Teh = the

Longings

warwickfuller — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:19:24 +0000

“Lord, give me more of thy likeness;
Enlarge my soul to contain fullness of holiness;
Engage me to live more for thee.
Help me to be less pleased with my spiritual experiences, and when I feel at ease after sweet communings, teach me it is far too little I know and do.

Blessed Lord,
Let me climb up near to thee,
And love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with thee, and plant for deliverance from the body of sin,
For my heart is wandering and lifeless, and my soul mourns to think it should ever lose sight of its Beloved.”

~ Valley of Vision

Today, I finished reading…

warwickfuller — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:52:20 +0000

It was very good. And will I read next?

A day amazed

warwickfuller — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:52:23 +0000

Today, more than yesterday, I am amazed at the love of the Father shown through Christ to me. Amazing is a word I find wanting today.

What I’m reading today

warwickfuller — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:31:12 +0000

Quotable Friday: Tim Chester on the excellence of being called a “Friend of Sinners”

warwickfuller — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:23:13 +0000

“Maybe like Levi, you introduced Jesus to your friends when you first became a Christian. But after a while you lost contact with those friends. perhaps the church schedule left littel time. Perhaps your new behaviour made it hard to hang out with old friends. Perhaps you were warned of the influence they might have on you. But those who avoid the contamination of sinners are like the Pharisees. Those who earn the label “friend of sinners” are like their Savior.”

~Tim Chester, A Meal with Jesus, 44

What I’m reading today…

warwickfuller — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:33:31 +0000

I’m reading other stuff, too. But this just seems to make sense right now.

No, I’m, not 12.

How do you live?

warwickfuller — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:00:34 +0000

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 has two imperatives:

to flee sin
to glorify God

And I’m finding that as I flee from sin, I am more free to glorify God.

How you complete this sentence is the beginning of your gospel…

warwickfuller — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:00:24 +0000

I’ve been steered towards a couple of blogs lately where someone is trying to tell me what the gospel (good news, the message of salvation) is or isn’t. I’m not sure why the sudden upswing of dialogus on this topic. Maybe it’s the sign of a lot of books coming out. I dunno, but I’ve been to thinking about this since it has been brought to my attention over and over and over again…

We cannot escape that the gospel of Christianity cannot start outside of an understanding of who Christ is. So, I propose that no matter what you think your gospel is, or maybe you’re just trying to figure out what your gospel is, then start by finishing this sentence:

“The Son of Man (Jesus) came to…”

In finishing this sentence you will be faced with not only the divine nature of the Godhead, but also the face of humanity. Why would God come near unless it was to show us something about ourselves, and He would not come near without revealing His own nature and character.

So, how do you finish it?

Why I like religion… at least

warwickfuller — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:00:49 +0000

There is a viral video going around where a young guy tells us his heart, and I can understand 100% of what he’s saying. Understand, but not agree. I think it’s a shame, and I’m gonna jump to a conclusion based on my own early thoughts, that he may not understand that the truest essence of community is religion. As we look at the workings of our own national government, we see the out workings of a religious system, things done in a certain way forever… to make sure that certain things are remembered and carried on… forever.

To be anti-religion as a whole is to misunderstand how God works. Cain and Abel had a sense of religion after the fall as they practice sacrifice. When God met Moses on a mountain top, with loads of Israelites below, God handed Moses religion. What God handed to Moses was a reminder of who He was, and so that they could recognize Him when He walked among them.

And I’ve looked. Jesus never says anything about destroying the religious practices of the Jews he met with. Fulfilling it, yes, but not canceling it. He came to cancel the penalties of sin that are made so clear by the religion that God had given the Jews, according to Paul. In fact, Jesus brings us a religion that calls us to circle around a table and to give thanks, breaking bread, and drinking a purple substance of your choice whenever we find ourselves gathered together round a table.

But I understand the hardness some of us feel towards organized church. I’ve felt it. I’ve felt what feels like to be misunderstood in a large group. Rather, I know what it feels like to not be heard, to feel like I’m of no consequence to the church body. Disposable even. But I’ve never given up on the church, the one thing that Jesus left behind. It’s through the church, and all of its many symbols and practices that we are supposed to see the story of Christ, the story of us, the story of God’s love for us. It’s important for those of us that feel like we don;t need the church to worship God to understand that that’s fine. But are you doing everything on your own that a good church will encourage you to do? To love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Are you feeding the poor, visiting and comforting the sick? How are you doing at visiting the prisons and encouraging our brothers there? How are you doing at spreading the good news on your own? How are you doing not being encouraged by others to pursue Christ-likeness or to even read the Bible consistently?

And that’s probably the most dangerous part. Loads of people have forsworn the church throughout the ages to create and to fix what they’ve seen wrong in how everyone else reads the Bible. Sure, we had the Reformation, and the Counter, but what about all those people who died at the hands of a madman? We need community, we need an established doctrine, to help us read our Lord’s words and to understand and to encourage us to do what He asks us to do.

Anyway, I’m not that smart. I’m a guy who loves Jesus, and loves the people He died for. Here are two other guys who are way more eloquent than me. Maybe they can say more plainly what I’ve stumbled through:

Justin McRoberts

Kevin DeYoung

Here’s what I’m reading today

warwickfuller — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:00:37 +0000

Oh, and I think I’m going to start Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I’m reading a chapter a day of Chester’s book.