Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Book Review: God Is

God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God. Mark Jones. 2017. Crossway. 240 pages. [Source: Review copy]

I don't typically gush about devotional books--with the occasional exception. BUT. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Mark Jones' God Is.

There are twenty-six chapters God-centered chapters to read, to reread, to read aloud to others--whether they want to listen or not. (Also there's a preface and an introduction.) Each chapter focuses on God--his person, his character or essence, his attributes. By choosing twenty-six instead of a top ten or top twelve, Jones' does a better job at representing God as he has revealed himself in Scripture. Jones doesn't shy away from unpopular attributes, teachings, or doctrines.

I loved the subject. I loved the clear presentation and focus. But I also loved how Jones' quotes other theologians--theologians from the cloud of witnesses. His doctrine is drawn from Scripture--clearly, abundantly he ties everything back to the Source. But his doctrine is also not separated or divorced from the traditional, historic faith. I think a balance of the two make for a great devotion.

Is the book your traditional, your typical devotional book? Not really. Perhaps that's why I loved it so much!!! If it's heavy or weighty--it's because its weighed down with the MAJESTY AND GLORY of God. I think these readings provide much food for thought. And one could always read each chapter two or three times to soak up all there is--all the richness.

From the introduction:
In this life, we may not understand all that the Bible tells us about God, but we must aim to believe and communicate as much as we can about him. We must press on to know the Lord (Hos. 6:3), a difficult but rewarding task (Heb. 11:6). Worship without knowledge is idolatry.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

My Year with Owen #22

I will be sharing some John Owen quotes this year. The second book I'll be reading is Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It.
Watching or keeping of the heart, which above all keepings we are obliged unto, comes within the compass of this duty also; for the right performance whereof take these ensuing directions: Let him that would not enter into temptations labor to know his own heart, to be acquainted with his own spirit, his natural frame and temper, his lusts and corruptions, his natural, sinful, or spiritual weaknesses, that, finding where his weakness lies, he may be careful to keep at a distance from all occasions of sin. ~ John Owen
Labor to know your own frame and temper; what spirit you are of; what associates in your heart Satan has; where corruption is strong, where grace is weak; what stronghold lust has in your natural constitution, and the like. ~ John Owen
Be acquainted, then, with your own heart: though it be deep, search it; though it be dark, inquire into it; though it give all its distempers other names than what are their due, believe it not. Were not men utter strangers to themselves— did they not give flattering titles to their natural distempers— did they not strive rather to justify, palliate, 31 or excuse the evils of their hearts that are suited to their natural tempers and constitutions, than to destroy them, and by these means keep themselves off from taking a clear and distinct view of them— it were impossible that they should all their days hang in the same briers without attempt for deliverance. ~ John Owen
When you know the state and condition of your heart as to the particulars mentioned, watch against all such occasions and opportunities, employments, societies, retirements, businesses, as are apt to entangle your natural temper or provoke your corruption. ~ John Owen
Be sure to lay in provision in store against the approaching of any temptation. This also belongs to our watchfulness over our hearts. ~ John Owen

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Monday, May 29, 2017

Book Review: The Reformation

The Reformation: What You Need to Know and Why. Michael Reeves and John Stott. 2017. Hendrickson. 100 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Looking for a short read on the Reformation? I'd recommend this one edited by Jen Cameron. It features a foreword by Lindsay Brown, an essay by Michael Reeves "The Story and Significance of the Reformation," an essay by John Stott, "Keep the Faith and Pass It On," an essay on prayer by Alan Purser, a translation of Martin Luther's 95 Theses, and other helpful features like a timeline and discussion questions.

Michael Reeves' essay is essentially a history lesson--a concise history lesson. Reeves introduces readers to Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale, etc. What we have here are the basics pure and simple.

John Stott's essay is a passionate plea for doctrinal purity. I loved, loved, LOVED this essay. The book would be worth buying for this essay alone. That is how WONDERFUL it is.

In his essay he sets out to do three things: first, to clarify WHAT the evangelical faith is; second, to examine WHY the evangelical faith matters; third to discuss HOW to pass on the faith. He uses the outline of the Apostle's Creed to dive into the subject of the gospel--what it is that Christians hold to be true. He looks at what Christians believe about the God the Father, what Christians believe about God the Son, and what Christians believe about God the Holy Spirit. Along the way, he touches upon many doctrines.

Favorite quotes:
So we see that the evangelical faith—the biblical faith—is an essentially Trinitarian faith. We believe in God the Father, the God of creation, covenant, and revelation. We believe in God the Son, unique in his person, work, and salvation. And we believe in God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life, truth, holiness, love, and glory. While our Christian creed is Trinitarian, it is also Christological—it focuses on Christ. For the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, and the Holy Spirit bears witness to him, Jesus, that he is Lord (1 John 4:14; 1 Corinthians 12:3). The major attacks on Christianity down the centuries have not surprisingly been attacks on the person and works of Christ. For this reason it has been vital for evangelical confessions of faith to articulate clearly their tenets of belief about him. It is for this reason also that Scripture’s authority and justification by faith were the two major emphases of the Reformation, and are the two major hallmarks of evangelical Christians today. ~ John Stott
The evangelical faith is the gospel. It is the good news of salvation from God through Christ by the Holy Spirit. Our first responsibility, therefore, is to embrace it ourselves with all our hearts and minds secretly, and then go on to confess it with our lips publicly. ~ John Stott
It is not possible to trust in Jesus without first defining who this Jesus is in whom we are putting our trust. Nor is it possible to believe the evangelical faith in our intellect and not trust personally in Jesus on whom our faith focuses. True faith is neither an arid assent to the evangelical faith with the mind alone; nor a mindless commitment to an undefined Jesus. ~ John Stott
How can we claim to believe the evangelical faith if we do not obey it? What is the point of confessing it with our lips if we do not adorn it in our lives, our homes, and our churches? ~ John Stott
The incarnation is the most spectacular cross-cultural event in the history of the world. God’s Son entered our world. He left the culture of heaven and he entered into the culture of the earth. We too have to learn to enter other people’s worlds, both their thought world and the personal world of their pain, alienation, and loneliness. Only then, when we are inside their territory, which is home to them though alien to us, can we share with them the good news in a way that they will understand. ~ John Stott

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Week in Review: May 21-27

KJV Reformation Study Bible

  • Deuteronomy 1-5
  • Isaiah 23-66
  • John 
  • Philippians

Living Bible

  • Joshua
  • Psalm 91-150
  • 1 Thessalonians
  • 2 Thessalonians

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

May Operation Deepen Faith Check-In


I. Wonderful Words of Life

  • What have you been reading in the Bible?
  • What books have you finished?
  • What book are you currently in?
  • Do you know what your next book of the Bible will be?
  • Which translation are you using?
  • What have you learned about God lately?
  • What have you learned about yourself?
  • Any favorite verses?

