Spurgeon on Faultfinding

Mark Driscoll shared these thoughts from Charles Spurgeon at the DesiringGod National Conference last weekend. As someone who is prone to pride and faultfinding myself, this is a very apt quote.

“Many hearers lose much blessing through criticizing too much, and meditating too little; and many more incur great sin by calumniating those who live for the good of others. True pastors have enough of care and travail without being burdened by undeserved and useless fault-finding. We have something better to do than to be for ever answering every malignant or frivolous slander which is set afloat to injure us….there are tender, loving spirits who feel the trial very keenly, and are sadly hindered in brave service by cruel assaults. The rougher and stronger among us laugh at those who ridicule us, but upon others the effect is very sorrowful…

As ministers we are very far from being perfect, but many of us are doing our best, and we are grieved that the minds of our people should be more directed to our personal imperfections than to our divine message ….

Filled with the same spirit of contrariety, the men of this world still depreciate the ministers whom God sends them and profess that they would gladly listen if different preachers could be found. Nothing can please them, their cavils are dealt out with heedless universality. Cephas is too blunt, Apollos is too flowery, Paul is too argumentative, Timothy is too young, James is too severe, John is too gentle…

Well then, let each servant of God tell his message in his own way. To his own Master he shall stand or fall…

Judge the preacher if you like, but do remember that there is something better to be done than that, namely, to get all the good you can out of him, and pray his Master to put more good into him.”

- from Eccentric Preachers by C.H. Spurgeon

Kids say the darndest things.

We were discussing elements of Edgar Allen Poe's poetry in class today when this conversation happened:

Me: "What's assonance?"

Student: "Ain't that where you don't have sex?"

I think he meant abstinence.

A Crumb of Dust Which Praises God

"Prologue"
Edward Taylor
from Preparatory Meditations

Lord, Can a Crumb of Dust the Earth outweigh,
Outmatch all mountains, nay, the Crystal sky?
Embosom in't designs that shall Display
And trace into the Boundless Deity?
Yea, hand a Pen whose moisture doth guide o'er
Eternal Glory with a glorious glore.

If it its Pen had of an Angel's Quill,
And sharpened on a Precious Stone ground tight,
And dipped in liquid Gold, and moved by Skill
In Crystal leaves should golden Letters write,
It would but blot and blur, yea, jag, and jar
Unless Thou mak'st the Pen, and Scrivener.

I am this Crumb of Dust which is designed
To make my Pen unto Thy Praise alone,
And my dull Fancy I would gladly grind
Unto an Edge of Zion's Precious Stone.
And Write in Liquid Gold upon Thy Name
My Letters till Thy glory forth doth flame.

Let not th' attempts break down my Dust, I pray,
Nor laugh Thou them to scorn but pardon give.
Inspire this crumb of Dust till it display
Thy Glory through't: and then Thy dust shall live.
Its failings then Thou'lt overlook, I trust,
They being Slips slipped from Thy Crumb of Dust.

Thy Crumb of Dust breathes two words from its breast,
That Thou wilt guide its pen to write aright
To Prove Thou art, and that Thou art the best
And show Thy Properties to shine most bright.
And then Thy Works will shine as flowers on Stems
Or as in Jewelry Shops, do gems.

c. 1682 [1939]

Jesus and Pop-Culture

If Jesus were walking Earth today, would he be called irrelevant? Ignorant?

"He never refers to secular history, poetry, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, foreign languages, natural sciences, discoveries, and inventions, or any of those branches of knowledge which make up human learning and literature. He confined himself strictly to religion. But, from that center, he sheds light over the whole world of man and nature and acts as a universal inspirer of higher and purer thought. In this department, unlike other great men, even the prophets and apostles, he is absolutely original and independent. He teaches the world as one who had learned nothing from it, and is under no obligation to it. He speaks from divine intuition, as one who not only knows the truth, but is the truth; and with an authority that commands absolute submission, or provokes rebellion, but can never be passed by with contempt or indifference."

-Philip Schaff The Person of Christ p.40-41

The worst thing about working with people is that they are, well, people.

Dilbert

Keith Green - Jesus Commands Us To Go!

Is God a surgeon or an emergency room doctor?

In "The Painful Discipline of our Heavenly Father" John Piper says this about Hebrews 12:3-11:

(emphasis mine)

Some people "say that God is not in charge of the evil that happens to us. That he has given the world over to Satan and the free will of man. But it will not work in this passage. The hostility of sinners is real and it is wrong and responsible and guilty. But it is also - and this is a great hope for us - it is also the loving, painful discipline of our Father in heaven. God is not coming to his children late after the attack, and saying, "I can make this turn for good." That is not discipline. That is repair. It's the difference between the surgeon who plans the incision for our good, and the emergency room doctor who sews us up after a freak accident. This text says, God is the doctor planning our surgery, not the doctor repairing our lacerations."

When the pain of life has hurt me the most, my comfort has been this:
God loves me.
God has all the strength in the world.
God gives me every good thing and no bad thing.
God is not surprised by my pain.

My friends, please trust a God who's hands are not tied. Trust a God who has real love and real strength.

3 New Lecrae Songs from Reach Records

Only a month 'til Rebel drops. Here's a hint at what's coming:













Click Here to Pre-Order Lecrae's New Album "Rebel"! Releases 9/30/08

That's really gonna up the resale value.

For as long as we have owned our car, hot weather has caused the air inside to smell a tad musty. It was nothing overpowering or offensive, just a little whiff of, "Do you smell something?" Once in a while, we would find random pieces of dog food on the floor of the passenger side. I decided to change the cabin air filter in the hope of eliminating the smell, and, consequently, I discovered the source of the dog food, too.

After removing the glove box, I pulled the old filter from its housing. This is what came with it:

As I was digging this smelly junk out of the vent - scratching and pinching my hands - I took a bit of solace in the thought, "I'm so going to blog this."

I have to admit, I'm not too sure how a couple of pounds of dog food falls down an air-conditioning vent, but it happened. I have proof.


If you had ever considered it, this should be an overwhelming argument against the practice of carrying an open bag of Purina on your dash while maneuvering through hair-pin turns.

As for me, I'm looking forward to our car having a baking-soda-fresh scent from now on.

Now, no matter what your politics, that is a moment for the history books.

ABC's Terry Moran:



Wouldn't it actually be a moment for the science books?

Props to: Irish Calvinist, Z, & JT