Seeking Satisfaction

About a year ago I wrote about two themes that God has woven into my life over the years: seeking His face and drinking His grace. I've recently tried to put those thoughts into verse...

When You commanded, “Seek My face!”
I said, “I will, Lord, by Your grace,
Hide not Your face, O God, from me,
Nor let my soul abandoned be.”

Come thirsty one to Jesus’ side.
Cruciform love will give you life.
Come sate your soul, Spirit receive,
A river-heart forever be

Of all the themes, it seems these two:
Seeking Your face, Drinking of You
Though they appear to be estranged
Are side by side in me arranged

And in Your Word these themes I find
So sweetly bound and intertwined
Clothed in my Christ, I will see Your face
And there be satisfied with grace

Pastors Should Blog...

...at least that's the advice of Abraham Piper at the Desiring God Blog. Piper (yes, he's the son of Pastor/Blogger John Piper) suggests 6 advantages to pastoral blogging, plus some links to helpful resources for beginning bloggers.

Tim Keller on Sanctification

“Sanctification is not by ‘works’ but by a continuous re-orienting ourselves to our justification. So sanctification is not moralistic. Yet it takes enormous effort (so it is not quietistic.) When we feed on, remember, and live in accordance with our justification, it mortifies our idols and fills us with an inner joy and desire to please and resemble our Lord through obedience. But the feeding on, remembering, and living in accordance—takes all our effort.”

(Thanks to Tullian Tchividjian for posting this quote at his blog "On Earth As It Is In Heaven")

It's always Spring when you're planted in Scripture

I found the following sentence on a piece of paper in my nine-year-old daughter's handwriting on the floor in her room the other day.

"Even through the rain, snow, and ice, we can still blossom in God's Word." - Abi Davis, 3-12-08

"Did you write this," I asked. "Yes." "These are your own words," I continued. "You didn't get this from someone else?" "No, I didn't. Why?" "Wow, Abi. I love this. This is so true. And so poetic," I beamed. Turns out she wrote it on a day when snow was falling outside her window while she was reading her Bible on her bed.

Has your heart for God and others grown cold lately? Plant yourself in the Word of God and watch the fruit of love begin to blossom in you.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away" (Psalm 1:1-4 ESV).

Far As The Curse Is Found

Read this great article by Bob Lynn on the far reaching effects of the gospel.

Here's an excerpt:

"In this remarkable carol, we hear the announcement of a Gospel as big as the cosmos itself. The blessings of Jesus’ redemption flow as far as the curse is found, wherever that curse is found—in family life, political and business life; in government, industry, and science; in the arts and in recreation; education and economics. This is a Gospel for people who vote and work; who shop and play; who learn and create. It isn’t a Gospel simply for a disembodied existence on the other side of death. Lowell Mason’s hymn reminds us that the Gospel is good news to a world where every aspect of the cosmos and our existence in it is twisted away from the intention of the Creator’s design by the powers of sin and death."