II Christian Nonfiction




  • Have you finished any books for the challenge this month?
  • What book are you currently reading for the challenge?
  • Do you know what book you'll be reading next?
  • Any favorite quotes?

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Friday, May 26, 2017

Book Review: Chasing Contentment

Chasing Contentment. Erik Raymond. 2017. Crossway. 160 pages. [Source: Review copy]

From the introduction: If you drive through rural New England towns, you’ll notice an abundance of stone walls. These walls initially served as property markers hundreds of years ago; and because they were well built, many remain to this day. But the art of building stone walls has nearly faded away. The craftsmen who make them, though plentiful in a previous age, are now few. Is contentment a lost art? Is it simply a product of yesterday’s Christianity? Are there only a few “craftsmen” left who practice it? And if so, is this okay with God? I don’t think it is. In fact, I’m certain it’s not. Hebrews 13:5 commands us, “Be content with what you have.” And the apostle Paul demonstrates his own personal contentment in his letter to the Philippian church: “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Phil. 4:11–12). We should remember that the writer of Hebrews was addressing a church when he gave his command, and Paul was likewise writing to a local church when he discussed his priority and practice of contentment. In other words, contentment is for the church, and that includes us today. Instead of being something from a bygone age, contentment is to be a priority for all Christians.
Premise/plot: Erik Raymond examines the biblical concept of contentment in his new book. What is contentment? Where is our contentment to be found? Why is contentment NOT to be found in our circumstances? Is it important--essential--to us as believers to learn?

The book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on defining contentment; the second part focuses on learning contentment.

What is contentment? Raymond defines it clearly and simply, "Contentment is the inward, gracious, quiet spirit that joyfully rests in God’s providence." He goes on to say, "Contentment does not mean ignoring problems or pretending they don’t exist. Quite the opposite! A contented spirit is one that realizes the difficulty but can nevertheless rest in God in the midst of it. Second, contentment does not mean that we don’t voice our complaints to God. The Scriptures are full of prayers from godly people who cry out and complain to God (e.g., Pss. 3:4; 34:6; 55:16–17; 77:1; 142:1–3). In fact, we are commanded to cast our cares upon the Lord (1 Pet. 5:7). The motive for this is that he cares for us. But mark the contrast; there is a difference between complaining to God (“How long, O Lord?”) and complaining about God. The first is supported by an enduring trust that God hears and loves. The second is betrayed by an eroding trust that God hears and loves. It is a privilege for Christians to bring their burdened hearts to their Father for soul medicine."

My thoughts: Raymond has so much to say about contentment and discontentment. I found this one to be a true must-read. Yes, it is about contentment, about grumbling and complaining, but, it is also about GOD'S PROVIDENCE and God's goodness. In fact, God's character is key throughout. Raymond writes, "Any attempt to understand contentment must begin with God." But it isn't just about who God is, but, who we are, which brings us to our greatest need(s). He writes, "The Bible teaches us who God is and who we are. Proper understanding of our sin leads to an abiding gratitude toward God for his mercy."


Favorite quotes:
What is sin? Sin is described in several different ways in the New Testament: missing the mark (Rom. 3:23), stepping across the line (Col. 2:13), trespassing or falling (Matt. 6:14), lawlessness (1 John 3:4), and debt (Matt. 6:12). God has a standard of what is right and acceptable to him. Sin is the rebellious violation of this standard. If that sounds a tad abstract, let’s get personal. Sin is so bad because of who it is against. We come to understand these ways of describing sin when we see them in light of who God is. We are missing God’s mark. We are stepping across God’s line. We are breaking God’s law. While our sin does have horizontal implications, we must remember that sin is, before anything else, against God. Sin is so bad because it is so widespread. Sin impacts every single person every single day. Whether we speak of guilt, shame, fear, mourning, or anxiety—everything comes from a cursed world. Sin is a pervasive and persistent epidemic. It affects all of us. We all know its pain. We have all felt its consequences. And yet we are all responsible. Sin is so bad because its penalty is so certain and severe. The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The required payment for sin is death. Because sin is primarily against God, it requires a sufficient judgment. This is one reason why Jesus described hell as “eternal fire” (Matt. 25:41). Sin is an infinite offense against an infinitely glorious God. As a result, hell is the eternal demonstration and execution of God’s infinite justice. In hell God is punishing man’s infinite rebellion with infinite wrath. This severe penalty is packaged as the certain wages of sin (Rom. 6:23). Sin is so bad because we have no way to remedy it ourselves. To make matters worse we have no means to get ourselves out of this predicament. Everywhere we turn to help ourselves, we leave more fingerprints of sin.  
Contentment comes through knowing and loving the truth. It is not enough to simply know theology; we must love the God we are studying. And it is not enough to say we love a God we do not know. Godliness is concerned with both knowing and loving.
Too many of us practice dental-chair devotions. We grab our Bibles, spend some time in them, and then we are done. We promptly put down our Bibles and hurry on to our daily tasks. A few hours later someone could ask, “What did you read in the Word today?” And the answer, too often, would be “I can’t remember.” What has happened? We’ve grabbed a little Bible reading, swished it around in the morning, then spit it out on our way out the door. The treasures of the Word haven’t been swallowed and digested. We haven’t really engaged the mind and heart with the Word. How we read the Bible is pivotal to our pursuit of contentment. After all, contentment is learned by growth in grace. And remember, contentment is the inward, gracious, quiet spirit that joyfully rests in God’s providence. To get there, we can’t simply go through the motions; we need to resist “swish and spit” devotions.
The heart of the matter is that when we ourselves determine what will satisfy, we don’t pursue what brings true satisfaction. The broken compass within us always leads to the dumpster rather than the five-star restaurant. We are painfully off in our calibration. The problem is not that we are seeking satisfaction; it’s the way we naturally seek it. To find true satisfaction, we have to “just say no” to ourselves. Or, to put it biblically, we must deny ourselves.
We should not miss the fact that the call to deny self is also a call to follow Christ. God does not simply call us to repudiate ourselves. Instead, he calls us to repudiate ourselves and to receive him—and with him, our true identity. These are words of conviction and grace that pursue us amid our confusion. Like Adam and Eve clinging to their fig leaves, we cling to our selfishness. And God pursues us in grace and calls us to put aside the folly and look to him. This call of Christ to deny ourselves is a call of faith. It is a call to appraise ourselves based on the scale and measure of God’s Word, and then to apply the same measure to Christ. Such a comparison shows how much we are lacking and how completely Christ supplies our need.
The ultimate medicine for our souls is the cross.
True contentment comes through a true knowledge of Christ. The church is the means by which the gospel goes out and the context by which the gospel is applied.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Thursday, May 25, 2017

My Year with Henry #21

This year I will be reading Matthew Henry's Concise Bible Commentary alongside the American Standard Version (1901). I will share quotes a few times a month.

