Is God disappointed in us when we sin?

Here is the short answer and the long answer from Dr. David Powlison, a trusted Christian counselor.


Dr. David Powlison - Does God get upset when we disobey? from CCEF on Vimeo.

[HT: Challies.com]

Fear but Don't Fear

Excellent quote from John Newton (via Justin Taylor)

The Lord bids me “fear not”—and at the same time he says, “Happy is the man who fears always.”

How to fear and not to fear at the same time is, I believe, one branch of that secret of the Lord which none can understand but by the teaching of his Spirit.

When I think of my heart, of the world of the power of darkness—what cause of continual fear! I am on an enemy’s ground, and cannot move a step but some snare is spread for my feet.

But when I think of the person, grace, power, care, and faithfulness of my Savior, why may I not say — I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.

I wish to be delivered from anxious and unbelieving fear, which weakens the hands and disquiets the heart.

I wish to increase in a humble jealousy and distrust of myself and of everything about me.

Read the rest of the blog post from Justin Taylor, where I found this quote.

Serious Malady of the Soul

I just started my next audio book from Christian Audio.  This one is The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.  I read this book several years ago, I think that I even posted about it a few times on this blog.

Well, I was listening to it on the way home from school today and hear this wonderful tidbit:

The idea of cultivation and exercise, so dear to the saints of old, has now no place in our total religious picture. It is too slow, too common. We now demand glamour and fast flowing dramatic action. A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machineage methods to our relations with God. We read our :' chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.

The tragic results of this spirit are all about us. Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit: these and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.

Now, he said this several years ago, and I think that it is even worse now.  I see it at work in me, but God is changing me in this area.  After a year of increasingly less TV and increasingly more Bible study and prayer, I am beginning to see its value.  Especially as I study those men of old, those men who have promoted and lived for the gospel.  I am reminded more and more that God made me for Himself, and to live a life cultivating and exercising myself in this deep relationship with God brings me closer and closer to my purpose in life and closer and closer to Him.

Update:  Just found the entire book online for free here.

Dear Pastor...

I just read a good article titled, Dear Pastor, Do you groan when you think of me?  I found it via Tim Challies.  The first sentence of the article says this, "What does your pastor think about when he thinks about you?"

The article starts by addressing the low- or no- commitment Christians. (People who just won't commit themselves to a local church.)  This is an issue that is also weighing on my heart.  The author states,

If you attend a local church, but do not belong to a local church, then I appeal to you to determine if your current church is for you and, if so, then I appeal to you to fully commit to your church. One of the ways you can do this is by allowing them to care for you with joy.

For those who are committed he says,

Do you let your pastor care for you with joy? How do you know if he is full of joy or full of groans when he thinks about you? How about if you ask your spiritual authority how he thinks about you? This could provide you with a wonderful opportunity to serve your pastor. Imagine if your child, if you have children, came to you and asked a similar question. Imagine if your child’s desire was to bring joy to your life. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Your pastor would feel similarly if you sought to step up to that kind of personal responsibility.

These are issues that are weighing on my heart, so since there is more to the article I recommend reading the rest by clicking here.

Sit or Don't Sit

I do not sit with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
 I hate the assembly of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.
 (Psalm 26:4-5 ESV)

As you can see, I have quoted verses 4 and 5 from Psalm 26.  This Psalm was a part of the daily Bible reading plan that I am working on this year.

Here is the dilemma:  How do we mesh these verses with the concepts promoted by Christ when he reclined at tables with the "tax collectors and sinners" of his day?  Here is one example from the Gospel according to Matthew:

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
(Matthew 9:10-11 ESV)

Obviously, from the rest of scripture, there were issues with the Pharisees; problems with their interpretation and application of scripture.  But, what is the relationship with the Psalm and Jesus's ministry?  How do they work together?  In other words, how do you sit with but not sit with?

I have my thoughts on this, but the line is still a little hazy.  What do you think?

The Blank Bible Project

This sounds like a really cool idea that I may have to follow up on. It is called the Blank Bible Project. I saw this link over at Challies.com.

Basically, this guy took an ESV Bible, chopped off the binding, added extra blank pages between each of the pages, then with some help from Staples, he re-bound the book.  He says that the project cost him around $30 and took around 7 hours to complete.  Here is a picture of the finished product.

Check out his site and the description of the project by clicking here.

Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

I just finished listening to another John Piper book.  This one was called, Think:  The life of the mind and the Love of God.  This title is very descriptive of, what I believe, is the purpose and point of this book.  In it,  Piper weaves the fabric of these two topics (knowing God and loving God) together to reveal their fundamental connectedness. In other words, you can't truly have one without the other.

Piper also does a great job in this book of revealing the nature and importance of good thinking.  He accomplishes this, not only through his own use of reason, but also through several Biblical examples of the correct use of our mental faculties and a few examples of thinking gone wrong.

I am fighting the desire to blog about several different aspects of this book.  I want to do that, but I am more interested in persuading you to pick up a copy of this book and reading it for yourself.  Of course, this first time through the book, I experienced it via a Christian Audio, audio book.  I also received this as a Christmas present, so now I am even more persuaded that this is a book that I need to plow through again, one page at a time.  The truth is, it really made me think.

The audio talent for the audio book also did an exceptional job. He brought the words to life in such a great way.  I always enjoy the audio books, they bring things out that I might have missed by only reading through the book.