How to drown your sorrows

From Spurgeon’s “ The Immutability of God:”

It has been said by some one that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity.
…
And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatary. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrows? Would you drown your cares? Then go plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul, so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.

I can vouch for this truth. When my spirits are low, I’ve read the lament psalms and found them to be little comfort. But in reading the royal psalms, or God’s answer to Job, or one of Paul’s doxologies I have found that my problems will seem suddenly distant and small. Those things of Earth that grow strangely dim definitely include the troubles of the mortal life. In magnifying God, my spirits are lifted. When God looks bigger, my trials look smaller.

(Recommended reading: Here Ed Welch recommends reading Job 38-42 every day for a month – “If you read these chapters every day for a month you will find that they are a treatment for almost anything.” HT: Justin Taylor)

Calvinist? Arminian?

After my ruminations on the first paragraph of Ephesians 1, some might wonder why I said nothing about election. After perusing my list of favorite blogs, my friends and family might be wondering if I’m a Calvinist. So I thought I should state clearly where I stand on the election question:

I don’t care.

I’m not a Calvinist, nor am I an Arminian. I’m a non-participant in the debate. I’ve found neither side’s argument completely convincing thus far, and I have insufficient interest to continue searching at this time. That is for one reason:

It doesn’t matter.

Now, in the end, maybe the Calvinists are right, maybe the Arminians are right, and maybe there’s another position that’s closer to the truth. I doubt we’ll know this side of glory. The simple fact is, if there is Calvinist-style election, we don’t know who is elected. We were instructed to go make disciples; we go everywhere and tell everyone. Some will become disciples – however that happens, when it happens we are indebted entirely to God through Jesus Christ. But the how and why are beside the point.

I’m not trying to give theology a bad rap. I love theology, and I think everyone should know what they believe and why they believe it, but this particular debate generates lots of heat and no light and the answer should have no bearing on how we live our lives because:

The election question does not change the Great Commission or the Great Commandment.

I have enough trouble living those out. I’ll save this question for heaven.

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Ephesians 1: We get to know how it ends!

Why did people go see the movie Titanic? Because they wanted to know how it ended? The same can be said for many movies including The Passion of the Christ and 300. Why go see a movie when you know how it's going to end? Because you want to see how they get there.

In this passage, Paul tells us that we already know how the story's going to turn out.

Eph 1:9-10 – The paragraph ends with this, that just because He felt like it, God let us in on His plan which had been the big secret for eons – namely that all things would be brought under the rule of Christ. Once again we see that the Fall and the cross were not surprises but God's plan. And we have emphasized here the glorious truth that, because He endured the cross, Christ will be given authority over all things. Because of this, we do not have to worry about how things will work out. Things may not always go our way, and they may not even seem to be going His way, but in the end, Christ will be seen to be ruler over everything.

The simple truth of history is that we already know how things are going to work out – we're just waiting to see the details of how it comes to pass.

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Out and about in Sin City

My work sent me to our national organization's annual meeting; fortunately my wife's in the same profession and is here too. (My parents were gracious enough to keep the kids.) Since they put us up in a nice hotel, I was sure I’d have free internet access (plus many other amenities). I was wrong.

We’re in New Orleans this week. It’s still trying to recover from the blow dealt it almost two years ago. It’s also still filled with darkness. Set aside the bars and casinos – there are things in New Orleans that give whole new meaning to “Sin City.” Please pray for this city – for its recovery physically but also spiritually.

Ephesians 1: Lavished with grace

Eph 1:7-8 – We have redemption "in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." We probably need a sufficiently terrible view of our own depravity before we really understand just how richly we are blessed. (For that, I suggest reading Romans. Or the newspaper.)

God did not just toss us a bone; He has lavished His goodness on us, redeeming us from our sins and adopting us into His family. A child who's been given a wonderful present has every reason to feel grateful, but the child who's been literally buried in presents had darn well better realize and respond to just how much he's been given. Our problem is that we've both been buried under presents repeatedly and been told (by various parties in various ways) that we deserved the gifts. We've had the audacity to grow used the story of how we were raised up out of the mud and made rich.

Even so, we mustn't say that God didn't know what would happen. He lavished His grace "with all wisdom and understanding" – He knew exactly what He was doing and thought it worthwhile (which makes His love that much harder to understand).

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