Genesis 21

  • Few under the Old Testament were brought into the world with such expectations as Isaac. He was in this a type of Christ, that Seed which the holy God so long promised, and holy men so long expected.
  • Many who have reason to be comforted, go mourning from day to day, because they do not see the reason they have for comfort. There is a well of water near them in the covenant of grace, but they are not aware of it, till the same God that opened their eyes to see their wound, opens them to see their remedy.


Matthew 20

  • A man may go idle to hell, but he that will go to heaven, must be diligent.
  • There is great proneness in us to think that we have too little, and others too much of the tokens of God’s favor; and that we do too much, and others too little in the work of God. But if God gives grace to others, it is kindness to them, and no injustice to us.
  • It was a ransom for many, enough for all, working upon many; and, if for many, then the poor trembling soul may say, Why not for me?
  • Our Lord speaks of his death in the terms applied to the sacrifices of old. It is a sacrifice for the sins of men, and is that true and substantial sacrifice, which those of the law faintly and imperfectly represented.
  • There is mercy enough in Christ for all that ask. 


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Book Review: Taking My Life Back

Taking My Life Back. Rebekah Gregory and Anthony Flacco. 2017. Revell. 272 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: On April 15, 2013, the world came to know me as "Rebekah Gregory--Boston Marathon bombing victim."

Premise/plot: Rebekah Gregory shares her story with readers in this memoir. She provides some background story throughout, but, the main focus is on her life since the bombing. This includes her time in the hospital, her time at home trying to get back to normal, what her new normal looks like, her new career as a public speaker, her private joys of being a wife and mom. Faith is also central in this one.

My thoughts: I am glad I read this one. I read Joni earlier this year, and, I think the two would pair together nicely as examples of how you can suffer and "endure" really difficult things and still find your peace and joy in Jesus.

I found it to be a quick, compelling read. I would recommend it if you enjoy autobiographies and memoirs.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

My Year with Owen #21

I will be sharing some John Owen quotes this year. The second book I'll be reading is Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It.

Sin will not long seem great or heavy unto any to whom temptations seem light or small. ~ John Owen
The daily exercise of our thoughts with an apprehension of the great danger that lies in entering into temptation, is required of us. ~ John Owen
Temptation despised will conquer; and if the heart be made tender and watchful here, half the work of securing a good conversation is over. ~ John Owen
Therefore are we to pray that we may be preserved from it, because we cannot save ourselves. ~ John Owen
This is another means of preservation. As we have no strength to resist a temptation when it does come, when we are entered into it, but shall fall under it, without a supply of sufficiency of grace from God; so to reckon that we have no power or wisdom to keep ourselves from entering into temptation, but must be kept by the power and wisdom of God, is a preserving principle (1 Pet. 1: 5). ~ John Owen
The first beginnings of temptation [are] insensible and plausible, so that, left unto myself, I shall not know I am ensnared, until my bonds be made strong, and sin has got ground in my heart. ~ John Owen
This will make the soul be always committing itself to the care of God, resting itself on him, and to do nothing, undertake nothing, etc, without asking counsel of him. ~ John Owen
We are to pray for what God has promised. Our requests are to be regulated by his promises and commands, which are of the same extent. ~ John Owen
To pray that we enter not into temptation is a means to preserve us from it. ~ John Owen
It is not my business to speak of it [prayer] in general; but this I say as to my present purpose— he that would be little in temptation, let him be much in prayer. This calls in the suitable help and succor that is laid up in Christ for us (Heb. 4: 16). This casts our souls into a frame of opposition to every temptation. ~ John Owen
The other part of our Savior’s direction— namely, to “watch”— is more general, and extends itself to many particulars. I shall fix on some things that are contained therein. ~ John Owen
Watch the seasons wherein men usually do “enter into temptations.” ~ John Owen
A season of unusual outward prosperity is usually accompanied with an hour of temptation. John Owen
A time of the slumber of grace, of neglect in communion with God, of formality in duty, is a season to be watched in, as that which certainly [has] some other temptation attending it. ~ John Owen
A season of great spiritual enjoyments is often, by the malice of Satan and the weakness of our hearts, turned into a season of danger as to this business of temptation. ~ John Owen
A fourth season is a season of self-confidence; then usually temptation is at hand. ~ John Owen

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Monday, May 22, 2017

Book Review: God's Story in 66 Verses

God's Story in 66 Verses. Stan Guthrie. 2015. Thomas Nelson. 256 pages. [Source: Bought]

From the introduction: HOW DO YOU, AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, EAT AN ELEPHANT? ONE bite at a time. How do you digest the Bible? One verse at a time. The Bible can be a difficult book for the average person to understand. Written over the span of a millennium and a half, and completed nearly two thousand years ago, the Book of books sometimes seems like a mishmash of stories and literary styles. We can get so caught up in the Bible’s details that we lose sight of its big picture. So how are we to get a handle on Scripture as a whole and on these sixty-six unique books without becoming Bible scholars? This book, God’s Story in 66 Verses, is my answer. It will offer you quick, lay-level access into Scripture via one key verse for each of the Bible’s books, from Genesis to Revelation.
 
Premise/plot: Guthrie seeks to provide a 'big-picture' guide for reading, understanding, appreciating the Bible as a whole. He has selected one verse from each book of the Bible to represent the book. "They are highlighted because I believe they most accurately represent the books in which they reside and Scripture as a whole." Each chapter is essentially an introduction to the book and its main theme(s). He writes, "God has given each Bible book to his people for good reason, and this volume will help you get something out of each one. As you read through, absorb, and refer to this volume, you will learn how the key verses (and the books they represent) fit together in a unified message, what the main thrust of Scripture is, and what difference it should make in your daily life."

My thoughts: God's Story in 66 Verses is the exact opposite of The Good Book which I reviewed last week. Guthrie provides concise commentary--an overview--of each book of the Bible. He provides an outline of the book, explains how the key verse represents the main theme(s) of the book, connects that book to other books in the Bible. Often--almost always--he tells how that book relates to Jesus Christ.

