Archive for Random Musings
Cultivating a Holy Longing
Posted by: | CommentsIn his book, The Gospel for Real Life, Jerry Bridges writes,
Generally speaking, believers who have the least benefits of this life have the most vigorous hopes of heaven.
He’s right, right? I believe so. After all, if you have nothing here and God promises you a New Heaves and New Earth in which perfect righteousness dwells, you should have easier time focusing on the future. If all is going well for you here, your relative blessing oftentimes will obscure the perfect blessing that is soon to come.
So what do we do if life is going along quite well? If we are enjoying the benefits of this life in greater measure than many others, must we forgo them in order to long more for heaven?
Lest we think it doesn’t matter whether we long for the life to come, check out Hebrews 9:27-28,
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Did you catch that last part? ‘To save those who are eagerly waiting for him.’ That’s no joke huh? Though salvation is solely through faith in Christ, those who faith will eagerly wait.
And yet, we are so apt to feel quite at home here. Life gets going and we think little of the perfect life to come, where those who believe in Christ will live with Him and enjoy life as it ought to be and a thousand times better.
So back to our question: what do we do if our life here is pretty nice? Here’s two suggestions I have probably mentioned before.
1) Read the Bible and good books until you figure out what Heaven is really like and going to be like. Most of us aren’t as clear about the life to come as we may think we are. Do you think Heaven is singing hymns in the clouds with angels? Well then, you are way off and need to read up. Heaven by Randy Alcorn is a great place to start.
2) Cultivate a holy longing for the life to come by diligently seeking the Lord and asking Him for it. Word and prayer. It’s tough to get too much of these.
There is more that we can do, no doubt, but that is a good place to start. For no matter where we are or what is going on in our lives, we will do well to cultivate a holy longing for Christ and the life to come. Believe it or not, it will enable us to live much better here.
A Good Desk: A Bare (or Bear) Necessity
Posted by: | CommentsI am currently typing this post from a brand-new desk and chair. It’s one I have been waiting for for quite some time. And it is one I asked for numerous times, because for me, a good desk is a necessity for life, wherever I may be.
Around the Crispin house, you might hear us periodically singing a song from the classic Disney movie, Jungle Book. “The Bare Necessities.” Or then again, maybe it’s entitled, “The Bear Necessities” as it is Baloo the Bear’s big gig. I thought of that song when I my desk arrived, because though it is not food and clothing, it is, at least to me, that vital.
If I lack a desk, I am inevitably disorganized and thus, a little scattered. If I have a desk and you find a bit of a mess, chances are it is a reflection of my current state. For it is my hub. My workstation. My organizational Sun. Without it I just cannot make do. And, inevitably, without it I will barely blog.
There might be some folks out there who don’t have a clarified workstation. If that is you, I would encourage you to get on board and make a good desk one of your ‘bear necessities.’ Sure, there may be some who can be organized and orderly without it, but frankly, I find it hard to believe.
Are our desks (or lack of them), at least in this day and age, a reflection of our selves and the efficiency of our lives? Maybe so.
And will the presence of one serve to help me get into that elusive blogging rhythm I have been looking for. I happen to think so, but only time will tell.
My Blogging Fuel
Posted by: | CommentsThe past three of four days, I have had a renewed sense that I have to blog. And take note of the italics, because I really do mean ‘have’ to. Not so much want to, but have to. For blogging, at least for me, serves as a release for thoughts going on inside my head. At least the posts that are worth reading. I mean, funny pictures of my kids aren’t exactly ‘have to’ posts, but then again, if I think they are funny, I just ‘have to’ share them.
In all seriousness, I’m usually thinking about something, learning something new, being challenged on some front in my life. So I blog about it. I write because I am learning and in order to learn. And I hope that what I have to share ends up serving someone else.
The interesting thing about this ‘have to’ is that is virtually always coincides with consistent reading on my part. Reading, I have learned, is my blogging fuel. And though I have read a good number of books over the past 3-4 months, I have not been as consistent as I usually am or as I like to be. And my blogging, I realize, has been inconsistent as a result.
But over the past 10 days or so, I have worked to get back into my consistent reading habit. I have reread one of my favorite books, Creation Regained, about which I will certainly post. And over the past two days, I have read a book by Ted Kluck entitled, The Reason for Sports. It was an easy read and a very enjoyable one. Both combined to compel me to blog once again.
Lesson learned: Read much and blog posts will come (at least I think).
Blind Spots
Posted by: | CommentsI was watching a game last night between the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks. It was a game from last season, played in the Boston Garden. It was also Boston’s Comcast Network’s recording of the game, so the commentators were obviously a little biased. And if I may say so gently, whoever the color commentator of the game, was actually just plain bad.
After a few comments concerning calls that went against the Celtics and observing the silence that accompanied any calls that went for the Celtics, I began to wonder about my own blind-spots in life. For it was obvious that these commentators wanted the Celtics to win to such a degree that their observations concerning the officiating were obviously skewed. Their desire dictated their perspective on matters. And in my opinion, their perspective was rather wrong more than a few times while I watched.
So it is in our lives. There are things we want so much that we keep ourselves from seeing things as they really are. Even the over-desire for good things causes us to skew our own perspectives, just like those commentators. And the worse thing is that in our lives, the things we fail to see clearly because we desire certain things too much are not the calls of an official, but oftentimes the most important realities in the world.
Imagination: Better than a Movie
Posted by: | CommentsIf my Amazon Widget thing were working off the right of my page, you would be able to see that I am currently reading The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. They are, quite simply, great books. Or I suppose I should say it is one great story, because it really is all one, divided as it may be. It has taken me a while to move through the work, and I still have a little less than a third to go, but I have enjoyed it thoroughly.
I have, however, run into one problem: I watched the movies first.
What a mistake this was. In hindsight, I think I would have been better off locking myself in a room for a few days and completing the entire book before headed out to see the films. The reason? Well, because I realize that my imagination has been hampered by watching the films. Rather than allowing the book to stimulate images within, I keep thinking about Elijah Wood and the guy from Rudy.
This isn’t to say that the movies were bad. No way. After finishing my reading, I am going to watch them again. It’s just to say that they can’t be as good as reading the book and using your imagination. At least first. Not to mention, the movie can’t tell the entire story, even when it runs three hours, as the films do. A good rule of thumb for any classic book made into a movie seems to be: Make sure you read the book first!
It’s a good rule, one that leads me to a greater appreciation for a good story and the importance of reading good stories. Even more, it helps me understand why the Bible is such a powerful book, for it is the work of the greatest Storyteller and indeed, when rightly understood and embraced, contains the greatest story every told. No film can capture that entire work, only bits and pieces, so we better make sure to read that one first.
