Allow me to share a quotation from Jeremiah Burroughs’ The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.

“As it is with a vessel that’s full of liquor, if you strike it, it will make not great noise, but if it is empty then it makes a great noise; so it is with the heart, a heart that is full of grace and goodness within will bear a great many strokes, and never make any noise, but if an empty heart is struck it will make a noise.”

Burroughs is talking about a Christian’s contentment in the midst of affliction, both long standing and sudden. This is a text that is continually proving to be difficult for me to wrestle though. It’s something like picking a scab—it feels uncomfortable and sometimes painful, but for some reason you just can’t help but do it. That’s the way I feel about this book. Burroughs’ observation here is yet another that resounds in my ear and won’t go quietly. A person, when filled with affection for God and grace from God, bears up under all kinds of difficult circumstances peacefully. Without complaining. In fact, not only not complaining, but rejoicing.

These are difficult words to digest. These are difficult concepts to digest. That is not my manner in the midst of trials. How can we come by the affection for God and the grace from God that Burroughs mentions here?

I nearly didn’t post today, but decided that I should. As I was driving this afternoon, I was reminded of another song that’s been a deep encouragement to me and has often been a vessel of strength when I’m weak. The song is Watermark’s Arise and Be Comforted as found on their recent live album, A Grateful People.

Arise and be comforted
For the Lord, He is good to the weary
And even the young heart can tire and fall
But He knows them all
For the Lord, He will renew their strength
And they will soar on wings as eagles
And they will run and never grow weary
They will walk and not grow faint

For the Lord, He is good

Lift your eyes to the heavens
For the creator is living in you
Come surrender as you are
And know that you’ll never stray too far
Let His power within you heal your heart
Lift your eyes to spacious skies
Let Him chart your way to flight
Spread your wings and fly

For the Lord, He is good

I find encouragement in the reminder that all Christians will face trials that at times may be enough for them to crumble underneath, but we can never fall too far for the Lord to renew us. The truth is that the blood of Jesus was a payment and now no further payment can be required; there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I have been purchased and I will by no means be lost; God protects his investments.

“And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all that He has given Me, but that I should give new life and raise [them all] up at the last day.” (John 6:39)

20 years ago, people were taking some weird things seriously. Music I mean. Like, I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight, by the Cutting Crew, The Boys of Summer by Don Henley or Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. By today’s standards these all rest as lame relics from a lame period in music history. For me though, these and many, many others from their period are juicy treats of melodious cheese. Seriously, I can’t get enough of the stuff. People make fun of me all the time. Sometimes I might be driving with a new friend or something and my ipod’s shuffling will land on something like How Am I Supposed to Live Without You by Michael Bolton and I happily let it play through enjoying each and every synthesized note. Usually my passenger gaze at me in disbelief. But I can’t help it. I just think the era produced so much cool music. I know it’s cheesy, I know. But I’m alright with that.

Yesterday, I was driving, listening to the radio. That’s not something I normally do. I’m usually listening to a CD, or the ipod or nothing at all. The radio and I just usually don’t really get along. Well, on this occasion, I’d left the ipod at home, the only CD I had was a sermon from church I’d already listened to and frankly, I was getting tired of listening to my own thoughts. That really only leaves one option: the radio.

On the radio, through a poor reception, came Blink 182’s First Date. Easily a high school favorite of mine, although by today’s standards its already starting to show heavy signs of wear and tear. The aging of one of my favorites got me thinking, 20 years from now what will be the morsels of lame music history that I hold on to as nostalgic gems? So, I decided today to present my hypothesized list of 10 songs, in no particular order, that I believe will age well. The songs that will become the 80’s of tomorrow.

1. All the Small Things by Blink 182
2. How to Save a Life by The Fray
3. You’re Beautiful by James Blunt
4. California by Phantom Planet
5. At Your Funeral by Saves the Day
6. Hotel Yorba by the White Stripes
7. My Love by Justin Timberlake
8. Somebody Told Me by The Killers
9. Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani
10. Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional

I have to admit, that was more difficult list to compile that I thought it would be and there were some really near misses. I probably could have made that a much longer list, but in the interest of brevity, it’ll stay at 10 for right now. So what are your 80’s songs of tomorrow?