What you won't find in God's Story in 66 Verses are stories and anecdotes. This isn't meant to be a light, devotional, fluffy read. The goal isn't entertainment, in other words. He assumes that you're reading the book because you want to know God better, because you want more out of your Bible reading experience.

I found it interesting to see which verses he selected as key verses. Some were obvious choices. (For example, Ruth 1:16, Lamentations 3:22, Micah 6:8, Ephesians 2:8, Philippians 4:4) Some were not.

In case you're curious:

  • Genesis 15:6
  • Psalm 16:11
  • Proverbs 1:7
  • Isaiah 40:9
  • Jeremiah 31:33
  • Ezekiel 36:22
  • Matthew 16:15
  • Mark 10:45
  • Luke 4:18
  • John 1:14
  • Revelation 1:19

Quotes:
THE OLD TESTAMENT SURELY IS ONE OF THE MOST TRAGIC BOOKS in all of literature. It begins with a majestic Creator who graciously sets a man and a woman in a garden. They rebel against his loving, kingly rule, however, and are expelled from his presence, setting in motion a devastating series of events that culminates in a global deluge. God begins again, with Abraham, seeking to establish a righteous people who will draw the nations to himself, under the royal line of David. But despite nearly countless displays of the holy Lord’s patient faithfulness, the people of Israel rebel and face his judgment—expulsion from the promised land. By his grace, a chastened remnant eventually returns, looking for God to fulfill his promises of a coming King and kingdom. The glory days are past, however. Israel is now subject to one pagan empire after another, its pivotal role in the divine plan seemingly over. Matthew tells the story of how God intervenes personally, continuing the divine plan in a way that his people never expected. Matthew, one of four ancient biographies in the New Testament called the Gospels, begins with “Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1).
If love for the truth characterizes the Christian, however, then so does its flip side: hatred for falsehood. That is because lies, especially those that deny Christ and his teaching, come from the devil, “the father of lies” (John 8:44). Those who promulgate these deceptions wage war against Christ and his church, threatening men’s souls and our heavenly rewards.


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Week in Review: May 14-20

KJV Reformation Study Bible

  • Numbers 
  • 2 Kings 14-25
  • Proverbs 21-31
  • Isaiah 1-22
  • Ephesians


Living

  • Psalm 66-90
  • Luke 7-24


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Check In With The Cloud

  • What have you been reading? What are you currently reading?
  • Have you finished anything for the challenge?
  • Have you read any new-to-you authors yet?
  • Have you found any new favorites?
  • Are you writing down favorite quotes? Have any to share?
  • Have you learned anything that you'd like to share?
  • Would you be interested in reading a book together? If so, what month would be good for you?

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Sold Into Egypt

Sold Into Egypt: Journeys Into Human Being. Madeleine L'Engle. 1989/2017. Convergent Books. 256 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: He was a spoiled brat, Joseph, the eleventh brother. Indulged, self-indulgent, selfish. He clung to his father and the women. Whined. Got his own way. If one of the wives said no, another would surely say yes. When he was crossed he wailed that he had no mother.

Premise/plot: Sold Into Egypt completes Madeleine L'Engle's Genesis trilogy. (And It Was GoodStone for A Pillow). The book is a blend of memoir and biblical fiction. Sold Into Egypt is a memoir in that Madeleine L'Engle is reflecting on her life, specifically her GRIEF over losing her husband, Hugh. She's also sharing her spiritual reflections on what it means to live, to die, to be human. Sold Into Egypt is biblical fiction in that within each chapter--or most of the chapters--L'Engle speculates on the last chapters of Genesis. She presents accounts from different points of view.

My thoughts: I've mentioned it before, but, it's always worth mentioning again: L'Engle's theology is dangerous. Her theology is not devoid of all truth. And, at times, she speaks the unadulterated truth. But most of the time, the "truth" is filtered through her all-too-human-lens of what is right and what is wrong in her own eyes, in her own reckoning. And God as revealed in the written Word, the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, the Scriptures that are not to be added to or subtracted from does not match L'Engle's God. And so when given the choice to believe God's Own Revelation of Himself and her own idea of God, she goes with her own idea of God. L'Engle claiming that the Bible was never meant to be static, and that God is always changing, that "I AM" really means "I will be what I will be." Here's the thing: we all have a choice to make. No matter who we are, how we've been raised, how seasoned or experienced we are "in the faith." When our thoughts are in conflict with the Word of God, what will we do--who will we trust?! Will we trust the Word of God even when it doesn't seem right to us? even when it conflicts with what we want to do, with what we want to believe? even when it conflicts with our comfort zone? L'Engle is an advocate of the theory the Bible only has meaning when we--the reader--read it. And that meaning changes reader to reader. The Bible means what it means to us at that moment in time. What it means to me today is not what the Bible meant to me two decades ago. And of course my Bible is going to be different from your Bible because we're two different people! I hope you can see that L'Engle is dangerous, and dangerous precisely because she's not alone in her madness.

The three books are a product of her times. All three were written in the eighties. All three were written in the midst of the Cold War. All three deal with "current news" and "current politics."

