Spiritual Taste Buds

I wanted to quote Jonathan Edwards writing about the first time God truly opened his eyes to the Scripture.  He was reading 1 Timothy 1:17 and he later wrote these words,

"The first instance that I remember of that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things that that I have lived much in since, was on reading those words (1 Tim 1.17) 'Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.' As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from any thing I ever experienced before.  Never any words of scripture seemed to me as these words did.  I thought with myself, how excellent a Being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be wrapped up in him in heaven, and be as it were swallowed up in him for ever!  I kept saying, and as it were singing over these words of scripture to myself; and went to pray to God that I might enjoy him, and prayed in a manner quite different from what I used to do with a new sort of affection...."

The Spirit of God has the power to illuminate the Scripture and give spiritual taste buds, like he did here for Jonathan Edwards.  This is a divine accomplishment, but yet one that must be pursued.  Truly Christ said that the Spirit works like the wind and you don't know where it comes from or where it goes (John 3).   But as Spurgeon has commented, if you want a crisp breeze, head for the ocean or climb a mountain.  In other words, we need to pursue God and go where He has promised to bless.  The great news is this- that God has given us the highways that take us to Him!  The highway is the Bible, prayer, worship, and fellowship.  If I want to go and enjoy the ocean, what do I need to do?  I need to get in my car and take the appropriate highways to get there!  As long as I stay in my house, or small apartment, I will never arrive and never enjoy the ocean.  It is the same with God who is the dispenser of infinite joy and everlasting happiness!  God gave us the desire for unthinkable happiness.  Will he who gave the desire and planted it within in us not fulfill it?  Though we can't have the completeness of joy till the next life, we can taste God in this life.  To do so we must study!  We must seek God with all of our hearts and minds and He will give us the experience of Jonathan Edwards..."never any words of Scripture seemed as these words did..."  I have had the joys of such experiences in my life and I long for others to know it for themselves.  I have experienced emotional thrills and a joy from my toes to the top of my head that are indescribable!  The weight of the joy of God is incomparable and crushes all others!!  It is as a blind man though.  A blind man will never know the joys of vision until his eyes be opened.  I could explain forever the wonder of the Alps and the blind person will never understand, lest his eyes be opened.  Once ones spiritual eyes have been opened, though his eyes will never be shut, they may grow dim.  Let us therefore meditate deeply upon the truths of God...not as the Pharisee though.  They read their Bibles, prayed, worshipped, etc... but were damned.  Why? They viewed these disciplines as an end, and not a means.  For the Christian, these are the means or the rivers that lead us to the ocean of God.  I could keep going but will end with two verses:

1 Tim 4:7- "But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women.  On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness..."

Psalm 36:7-8- "How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!  And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.  They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights..."

True Repentance

I read this quote this morning and it blessed me in an unusually good way.  Check it out....

"Legalistic remorse says, 'I broke God's rules,' while real repentance says, 'I broke God's heart.'  Legalistic repentance takes sin to Mt. Sinai, gospel repentance to Mt. Calvary.  Legalistic repentance is convicted by punishment, gospel repentance becomes convicted by mercy."

This was written by Tim Keller in The Church Planter Manual.

This is the heart that we need the Holy Spirit to give us!

Do we understand Christianity?

I am excited to have a blog. I plan on using this as a chance for me to have a regular opportunity to put my thoughts into words. For now, I wanted to thank my beautiful wife Vanessa for creating this page for me! She did a great job and I love her! I plan on writing on a variety of issues, but will focus on the Christian faith and clearing away a lot of common misconceptions that the world has of Biblical Christianity. So if you are antagonistic toward Christianity, please read on and see if your views of Christians are right, and if you love Christ already I hope you will be encouraged.

There are a lot of common misunderstandings about Christianity in America today. Some view Jesus as a genie who will give you what ever you want while others view Christ and Christianity as pure moralism. There are countless ideas in between but all are deadly. Needless to say, Biblical Christianity is radical. It's crux is on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is radical and scandalous! It is hard for us in America today to grasp the force of what this message communicated to its first century hearers. To them, crosses weren't pieces of jewelry or something nice to hang on a wall. To them, crosses were an instrument of death for only the foulest and most loathed of the criminal world. They were despised! So what did Paul and the early Christians preach throughout the Roman Empire? They preached that the King of the Universe and Savior of the world was put to death on a cross!! This was pure folly to those who heard it. The closest comparison to modern life I can think of would be proclaiming that Jesus, who is God in human flesh, died on death row in the electric chair! Imagine what people would think if I preached this message. They would think its nuts! It's foolishness to those who hear. In fact, it's impossible to believe! But contrary to all reason, the message of the cross was received and churches were formed all throughout the Roman Empire! Why? The only explanation for this is the power of God. God works His power through the preaching of the gospel and people believe! The story doesn't end with the cross by the way. Three days later Christ was raised from the dead to never die again. He had raised people from the dead before as we read in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But, they all were to die again. There was something unique about the resurrection of Christ. He was raised in immortality to never die again! Thus, Jesus Christ conquered the power of death! That is the gospel. It is foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block for the Jews...for in this message God was destroying the wisdom of sinful man! In Gods wisdom He devised a plan of salvation that would set man in his right position as a sinner and humble him greatly. Therefore, man shall not boast in himself but in God alone! In all of this Christ was taking upon Himself our curse and paying the penalty for our countless sins and setting all those who trust in Him free!

"For the word of the cross if 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." 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."

-1 Corinithians 1:18-20