which communion, as God offers opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who, in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.”
In addition though, we are to extend the love and care of Christ to others as well. We are to love as Christ loves, sacrificially, substantially, and sincerely. In other words, we are to live as if people really do matter.
May God grant us this kind of love. May this, the final apologetic (John 13:35), be the hallmark of our lives, our families, and our churches.
Wednesday, August 29
Tuesday, August 28
Half-Done Work
“If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart. And equally, if our heart flatters us, God is greater than our heart. I sometimes pray not for self-knowledge in general but for just so much self-knowledge at the moment as I can bear and use at the moment; the little daily dose. Have we any reason to suppose that total self-knowledge, if it were given us, would be for our good? Children and fools, we are told, should never look at half-done work; and we are not yet, I trust, even half-done. You and I wouldn’t, at all stages, think it wise to tell a pupil exactly what we thought of his quality. It is much more important that he would know what to do next. The unfinished picture would so like to jump off the easel and have a look at itself!” C.S. Lewis
Sunday, August 26
I Can't; He Will
You say: "All this seems impossible."
God’s Word says: “All things are possible.” (Luke 18:27)
You say: "I am just too tired."
God’s Word says: “I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
You say: "I cannot go on."
God’s Word says: “My grace is sufficient.” (2 Corinthians 12:9; Psalm 91:15)
You say: "I do not know where to turn."
God’s Word says: “I will direct your steps.” (Proverbs 3:5- 6)
You say: "I cannot do it."
God’s Word says: “You can do all things in Christ.” (Philippians 4:13)
You say: "I know I am not able."
God’s Word says: “But I am able.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
You say: "I cannot see the purpose in all this.”
God’s Word says: “All things work together for good.” (Roman 8:28)
You say: "I simply cannot manage"
God’s Word says: “I will supply all your needs” (Philippians 4:19)
You say: "I am fretful, fearful, and unsettled."
God’s Word says: “I have not given you a spirit of fear.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
You say: "I am worried and frustrated."
God’s Word says: “Cast all your cares on me.” (1 Peter 5:7)
You say: "I cannot figure all this out."
God’s Word says: “I will give you wisdom.” (1 Corinthians 1:30)
You say: "I feel that I am all alone."
God’s Word says: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
God’s Word says: “All things are possible.” (Luke 18:27)
You say: "I am just too tired."
God’s Word says: “I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
You say: "I cannot go on."
God’s Word says: “My grace is sufficient.” (2 Corinthians 12:9; Psalm 91:15)
You say: "I do not know where to turn."
God’s Word says: “I will direct your steps.” (Proverbs 3:5- 6)
You say: "I cannot do it."
God’s Word says: “You can do all things in Christ.” (Philippians 4:13)
You say: "I know I am not able."
God’s Word says: “But I am able.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
You say: "I cannot see the purpose in all this.”
God’s Word says: “All things work together for good.” (Roman 8:28)
You say: "I simply cannot manage"
God’s Word says: “I will supply all your needs” (Philippians 4:19)
You say: "I am fretful, fearful, and unsettled."
God’s Word says: “I have not given you a spirit of fear.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
You say: "I am worried and frustrated."
God’s Word says: “Cast all your cares on me.” (1 Peter 5:7)
You say: "I cannot figure all this out."
God’s Word says: “I will give you wisdom.” (1 Corinthians 1:30)
You say: "I feel that I am all alone."
God’s Word says: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Saturday, August 25
Love Never Fails
"Love is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." C.S. Lewis
"No man has learned to live until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Length without breadth is like a self contained tributary having no outward flow to the ocean. Stagnant, still, and stale it lacks both life and freshness. In order to live creatively and meaningfully, our self-concern must be wedded to other concerns." Martin Luther King Jr.
"Love, for therein lies true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is oft done well." Vincent van Gogh
“As affecting as is the image of terrorists crashing into buildings in an effort to take as many lives as possible, the image of firemen rushing into those same buildings in an effort to save as many lives as possible is more affecting still. The worst that evil can do is no match for the best that love can do. Love never fails--ultimately it can overcome every obstacle and solve every dilemma.” Tristan Gylberd
"No man has learned to live until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Length without breadth is like a self contained tributary having no outward flow to the ocean. Stagnant, still, and stale it lacks both life and freshness. In order to live creatively and meaningfully, our self-concern must be wedded to other concerns." Martin Luther King Jr.
"Love, for therein lies true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is oft done well." Vincent van Gogh
“As affecting as is the image of terrorists crashing into buildings in an effort to take as many lives as possible, the image of firemen rushing into those same buildings in an effort to save as many lives as possible is more affecting still. The worst that evil can do is no match for the best that love can do. Love never fails--ultimately it can overcome every obstacle and solve every dilemma.” Tristan Gylberd
Friday, August 24
Coffee and Modern Times
And you thought $2 cups of coffee at your local Starbucks was just American Capitalism’s latest extravagant fad? Think again.