Quotes:
Because we have failed to listen to each other’s stories, we are becoming a fragmented human race.
It is an amazing thing that Jacob wrestled with an angel and yet seldom wrestled with himself.
There seems to be an illusion in some of Christendom today that Christians are always happy. No matter what tragedies happen, Christians are supposed to be happy if they truly have faith. It’s only an illusion and can cause enormous trouble. Jesus was not always happy. He was, indeed, the suffering servant Isaiah talks about. Happiness, blind, unquestioning happiness, is not the sign of the Christian. Even the Holy Family was not, in the superficial sense of the word, happy. Simeon warned Mary that a sword of anguish would penetrate her own heart. And, indeed, it did.
God reproves us whenever we decide that El is like us, or like our own particular group. There is only one criterion to use in deciding whether or not the image of God we are finding within us is really God’s image, or a projection of ourselves. The one thing we know about God for certain is that God is love. Where there is not love, even if there is righteousness, or justice, it is not God.
There are many things in Scripture that are not to be understood, perhaps because so many years have passed that things have been left out, or added to, or shifted around.
Our visions of God are partial and incomplete at best. But the God who shines through the Old Testament is the mighty Creator who made the brilliance of all those stars he showed Abraham, the God of the universe. There have been many times in history when people must have wondered what kind of God we Christians have—for instance, when crusaders slaughtered Orthodox Christians in Greece; when the Spanish Inquisitors burned people at the stake for tiny differences in interpretation of faith; in Salem where a woman could be hanged as a witch if an angry neighbour accused her out of spite. Perhaps God needs less of our fierce protectiveness for his cause, and more of our love to El, to each other.
But God, El, the God of Joseph and the patriarchs, seems to be almost two separate gods, the tribal god whom Bilhah found so offensive, and who still offends many people today, and the God who was the Maker of the Universe, Creator of the Stars, the All in All, the God of Love who still lights our hearts. The tribal god can be described and defined. The God of love, the God of beginnings, cannot. And we have the desire to define, to encompass, to understand with our minds, rather than our hearts, the God we proclaim.
Truth is eternal, but our knowledge is always flawed and partial.
If we are responsible for the being of things, if we are, as this new theory implies, co-creators with God, this gives the sentient, questioning human being an enormous responsibility. Rather than swelling our egos, it should awaken in us an awed sense of vocation. We human creatures are called to be the eyes and ears and nose and mouth and fingers of this planet. We are called to observe all that is around us, to contemplate it, and to make it real.
The important thing is that the universe was made by Love, and belongs to Love.
So many people do not know what death means, and that is the cause of their embarrassment. My faith affirms that it means something, and I don’t have to know what.
Who knows what the God of love has in store for us? There are many important lessons to be learned before we are ready for the unveiled glory of the Presence.
To be human is to be able to laugh, to cry, to live fully, to be aware of our lives as we are living them. We are the creatures who know that we know, unlike insects who live by unthinking instinct. That ability to think, to know, to reflect, to question, marks us as human beings. And our humanness includes an awareness that we are mortal. To be a human being is to be born, to live, to die. We have a life span.
We tell stories, listen to stories, go to plays, to be amused, to be edified, but mostly so that we can understand what it means to be a human being.
Story is the closest we human beings can come to truth.
Story was a mirror in which I could be helped to find the image of God in myself.
Normal is the reality of living with precariousness, of never knowing what is around the corner, when accident or death are going to strike. Normal is cooking dinner for friends in the midst of this precariousness, lighting the candles, laughing, being together. Normal is trusting that God will make meaning out of everything that happens.
To be a human being is to be able to listen to a story, to tell a story, and to know that story is the most perfect vehicle of truth available to the human being.
Wait! Did I imply that Scripture is not infallible? Scripture is true, and fallibility and infallibility is not what Scripture is about. According to Scripture it is perfectly all right to have slaves as long as you treat them kindly. Slaves are told to be diligent and loyal to their masters. The psalmist says that he never saw the good man go hungry or his children begging for bread. Yet we know that good men do go hungry and their children do beg for bread every day. In his letter to the people of Thessalonica Paul’s harsh words about the Jews have encouraged the ugliness of anti-Semitism: It was the Jews who killed their own prophets, the Jews who killed the Lord, Jesus, the Jews who drove us out, his messengers. Taken out of the context in which Paul was writing to the suffering Thessalonians, his words can do untold harm, and they have often done so. So what do I believe about Scripture? I believe that it is true. What is true is alive and capable of movement and growth. Scripture is full of paradox and contradiction, but it is true, and if we fallible human creatures look regularly and humbly at the great pages and people of Scripture, if we are willing to accept truth rather than rigidly infallible statements, we will be given life, and life more abundantly. And we, like Joseph, will make progress toward becoming human.
My writing teaches me. It gives me truths I didn’t know and could never have thought of by myself. Truth is given us when we are enabled to believe the contradictory and impossible.
One of the bits of dogma that used to concern me was that Jesus is exactly like us—except he’s sinless. Well, of course if he’s sinless he’s not exactly like us; he’s not like us at all. And then I arrived at a totally different definition of sin. Sin is not child abuse or rape or murder, terrible though these may be. Sin is separation from God, and Jesus was never separate from the Source. Of course if we were close to our Source, if we were not separated from God, it would be impossible for us to commit child abuse or rape or murder. But when we are separated from God, that sin makes all sins possible.
To be human is to be able to change, knowing full well that some change is good and some change is bad; some change is progressive and some is regressive, and we often cannot discern which is which. But if we lose the ability to change we stultify, we turn to stone, we die.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Friday, May 19, 2017

Book Review: The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words

The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words. Chris Bruno. 2017. Crossway. 144 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence from chapter one: We begin at the end, because the end actually starts in the beginning. Confused? Just hang with me for a little while, and hopefully you’ll see where we are heading. If you knew in advance that Frodo survives the journey to Mordor in The Lord of the Rings, but only barely; that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s dad in Star Wars; and that Bruce Willis is dead the whole time in the Sixth Sense, would it ruin these stories? You might think that it would, but according to a 2011 study published in Psychological Science, people actually enjoy stories more when they know the ending.

Premise/plot: This one is a companion book to Chris Bruno's The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Verses. Bruno stated the purpose for his new book quite clearly in his introduction, "In this book, I want to change our analogy. Instead of talking about the forest and the trees, I want us to see the whole story of the Bible as a rope that is woven tightly together. The goal of this book is to pull out sixteen key strands that compose this rope, look at how they contribute to the overall message, and then put them back in place." Or, "In this book, we are going to trace sixteen words that help us better understand and apply the whole message of the Bible."

The sixteen words: "The End," "God," "Creation," "Covenant," "Kingdom," "Temple," "Messiah," "Israel," "Land," "Idols," "Judgment," "Exodus," "Wisdom," "Law," "Spirit," "Mission."

Each chapter includes two connecting verses. One verse from the Old Testament and one verse from the New Testament. Each chapter ends with a GREAT summary statement.

My thoughts: Like Deron Spoo's The Good Book, Bruno seeks to address the BIG ideas of the Bible, seeks to help readers--no matter their background--understand and appreciate the big picture of the Bible.

But. Bruno does it better. He stays on-task, on-focus. The book is better focused on God and God's Glory. And this one is very meaty, very substantive, and extremely rich in insight. He is also straightforward, "If you want to know the message of the Bible, then you need to read the Bible."

I felt that Spoo's book was like a bag of potato chips--technically food--but not ultimately satisfying like a good MEAL with meat and vegetables.

Some of my favorite quotes:
This reality [Revelation 21:3-5] should change the way we see everything in the world—and the way we read everything in our Bibles. We need to see that the end of the Bible is closely connected to the beginning of the story. But we also need to see that the end of the story changes the way we live right now, because the end has already been brought into the present. 

