Wisdom and Logic and Imagination

The acute awareness of aging children seems to hit home a lot recently. Probably because the obvious deduction is that means I also am aging, but that's beside the point. As my children get older I am finding that my parental obligation goes well beyond teaching them classic 'right and wrong'. As a parent, it is my Divine duty to teach my children how to think, and thus how to choose. I confess that the realities of this are hard because it requires that I expose them to things that I'm personally not crazy about exposing them to. Obviously this exposure is tempered with wisdom and Biblical guidance and a desire to keep purity of heart and mind at a premium. However, our number one goal in parenting is not to shelter our children from the painful and hurtful things that the world will throw at them. I would have to say that my parental goal is to teach my children Biblical wisdom. This will involve guided exposure to pain and to the reality of suffering humanity and the issues that people really face - and that they may very well face. This guided exposure is something that I have found not only to be important, but to be critical in their training process. The end of which is that they begin to learn to make their own decisions. I believe this is particularly important for those of us who home school our children. We must be careful that our motivation for Home schooling not be out of a desire to shelter, but out of a desire to actually teach wisdom.

Logic. Wisdom. Imagination. Education comes to that point. I love the scene in C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" in which the professor opens up the possibility of an imaginative world beyond the wardrobe door through the use of logic. He, in fact, is dealing with the Pevensie children's lack of imagination and scorn of their sister through the use of logic.

"Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth."
Cited from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'

Ever since my son started attending the Wednesday night Bible study for the neighborhood youth (open to all youth) at the church, I must confess that we've had some interesting conversations in our home about 'cussing' and terrorism and rap music and God. He's learning the logic of imagination and wisdom. Are there dangers of 'bad habits' or undesirable characteristics? I suppose there are. However, the bottom line is that my son and daughter (with my help and instruction!) will learn to think and choose for themselves what it means to discern and what is healthy and what is right - and what is not. If I fail to teach them critical thinking; logic; wisdom; imagination, then in my view (and I believe from a Biblical perspective) I fail them as their father.

I grasp thy strength, make it mine own,
My heart with peace is blest;
I lose my hold, and then comes down
Darkness, and cold unrest.
Let me no more my comfort draw
From my frail hold of thee,
In this alone rejoice with awe-
Thy mighty grasp of me.

John Campbell Shairp

Well Ordered Spontaneous Praying

Spontaneity. This is something our culture and society values highly. The ability to be spontaneous is considered a point of character by many. It's something men and women look for in a spouse. When it's lacking we tend to find it quite unromantic. Spontaneous prayer is also a thing of value for most of us. We relish and rejoice in the fact that we can go to God any time and pray with any words that express the content of our hearts at any moment. This is one of the great benefits of justification by faith: access (Romans 5:1-2). In a sense, it's spontaneous access.

I just looked up the word spontaneous in the dictionary. Here's what I found:

spon·ta·ne·ous
1 : proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external constraint
2 : arising from a momentary impulse

There is a sense in which this word has to do with things that we ought to avoid: "without external constraint" and "arising from momentary impulse" do not seem like great Biblical qualities to me; particularly, from the perspective of prayer. Again, there is a place for the spontaneous, in the trenches, desperation prayer of "help" or "save me". However, I wonder if there's a correlation between the banalities of the prayer life of the average American Christian and the over-priced value we give to spontaneous prayer. Words without heart are always condemned in Scripture. But we must remember that just because words are "spontaneous" -- the first thing that comes into our head is what comes out of our mouth -- does not mean that those words somehow have more "heart".

Planned or written prayer is not unspiritual nor is it inherently heartless. In fact, it is my growing conviction that structured prayer can be a sign of growing maturity. The cries of a baby for its mother and a Shakespearean sonnet are both heart-felt forms of expression. However, one is much more mature because it's structured and planned and has order and form and by very nature not spontaneous. It's interesting that when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he didn't tell them, "Just pray what's on your heart". He gave them form and structure. The Psalter is replete with liturgical type prayers that most of us in the evangelical church would snub if we heard them as they were used in Hebrew liturgy. Yet, God preserved them; therefore, we should value them.

I have found recent help in this area. About a month or so ago while I was researching historical information about the Scottish Claymore Broadsword, I stumbled across a web site that talked about the "Daily Office" as used by the ancient Celtic Church. I began practicing this, primarily using a format of reading Scripture and prayer at set hours in the day (for me, 9:00 AM, 11:45 AM, and 3:00 PM). In this I have found a rhythm in my devotional life that I have not experienced before. These set aside times of meeting with God have now replaced what I would call my "traditional quiet time". Rather than trying to cram in devotional time once per day early in the morning for 45 minutes to an hour, I have found a more natural rhythm of seeking God several times per day. This was most refreshing.

