Those two kingdoms

Came across this passage that I saved a few months ago. Couldn't think of a better way to express the responsibility we Christians have in the midst of a very troubled/uncertain time in our culture.

"Christians should pursue cultural activities not with a spirit of triumph and conquest over their neighbors but with a spirit of love and service toward them. Far too often Christian writers and leaders imbue their audience with a drive to take over - to take over politics, education, the courts, and whatever else (or maybe it is put in more palatable terms, such as taking back instead of taking over, as if Christians are the rightful owners of everything and are simply reclaiming what is already theirs). The New Testament does call us 'more than conquerors through him who loved us' (Rom. 8:37), and on the day of Christ's return we will share in his visible triumph over his enemies (e.g., 2 Thess. 1:5-10). But until then God calls us to be involved in activities such as education and politics not in order to trounce opponents but to serve neighbors, 'You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you' (Matt. 5:43-44). The apparent enemy is our neighbor (Luke 10:25-37). It is all too easy to demonize those with whom we disagree and seek to vilify them for their sins in order to gain tactical advantage - even though their conduct often outshines our own in many areas of life, and though, if we do avoid their sins, we do so only by the unmerited grace of God. We have been justified in Christ precisely so that we may love and serve our neighbor, for this is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:13-14). The New Testament constantly calls us to gentleness, meekness, patience, and humility (e.g., Matt. 5:5; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:2). If only we were as eager to deal with our own many sins as we are to expose the sins of others whom we regard as our cultural opponents - if only we would learn to take the log out of our own eyes before seeing the speck in another's eye (Matt. 7:1-5). The way of love and service in all areas of culture, not the way of vilification and conquest, is the proper Christian attitude."

(David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms, 124-125)

Several notes to self

A few items loosely tied together by a similar theme that passed through my mind today:

We had a guest speaker at church, and one of the Scripture readings from the evening service struck me as jarringly beautiful.

For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.” And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I am full of fear and trembling.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Hebrews 12.18-24

Hebrews is my favorite book of the Bible, partly because of how artistically-rich it is (the typology, metaphors and illustrations, and heavy use of Old Testament texts make it very familiar to the stuff I study every day in English), but most importantly because it does such a sophisticated job of showing us how all of history acts as a pointer to the glory of God. It's so layered: The theology we confess and the good works we practice are all signposts to the work God has done in the past and promises to do in the future. I love the above passage because it provides a glimpse of God's awe-inspiring, yet also terrifying, holiness in harmony with His unprecedented mercy, made possible in Christ. The Old Testament narratives both pale in comparison to the story of redemption, yet gain incredible significance from it.

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I'm reading a Puritan booklet appropriately titled Stop Loving the World. Purposefully picked it up because I have been very aware of temptation surrounding me lately. It's easy to want to blend into the people around you, or put undo hope in the flattering feedback you receive on work. I've never been so aware of how easily subtle shifts in thought can undermine an entire worldview. (I've also been surprised by how effective consistent prayer is for restoring the Christian state of mind: despite being one of the most mentally-challenging semesters I've experienced, it's probably been my most peaceful one yet....there's definitely a direct relationship.) Anyway, William Greenhill lists four reasons it is foolish to invest yourself in worldly concerns, and I think I need this reminder right now:

1. "It will direct you to things that are merely probable, and make you leave things that are certain." (16)
2. "Supposing we do get the world with our endeavors, we cannot keep it without fear of losing it." (17)
3. "Supposing we do get the things of the world and are able to keep them, they will not satisfy our souls." (17)
4. "Loving the world directs us toward the worst things. All the things of the world are perishing, but the things of God are durable." (19)

It's a bit of a throwback to Boethius and his similar caution against setting your hope in things that will inevitably let you down (i.e. everything not God). Just like Hebrews, we are confronted with what is here now, and what is better, later.

Disinterested virtue

During the past few weeks, a combination of personal reading, life experiences, and academic discussions has left me mulling over the idea of integrity.