Even if you haven’t read Genesis recently, you probably know the main idea of the creation story. God made the world and everything in it. He created humans in his own image and put them in the garden of Eden. But Adam and Eve doubted God’s kindness to them and wanted to be like him, so they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (the only fruit they weren’t allowed to eat). Because of their disobedience, the world and everything in it was broken. And that is basically what we see when we look out the window or turn on the news today. We live in a world where we can still see God’s hand in both the beauty of creation and the creativity of people, but it is also a world filled with broken people looking for some way to fix everything that has gone wrong. If we really want to understand the story of the world and the story of the Bible, we need to see that God told us about the solution almost as soon as we broke the world. And he started to provide for that solution as soon as he told us about it. In Genesis 3:15, he told Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the Serpent. In other words, he would undo the fall and restore his good creation. From the very beginning, God was committed to stepping into history to change it, renew it, and make it better than we could ever imagine—for our good and his glory. And that, in a nutshell, is what we mean by eschatology. While we need to see that eschatology is heading toward the end, we also need to see that the end shapes the whole story. In fact, that is how I would define eschatology—the study of God’s work in history to bring the story to his intended end. So when we talk eschatology, we have to start in Genesis.


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Thursday, May 18, 2017

My Year with Henry #20

This year I will be reading Matthew Henry's Concise Bible Commentary alongside the American Standard Version (1901). I will share quotes a few times a month.

Matthew 19

  • When the gospel is really embraced, it makes men kind relatives and faithful friends; it teaches them to bear the burdens, and to bear with the infirmities of those with whom they are connected, to consider their peace and happiness more than their own.
  • It is well for us, that Christ has more love and tenderness in him than the best of his disciples have.
  • The gospel is the only remedy for lost sinners.
  • The beginning, progress, and perfecting the work of salvation, depend wholly on the almighty power of God, to which all things are possible.


Nehemiah 9

  • The word will direct and quicken prayer, for by it the Spirit helps our infirmities in prayer. The careful study of God’s word will more and more discover to us our own sinfulness, and the plenteousness of his salvation; thus it calls us to mourn for sin, and to rejoice in him. Every discovery of the truth of God, should render us more unwearied in attendance on his sacred word, and on his worship.
  • When confessing our sins, it is good to notice the mercies of God, that we may be the more humbled and ashamed. The dealings of the Lord showed his goodness and long-suffering, and the hardness of their hearts.
  • Instead of keeping away from God under a sense of unworthiness, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. He is a God ready to pardon. 

Acts 19

  • We ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly; to do nothing in haste, of which we may repent at leisure. 


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Book Review: The Good Book

The Good Book: 40 Chapters That Reveal the Bible's Biggest Ideas. Deron Spoo. 2017. David Cook. 397 pages.

From chapter one: You’re more like God than anything else he created. At times you might feel worthless. Perhaps this is why the first chapter of the Bible sends the unmistakable message that you are priceless. Even on days when you feel barely human, you are, in fact, more like your Creator than anything else in existence.

Premise/plot: This book is meant as a guidebook to the Bible for spiritual ignostics; the term describes those "with no God history and no Christian memory." In other words, those new believers or near believers that have not grown up in the church or in Christian culture. Spoo has selected forty chapters of the Bible to serve as the "basis of the faith we know as Christianity…" and which are "absolutely essential for understanding the big ideas of the Bible."

The book is divided into eight sections with five chapters apiece. Each chapter is prefaced with one of the forty chapters of Scripture. So at the very, very least--if readers don't skim the reprints--one will have read forty whole chapters out of the Bible. Spoo encourages his readers to read these scriptures before and after his "brief exploration" of each passage.

The forty chapters: Genesis 1, 3, 6, 12, 22; Exodus 3, 14, 20; Judges 16; 1 Samuel 17; Job 1; Psalm 23, 51, 139; Proverbs 1; Isaiah 53; Jeremiah 1; Daniel 3, 6; Jonah 1; John 1, 3; Luke 2, 8, 15; Matthew 5, 6, 7, 28; Mark 15; Acts 1, 2, 9, 10; Revelation 22; Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 13; Galatians 5; James 1; 1 John 3.

My thoughts: I have very mixed feelings on The Good Book.

Spoo seems to be suggesting that new believers need to read books about the Bible more than they need to read the Bible itself--that handing a new believer, a new disciple, a copy of this book, for example, would be more beneficial than handing them the very Word of God. He assumes that they simply are not ready for the Bible.

Spoo promises much in the introduction. "After understanding these chapters, you’ll be able to recognize the rhythm of the Scriptures and tap your toes to the cadence." Also, "Finally, I encourage you to reread the Bible chapter with the benefit of knowing more about the context and content." I was led to believe that Spoo's exploration of these passages would be MEATY, providing actual content and context. I didn't find that to be the case.

Though the introduction seems to be God-centered, gospel-centered, Spoo has a tendency to wander into it's-all-about-you land. In some of his discussions, the focus doesn't seem to be on God but on YOU and what YOU can get from the passage to make you feel warm and fuzzy.

But. My main issue with this book, however, is the dominance of stories, more stories, even more stories which overbalance any focus on the text of Scripture itself. There may be the barest of backbones of context--capable of being detected within each chapter--but, the focus isn't on the Word of God, isn't on the divine or human author of the book, isn't on what it meant to the original audience or even what it means today to you and me. If you're clueless--truly clueless--about the Bible, about the faith, hearing anecdotes and personal stories that have just the smallest link to the Scripture passage itself will not strengthen your faith and shine light on your path.

For example, what in the world does his growing of jalapeños in his garden have to do with Galatians 5?!?! There were times I wanted to shout STOP TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF AND GET TO THE GOOD STUFF ALREADY.
I grow jalapeños. My love for cultivating peppers is a product of my Texas upbringing. I enjoy every aspect of the pepper-growing experience. The starter plants must be pruned and planted deep. The backyard must be guarded against rabbits—protection is provided courtesy of my schnauzer. The first white buds that appear on the plants inform me that the hot pain of peppers is but a few weeks away. And because I plant a dozen or so plants, it isn’t long before the production of peppers outpaces my capacity to eat them. That’s when the pickling begins. I don’t grow jalapeños because I enjoy the plants themselves. Nor do I grow jalapeños for the beauty of the blossoms. I grow them because I want the produce; I want the fruit. 
Some of his 'extra' stuff is slightly more on-topic--this example is also from Galatians 5.
Have you ever penned an angry letter? Abraham Lincoln had a practice worth imitating. After writing an angry note, he would set it aside for several days. After his emotions had cooled, he would rewrite the letter, revising any rough tones in his correspondence. In many cases, Lincoln never sent the letter at all. In a day when we’re tempted to fire off an angry electronic message, we need to develop this kind of restraint. However, there are occasions when we need to let others know exactly how we feel. Galatians is the angry letter of the New Testament. The apostle Paul, its author, was a passionate follower of Jesus and a bold leader in the early Christian community. Paul’s teaching about the love of God was simple and direct. Paul used the word grace to describe God’s act of initiating a relationship with humanity. And the term faith was used to describe our best reaction to the love of God. God reaches. We respond. The result is relationship. Simple, right?
One passage got me flustered and thinking. I didn't agree with his choice, by the way, but it did get me thinking about MY choice.
If someone told me I could choose only one tiny piece of the Bible to read for the rest of my life, I would unhesitatingly choose Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Commonly called the Sermon on the Mount, these three chapters offer nitty-gritty guidance on the daily experiment of following Jesus. Stranded here on the island of earth, our call is to pursue a life pleasing to God. Jesus said many things in these chapters that challenged the conventional religion of his day. After two thousand years, his wisdom still surprises. 
I'll swing over to the positive side for a minute. He said two things in the introduction that I wholeheartedly agree with.