Further reading and research on this subject has led me to an excellent tool that I wish to recommend and share with you. For less than $20 you can purchase a book entitled "Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings From the Northumbria Community" . I have found this to be an amazing tool to help my personal prayer life move beyond spontaneous and into a richer cadence of worship. I am sensing a connection with God and with the historicity of the Christian church that is personally refreshing. Try it and let me know what you think. While it may not be a tool for everybody, it is worth exploring. This book has helped me to remember that we are just a part of the Divine tapestry that connects eternity to eternity and that this tapestry tells a glorious story: we are living characters and God is supreme.

bernie@fccfranklin.com

Most Powerful Holy Spirit
come down
upon us
and subdue us.

From heaven,
where the ordinary
is made glorious,
and the glory seems but ordinary,

bathe us
with the brilliance
of Your light
like dew.

from 'Celtic Daily Prayer - prayers and readings from the Northumbria Community'

Initial Predetermined Clarity

Unfortunately there are some Sunday morning messages that fail to communicate. Some simply fall flat. Some are poorly organized. Some are just examples of bad homiletics. Last Sunday's message, at least in my opinion, was one such example of communicative breakdown. Not wishing to trifle with or trivialize mighty, holy and timeless issues like Sovereign choice and predestination and calling, I'm afraid that waters may have been stirred a bit too much and, therefore, muddied. The clear vision of this Divine landscape which I greatly desired our congregation to view was fogged in by this fallen man's effort. Of course, we all know that this wasn't the first time. And I will forewarn you that it will not be the last.

I can't help but think of Richard Baxter's word to those of us who teach (Baxter is a dead mentor of mine)

Our whole work must be carried on under a deep sense of our own insufficiency, and of our entire dependence on Christ. We must go for light, and life, and strength to him who sends us on the work. And when we feel our own faith weak, and our hearts dull, and unsuitable to so great a work as we have to do, we must have recourse to him, and say, 'Lord, wilt thou send me with such an unbelieving heart to persuade others to believe? Must I daily plead with sinners about everlasting life and everlasting death, and have no more belief or feeling of these weighty things myself? O, send me not naked and unprovided to the work; but, as thou commandest me to do it, furnish me with a spirit suitable thereto.'

Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor,
(Banner of Truth, 1981; originally published 1656), Chapter 2, Section 2, paragraph 14.

Therefore, I am going to take opportunity with this initial entry to make some effort to clarify Sunday's obscurity. (To hear the message in its way too long entirety go here)

Here's what I wanted to say:

Point 1: The five truths that are linked together in Romans 8:30 are supports and footings and buttresses to the promise of Romans 8:28: "Everything is working for good" for the children of God. This promise is not something we have to blindly believe and is much too profound to turn into clichéd ammunition aimed at hurting people. We can put all of our confidence in God's promise because this promise is held up by the eternal, mighty, sovereign, saving hand of our Great God. We can, therefore, live radically risky lives for the Kingdom of God, because our future is certain and our good is secure.

Point 2: According to Romans 8:29, the fact of predestination (God's predetermined order and purpose for His children) has two ends.

2a. God's predetermined order and purpose for His children is that they be conformed to the image of Christ. His purpose in predestination is the very best for those of us who are His children. We can rejoice and celebrate and worship a God who has so lovingly ordained our good and we can trust that every circumstance in our lives will be used to that end because God has already determined that it be so.

2b. Because of God's glorious and predetermined order; Christ will be seen, known, experienced and exalted as supreme ("the first born of many brethren"). He is essentially the first of many who will be like Him. So even though we will be like Christ, He will still be supreme because He is first-born and most glorious. As the 'first-born', Christ is the highest and the holiest and, as our 'older brother', we will be like Him because God has determined and ordered it to be so.

So here's the conclusion that I really wanted to drive home on Sunday:

Christ's supreme glory and our supreme good is the same truth. God's predetermination has ordained that the very best for His children is what brings the very highest glory for His Only-Begotten.

Therefore, we can take great comfort in knowing that all is working for our good and His glory.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31

That's what I wanted say.

I pray that you will find great comfort in this truth.
bma

Email: bernie@fccfranklin.com