According to Jakob Norberg’s brief social history of coffee and coffeehouses published in this week’s edition of Eurozine, the Starbucks phenomenon is actually a maturing of an essential characteristic of Modernity. It is a kind of “third-space.” It is a social center where the “bourgeois” can enter into relationships with one another without the restrictions of family, civil society, or the state. It is a sort of “universal community,” integrated neither “by power nor economic interests, but by common sense.” Indeed, it is “a symbol of Gemütlichkeit, or the bourgeois desire to enjoy undisturbed security.”
Wow. All that and a cup of good java for just a couple of bucks? Maybe its not such a bad deal after all.
Oh, and speaking of Starbucks and the Sociology of Modernity, there is this collaborating tidbit in the most recent edition of Slate. Ron Rosenbaum has served up a venti double-shot espresso of rhetorical flourishes for us all to savor!
According to Jakob Norberg’s brief social history of coffee and coffeehouses published in this week’s edition of Eurozine, the Starbucks phenomenon is actually a maturing of an essential characteristic of Modernity. It is a kind of “third-space.” It is a social center where the “bourgeois” can enter into relationships with one another without the restrictions of family, civil society, or the state. It is a sort of “universal community,” integrated neither “by power nor economic interests, but by common sense.” Indeed, it is “a symbol of Gemütlichkeit, or the bourgeois desire to enjoy undisturbed security.”
Wow. All that and a cup of good java for just a couple of bucks? Maybe its not such a bad deal after all.
Oh, and speaking of Starbucks and the Sociology of Modernity, there is this collaborating tidbit in the most recent edition of Slate. Ron Rosenbaum has served up a venti double-shot espresso of rhetorical flourishes for us all to savor!
Thursday, August 23
Ah, Politics!
"The great virtue of a democracy is that it always thinks its leaders are frightful." A.J.P. Taylor
Sunday, August 19
The Environs Of Wit
Hartford, located midway between New York and Boston, is the capital of the State of Connecticut. The city is a center of government and a wide range of commercial, social, and cultural activities. But it is perhaps best known as the Insurance Capitol of the World. Aetna, Cigna, ITT Hartford, Phoenix Mutual, and Travelers are some of the larger insurance firms that make their corporate headquarters here.
At the turn of the century, Mark Twain also called Hartford home. He once quipped, “Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief.” Most people probably think he was looking out over the wide twists and slow turns of the muddy Mississippi as he wrote his most popular books. In fact, he wrote a good number of them while looking out over the Park River in here in central Connecticut.
Today, the Twain house is the sort of place a bibliophile can spend an entire day. It is a wonderfully colorful brick Victorian mansion built in the midst of a famed artist’s colony. It bristles with creativity. The place is like a tonic of inspiration—in the same way that a visit to Winston Churchill’s Chartwell, Teddy Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill, Hilaire Belloc’s Kings Land, William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak, William Butler Yeats’ Thoor Ballylee, Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst, or Walter Scott’s Abbotsford always are.
You can spend hours just perusing Twain’s massive library or looking out at the spectacular views from the billiard room’s tall turreted windows. And besides the Twain house, there are several other homes in the neighborhood—a little writers colony—very much worth visiting. For instance, the home Harriet Beecher Stowe bought with the enormous royalties from her controversial novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is right next door at Nook Farm.
Interestingly, it was while he was living there in Hartford that Twain first defined a literary classic as “one of those books which people praise or damn yet they don’t actually ever read.” Alas, by that standard much of his own work has achieved classic status. Certainly, if anyone were actually to pay attention to the noisy multicultural debate over The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer, it would be obvious that those with the loudest opinions could never have actually read the book.
Be that as it may, it is likely that most people today know Mark Twain from his sparkling, dead-on, humbug-piercing epigrams rather than his more extended writing. He once wrote, “The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning-bug.” And he knew that finding just the right word could be a mighty struggle. In a notebook page from the last decade of the nineteenth century, he left evidence of his great labor to breathe life into a new wisecrack:
“The man that invented the cuckoo clock is no more,” he began.
Then come several attempts—all heavily scribbled over—in an effort to construct a suitable punch line:
“This is old news but good.”
“As news, this is a little stale, but some news is better old than not at all.”
“As news, this is a little old, but better late than never.”
“As news, this is a little old, for it happened sixty-four years ago, but it is not always the newest news that is the best.”
“It is old news, but there is nothing else the matter with it.”
Finally, he must have concluded that no amount of polishing was going to make that particular material shine, for at the bottom of the page he wrote, resignedly, “It is more trouble to make a maxim than it is to do right.”
But he did take the trouble, and most of the time he got it right—which is why we still quote Twain today, nearly a century after his death. In fact, to get a respectful hearing for just about any statement, a speaker need only preface it with the magic words, “As Mark Twain said…”
It would be quite easy—and perhaps equally profitable—to fill an entire notebook with some of Twain’s pithiest and wittiest quips—but beware: if you do, you’ll likely wind up quoting the best of them ad nauseum. I know that only too well from my own personal experience.
At any rate, here is Twain at his best:
“It is agreed, in this country, that if a man can arrange his religion so that it perfectly satisfies his conscience, it is not incumbent on him to care whether the arrangement is satisfactory to anyone else or not.”
“All you need is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.”
“It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”
“When in doubt, tell the truth.”
“By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.”
“We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.”
