This past month I have been really blessed by the Desiring God podcasts. Particularly, several that spurred me to write this post were the sermons on abortion and part one of marriage. Piper's connection between racism and abortion is a profound connection and has whet my appetite to research more on the statistics of abortion clinics and demographics. It does not surprise me however to learn that Satan is advancing his cause by resurrecting the white supremacy movement. Perhaps the point is that it never really died, rather it was hidden and then reemerged in the form of an urban abortion clinic.
I'm continuing to read through Proverbs and have begun Genesis, just in time, by the grace of God, to have read Gen. 1 and 2 before hearing Piper's sermon on marriage.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Friday, January 5, 2007
Proverbs 1 and 2
During the holidays, I noticed a bumper sticker on a car that read, "Don't pray in our schools and we won't think in your churches." The saying was the catalyst for a lengthy discussion in our car and I've been pondering it, I suppose ever since. I was reminded of it again as I read the first chapter of Proverbs.
Chapter 1:7, a familiar verse, reads: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." See also I Cor. 1:18-25 : "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thrwart'...Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbing block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
What amazes me, and I must continue to remember, is that the knowledge of God, true wisdom, true knowledge, comes only from God and our faith in Christ will look like folly to those who do not know Christ. IT IS NOT. It is true knowledge and everything apart from Christ is illogical, foolish and a lie. Satan has claimed many honoured minds of this world for himself so that his ways will look reasonable, sensible, rationable but through the lens of Christ, looking even to great theories like evolution, we find that in fact, these theories, these alternatives to Christianity are based on lies, on air, on cotton candy.
What is also important to remember is that "the world did not know God through wisdom." Yes, all those people out there who have "sought" God by reading and accumulating knowledge of things and stuff and other religions - they have found nothing and so they have concluded that there is no God. But, knowing Christ is not a priviledge for the 'wise' and the 'learned,' it is a gift from God to those he has chosen would know Him. And so, if someone who is simple can know God, the wise men of this world look on that simple man and say, religion must be foolishness for I sought it and did not find it but this man who knows nothing, who has no education, he believes in God - it is his crutch.
Truly God is to be glorified because he has chosen to reveal to me, and to all those who know Christ as the Son of God, his wisdom, true wisdom.
Now, this year, may I treasure up his commandments within me and may I make my ear attentive to wisdom, incline my heart to understanding, seek it like silver, search for it as for hidden treasures.
Chapter 1:7, a familiar verse, reads: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." See also I Cor. 1:18-25 : "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thrwart'...Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbing block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
What amazes me, and I must continue to remember, is that the knowledge of God, true wisdom, true knowledge, comes only from God and our faith in Christ will look like folly to those who do not know Christ. IT IS NOT. It is true knowledge and everything apart from Christ is illogical, foolish and a lie. Satan has claimed many honoured minds of this world for himself so that his ways will look reasonable, sensible, rationable but through the lens of Christ, looking even to great theories like evolution, we find that in fact, these theories, these alternatives to Christianity are based on lies, on air, on cotton candy.
What is also important to remember is that "the world did not know God through wisdom." Yes, all those people out there who have "sought" God by reading and accumulating knowledge of things and stuff and other religions - they have found nothing and so they have concluded that there is no God. But, knowing Christ is not a priviledge for the 'wise' and the 'learned,' it is a gift from God to those he has chosen would know Him. And so, if someone who is simple can know God, the wise men of this world look on that simple man and say, religion must be foolishness for I sought it and did not find it but this man who knows nothing, who has no education, he believes in God - it is his crutch.
Truly God is to be glorified because he has chosen to reveal to me, and to all those who know Christ as the Son of God, his wisdom, true wisdom.
Now, this year, may I treasure up his commandments within me and may I make my ear attentive to wisdom, incline my heart to understanding, seek it like silver, search for it as for hidden treasures.
Monday, January 1, 2007
Explanation of the blog's name
"Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck." Proverbs 1:8,9
This blog will be a record of the instruction God gives me through the reading of His Word and through other theological material. My desire this year is to "hear and increase in learning" and to "obtain guidance" from my Father. For, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 1:5-7.
This blog will be a record of the instruction God gives me through the reading of His Word and through other theological material. My desire this year is to "hear and increase in learning" and to "obtain guidance" from my Father. For, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 1:5-7.
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