I reviewed Cornelius Plantinga’s Under the Wings of God: Twenty Biblical Reflections for a Deeper Faith [affiliate link; click through and/or purchase supports this website]for Englewood Review of Books.
You can read the review here.
I reviewed Gary Scott Smith’s Strength for the Fight: The Life and Faith of Jackie Robinson [affiliate link; click through and/or purchase supports this website] for Englewood Review of Books.
You can read the review here.
It is narrated of Diogenes, that when Alexander the Great asked him to request a favour, the only thing that poor man wished of the conqueror of the world was, not to stand between him and the sun, whose genial light and warmth he was enjoying. If Diogenes stands for the Christian, Alexander for the world, and the sun for Him who is the light and joy of His people, we may look upon this story as an allegory: all that the Christian really wishes is, that the world should not obstruct and intercept the rays of happiness which come to him from the heavenly sanctuary.
If we are anxious always look first to God, and to place Him between us and our circumstances, and the people we have to deal with, then we shall be able to exercise love and patience, and to be calm and peaceful at all times. We have to deal with God on the one hand, and with our fellow-men and circumstances on the other. Now the great point is, how we place ourselves. If we allow people and circumstances to become between us and God, then the smallest provocation, disappointment, and difficulty obstruct to us the light of heaven, and intercept the supply of grace and strength. But if we place between us and the men we have to deal with, and the work we have to do, we shall walk in light and in love; for God is light and love, a translucent and strengthening medium. Look first at Him, and then at men and things. Have you met trial? Do not look first at the trial, and then at God, with the question: Does God, who allows this sorrow, love me? Look first at God, and with the renewed assurance of God’s love, look at the trial, and say, God chastens whom He loves.
Adolph Saphir, The Hidden Life: Thoughts on Communion with God
1 John 1:5-7 says, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Place yourself in the light. Allow no darkness to obscure your vision of God. Walk in the light. Draw your strength from Christ, for in him there is no darkness at all.
A friend of mine recently asked, “When do you read?”
Years ago I read Stephen King’s On Writing. King argued that writers should be readers. He described his practice of carrying a book wherever he went. When he was waiting in a line to get into an event, in the reception area at the doctor’s office, or sitting at a coffee shop waiting for a friend to arrive, he cracked open what he was carrying and covered what ground he could. King observed that there are windows of time each day that could be spent reading. So he did. I have followed his example. I carry books with me, and I read whenever I can.
I also read at the beginning of every day. My rule of life includes reading four chapters from the Bible each day followed by an entry from a devotional work (for the past four years this has been Oswald Chambers’s My Utmost for His Highest). I usually do this before everyone else in the household is awake. If not then, it is the first thing I do when I arrive in the office. It takes about a year for me to complete a reading of the Bible. After I finish Revelation 22, the next day I turn back to Genesis 1. I read a selection from Psalms with Molly as a daily habit, mostly in the mornings before we both walk out the door. If time allows while I am at home, I also read a chapter from Psalms during my time of devotion.
During the work day I read as my schedule and energy levels will allow. Each day I have administrative responsibilities in addition to meetings and time one-with-one building relationships with students, faculty, and staff colleagues. When I’m at my desk, my job requires a lot of reading. I read assignments and emails, articles and memos. I read on computer monitors and tablets. But I prefer print. And I prefer book length treatments of topics as opposed to articles. When I read professionally and for pleasure, I prefer paper, bound, the more beautiful the book jacket, the better. But a paperback suits me just fine.
I use a modified approach to Cal Newport’s time block planning system, and occasionally I’ll schedule myself for reading. What I’m reading at any given moment will vary. I often have more than one book going at a time. I maintain a stack of three to five books I’m actively reading on my desk at home, and another stack of one to three books on my desk at the office. At the office, what I’m reading is always professionally related. At home, the line is more blurry. I read history, creative nonfiction, novels, and poetry. But I read theology, practical ministry, and biblical studies stuff at home, too. The mix of books is a combination of professional interests, aspirational reading, personal enrichment, curiosity and wanderings, and trend chasing.
I also read in the evenings, at least for a few minutes, as I wind down for the day. This is most often a selection from the books residing on my desk in my study at home.
Most of the gains I make each year toward my reading goal are due to the fact that reading is my primary default leisure activity, and because I find reading pleasurable. I read whenever I have the opportunity. Books have become my constant companion. The result: I read a lot.
I started logging the books I read in 2010. I added movies and television shows to my list in 2018. I keep a Media Log.