“Always do right. That will gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest.”
“Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.”
“The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.”
“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.”
“If you invent two or three people and turn them loose in your manuscript, something is bound to happen to them—you can't help it; and then it will take you the rest of the book to get them out of the natural consequences of that occurrence, and so first thing you know, there’s your book all finished up and never cost you an idea.”
“It is by the goodness of God that in the West we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.”
“A literary classic is one of those books which people praise or damn yet they don’t actually ever read.”
And we could go on and on like that. But, I fear I bore you—after all, the best part of uncovering Twain’s wit is the joy of personal discovery. So, why not start your own Twain quote notebook?
At the turn of the century, Mark Twain also called Hartford home. He once quipped, “Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief.” Most people probably think he was looking out over the wide twists and slow turns of the muddy Mississippi as he wrote his most popular books. In fact, he wrote a good number of them while looking out over the Park River in here in central Connecticut.
Today, the Twain house is the sort of place a bibliophile can spend an entire day. It is a wonderfully colorful brick Victorian mansion built in the midst of a famed artist’s colony. It bristles with creativity. The place is like a tonic of inspiration—in the same way that a visit to Winston Churchill’s Chartwell, Teddy Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill, Hilaire Belloc’s Kings Land, William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak, William Butler Yeats’ Thoor Ballylee, Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst, or Walter Scott’s Abbotsford always are.
You can spend hours just perusing Twain’s massive library or looking out at the spectacular views from the billiard room’s tall turreted windows. And besides the Twain house, there are several other homes in the neighborhood—a little writers colony—very much worth visiting. For instance, the home Harriet Beecher Stowe bought with the enormous royalties from her controversial novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is right next door at Nook Farm.
Interestingly, it was while he was living there in Hartford that Twain first defined a literary classic as “one of those books which people praise or damn yet they don’t actually ever read.” Alas, by that standard much of his own work has achieved classic status. Certainly, if anyone were actually to pay attention to the noisy multicultural debate over The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer, it would be obvious that those with the loudest opinions could never have actually read the book.
Be that as it may, it is likely that most people today know Mark Twain from his sparkling, dead-on, humbug-piercing epigrams rather than his more extended writing. He once wrote, “The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning-bug.” And he knew that finding just the right word could be a mighty struggle. In a notebook page from the last decade of the nineteenth century, he left evidence of his great labor to breathe life into a new wisecrack:
“The man that invented the cuckoo clock is no more,” he began.
Then come several attempts—all heavily scribbled over—in an effort to construct a suitable punch line:
“This is old news but good.”
“As news, this is a little stale, but some news is better old than not at all.”
“As news, this is a little old, but better late than never.”
“As news, this is a little old, for it happened sixty-four years ago, but it is not always the newest news that is the best.”
“It is old news, but there is nothing else the matter with it.”
Finally, he must have concluded that no amount of polishing was going to make that particular material shine, for at the bottom of the page he wrote, resignedly, “It is more trouble to make a maxim than it is to do right.”
But he did take the trouble, and most of the time he got it right—which is why we still quote Twain today, nearly a century after his death. In fact, to get a respectful hearing for just about any statement, a speaker need only preface it with the magic words, “As Mark Twain said…”
It would be quite easy—and perhaps equally profitable—to fill an entire notebook with some of Twain’s pithiest and wittiest quips—but beware: if you do, you’ll likely wind up quoting the best of them ad nauseum. I know that only too well from my own personal experience.
At any rate, here is Twain at his best:
“It is agreed, in this country, that if a man can arrange his religion so that it perfectly satisfies his conscience, it is not incumbent on him to care whether the arrangement is satisfactory to anyone else or not.”
“All you need is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.”
“It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”
“When in doubt, tell the truth.”
“By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.”
“We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.”
“Always do right. That will gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest.”
“Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.”
“The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.”
“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.”
“If you invent two or three people and turn them loose in your manuscript, something is bound to happen to them—you can't help it; and then it will take you the rest of the book to get them out of the natural consequences of that occurrence, and so first thing you know, there’s your book all finished up and never cost you an idea.”
“It is by the goodness of God that in the West we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.”
“A literary classic is one of those books which people praise or damn yet they don’t actually ever read.”
And we could go on and on like that. But, I fear I bore you—after all, the best part of uncovering Twain’s wit is the joy of personal discovery. So, why not start your own Twain quote notebook?
Friday, August 17
Breakfast Lectures
Once again, Servant Group International will be hosting a series of breakfast lectures on the saga of faith and faithlessness, war and peace, tyranny and hope, terror and opportunity, oppression and freedom that is the history of Iraq. Dave Dillard, the director of the mission will team up with yours truly to discuss this fascinating, relevant, and polarizing subject just south of Nashville on four Friday mornings this fall.
Preregistration is available on the Servant Group Website.
Thursday, August 16
They Like Mike
Amazingly, he's gotten good press. When the former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, decided to run for president, I half expected him to be either grilled by the media or altogether ignored. Neither has happened. In fact, it almost seems as if most reporters actually like him--despite the fact that they would disagree with him on virtually every single issue, large and small. In the current issue of the Atlantic Online, Marc Ambinder explains why.
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