wednesdays

i get wisdom from the people i see every wednesday night and do life with. they help me remember it's okay to say i sometimes don't know what to do. and i need their character to shape mine.

“the next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”
-c.s. lewis

and we have a good time. to quote jack miller (heart of a servant leader), "it's fun being a Christian". . . especially with these people around.

freedom's opportunities

“being free means ‘being free for the other,’ because i am bound to the other. only in relationship with the other am i free.”
-dietrich bonhoeffer

for you were called to freedom, brothers. but do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.

be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God.

why self-worship (or self-loathing) doesn't make sense

"to think 'i don’t have what it takes' is precisely what it takes. . .
for you to be un-okayed, Jesus would have to be un-okayed. His verdict is in, and therefore yours is in. God’s grace is sufficient for you. get over yourself. you are weak. you are inadequate. you always will be. and the story of the Bible is God’s delight in taking weak, inadequate men and doing the unthinkable."
-dane ortlund

we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

i am sure of this- that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

why hero worship doesn't make sense

one of my heroes "fell" a few years ago. . . or at least, his fall became public knowledge. it was really jarring for me. right when i found out, i called my dad. probably because i knew he would have biblical comfort. i knew he would help me stay grounded. his first words, when all i did was sob into the phone, were "this is why we don't 'put our trust in princes' ". . .

francis schaeffer gives an ear-full on this point in his sermon "the weakness of God's servants." with his litany of flawed men & women of the Bible & their stories mingled with faith & failure, he ultimately concludes we live better out of this recognition that we're all flawed. . . he calls it biblical realism.

"among religious writings, the Bible is unique in its attitude to its great men. even many christian biographies puff up the men they describe. but the Bible exhibits the whole man, so much so that it's almost embarrassing at times. if we taught our children to read the Bible truly, it would be a good vaccination against cynical realism because the Bible portrays its characters as honestly as any debunker or modern cynic ever would.

we usually think about the strong points of the biblical men, and that's all right. normally we should look at the victory of biblical characters, the wonder of their closeness to God, and the exciting ways God used them according to the faith and faithfulness they displayed. but let us not be embarrassed by the other side- the Bible's candor (even about its greatest leaders), its portrayal of their weaknesses quite without embarrassment and without false show.

paul wrote to the romans, 'for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'- a simple statement, though stronger in the greek. . . 'all sinned (past) and are coming short (present) of the glory of God.' paul was not merely saying all men sinned before justification, but that all christians continue to come short of God's glory. this is the biblical picture even of its own heroes.

we should not be caught between idolozing and despising. if we revere a person too much and then find weakness, our first tendency will be to deny any value at all in the man. we are not to minimize sin, but we can expect perfection from no one but God. . . we must remember that all christians are men or women, sinners having many victories, yet sinners until Jesus comes again. there is no man or woman who does not need prayer. . . the realism of the Bible is that God does not excuse sin, but neither is He finished with us when He finds sin in us."

truth & a time-tested recipe

"by believing that God means what He says, and by acting upon it (faith always requires action), we make it our own. we can't make it our own by mere reason. . . He is our great reality, more real than the realest of earthly conditions, an unchanging reality. it's His providence that put us where we are. it's where we belong. it is for us to receive it- all of it- humbly and thankfully."
-betty elliott

it's been too long since i passed along a recipe. here's one for the ages. it's an office favorite that my co-worker denise makes for all our holiday meals. it's been in her family for years and the work family doesn't let her contribute anything else.

denise's aunt clara's sweet potato casserole (not the season for sweet potato casserole but i recommend grabbing it for later)

8 sweet potatoes
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. sour cream (this makes it!)
1 T. vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 c. evaporated milk
1/2 stick butter

topping-
1 stick butter
2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
dash of cinnamon/ nutmeg
1 c. pecans

bake 45 minutes on 350. the family will thank you.

heavy, ever-increasing grace

"i hope that from our youth we have known the necessity of dependence upon God, but i am certain that dependence is a growing feeling. growing Christians think themselves nothing; full-grown Christians think themselves less than nothing. good men are like ships; the fuller they are, the lower they sink in the stream. the more grace a man has, the more he complains of his want of grace. grace is not a kind of food which creates a sense of fullness. . . the more you receive the more you long for."
-charles spurgeon, "the old man's sermon"

"finding God only deepens and heightens the pursuit of God. one taste of obedience and we want more. by feasting on God we hunger for Him all the more."
-richard foster

where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord

believer, the smiling face of God is upon you.

God's "smiling favor" and His goodness toward us don't hinge on circumstance, performance or feeling. it's dependent on the finished work of the cross. in rare moments of clarity, i recognize this & my heart is full.

"my circumstances are no indication whether the smiling favor of God is upon me. fear causes me to look around at my circumstances instead of up at the smiling face of God."
-a.w. tozer, the crucified life

there are many who say, “who will show us any good?” Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.

it is good for me to draw near to God; i have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works.