I read Bruce Shelley’s Church History in Plain Language before I started keeping this website, so I never wrote a review for it. Late last night I was recalling how much I enjoyed the book and decided that I should share my thoughts.

Among the first things that should be noted in writing about Church History is Shelley’s purpose in this work. Shelley states clearly that this book is an “introduction” to church history and is designed for the everyday Christian; layman and congregant alike. If we were to evaluate this book with the same rubric as collegiate books on the topic, we’d find this book severely lacking. But if we grade this book according to its own claims, we’ll find a rich source of encouragement to further understand the earlier branches of our faith.

In the interest of readability, no references are found anywhere throughout the text, however recommendations for more scholarly reading can be found at the end of each chapter. For me, this helped keep the reading liquid. It helped me to engage the history as a story that I was interested in hearing and on some level felt a part of, as opposed to something dry and sterile.

I began reading Church History before I had become more confident and consistent with my extra-biblical reading, so coming at about 550 pages this endeavor was an ambitious one for me. However, besides being a novice at reading anything this scale, the writing made it easy to glide through while still understanding the text.

In Church History Shelley takes us though 2000 years of church operation, starting right after the ascension of Christ all the way through to 1996. Church history can become a sticky subject, with heresy after heresy, then division after division. Things can quickly become confusion. Any writer planning to take on 2000 years ecclesial webs is either going to have a very, very long book when their done, or is going to need excellent organizational skills to scale so vast a wall. In this instance, Shelley just so happens to be a well organized writer. In the text, after the first four centuries of history things began to get a little bit confusing. Simple the sheer madness of political and religious shifts could send anyone’s head spinning. But Shelley does a better job than many at keeping things straight.

The practical organization of the text is such that it helps a reader forget the size the literature he’s taking in. The book is broken down into “ages” (i.e., The Age of Jesus and the Apostles, The Age of Ideologies, etc.), each one coming in at around 50 – 75 pages. Each age is broken into much smaller, more digestible chapters of around 8 pages. In the interest of clarity, not all chapters are strung together in perfect chronological order.

Throughout history, there have been many disagreements in the church. The most notable probably being during the time of the reformation. In that context, it is easy for folks to fall to one side of theological lines or the other. In this instance, most of Shelley’s words read unbiased, simply retelling the history, with little of his own commentary.

Here’s the skinny on this book: you’re not going to finish this book and be a church history genius (well, maybe you will, I don’t know). But what likely will happen is when you put this book down you will most likely have a more cohesive snapshot of church’s history. It will probably help you to understand how we got from the time of the Apostles and the church in Acts, to today. For me, it helped to challenge my ideals as far as church organization and methods are concerned. Seeing, quickly, how things were spread out helped me not to see myself as being the first to try and figure this stuff out, but in a way, knit me together with the people who have gone before me.

This book was encouraging, and enriching. I recommend it to anyone desiring to enrich their faith and more specifically, anyone interested in the subject.

Between my house and my church stands one access road that is only one lane the whole way. At no point does the law provide any opportunities to pass, so if you get stuck behind some out-of-towner, you’re going to be going 30 miles an hour for about 20 minutes. It’s unbelievably annoying and frankly, among the few times in my car that I drive as annoyed as I feel.

Well, on one particular occasion I was driving to the evening church service with a friend, when just such an annoying driver pulled out in front of me at the last second. Besides having to slow down quickly, the prospect of driving so slowly the whole way weighed down on me and I voiced my frustration. My friend had some interesting thoughts to share. She reminded me of the fruits of the Spirit. But here’s the thing, my sad confession, I don’t think I’ve ever given much honest ear to the fruits of the Spirit. Then again, I don’t give much honest ear to anything that’s reproduced millions of times on a novelty gift plaque. Well, incidentally, this also happens to be the word of God and so at once I needed to consider it.

So what are the fruits of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There it is, patience, staring me in the face.

So that’s stuck with me ever since. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and when I act impatiently, I’m acting out of “step” with the Spirit and eventually will find myself in some manner of trouble.