It's easy to do the right thing when its consequences are in your favor. It's a lot harder when you know there's nothing in it for you. Or even worse, when there's a direct certainty that taking the moral high ground is going to detract from your private happiness/security/satisfaction. How many of us have the nerve to go ahead anyway?

As our culture hurtles toward narcissism acute individualism, it's bringing along a shift in our code of ethics. I'm not overly-fond of the trendy bashing on Millennials that goes on,* but I am disturbed by this pervasive attitude amongst those of my generation, that the ultimate rule of morality is personal fulfillment. We seriously consider moral dilemmas like: "I want X, but it belongs to Y. Is it less moral for me to take X from Y or for me to be forced to go the rest of my life without having X?" This scenario alone is thinly-veiled theft. Our ethical code is teetering on the edge of chaos; how can you have a functional society where we all are out, first and foremost, for our own interests?

The very core of virtue is its selflessness. It places the needs of others above those of the self. It does not feel entitled to anything. It recognizes that good transcends immediate happiness. It is humility and hope.

One of my deepest regrets, as an English person, is that the word "charity" has fallen out of use. There aren't any other terms that encapsulate the kind of love motivating true virtue. It's the caritas of Latin and the agape of Greek. It's old Christian theology. Which, for me, will always be a point in its favor.

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*Beyond the hastily-broad generalizations, I believe that most of the time, the legitimate problems cited are universal issues associated with coming-of-age, not just with those born between 1985 and 2000.

On O'Connor (on Easter weekend)

"O'Connor's stories are about people struggling with one another, trying to wrest victories from the recalcitrance of love and fate. They are about the triumph and failure of the will, the divine and the human, and about the tragic consequences of our flawed perceptivity, which quietly stalk us all, like age and death. In spite of the brutal fates that so often befall her characters, O'Connor possesses a genuine sympathy for them, even as she modelled the majority after the secular humanists and materialists she so vehemently decried. This sympathy is born from a common humanity, the awareness on O'Connor's part that all of us share in concert the fundamental condition of sin and the possibility for spiritual advancement once we recognize the devil's hand within our own.

Flannery O'Connor remains one of the most difficult writers of the modern period, not because her tales are necessarily more complex than another's, but because her sensibilities and values are so foreign to her era. O'Connor's literary vision comes burning out of a distant time and place; it slashes like a demon's talon, repudiating modernity's complacent conviction that God had died a Victorian. To appreciate fully O'Connor's art, we must accept it in the religious context from which it was written. To do so requires the type of struggle that virtually forces the reader to identify with her own children - Francis Tarwater or, better still, her uncle Rayber. The secular reader wrestles with O'Connor in a manner similar to a willful child who is forever testing his parents' authority. The child may well become an adult with his own values that differ greatly from those of his parents, but in the end he will somehow show the influence of his parents' vision. He has to: it is in his blood."

Tony Magistrale, "'I'm Alien to a Great Deal': Flannery O'Connor and the Modernist Ethic" (97-98)

The penultimate book in my 20th Century class is Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood. Up till this point, the only other piece I had read was A Good Man is Hard to Find, but her reputation for strong Christian themes had left me interested in reading more. I'm about 3/4 the way through, and it has been one of the most difficult books I've yet read. Very dark, very bleak, very off-putting.

Bosch, "The Garden of Earthly Delights"

Even though I don't enjoy reading the novel, it's a fantastic piece of literature. I think the above quote is key to "getting" O'Connor. The characters/stories are distasteful on purpose; O'Connor is demonstrating for us the horror of a godless, thoroughly-secular life. I admire her for her willingness to stand alone amid the dogmatism of mid-century modernism.