The book list began as a way to chronicle my intellectual journey. It was also a way for me to review what I’d been up to each year, like a time capsule. I’ve found it useful when someone asks for a book recommendation. I review my list and pluck titles that match the inquirer’s interest. I propose books based on my evaluation of the author, their work, and knowledge of my friend’s loves and distastes. Furthermore, if someone reviews my list, it is possible for a connection based on shared interest to result, or at least a conversation. Finally, the list helps me to be aware of how, with whom, and toward what ends I am spending my time.
The movie and television lists, once added, have served the same purposes.
A friend recently asked how I choose what to watch. My viewing choices are made in light of:
From the above it is easy to tell that most of the movies and shows I watch are viewed on my television set, computer monitor, or tablet screen. But I enjoy watching movies on the big screen. I’ll go to the theater on occasion. What do I see? Summer blockbusters, particularly action films or select super hero movies, stuff that is better viewed in a room made for visual spectacle and earth-shaking “boom boom.”
My primary interest in movies and shows is entertainment. My rating system is straightforward: “I loved it,” “I hated it,” or “It was okay.” My conversation around movies and shows can be more layered. I’m happy to talk about the themes, or if I pick up on something the filmmaker is doing I offer analysis. I do think movies and shows capture, relay, or move ideas forward, some good, many bad. They are reflections of the zeitgeist. I do like it when I sense the filmmaker attempting to do something, even if they fail spectacularly. And I do give filmmakers the benefit of the doubt. Making art is hard. I’ve liked shows (labeling something “okay”) that other people didn’t enjoy at all. I accept the derision that comes my way as a result. It might even be deserved.
My secondary interest is for the references. I want to be conversant with friends, neighbors, and the culture; I want to understand the times. I want to be an effective communicator. Movies and shows have helped me convey ideas, teach, preach, and coach. I watch animated movies because I volunteer with kids. On a number of occasions my knowledge of movies and shows has helped me generate a laugh. Movies and shows provide shorthand that have helped me make connections.
It is thought that the first movie was made by Eadweard Muybridge in 1878: The Horse in Motion. You’ve probably seen it. Movies have been around about 150 years. We’ve come a long way. Tons of stuff has been made; more bad than good. Even with that being the case, it would require a serious investment of time, energy, and resources to become fluent in the good stuff.
I’m content with my bricolage, my bizarre mix of what I’ve found at hand. I’m open to recommendations. I may like your suggestion. I may hate it. I may think it is okay. I hope I’ll be entertained. But even if not, we’ll share one thing: the reference.
I’ve seen a few Jesus memes down through the years. Came across this one this week, which was brand new to me. Filled me with holy laughter.
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the whey, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Isaiah 30:21
Stick with Gold Standard. This is the whey.
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the whey of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
Acts 18:24-25
Undoubtedly Apollos was also quite buff.
And asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Whey, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Acts 9:2
Paul had absolutely no hope of bringing those men and women in bound.
But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Whey before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
Acts 19:9
Paul left those puny naysayers to their own devices.
About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Whey.
Acts 19:23
Demetrius, a silversmith in Ephesus, was insanely jealous of the gains being made by the apostles, and thus stirred up a riot against them.
Commit your whey to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
Psalm 37:5
The Lord is my strength and my shield.
They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
Nehemiah 6:9
Didn’t change that one.
Lord, hear my prayer.
We may know from the following whether we are the Lord’s anointed or not. The world loves its own. If then it hates Christ in us, it is an infallible sign that we are good soldiers of the Lord, and not servants of the world. The way to heaven is to sail by hell. If you will embrace Christ in his robes, you must not scorn him in his rags; if you will sit at his table in the kingdom, you must first abide with him in his temptations; if you will drink from his cup of glory, you must not forsake his cup of ignominy. Can the chief cornerstone be rejected, and the other more base stones in God’s building be set by? You are one of God’s living stones, and therefore be content to be hewn and snagged, so that you might be made more suitable to be joined to your fellows, suffering the snatches of Satan and the wounds of the world.
John Boys (1571-1625), Exposition of Psalm 2, as quoted in Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament VII, Psalms 1-72
What’s tough to distinguish:
But what I love about Boys’ commentary on Psalm 2 is the recognition that if we are identified with the Messiah, we will share in his experiences. We will sail on by hell on the way to our eternal home. We will be regarded as he was, we will experience temptation as he did, and we may be counted as infamous. But that is just how we are made fit for his building, shaped as a living stone, made fit to be joined to him and alongside those who make up the household of faith.
