Holiness

"God's holiness is a dangerous thing..."

[ESV Study Bible Note on 1 Chronicles 13:7-12]

Tim Keller: Preaching the Gospel

Tim Keller Feb'09: Preaching the Gospel from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

Sojourners

After graduating from college, I’ve had a semi-nomadic existence. The consulting life + ministry responsibilities will do that. For about 5 years, where I woke up Tuesday morning was a different place than where I went to bed Sunday night. I thought this was a modern phenomenon.

Of course, I was wrong.

Turns out, Abraham was quite the nomad himself. After the death of his wife, Sarah, Abraham makes an appeal to acquire a burying place, opening with these words…. “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you…” (Genesis 23:4)

The ESV Study Bible Notes: Abraham’s description of himself emphasizes his immigrant status. Even after 62 years of semi-nomadic existence in Canaan, Abraham has no permanent location to call his own. This is all the more noteworthy in light of God’s repeated promises to Abraham that his descendents will possess all the land of Canaan. The author of Hebrews develops the idea that Abraham chose to go on living in tents because he was looking forward to a city “whose designer and builder is God.”

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents…for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” Hebrews 11:8-10

When I was constantly traveling, sure I loved the constant change, but a deeper part of me wanted a place to call home. And though I would fly back every weekend, New Jersey still didn't quite feel like home.

My guess is that as we traverse this life, no matter how settled we get, we will still long for a place that truly feels like home...after all, we are all sojourners on this earth and our home is the city of God.

Almost Forgot I'm in School

You are a student.

But it definitely doesn't feel like it. You're over halfway through your first year at Ross, but you've only spent part of your time actually being a student in the academic sense.

January was filled with the "R" word - recruiting. Recruiting can be the most wonderful or most devastating time of the year. Dreams are made or crushed. It starts off with getting "close-listed" which means the company of interest has selected you to interview with them.

So, the first round of caparison amongst classmates is "how did you do on close-lists..." aka "who did you get interviews with" aka "how desirable are you on the general job market" Your self-esteem rises and falls in direct proportion to how many close lists you got. Thankfully, you got twice as many as most people. You look forward to flaunting it by wearing a suit to class more often than your envious classmates.

Then come second round interviews. The curse of the second / final round interview: You feel like you're close, so close...they really liked you but the rejection just hurts even more. A second date, but couldn't seal the deal.

Finally - Offers. This is the goal of all your schmoozing, cover letter writing, case practicing, new suit / shirt buying, hair cutting, fingernail-trimming, thank you note composing... You just wait for that phone call - "Hi, this is Jim from [consulting firm]. I have some good news...." You silent fist pump, crumble to your knees, lift your eyes towards Heaven and shed a tear, and don't hear another word over the phone...because you made it and that's all that matters.

Pure Bliss.

....

Then you realize you have 50 group projects to work on, dozens of cases to read and only 3 weeks till finals.

Oh yeah, you're a student.

If We are Ever to be Happy

Now, if we were the cause of our own nature, then, indeed, we would be the fathers of our own wisdom...And if we were the source and the only object of our love, we would be self-sufficient and would need enjoyment of no other good to make us happy.

But God is the Author of the existence of our nature and, therefore, He must be our Teacher if we are ever to be wise, and He must be the Source of our inmost consolation if we are ever to be happy.

- St. Augustine, The City of God

Death without Dying (via Between Two Worlds)

Really appreciated this post from Justin Taylor a few days ago.

Death without Dying

Jesus: “Some of you they will put to death. . . . But not a hair of your head will perish.”

In the comments below Tim Keller adds a good word about this verse:

For decades, this verse has challenged me personally. Derek Kidner in his commentaries often refers to it. It shows that modern people have a view of happiness that is defined as a life that is going well, when often the Bible defines happiness as a life that is lived well. One ounce of sin can harm us more than ten tons of suffering, because sin ruins our soul, while suffering (if handled well) only makes us more Christ-like and joyful. So Jesus is essentially saying, “I won’t keep you from suffering, but I’ll keep you insuffering so you can triumph over it.”

Books

"Calvin Miller, in his 1985 article “Confessions of a Librophiliac” in Christianity Today said, quite correctly,"Readers, on the other hand, have at least 7.5 books going all the time... I am working on a survey that will show that, over a lifetime, readers are in bathrooms seven years and three months longer than nonreaders."

I would tend to agree.