1) Reject the tendency to be satisfied with your current understanding of the Bible. Refuse the temptation to think that what you grasp of the Scriptures today is somehow enough.

2) Remember that the ultimate benefit of reading the Scriptures isn’t greater familiarity with the Bible but deeper intimacy with God.

And there were plenty of solidly true statements for new believers to digest within the book itself.

For example,

  • Our greatest challenge with God’s commands isn’t understanding them but obeying them.
  • The wishful thinking that following Christ automatically makes the rest of life convenient is a cultural concept, not a biblical one.
  • Challenge, not comfort, is the lifestyle of those who wish to follow God.
  • The truth may be summed up like this: thinking we’re strong is a weakness, but acknowledging our weakness makes us stronger.

In conclusion, IF I bought the premise that new believers need books for new believers and not the Word of God itself, would I hand them Spoo's The Good Book, OR, would I choose another book instead? That's a question I think is worth asking--and answering. I don't think it would be my top choice--or even in my top five.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

My Year with Owen #20

I will be sharing some John Owen quotes this year. The second book I'll be reading is Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It.
It may be inquired: (1) How a man may know when he is entered into temptation; (2) What directions are to be given for the preventing of our entering into temptation; (3) What seasons there are wherein a man may and ought to fear that an hour of temptation is at hand. ~ John Owen
When a man is drawn into any sin, he may be sure that he has entered into temptation. All sin is from temptation (James 1: 14). Sin is a fruit that comes only from that root. ~ John Owen
When they are overtaken with a sin they set themselves to repent of that sin, but do not consider the temptation that was the cause of it, to set themselves against that also to take care that they enter no more into it. Hence are they quickly again entangled by it, though they have the greatest detestation of the sin itself that can be expressed. He that would indeed get the conquest over any sin must consider his temptations to it, and strike at that root; without deliverance from thence, he will not be healed. ~ John Owen
Men’s lusts will infallibly (if not mortified in the death of Christ) carry them into eternal ruin, but oftentimes without much noise, according to the course of the stream of their corruptions; but let the wind of strong temptations befall them, they are hurried into innumerable scandalous sins, and so, broken upon all accounts, are swallowed up in eternity. ~ John Owen
Entering into temptation may be seen in the lesser degrees of it; as, for instance, when the heart begins secretly to like the matter of the temptation, and is content to feed it and increase it by any ways that it may without downright sin. ~ John Owen
I told you before that to enter into temptation is not merely to be tempted, but so to be under the power of it as to be entangled by it. Now, it is impossible almost for a man to have opportunities, occasions, advantages, suited to his lust and corruption, but he will be entangled. ~ John Owen
When a man is weakened, made negligent or formal in duty, when he can omit duties or content himself with a careless, lifeless performance of them, without delight, joy, or satisfaction to his soul, who had another frame formerly; let him know, that though he may not be acquainted with the particular distemper wherein it consists, yet in something or other he is entered into temptation, which at the length he will find evident, to his trouble and peril. ~ John Owen
What general directions may be given to preserve a soul from that condition that has been spoken of? And we see our Savior’s direction in the place spoken of before (Matt. 26: 41). He sums up all in these two words: “watch and pray.” I shall a little labor to unfold them and show what is enwrapped and contained in them; and that both jointly and severally. There is included in them a clear, abiding apprehension of great evil that there is in entering into temptation. That which a man watches and prays against, he looks upon as evil to him, and by all means to be avoided. ~ John Owen
Always bear in mind the great danger that it is for any soul to enter into temptation. ~ John Owen
Let no man, then, pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation to it. They are too nearly allied to be separated. Satan has put them so together that it is very hard for any man to put them asunder. He hates not the fruit who delights in the root. ~ John Owen

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Monday, May 15, 2017

Book Review: The Imperfect Disciple

The Imperfect Disciple. Jared C. Wilson. 2017. Baker Books. 240 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: My gospel is a little sweaty and ragged around the edges. The print is smeared a little bit, and it’s flat and conformed to the contour of my upper thigh from hiding in my front pocket. Maybe your gospel looks like mine. Sometimes it can feel weird to show it to somebody.

Premise/plot: Jared C. Wilson addresses the subject of Christian discipleship in his newest book. What does it mean to follow Christ? What does it mean to be a disciple? What does the 'Christian life' the 'Christian walk' look like in the real world, in the honest-with-yourself world? Wilson writes, "This book on following Jesus is for all of you people who, like me, are tired of the mass-marketed, self-helpy “be a better Christian” projects."

