HARMLESS THOUGHTS

In the Gospel According to Matthew, right after a section of recorded parables, we read this:  [51] “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” [52] And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”  Matthew 13:51–52 (ESV) I have no idea what this means.  I love it. It is wonderful and marvelous and mysterious. Important truths have been opened to me in the reading of this short little parable. But I don't really know what he is talking about.  I do know that I genuinely want to be a scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of Heaven. 

  Filling up the Afflictions of Christ is book number five in the series of books by John Piper called, The Swans are not Silent . I think, but I'm not sure, that each of these books... and even each of the three short biographies in each book... sprang from a conference message or a church message that John Piper originally delivered. I believe most of these have sermons that you can find online at DesiringGod.Org.  In this book we can read about William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton. The unifying thread with these three men is, as the book subtitle states: "The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations..." in each of their lives.  The title of this book comes from Colossians 1:24 --  Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. Piper goes on to explain this passage by saying,  "What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ is not ...

It is a snow day today... And I just completed a book! The book is Contending for Our All , by John Piper. This is the 4th book in his series: The Swans are not Silent.  This is the first book I have read in this series. In this book, John Piper writes about three men who contended for the Faith: Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen. He isn't attempting to give a complete biography of any of these individuals, but instead is seeking to highlight one aspect of their lives. In the case of these three: it is the controversies that surrounded them, and the heart for the beauty of God in the face of Jesus Christ that supported and motivated each of these men through these controversies.  With each one of the biographical summaries that Piper shares, I found myself to not only be intrigued by these men... wanting to read more of each of their lives and to read more of their writing, but also spurred on toward a more persistent delving into the mysteries of God myself.  ...