I like the last few sentences of the quote's first paragraph as well. As a great supporter of the liberal arts as a way to unite - rather than divide - humanity, I have often struggled to reconcile the humanism of such a worldview with the reality of Christian theology. The talk about "celebrating the human experience" etc. makes me nervous, because while humanity does have great potential (we are image-bearers of God) it will never be able to fulfill this potential on earth. I appreciated the alternative perspective O'Connor brings to the conversation: We do indeed share many qualities in common, but rather than puff us up, this knowledge ought to lead to humility, because ultimately, we are all united in our fallen need for a Savior. Our common humanity is both beautiful and broken. O'Connor demonstrates the world's vital need for the promise of Redemption.

Solo-wulf

"It is a great wonder

how Almighty God in His magnificence

favors our race with rank and scope

and the gift of wisdom; His sway is wide.

Sometimes He allows the mind of a man

of distinguished birth to follow its bent,

grants him fulfillment and felicity on earth

and forts to command in his own country.

He permits him to lord it in many lands

until the man in his unthinkingness

forgets that it will ever end for him.

He indulges his desires; illness and old age

mean nothing to him; his mind is untroubled

by envy or malice or the thought of enemies

with their hate-honed swords. The whole world

conforms to his will, he is kept from the worst

until an element of overweening

enters him and takes hold

while the soul's guard, its sentry, drowses,

grown too distracted. A killer stalks him,

an archer who draws a deadly bow.

And then the man is but in the heart,

the arrow flies beneath his defenses,

the devious promptings of the demon start.

His old possessions seem paltry to him now.

He covets and resents; dishonors custom

and bestows no gold; and because of good things

that the Heavenly Powers gave him in the past

he ignores the shape of things to come.

Then finally the end arrives

when the body he was lent collapses and falls

prey to its death; ancestral possessions

and the goods he hoarded are inherited by another

who lets them go with a liberal hand."

Beowulf, lines 1724-1757

 Reminded me of this:

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.

Ecclesiastes 6:1-2

Going to be offensive again

Why this trendy body image movement fails to grab my support:

"Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." 

1 Peter 3:3-4

Several uncool reflections:

1. When your parents provide you with a godly upbringing, all of this talk about "accepting yourself the way you are" seems almost.....passé. Uh.......duh. I am a woman created in God's image, and I look exactly the way He intended me to be. I don't need a flip-floppy society deciding it's been wrong this whole time to tell me that I am a valuable human being. I found that one out when the Bible told me I am a daughter of God.
2. In the same vein, this is just another example of an obsession with outward appearance. If we are going to focus on how "every body type ought to be considered beautiful," we are setting an extremely shallow standard for what gives us worth. Outward beauty will always fade, and setting our stock in feeling fabulous and sexy and beautiful is just superficial. Christian women ought to be pursuing the inner beauty which never fades; this is the loveliness which lasts, because in adorning ourselves with good works, we are imitating (and, more importantly, pointing to) the unchanging beauty of God Himself.
3. Maybe this is a petty shot, but much of the rhetoric these advocates use reaches my ears sounding like a high-maintenance demand to "TELL ME I'M BEAUTIFUL, DARNIT!!!" It's like turning society into the mirror, mirror on the wall. Do women really want to resemble the stepmother from Snow White? Honestly, this has probably been the biggest reason I've found the movement unattractive. The tone seems completely antithetical to the "imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit." Don't underestimate the power of graciousness. If God considers it "very precious," it is good enough for me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll return to hiding in my bunker underneath Fifth Avenue.

The hole in my holiness

Kevin DeYoung:

The hole in our holiness is that we don't really care much about it. Passionate exhortation to pursue gospel-driven holiness is barely heard in most of our churches. It's not that we don't talk about sin or encourage decent behavior. Too many sermons are basically self-help seminars on becoming a better you. That's moralism and it's not helpful. Any gospel which says only what you must do and never announces what Christ has done is no gospel at all. So I'm not talking about getting beat up every Sunday for watching SportsCenter and driving an SUV. I'm talking about the failure of Christians, especially younger generations and especially those most disdainful of "religion" and "legalism," to take seriously one of the great aims of our redemption and one of the required evidences for eternal life - our holiness. 