Remember that man’s life does not consist in what he has, but in what he is. Serve Jesus and the Church. Oh, let not the best years of your life be years in which you have little communion with God, and in which you do little for Christ! “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Let not your biography be summed up: “He turned to God in his youth, he then became lukewarm, being engrossed in the cares and the business and the social demands of the world, and a short time before his death he saw his mistake, and felt that one thing be needful. For years his spiritual life was barely sustained by the prayers of friends and the weekly services of the sanctuary. He might have been a pillar for the Church, but he was only a weight.” This be far from you. Oh, serve the Lord with gladness, be strong, quit yourselves like men, and abound in the work of the Lord!
Adolph Saphir, The Hidden Life: Thoughts on Communion with God
Adolph Saphir lived from 1831-1891. He was a Hungarian Jew who converted to Christianity and became a Presbyterian minister. If the quote above feels antiquated, those feelings are warranted. The book containing it was published in 1877.
My views on the spiritual life lead me to push back against Saphir, or to at least ask for further nuance, on certain aspects of the above. But my disagreements do not keep me from laughing at what I’ve highlighted in bold, or from cheering when he exhorts, “This be far from you.” It is far better to be a blessing than a burden, especially when you consider the blessings we have received in and through Christ. If you serve the Lord with gladness, do not do so because you desire a more favorable biographical summary. Do so because you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and that as a result you desire nothing more than to live a life pleasing in God’s sight.
Even in church. Someone really needed to capture that idea for the point of view or make their neighbor laugh uncontrollably.
We have good days and bad days.
But one bad day might not capture the bigger story. Growth and progress is seldom linear.
There are good reasons to zoom in and examine a bad day. Maybe there are lessons to learn. In the Christian journey, there are sins of which to repent, confession to offer, behavior to change, justice to seek, mending and reconciliation that needs to be done.
And some days, life goes sideways and there is not much we can do other than to endure it and press on, to turn the page and start the next day fresh.
That one is over. On to the next one.
After a miss in basketball, I say to myself, “The next one is going in.” After a loss, I tell myself, “Back to work.”
There are also good reasons to zoom out and consider where you are today in comparison to where you were a month ago, six months ago, a year ago, a decade ago. You might discover you are further along than you thought.
The graph above could be misleading, since the measure of progress is “up and to the right.” Maybe all you need is plot points between A and B. One line. A is where you begin. B is where you want to be. There may be ups and downs. There might even be reversals: one step forward and two steps back. But are you closer today to B than the day you began? Can you see it? Or can trusted friends see it? Are you grateful for the change? Do you celebrate the growth you have seen? Do you live in the joy of renewal? Or do you get bogged down, zooming in on the bad days, bad moments, and become discouraged? Are you spiraling in the wrong direction? Do you need a reset?
When you have one bad moment, don’t allow it to become two. When you have one bad day, don’t allow it to become two. Instead, return to formational habits, reorient yourself toward the goal (however far on the horizon), and do the daily, small things leading to success. Be disciplined. Keep going.
In Colossians 1:28, Paul writes:
He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
The principles above apply to anyone with a goal, anyone desiring growth and working toward it. Paul had a goal in mind: to lead others to maturity in Christ. Growth is part of the Christian life. If you want to become “fully mature in Christ,” conformity to Jesus is the target. Romans 13:14 exhorts us to “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
How do we do it? By keeping a constellation of commitments while moving toward our true North Star. Prayer is a key commitment, as is worship, fellowship, study. There are other disciplines, too, any virtues to be sought, developed, and instilled, including faith, hope, and love.
Whatever the means and whatever the virtues, above them all, we seek Jesus. He will supply what we need at the time we need it. We say, “I want to know you.” We say, “I want to learn from you.” We say, “My life is in your hands. Teach me.” We say, “Open my ears, my eyes, my heart.” We say, “Whatever is wrong in me, point it out, and heal me.” We say, “Whatever it takes for me to become like you, I trust you to lead me.”
His nail-scarred hand is extended to you. You take it. You grip it tight. You say, “I will not let you go.” You go where he goes and where he sends. In his earthly ministry, he worked alongside his disciples, but he also sent them out and remained at a distance, allowing them to experience a few things. You trust he is true to the promise to always be with those who are his. Just because he may not feel near does not mean that he is not with. Growth and progress in the Christian life is relational, communal, and personal. It occurs “with God.”
Change is possible. Growth is possible. Progress can be made. The process isn’t easy, nor is it always “up and to the right.” It is seldom quick and it takes work to sustain.
Get clear on the vision. Make your commitments. And then take up the actions and assume the attitudes that move you toward the goal, not away from it. There may be bad days. I’ll go a step further. There will be bad days. But keep the bigger picture in view. Take on a broader perspective. Keep moving in the right direction.
