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| From my brother in law...
My brother in law, Toby, is a pastor of a church in Greenville, NC. He posts his sermons, mediations, and theological studies regularly on his blog. This is an old post from January.
Daughters of the King
In 1 Peter 3 and 1 Timothy 2 there are exhortations to women and wives in
particular. In both places the apostles address the clothing and adornment of
women. The fact that this comes up twice in the New Testament by two different
apostles means that it is something that needs to be addressed, and that God
thinks it’s worth repeating and thinking about. While men are rightly exhorted
to maintain purity and flee from lusts, women need to be exhorted to flee from
temptations to be lusted after. God made men to want to desire a woman, and
conversely, he made women to want to be desired by a man. Of course this is a
Creation design which is meant to be fulfilled in marriage. But the sinful
hearts of men and women twist this to their destruction. And this tendency in
women reveals itself in the need for male attention. Sometimes it shows up when
young girls are eager to talk to their father’s friends or sit in their laps.
Sometimes a young lady is flirtatious and overly chatty. It may mean that she
dresses ostentatiously or immodestly. Other times it is less obvious. A girl
may designate herself matchmaker and begin trying to hook up all her friends.
Or what is becoming increasingly common; young ladies try to dress up like it’s
Halloween all the time. Sure, they may not look like a Valley Girl or a Prom
Queen, but they’re still crying out for attention, love, and security beneath
all that black makeup. Girls that are tomboys are really after the same thing.
Of course, every woman is different, every young lady has particular gifts,
callings, likes and dislikes. But you are called to adorn yourself with grace
and gentleness, and you must cultivate a godly disdain for the lies the world
is busy throwing at you. Learn to mock the pictures you see in the magazines at
the checkout counters. Make fun of their foolishness, their stupidity, their
emptiness. You are daughters of the King. You are his prized possessions. He
has adorned you with his own righteousness. Do not wish that you could wear the
rags of those beggars out there.
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| Good Morning, world.
If it is a good morning, which I doubt. ~ Eeyore
This morning we woke up listening to the wind howl outside the windows. Fun, until the lights didn't go on/ click click click "Oh no." The power was out. Bummer. The kitchen clock showed ten minutes after five o'clock. The cell phone reported thirty minutes after six. The power had been out for an hour.
Daily breakfast for the newlyweds usually consists of fried eggs and bread toasted on the stove. But not this morning. The stove is electric. I think today was the first time that I had sandwiches for breakfast.
Husband dropped me off at the college near work so that I wouldn't have to walk as far. Husband is always very considerate of me and how far I need to walk from one place to another.
Leftovers for dinner. If the microwave will turn on.
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| Thoughts for newly weds around the dinner table:
Do you think that all things work together for good? Do the mistakes that we've made make our character? Or is it our reactions to those mistakes that shape our character? If you could live your life over again, would you choose the same things? Do the same things? Would King David be made an elder in a modern evangelical church in the present time? Is it only in Mark that when Christ delivers someone of an evil spirit he is commanded to be quiet and "tell no one." Or does this show up in the other gospels as well? What is a host? What is the job of the hostess? How do we create a comfortable atmosphere for our guests? What is the policy of food on the table? What will we teach our about guests? What is an open home and what is hospitality?
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| Snow Day!It all began yesterday: "Have you heard about the big storm?" "There's a big storm coming in tonight." "We're going to be snowed in!"
In the morning our windows were covered in half by the snow. We had a nice sized drift by our door. Our car was buried. Schools closed. We got the word over the radio at about 6:45am.
Husband diligently read, wrote, answered questions, prep-ed for classes, work on his thesis, and generally spent his Snow Day well. I cleaned house. And I mean, CLEANED HOUSE! I got some reading down for History class too.
And then it was lunch time.
Then we took recess.
Husband shoveled the driveway for our landlords. And I made a Snowmound. It was going to be a snowman, but I couldn't lift the snowballs, so I ended up rolling the balls next to each other in a line. Husband laughed at me. I had these snow balls erect and standing at attention.*pats Snowmound* "Good little submissive Snowmound"
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"Thanks be to God"
This call and response is so common. We
say it every Sunday in Worship. We repeat it after the head of the
house reads during Devotions. We so easily fall into the trap of repetition and
forget what we say. This morning I stumbled across this Credenda/Agenda article from
Pastor Liethart (C/A Vol 14. Issue 3) and re-awoke to what my own mouth was saying.
"Every
seven years, Israel was to gather at the central sanctuary for the
reading of the law, "that they may hear and learn and fear Yahweh your
God." In this way, the children who did not hear Moses preach
Deuteronomy will "hear and learn to fear" (Deut. 31:9_13). At the
rededication of the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah assembled "men, women,
and all who could listen with understanding" (Neh. 8:2), so that the
law could be read in their presence (8:3_8). At the original assembly
at Sinai, Yahweh was heard but not seen, a point that Moses emphasized
when he reminded Israel of the event: "you heard the sound of words,
but you saw no form—only a voice" (Deut. 4:12)."
I have
often fallen into the mistake of feeling sorry for us modern Christians
who have never seen God. We have our Bibles, sure, but we have never seen
God. How lucky were the Apostles and Disciples who walked and talked
with Christ! But, then after reading these passages that Dr. Liethart
quotes I was reminded that the Israelites themselves never saw the Lord either. "you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form-only a voice." Deut. 4:12
What is it that is happening when we sit in church and listen to our pastor (or elder or deacon) or when we sit in our living room and hear the HOH read to us from scripture? It's the Word of the Lord. It's the "sound of words" without seeing the form of God; "only a voice." As we worship each Sunday we are lifted up into the Heavens and we worship with our
people; faithful Israelites, faithful Gentiles, saints both quick and
dead. Thus even as the Israelites did not see God, but were commanded to
follow His law through the hearing of the Word so are we the new
Jerusalem not able to see God, but we have been given His law and are likewise commanded to obey our Lord. We
are blessed to be able to hear Law and read it through Grace. Our response is a
thanksgiving and rightly so.
So, on Sunday close your Bibles and hear the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God! | | |
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