J.C. Ryle, a nineteenth-century Bishop of Liverpool, was right: 'We must be holy, because this is one grand end and purpose for which Christ came into the world....Jesus is a complete Savior. He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer's sin, he does more - he breaks its power (1 Pet. 1:2; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 12:10).' My fear is that as we rightly celebrate, and in some quarters rediscover, all that Christ has saved us from, we are giving little thought and making little effort concerning all that Christ has saved us to. Shouldn't those most passionate about the gospel and God's glory also be those most dedicated to the pursuit of godliness? I worry that there is an enthusiasm gap and no one seems to mind.

(The Hole in Our Holiness, pp. 10-11)

This has been weighing heavily on my mind recently. Ever since I started college, there has been a tension between what I have always believed and what I am surrounded by. In the first two years, I've tried to negotiate how I can reconcile the two, and most of the time it's ended up with me just fumbling my way through. This summer it became obvious that I needed to put my money where my mouth is, and decide once and for all in what direction my life is headed. God used several friends to remind me of the beauty of what I believe and has mercifully renewed my love for my heritage. I'm seeing how much I have undervalued these relationships in favor of others that are less edifying. It's scary to think how easily I could have lost what I have spent the last ten years of my life building.

 

Looking back, I'm seeing that in these last two years, my walk with God has been mainly just coasting. In the business of college-dom, I've become distracted from the end goal: To love God and serve his people. Sin has begun to lose some of its ugliness. Holiness has gotten a little...dorky.

 

If sin is no big deal, neither is the Gospel.

 

I don't want to be complacent anymore. I'm done with talking about loving God instead of actually loving Him. My faith without works is dead.

When shall we know thee as we ought,
And fear, and love, and serve aright!
When shall we, out of trial brought,
Be perfect in the land of light!
Lord, may we day by day prepare
To see thy face, and serve thee there.

The pietism of America

It looks as if the general consensus is that America, and more broadly, the West, is now a post-Christian culture. Perhaps even a post-religious (in the traditional sense of the word) society. You hear the stories of public prayer being banned in high schools while the same institutions provide rooms for Muslims to practice salat. Fox News cries out in uproar as the Ten Commandments are removed from buildings of state. And while mysticism abounds in pop culture, there is no room for the supernatural in respectable academia.

While I tend to agree with the assessment, I would like to add my own observation. As secular as we seem to be, we are just as religious as we ever were.

In fact, the level of devotion I see around me would make any itinerant evangelist of yore weep for joy. Consistent, undistracted, faithful alliegance to what is held most dearly; fiery opposition when it is threatened.

What am I talking about? All we need to do is watch the calendar.

We westerners remain steadfast to our Judeo-Christian heritage: We worship on the weekend.

The thing that consumes our thoughts, that gets us through the workweek, that brings us the most happiness is the thing we instinctively turn to as soon as we have a spare moment.

Sleep
Friends
Family
Good food
Bad food
Hobbies
Sports
Entertainment
Culture
Pleasure in all of its various forms

Tradition

Christ?

Religious hypocrisy

"There are bogus men of God just as there are bogus men of courage. And in the same way as we see that when their honor is put to the test the men of courage are not the ones who make the most noise, so the truly pious men of God, in whose footsteps we should follow, are not those who put on the biggest show."

"....just as I believe that if there are still heroes none should be more respected than those who sincerely believe in God, and that nothing on earth is finer or more noble than the sacred fervor of true faith, I also think that there is nothing more odious than a brazen show of spurious piety by shameless hypocrites and self-advertising Pharisees who strike sacrilegious, two-faced attitudes and unrestrainedly exploit and freely mock everything humankind holds most holy and most sacred; people who, putting their own interest first, turn faith into a profession and a commodity and set out to buy credit and public honors by rolling their hypocritical eyes and faking zeal. I mean the ones you see displaying spectacular fervor and turning the path to heavenly salvation into the road to earthly fortune." 

Moliere, Tartuffe

Some things never change......

