rats in the cellar & rotten fruit

when I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; i have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. and the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected; i was caught off my guard. [...] surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? if there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. but the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. in the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man i am. the rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light. apparently the rats of resentment and vindictiveness are always there in the cellar of my soul.
-c.s. lewis, mere christianity

no good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit
-luke 6:43

prepositional beauty

i kind of loved studying parts of speech in school. i still love when someone mentions a part of speech. like "hey, nice adjective." although usually if someone's talking to me about adjectives, they're saying "hey, why'd you combine those two adjectives?" but that's not where my mind is right now.

right now, i'm thinking about the sometimes crucial role prepositions play in scripture. i needed this today:

"I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him"
psalm 91:15

not, "I'll take him out of the trouble" or "I'm there after the trouble to debrief" but "I'm with him IN it."

as my roommate reminded me this week, that's what "counting it all joy" remembers- that IN the trial, He is present & He's doing something good & needed & only He can do it.

by the way, have you met my roommate? she's great. and i heard a rumor she'll be blogging again soon. you might love it.

You are still good, i still cling

when I come to Christ today, I feel it is as much a necessity of my life to come to the cross as it was to come ten years ago- when I come to him, I have to come still as a sinner with nothing in my hands.
-charles spurgeon

nothing in my hands i bring, simply to thy cross i cling. we won't cling to something we don't perceive as good and helpful. Father, help us see that you are good. help us see that you long to help, and you're capable, trustworthy and available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9XyoLjFLOo

self-control isn't just for... myself

clearly, self-control- saying no to that thing that's not good for me but that i reeeally don't want to say no to- is honoring to God.

but i hadn't thought of it much beyond that until reading dietrich bonhoeffer's life together (classic exploration of Christian community & what it means for the church to be as Christ to each other).

"every act of self-control on the part of the believer benefits the entire community."

wow. thanks for this. my denial of self, my decision to say no to sin, isn't just helping me in my own walk & bringing honor to Him... it's benefiting the people around me. maybe i had missed the obvious. but this has been like a shaft of light for me in a damp dull cell. one area where it's been REALLY helpful & convicting is in my thinking. efforts to think biblically & run from lies, self-deprecation, ungodly thoughts, etc etc don't affect my posture toward Him only... these choices impact my brothers & sisters. in my fight to think well, i can bless those around me as i persevere in truth rather than give in to toxic thought patterns. how is the community benefiting when i choose to walk in the light? we have true fellowship w/Him & each other. which completes joy. which shows the world the love of Christ. really, the implications are pretty awesome. (reference 8/16 post for bonhoeffer's insight into what this might look like in relating to Him & each other in the day to day... & read the book for more.)

thank you, Father! and help us!

sinners together

"the basis on which christians can speak to one another is that each knows the other as a sinner, who, with all his human dignity, is lonely and lost if he is not given help... this recognition gives to our brotherly speech the freedom and candor it needs. we speak to one another on the basis of the help we both need. we admonish one another to go the way that Christ bids us go"

-dietrich bonhoeffer

remembrance

a friend recently introduced me to this goodness. can't stop listening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVtfDxGI3aY

this'll preach-
"dying, you destroyed our death...
rising, you restored our life"
!!!

reposting

from my favorite blog (i'm borderline obsessed). if you haven't read ray, do it!

whom did he consult? isaiah 40:14

“Both before and after his elevation as king, and even in the act of creation itself, marduk [the high-god of babylon] did not act alone, but only on the advice of ea [marduk's father].” -r. whybray, the heavenly counsellor in isaiah

the pagan gods worked by committee. the biblical Lord of heaven and earth acts alone, out of his own exuberant all-sufficiency.

compulsive polytheists that we are, it is unsettling when we fall into the arms of God as our only hope. but inevitably, God takes us there. we find ourselves in places where God is all we have, and there we discover that “he gives power to the faint” (isaiah 40:29).

-ray ortlund