i've been reading the institutes of the christian religion. at the rate i'm going, it'll probably take me 2 or 3 years, but it's good stuff that i've gotta get in good bite sized pieces. here are some samples from book 1, chapter 1:
"our wisdom, insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.... in the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts toward the God in whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be from ourselves;... in the second place, those blessings which unceasingly distill to us from heaven, are like streams conducting us to the fountain... the infinitude of good which resides in God becomes more apparent from our poverty. in particular, the miserable ruin into which the revolt of the first man has plunged us, compels us to turn our eyes upward;"
"there exists in man something like a world of misery, and ever since we were stripped of the divine attire our naked shame discloses an immense series of disgraceful properties... we are accordingly urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God; and, indeed, we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves... every person, therefore, on coming to the knowledge of himself, is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find Him."
"man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God and come down after such contemplation to look into himself. for (such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity. convinced, however, we are not, if we look to ourselves only, and not to the Lord also - He being the only standard by the application of which this conviction can be produced."
"so long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. but should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of being He is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence."
"as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God.... men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.... when He shall exhibit His refulgence, and give a nearer view of it, the brightest objects will, in comparison, be covered with darkness."
I am too satisfied with the things I say the things I do the attitudes of heart that shape my reactions day after day after day. I too easily accept quick assessments of my own righteousness in situations where I have been anything but righteous. I am too skilled at mounting plausible arugments structured to make me feel okay about what I think what I desire what I say what I do. I am too defensive when a love one makes an attempt to call me out and suggest for a moment that what I have decided said or done is less than godly. I am too comfortable with the state of things between You and me too relaxed with the nature of my love for You too able to minimize my need for Your grace. In the recesses of my private world there is so much that is wrong that I am able to convince myself is right. There are attitudes there that should not be. There are words there that should not be spoken. There are thoughts that do not agree with Your view of me and mine. There are desires that take me in a different direction than what You have planned for me. I make decisions based more on what I want than on what You will. So I am hoping for wise eyes that are able to see through the cloud of self-righteousness and see myself as I actually am. I am praying for wise ears that are able to hear through the background noise of well-used platitudes and hear myself with clarity. And I am longing for a humble spirit that is willing to accept and confess what You reveal as You break through my defenses and show me to me. I am hoping for a broken heart.
"A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." Psalm 51:17
john piper quotes c.s. lewis in "God's passion for His glory" (the quote is originally from lewis' introduction to athanasius' "on the incarnation"):
There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. . . . This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology. . . . Now this seems to me topsy-turvy. Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. . . . It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones. . . . We all . . . need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. . . . We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century . . . lies where we have never suspected it. . . . None of us can fully escape this blindness. . . . The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.
during opening for our sunday school youth department, we've been talking about what different words mean - recently, words such as "advent,""hark,""herald,""Emmanuel," and "frankincense," just to name a few. since words are what we use to communicate, it's important for us to know what they mean, or else they don't really communicate much.
the Scripture reading for last sunday's sermon finished up with 1 Timothy 1:17, so i started thinking about singing "immortal, invisible, God only wise" this week for sunday school and thinking about the word "doxology."
now of course when we sing "the doxology," i know it's the song that goes:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
then, when i looked the word up on dictionary.com, i found that it means "a hymn or form of words containing an ascription of praise to God," and that it's origin is "[Medieval Latin doxologia, from Greek doxologiā, praise : doxa, glory, honor (from dokein, to seem; see dek- in Indo-European roots) + -logiā, -logy.]"
it also intrigues me how often in their epistles after making key doctrinal points, the apostles would just burst out in doxology - spontaneous praise to God. just scanning through quickly, i found at least the following examples: Romans 11:33-36, Romans 16:25-27, Ephesians 3:20-21, 1 Timothy 1:17, 1 Timothy 6:15-16, 2 Timothy 4:18, 1 Peter 4:11, 1 Peter 5:11, 2 Peter 3:18 and Jude 24-25.
this brief survey is just a reminder of where all our doctrine should bring us, where our religion should point, what is in fact our chief end and why gram and i could enjoy five iron frenzy together! PRAISE GOD!
"being sensible that i am unable to do anything without God's help, i do humbly entreat Him by His grace to enable me to keep these resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will, for Christ's sake.
remember to read over these resolutions once a week.
1. resolved, that i will do whatsoever i think to be most to God's glory and to my own good, profit, and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now or never so many myriads of ages hence. resolved to do whatever i think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. resolved to do this, whatever difficulties i meet with, how ever so many and how ever so great."