Even though there is in this generation a growing number of professors, a great noise of religion, religious duties in every corner, and preaching in abundance, there is little evidence of the fruit of true mortification. Perhaps we might find that, judging by the principle of mortification, the number of true believers is not as multiplied as it appears from those who have made a mere profession. Some speak and profess a spirituality that far exceeds the former days, but their lives give evidence of a miserable unmortified heart. If vain spending of time, idleness, envy, strife, variations, emulence, wrath, pride, worldliness, selfishness, are the marks of Christians, we have them among us in abundance. May the good Lord send us a spirit of mortification to cure our distempers, or we will be in a sad condition!

 John Owen, The Mortification of Sin

On Antinomianism

The Missal by John Waterhouse

Katherine Parr:

Only speaking of the Gospel makes not men good Christians, but good talkers, except [when] their facts and works agree with the same: so then their speech is good because their hearts are good. And even as much talk of the word of God, without practicing the same in our living, is evil and detestible in the sight of God, so it is a lamentable thing to hear how there are many in the world that do not well digest the reading of scripture, and do commend and praise ignorance, and say that much knowledge of God's word is the original of all dissension, schisms, and contention, and makes men haughty, proud, and presumptuous by reading of the same.

This manner of saying is no less than a plain blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. For the Spirit of God is the author of his word, and so the Holy Ghost is made the author of evil, which is a most great blasphemy and (as the scripture saith) "a sin that shall not be forgiven in this world, neither in the other to come" [Matt. 12:32]. It were all our parts and duties to procure and seek all the ways and means possible, to have more knowledge of God's word set forth abroad in the world, and not allow ignorance, and discommend knowledge of God's word, stopping the mouths of the unlearned with subtle and crafty persuasions of philosophy and sophistry, whereof comes no fruit, but a great perturbation of mind to the simple and ignorant, not knowing which way to turn them. For how is it not extreme wickedness to charge the holy, sanctified word of God with the offenses of man? To allege the scriptures to be perilous learning, because certain readers thereof fall into heresies?

(The Lamentation of a Sinner, chapter 10)

No doubt Katherine Parr had the Catholics of her day in mind as she wrote the above words, but they still stand relevant today. Sins have a nasty habit of recurring through the years: In the Middle Ages, the Roman church discouraged laymen from reading the Bible, asserting that only the allegedly well-trained clergy was capable of reading it correctly; today, Evangelicalism is infiltrated with the belief that "doctrine divides."

On God, life, and books

Two things that hit me lately:

1. When we say that we're here to glorify God, do we really understand what we're saying? Every thing we say, do, and think should be for HIM! Every time we start something new, it should be to serve Him. We have to be actively watching ourselves. We have to be living each moment as Colossians 3:17 says: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Boy am I bad at that!

2. Worldliness doesn't always come in the same packaging. I think when most people hear it, we imagine an obsession with pop culture, a slavish following of the latest fashions, a desire to be "cool," materialism, etc, etc. But that's only one type. Any undo affection for things that aren't of God is worldliness. I'm a total culprit. I have an Athenian tendency - I'm a lover of ideas. I've found myself wanting to study the Bible, not necessarily to understand God better, but to learn something new. I get in trouble with my parents because I'll extend my schoolwork as long as I can each day. (Bring on the nerd jokes) I oftentimes find myself valuing things based on how much I learned from them. Although Proverbs says we should pursue knowledge, devotion to it at the expense of primarily seeking God is a disgusting form of worldliness. Solomon tried it, and ultimately it let him down.

But how good is Christ, that He would take responsibility for all that guilt of mine so that I can live with Him for eternity! Just think about that. Why on earth would God do that for anyone? There's simply no adjective that can be used to describe Him.