So, yesterday I had a small bit of traveling to do. I had a job about 40 miles away on the other side of the city and it just so happed to be taking place right at the end of rush hour. So I left my house about two hours early with the intention of just finding a coffee shop to sit and read it until my job started. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so smoothly. My trip around the Beltway was easy enough, but once I headed into Virginia a poorly marked set of interchanges threw me off course by about 15 miles. When I finally discovered the problem, I was annoyed, but like a boy scout, I pulled out my maps and found a shortcut ultimately losing me almost no time at all.

The job went well, the couple and their children were delightful to work with and I got paid on the spot, which was another pleasant surprise. Leaving the job, I felt confident in my trip home because of my loss of direction the first time and my original need to orient myself to my surroundings. Things didn’t go well.

A series of three incorrectly marked exits put me onto rout 66, which apparently doesn’t believe in giving drivers any kind of opportunity to turn around. Again, I ended up roughly eight miles off course and unable to turn around. Eventually, an exit ramp presented itself. I took the exit, which ended up being a bad move. I got to the end of the off ramp and drove into a labyrinth of wrongly or completely unmarked roads. I drove back and forth looking for a way back onto the highway for about 10 minutes, which eventually erupted into my verbally abusing the proverbial road designer who wasn’t actually in my car to take my insults. Eventually, I found my way back onto the highway, inconspicuously about two miles away through a maze of roads.

From there, I finally did end up back on the Beltway where I didn’t encounter any more hang-ups, aside from the condition of my own bitter heart.

When I got home, the fruits of the Spirit came to my mind. I had effectively pushed them out during my drive. For about two hours in my car, I had a completely unbroken record of exhibiting not a single one of the fruits of the Spirit. What a terrible place to be. How awfully discontent I was. It’s times like that where I’d like to find myself clinging to the Spirit, and even in the midst of raw frustration, still somehow manage to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.

I’ll keep working on that and surely Jesus will keep sanctifying me.

A few months back I decided to read The Mortification of Sin in Believers by John Owen, along with Challies.com. I eventually trailed off from the group, but regardless, the structure offered some sense of stability in helping me get through a very difficult text. In addition to that, it was also encouraging to read other’s thoughts as they were going through the same piece of intense literature. Well, the folks over at Challies are doing it again, this time with Arthur W. Pink’s classic, The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross. I’ve decided to join them again.

If you’d like to join the party, I encourage you to do so. Just snag a copy of the book from Amazon, they’re pretty cheap, less than 10 bucks. Then, read one chapter a week and post your thoughts either on the Challies.com Thursday posts, or on your own blog. I can say from experience, that it’s a beneficial process.

I started Seven Sayings this morning with Pink’s quick introduction to the rest of his text. He hasn’t even said anything yet and he’s already packing a punch. He explains that Jesus’ death was natural, in that he was a real person who really died, it was unnatural, in that it wasn’t at all ordinary, it was preter-natural, in that it was decided long before the foundations of the world and finally it was super-natural, in that it was different from all other deaths that had ever happened and would ever happen again.

Pink spread out an extremely interesting expose, especially concerning Christ’s death as supernatural. But something that really jumped off the page to me as I read it was the preternatural nature of his death. I’m not a stranger to the idea of Christ’s work on the cross having been long predetermined. But what I found especially interesting was how beautifully this aspect of Christ’s work knit God’s righteousness and love into all created history. God was perfectly just in forgiving David’s sin because of the impending, unshakable, unstoppable, work of Christ. God was perfectly just in forgiving all of the true Old Testament saints their sins, in the same manner as he is just in forgiving ours. While now, Christ’s work is finished and we look back at it in hope of our future glory, the saints of before Christ looked foreword, in faith, to the promise of that same one. It was in this way, as Pink points out, that God justly “passed over former sins.” (Romans 3:25).

The repetition of that truth offers strength to my spirit, knowing that even before Christ’s work was done, the effect was so sure and the action so decided, that God could safely and justly forgive sins in light of that work. If it was so sure then, how about now? Mind blowing. Praise Jesus!

Not that I’m an expert, but I thought it good to share some practical ideas to help improve your study, or devotion time. These are all things that I have found useful in my own experience. Of course there are no real rules to study and devotion preparation, but I think there are some things that can help. I sometimes use all of these together, but more often just employ some of them, depending on my situation. Almost none of these are my idea; most of them came from folks far my qualified than myself to instruct. Consider each carefully, perhaps you will find good fruit in them just as I have.

