What kind of food are you?

Saw this at Marla's blog:

You Are French Food

Snobby yet ubiquitous. People act like they understand you more than they actually do.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Snobby yet ubiquitous?! What does that mean? I think I'm offended. . .

God's Minute

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; But made Himself of no reputation, in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name.--Philipians 2:5-9

OUR prayer to Thee, O Father, is in the name of Thy Son, Who forgave our sins on the cross. Help us by Thy Holy Spirit to separate ourselves from sin and enter in to the inheritance of Thy redeemed children. May we this day give the world spiritual blessing far more than we receive in material gain. May we realize that our saftey of soul and body is in Thee, and upon Thee we can depend for all our need. May we have a genuine love for all humanity, and seek the salvation of all people. May we be of real help to someone, and may all see in us more of Christ than they can see of self.

Unto God our Father, Christ our Saviour, and the Holy Ghost our Comforter, be all glory.

Amen.

Rev. James B. Ely,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

JE Resolution 6

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

Living “with all my might” is not simply living with gusto, enjoying life to the fullest, spending our days with purpose and energy. There are many, many people who seemingly live their days with all their might—live it for all it’s worth. Their lives are full to overflowing with their jobs, their children, their families, their friends, their sports, their bank accounts. It takes a great deal of time and effort to maintain all these things and so it is easy to believe that if one is filling time and “living productively” one is living mightily.

However, as we’ve seen, to Jonathan Edwards living “with all my might” means living to the glory of God:

. . . it is in your power, with great diligence to attend the matter of your duty towards God and towards your neighbour. It is in your power to attend all ordinances, and all public and private duties of religion, and to do it with your might.
Pressing into the Kingdom of God, Application 2

And again, we can see the echoes of the Westminster Shorter Catechism in his meditations:

Q2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?

A2: The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.

Q3: What do the Scriptures principally teach?

A3: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

But how are we to do that?

In his sermon, Christian Cautions, Edwards tells us that in order to live to the glory of God we must know two things intimately: the Word of God and our own selves.

The Word of God is our rule, given to us so that we may know how we should live (the WSC calls it “what duty God requires of man”) and unless we know and understand what it says, our self examination will have no moorings. We may look at the way we spend our time and conclude -- because we seem to have so little of it left—that we are living with all our might and if we spend at least some of it in Christian pursuits we may even be able to tell ourselves we are living to the glory of God. And yet, without a diligent study of the rule God has given, we cannot be sure whether our actions really do fulfill our duty to God.

But to what purpose will all this care of God to inform us be, if we neglect the revelation which God hath made of his mind, and take no care to become acquainted with it? It is impossible that we should know whether we do not live in a way of sin, unless we know the rule by which we are to walk. The sinfulness of any way consists in its disagreement from the rule. And we cannot know whether it [agrees] with the rule or not, unless we be acquainted with the rule. Rom 3:20, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Therefore, lest we go in ways displeasing to God, we ought with the greatest diligence to study the rules which God hath given us. We ought to read and search the Holy Scriptures much, and do it with the design to know the whole of our duty, and in order that the Word of God may be “a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths,” Psa. 119:105. Everyone ought to strive to get knowledge in divine things, and to grow in such knowledge, to the end that he may know his duty, and know what God would have him to do.

Therefore, the first requirement in living with all one’s might is to study God’s Word—His rule given to us “to the end that he may know his duty, and know what God would have him do.” But without bringing our own hearts under self examination “as subject to the rule” we still won’t know if we are living with all our might:

We should examine our hearts and ways until we have satisfactorily discovered either their agreement or disagreement with the rules of Scripture. This is a matter that requires the utmost diligence, lest we overlook our irregularities, lest some evil way in us should lie hid under disguise, and pass unobserved. One would think we are under greater advantages to be acquainted with ourselves than with anything else. For we are always present with ourselves, and have an immediate consciousness of our own actions. All that passeth in us, or is done by us, is immediately under our eye. Yet really in some respects the knowledge of nothing is so difficult to be obtained, as the knowledge of our ourselves. We should therefore use great diligence in prying into the secrets of our hearts and in examining all our ways and practices. That you may the more successfully use those means to know whether you do not live in some way of sin; be advised,

First, evermore to join self-reflection with reading and hearing the Word of God. When you read or hear, reflect on yourselves as you go along, comparing yourselves and your own ways with what you read or hear. Reflect and consider what agreement or disagreement there is between the word and your ways. The Scriptures testify against all manner of sin and contain directions for every duty. As the apostle saith, 2 Tim. 3:16, “And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Therefore when you there read the rules given us by Christ and his apostles, reflect and consider, each one of you with himself, Do I live according to this rule? Or do I live in any respect contrary to it?

There is no time like the present to apply ourselves to this admonition that Edwards gave himself. Resolved to live with all my might, while I do live.

[Update: Kim at the Upward Call has her reflections on Resolution 6 posted just in time for New Years. I hope to have my next installment posted today, too, God willing.]

God's Minute

December 14

He shall. . .save them because they trust in Him--Psalm 37:40

OUR Father, as Thy children we, in this new day, hope for Thy presence and listen for Thy voice. That we may be sensitive to Thy touch and alert to Thy word, make us eager to know Thy will and resolute to do it. To know Thee in close intimacy is our need and our prayer.

In Thee is food for all our hungers; light for all our gloom; tasks for all our energies; love--warm, throbbing, sacrificing, to purge away our selfishness. This is our faith--make it our living experience.

Look in pity upon all the sons of men. Bring strife to an end. Establish righteousness in the affairs of nations. Help all rulers to decree justice. Let reason prevail, and love bind together the hearts of men.

Be our sufficiency all day. Be our defense if we are threatened by evil forces; keep us rigid when we are tempted; give us fresh inspiration when our purposes flag; keep us unselfishly, deliberately, eagerly kind all day, and when night falls may we have the consciousness of Thy favor, and the peace which passeth all understanding, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Wallace MacMullen, D.D.,
Madison, New Jersey

Wish I'd said that!

Three cheers for Rebecca at Rebecca Writes for her excellent thoughts on the apparent need some people have to put a theological meaning on every aspect of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Well, somebody had to say it!