On another note....I just came across this book: A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen. Alright. At first, I was rather interested, but then I started thinking about the title. Not only does it have arguably the #1 literary cliche of all time as its main part, the subtitle had me almost laughing. The way I see it, the book's written by 33 people who have been made to feel slightly guilty & insecure about reading 200-year old chick lit, trying to show the world that they have intelligent reasons for doing so. And notice the qualifier "great." I guess the book would be irrelevant if the subtitle was: 33 Unknowns on Why We Read Jane Austen. But I guess the topic of the book isn't too bad since I'm a quasi-Janeite myself - I'll always be a die-hard fan of Elinor Dashwood & Edward Ferrars......and J.A. is pretty intellectual. :-)

Speaking of books, this one looks really cool. Who'd have thought that Isaac Watts wasn't just a hymn writer?

The Humanization of God

We've all seen evidences of the new pet industry here in America. You can buy Fido a whole wardrobe, a trip to the spa, a stay at a luxury pet hotel, and countless other disgusting wastes of money. We're trying to turn irrational beasts into people.

But we haven't stopped at things lower than us. We've also moved on to God. Just look around you. He's irreverently and jokingly styled "The old guy upstairs;" "biographies" are written about Christ, the descriptions of which sound more like a romance novel than an exposition of our Savior's work on earth; pastors make crude remarks with Christ as the subject. What blasphemy!

But why do we do this? One word: Pride.

Each one of us is born with an overinflated ego. Ours is an autotheistic culture - we are our own gods. You can see its effects everywhere - our government is here to please the individual, not to serve the nation as a whole; doctors encourage us to have "me time" for our psychological well-being; people are sinking into gross debt because they don't have the money to buy all the things that they in their lack of self-control couldn't afford - or need. Our mission in life is an Epicurean one - to live for pleasure. Living for ourselves and worshiping ourselves is pretty much the same thing.

When you love something, you want other things to be like it. We measure everything we come in contact with against our ideal, whatever that may be. Take this for an example: Say somebody has a favorite book. They're going to compare every other book they read with their favorite to determine whether its good or not. They have a standard. And if you're a bibliophile, you're going to want to like the books you read - so in other words, you want the books you read to be similar in some way to your favorite.

We, as fallen humans, have set ourselves as our standard. We think we're pretty cool, and therefore try to make the rest of creation like us. And we haven't left our Creator alone.

We have it all backwards. Instead of comparing everything to ourselves, we ought to be comparing ourselves to God. Suddenly, we aren't as lovely as we imagine ourselves to be. And God becomes infinitely more holy. What right have we to bring Him down to our level? Where do we find permission to speak disrespectfully about Him? to thoughtlessly disobey what He commands us to do in His Word? to claim that He doesn't exist, simply because He's a threat to the Religion of the Self? There isn't any.

Sometimes we need to think more deeply about the seemingly simple statements in Scripture - the ones we pass by while reading without a thought.

Exodus 20:2 - "I am the LORD your God, who brought you...out of the house of slavery."

God is God - the Supreme Being. He's unimagineably holy. He deserves our respect.

God is our Lord - our Master. He gave us our lives - physically and spiritualy. We ought to give them back to God, as Hannah dedicated Samuel to Him.

God brought us out of the house of slavery - "But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life" (Romans 6:22) God saved us from eternal death. He deserves our love and gratitude.

Matthew Henry on Worldliness

The more the world is crucified to us, the more our corrupt passions will be crucified in us. If we would keep calm and quiet, we must by faith live above the stormy region. It is certain those that have anything to do in the world cannot but meet with that every day from those with whom they deal, which will cross and provoke them; and if the affections are set upon these things, and we are filled with a prevailing concern about them as the principal things, those crosses must pierce to the quick and inflame the soul, and that which touches us in these things, touches us in the apple of our eye. If the appetites are indulged inordinately in things that are pleasing to sense, the passions will to the very same degree be roused against those that are displeasing. And therefore, Christians, whatever you have of the world in your hands, be it more or less, as you value the peace as well as the purity of your souls, keep it out of your hearts; and always indulge your affections towards your possessions, enjoyments, and delights in the world, with a due consideration of the disappointment and provocation which they will probably occasion you.