1.Devotion is a lifestyle, not an activity.

Among the first mistakes I made when learning to spend time with the Lord was to think that I could section my time with him off into some portion, which is then defined as a “devotion”. But as a Christian, than makes little sense. I have been brought back to life, and my whole life is now in Christ. I cannot consecrate only a thirty-minute portion of my day to the Lord, but all day and every day. When I am in that mindset, I am best suited to tangibly spend time in a devotion. If I have only a short time to go deep into God in his Word, then I will not get very far. But if I have all time to go deep, then the time I spend specifically with his Word, I will go very deep.

2.First thing in the morning is best.

I’ve gone back and forth and I definitely don’t always do this, but I think that the church fathers throughout history were onto something with this one. “I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning” (Psalm 59:16). I’m convinced that this is not just an antiquated idea that it is good to be up early in the morning and bad to be up late at night, but I think there is an important principal embedded here.

Some of my most fruitful days begin with my mind and heart in the Word. To begin my day, first thing, with the Word of God helps set things on a course of godliness. It helps to ripen conviction for sin and helps me to notice approaching sin before it has passed and guilt can set in. In addition to that, my comprehension of the Word is improved. I, like many, am generally not a morning person. I’ve said many times before, that if I read first thing wouldn’t get much out of it. But therein lies a mystery, because I do. Almost always.

3.Consistency is key.

I’m a pretty firm believer in that we sabotage ourselves when we are convinced that every time we sit down to study or devotion that our minds and hearts must be blown away. I think this expectation mostly just breeds discouragement. While we should always attempt to approach scripture with a tender heart ready to be impacted, the fact is, sometimes (for some, even often) we just won’t. If this fear, or expectation, prevents us from even beginning to sit and read, or pray, then the enemy has already gained a foothold.

When folks who are discouraged or struggling with their spiritual life come to me, or around me, with complaints like that, my advice is always the same. I tell them to read the Word consistently, regardless of the way they feel. Even if that is only as much as one chapter per day. Just don’t miss a single day, keep reading the Word. Feel no further obligation beyond whatever has been decided. In my own walk, in times of struggle and discouragement, this has frequently helped to bring me back to good spiritual health.

Always read the Word every single day.

4.Stay organized.

I know a lot of folks who have very little organization in their study and devotion. In study I think this is more important, but the principal works in devotions too. Many jump around, or use the close-your-eyes-and-flip-to-page approach. You’re not going to go too deep into scripture if you’re just randomly picking stuff to read. It’s unlikely that you’re going to get too much out of what you’re reading, or even worse, you might string together the wrong set of verses and come to the wrong conclusion about scripture and God altogether. I used this approach at one time and it was rarely, if ever, fruitful.

Develop a pattern of some kind. It doesn’t mean you can’t break out of the pattern sometimes, but something general to keep you organized. Maybe it’s one chapter per day, from the same book, until the book is done. Then move onto another book. I know some people who read one whole new testament book every day for a week, then move onto another book. Some people go through a bible reading plan, like bible-in-a-year, or a chronological plan. One of my favorite methods I call A-B Days is reading through the Old Testament on “A” days, then reading through the New Testament on “B” days. It’s all good stuff, just stay organized.

5.Keep a journal.

Some people feel like keeping a reading journal means writing down insightful, inspiring, or profound thoughts based on what you’re reading. That’s just not true. You might sometimes write things like that down, but that’s not always the point. Sometimes when reading scripture, you’ll come across something that just doesn’t make sense to you. That’s okay. You shouldn’t feel obligated to understand right then and there. But you do a disservice to yourself by just forgetting about it. Keep a journal that will allow you to jot down questions, or scripture that doesn’t quite make sense to you. Even if you don’t actively seek out answers, you’ll be surprised how many questions are answered just by continuing to read scripture. Keeping a journal can also help you stay consistent, even if every entry is something as simple as “4/24/08 – Today I read Ephesians 4:1-11”.

6.Get a grasp on theology.