(A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit)

Another Spirit

If godly men are of another spirit, and this is their commendation; why then should any account it be a dishonor to be singular from the world? Singularity is cast upon God's servants as their disgrace, but certainly it is their glory. They are singular and their ways are singular, it is true, and they avow it, they rejoice in it, and bless God for it. It is impossible but that it should be so for they are of another spirit, a peculiar people, separated from the world, set apart for God. Their separation is a wonderful separation, Exodus 33:16: "So shall we be separated," says Moses, "I and Thy people, from all the people that are on the face of the earth." The word is, in the original, "We shall be wonderfully separated." No marvel then, though their singularity be such as the world, who knows not their principles, wonders at it. Their ways are different from other men, aye; that is true indeed, who can think otherwise? Their principles, their estates, their dignities, and their hopes are raised higher than other men's. Would Saul have been offended if his former acquaintance had complained, "Oh, now, Saul, he minds other things, goes on in other ways, lives after another fashion than we do"? Aye, that is true indeed, for his condition is altered; his estate is raised higher than yours. He has another spirit.

To complain that God's servants are singular from others is as if you should complain that pearls are more glistening than dirt and gravel. Their way, their lives, are singular. Why, how would you have them live? Would you have them live according to the common course of the world? They cannot, for they have not received the spirit of the world, but another spirit.

(Taken from pp. 81-82 in The Excellency of a Gracious Spirit, by Jeremiah Burroughs)

Real Worth

So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done? And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness And yet I know that one fate befalls them both. Then I said to myself, "As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me Why then have I been extremely wise?" So I said to myself, "This too is vanity." For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten And how the wise man and the fool alike die! So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

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Men are taken up with the things of this life, and "what profit has he who has labored for the wind?" (Eccles. 5:16). Can the wind fill? What is gold but dust (Amos 2:7), which will sooner choke than satisfy? Pull off the mask of the most beautiful thing under the sun—and look what is inside. There is care and vexation! And the greatest care is still to come—and that is to give account to God. Worldly joys are as fleeting as a bubble floating down the stream.

But godliness has real worth in it. If you speak of true honor, it is to be born of God; if of true valor, it is to fight the good fight of faith; if of true delight, it is to have joy in the Holy Spirit. Oh, then, espouse godliness! Here reality is to be had. Of other things we may say, "They comfort in vain!" (Zech. 10:2)

(Thomas Watson, The Godly Man's Picture pp. 204-205)

Pleasure Contrasted

What is worldly pleasure?

I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?" I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives. I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men--many concubines. Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

What is right pleasure?

I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.

Psalm 119:14-16

With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD;
Teach me Your statutes.
With my lips I have told of
All the ordinances of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts
And regard Your ways.
I shall delight in Your statutes;
I shall not forget Your word.

Psalm 119:10-16

Wisdom under the Sun - What the Bible has to say about it

And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge." And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

Ecclesiastes 1:13-18

But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

Colossians 2:8

Let no man deceive himself If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God For it is written, He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS"; and again, "THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS." For the word of the cross is foolishness 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 CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE."

1 Corinthians 3:18-20

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach ^AV)">Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1Corthinthians 1:18-25

Why shouldn't we devote ourselves to the wisdom of the world?

The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:17

Upcoming Series

A while ago, my pastor did a series on Wednesday nights, in which he went through Ecclesiastes. Ever since then I've been fascinated by the book. The message of the book is a sobering and urgent reminder of the fact that, no matter what it is, if you're finding your pleasure and satisfaction somewhere other than God, you'll be let down. So, starting Monday (d.v.) I'll be devoting the next few weeks to Ecclesiastes.

Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher,
"Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.
Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;
And hastening to its place it rises there again.
Blowing toward the south,
Then turning toward the north,
The wind continues swirling along;
And on its circular courses the wind returns.
All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.
All things are wearisome;
Man is not able to tell it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one might say,
"See this, it is new"?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us.
There is no remembrance of earlier things;
And also of the later things which will occur,
There will be for them no remembrance
Among those who will come later still.

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So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.