Theology is not something man-made. It’s not a box that people put God into. Theology, good theology, comes from scripture, it is the whole of scripture. It is some understanding of God, and for hundreds of years the Church has learned about it and taught it. Today, it stands to help you learn. Time may simply not permit you to read huge chucks of scripture every day and because of that, many biblical concepts may seem muddy to you. Do you want to know what scripture says about suffering? Learn something about the theology of suffering, and it will help make reading the bible and seeing for yourself what it says about suffering much easier.

You can find trustworthy theological resources at Monergism, Banner of Truth and Desiring God, just to name a few.

7.If your environment is too loud, use white noise.

People make fun of me for this one one all the time. But it really is useful. If you can’t go somewhere quiet, use white noise. After a few minutes of listening to it, it’ll blend into the background and you won’t even notice it anymore—you also won’t notice the TV in the other room, or the radio on in the kitchen.

Here are a few you can download for free. You just need a way you can loop them; like an ipod or windows media player. Each one of these mp3′s is about 30 – 45 seconds long and is set up to loop seamlessly.

• Blow Dryer
• Running Shower Water
• Vacuum Cleaner Running

(right click, save-as to download)

8.Read out-loud, or listen.

In very long texts, like Old Testament stories, or long winded treaties, such as Romans or the Corinthian letters, hearing what is written may help you to connect larger ideas in the text. For example, in the book of Ephesians, you’ll find many intricate and beautiful ideas. However, in reading quietly and slowly, you may miss the larger theme of encouragement. I have found in listening to the bible on CD or reading it out-loud to myself, it’s much easier to pick up on the larger themes.

I’ve found this highly affording MP3 bible in the ESV version, under 20 bucks.

9.Use study tools!

There are tons of awesome resources available for free, or very inexpensive. When there’s something you need some help understanding or grasping more clearly, make use of the tools that some good organizations make available for free. Here are just a few that you ought to give a shot.

• Commentaries: Well studied men of God have gone before you, and much like asking your pastor today, they can help to give insight into the meaning of a verse or several verses. While no one person can be the end all of all understanding—except for Jesus—they can help. If you want printed material, check out Monergism for some good printed stuff.

  Try: bibleclassics.com, bible.org for some free commentaries.
  

• Bible Dictionary: Some stuff we’re not going to understand as well unless we can grasp some of the cultural stuff surrounding it. Want to know why John is always talking about “vines”, it might help to know something about ancient Roman agriculture. A bible dictionary can help. In print, I have the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, under 20 bucks.

  Try: NETBible for a free online bible dictionary.
  

• Online Bibles: Using a digital bible can make study much easier. Especially when it comes to cross references. You might find yourself reading something that reminds you of another passage you read recently. Using a keyword search will make it easier to find the verse you’re looking for. Plus, some digital bibles have a vast number of translations available making it easy to line them up next to each other.

  Try: biblegateway.com on the internet, or e-sword for your desktop. You can also check out this article on making biblegateway even esier to use with firefox!
  

• Interlinear Bible/Lexicon: Sometimes the depth of meaning of scripture is diminished in translation. The Greek language has way more words than English does. I’m not a Greek scholar and you probably aren’t either. But that’s alright, to help us out with that are Lexicons and Interlinear bibles. They can help us to understand the original language without having to know it. It won’t replace actually learning Greek or Hebrew, but it will help the rest of us. In print Lexicons can get pretty expensive.

  Try: Crosswalk.com for a free interlinear bible and lexicon.

10.Under no circumstances should you be without your bible.

I had a friend a while back who I really admired. He always carried a backpack, even if he was just going to 7-11 or something. Sometimes all that he would have in it was a notebook and a bible. Eventually I adopted the practice. You’d be surprised how often you end up having to wait in line somewhere, or sitting at a red light and think of a verse you need to look up. For these occasions and more, it’s indispensable to carry a bible with you everywhere. Think about it, of all the things you won’t leave your house without: cell phone, wallet, keys, ipod, whatever, and yet you leave home the sword of the Spirit? (Ephesians 6:17). So my advice is to carry it with you everywhere, at all times. Even if it’s not often used, it will you keep a mindset of constant readiness, and that is of ultimate importance.