My thoughts: I really enjoyed reading this one. IT was quite a joy to read a solidly biblical book after reading Madeleine L'Engle's horrid theological ramblings. I love how he begins each chapter with a "my gospel" statement. Here are a few of my favorites:
  • My gospel is well worn. Its pages are thin from use. I’ve run over it and over it—by myself and with others, and for whatever reason, it doesn’t seem to wear completely out. It feels like cloth now, delicate and soft. I dare not replace it, though, because it’s the only one I’ve got. I bring this gospel out when I’m discipling others—Okay, wait. Discipling is not a word we find in the Scriptures. Nor do we find discipleship, for that matter. Let me start over—I bring this soft-as-cloth gospel out of my pocket when I am helping others follow Jesus.
  • My gospel is smudged. It doesn’t seem at first glance much to look at. If I had inadvertently dropped it on the sidewalk, you might step over it like you would a penny. Who stops for a penny? 
  • My gospel is an old hymn. My gospel is sheet music printed in antiquarian typeface on a yellowed page in a dusty book. It’s the “old, old story” and the “old rugged cross.” My gospel is four verses—and please don’t skip the third verse to expedite the invitation! My gospel is an invitation to a bygone time that feels new again, even in our age of ever-dawning progress and modernity. My gospel gets “dug up” and “trotted out” and sung ironically and apologized for by leaders too clever for their own good. But then it lands in the ears of those led as sweetly familiar, warms their souls like celestial comfort food, and always gets sung louder than those Jesus-is-my-boyfriend ditties.
  • My gospel has been both a welcome mat and a place mat. It is a little messy. Scrape it with your fingernail and you’ll disturb the crust of dusty footprints and dribbles of spaghetti sauce. This gospel gets passed around a lot. It’s been under a lot of noses, in front of a lot of eyes. We’ve held hands around it, held it together before our faces like a shared song sheet at a Sunday night hymn sing, perhaps even wiped our tears with it. This gospel has all of our DNA on it, I’m afraid.
  • My gospel is burning a hole in my pocket. It’s an ember smoldering, singeing my threads and my thigh. It is leaving a mark. It is branding me. It cannot be contained. My gospel is a wildfire waiting to happen. It scorches dry earth, lays waste to dead limbs.
  • My gospel is a Narnian wardrobe. It seems simple enough from the outside—discernible, shaped, and dimensioned. But when I get myself inside of it, the dimensions expand. Its inside is bigger than its outside. 
  • My gospel is a time machine. It goes all the way back. And it goes all the way forward. At the same time, for all time. My gospel fits in my pocket, and yet when I grasp it with my trembling fist, it takes me everywhere and everywhen. It gets my name in the Lamb’s book before time began and it puts my name over the door of some heavenly abode as yet unseen. I’m getting ahead of myself. 
  • My gospel is a handful of crumbs. It does not look like much. But it is more than enough. Some see the crumbs and move on. The plate seems distinctly un-regal; the illusion of this meager offering does not comport with the desires of their belly-god. Some hear in the call to feast on the words of the Lord a provocation calling them in some way a dog, and they scamper away yelping rather than leaning in, head bowed to be patted. My gospel is fuller than it appears, more satisfying. A morsel of grace is vastly delicious, greater in taste and sustenance than the biggest buffet at the world’s shiniest banquet. My gospel is desert manna, a widow’s miracle-cake, Elvish lembas bread. You must trust me on this.  
I love how basic and yet comprehensive it is of the Christian life. It covers prayer, Bible reading, fellowship, worship, evangelism and missions, etc. It is authentic and straightforward. It is a call to turn your eyes upon Jesus. It is a call to LOVE.

Favorite quotes:
You introduce the truth of Romans 8 to every corner of the room, every dark place in your heart, as often as you can, as much as you can, as fiercely as you can. Every day. It has to happen every day. Because what’s wrong with you and me is that we’re still on this side of glory, and so long as we’re on this side of glory, there will always be more sanctifying to go through. This is how I like to think about discipleship, then—not just following Jesus, but refollowing Jesus every day. We go off track so easily. Bit by bit, day by day, turning and returning, we reorient the engine of our life around Jesus. The problem is the same every day but the mercies are new, and the disciples of Jesus will plunder them with abandon. He wants us to! You’ve got to maintain your soul this way or you will not maintain it at all. You’ve got to hook your soul on this anchor called Christ or you will lose it, I assure you.
There is virtually no part of Jesus’s life and ministry that isn’t vastly misunderstood. We have turned the incarnation into a once-a-year precious moment, the parables into moralistic fables, the miracles into production values. We’ve managed to somehow turn the message of the cross into one of mere martyrdom (which scandalizes almost nobody) and the reality of the resurrection into a metaphor for turning over a new leaf (which convinces fewer still). And then you come to the Sermon on the Mount. This is our Lord’s pièce de résistance, his monumental line in the sand for all humanity. This is the passage of Scripture from which fans of Jesus most often quote. “Don’t judge.” “Love your enemies.” “Turn the other cheek.” All of which they’re quoting out of some lame self-interest. They think they’re being revolutionary when really they are only backing religious business as usual—using holy words for personal gain. We are idiots when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount. And, in fact, the Sermon on the Mount makes us idiots. We come up against it and see what it makes of our striving, our ambition, our jockeying for position, and it puts us in our place. But rather than humble ourselves before it we try to co-opt it and spin it, turn it into a set of Christian fortune cookies. No portion of the Sermon is more ripe for this thievery than the introductory announcement we have traditionally called the Beatitudes.
Our discipleship has to deal with this tension—the tension between the glorious reality we believe in and yearn for and the hard reality we currently live in every day—or else it’s not the real Jesus we’re following.
You and I come to Jesus looking for some kind of pick-me-up, and Jesus offers his flesh. We come looking for Jesus the Life Coach when what we really need is his glory. We need to behold him.
The law is good and holy and necessary. The glory of the law is incredible. But the glory of the law is fading; it is passing away. The glory of Christ so exceeds the glory of the law, as Jonathan Edwards once said, it is like the sun rising in its strength and eclipsing the stars.5 In verse 11 Paul describes the glory of Jesus revealed to us in the gospel as “permanent,” implying that the glory of the law is somehow temporary. If you think about it, we won’t need the law in the new heavens and the new earth, because there will be no more sin to restrain, no more curse to adjudicate, no more death to administer. But the glory of Christ? It will be the virtual sun of the new heavens and new earth, enlightening all the restored creation with its cosmic beauty. Yes, the gospel is better than the law. And yes, in fact, beholding is better than behaving. This is why, as odd as it sounds, making your entire Christian life about trying to look like a good Christian is a great way to become a terrible Christian. Or at least a weak and defeated one. This is so important to understand. It is crucially important. It is so important that I want to violate a cardinal rule of sophisticated composition and employ every means of emphasis that I can to restate it: YOU CANNOT GET POWER TO OBEY THE LAW FROM THE LAW ITSELF!!! POWER TO CHANGE CAN ONLY COME FROM THE GLORY OF CHRIST!!! Man, that looks terrible. Please forgive me for that assault on the eyes. But it’s an idea worth looking foolish to emphasize because it is so counterintuitive to the flesh, so contra the wisdom of the world—and contra most religious ideology—that it’s worth writing it like some junior high school girl’s tweet about Justin Bieber. This idea ought to be tattooed on our inner eyelids. And if you just happened to pick this book up in a store and flipped through it, this would be the one idea I’d want to catch your eye. We think we know what will do the job of making us holy: us doing the job of making us holy. And seeking holiness is integral to discipleship. But more central to our discipleship is the news that actually makes Christianity Christianity: we are holy not because of what we’ve done but because of what Jesus has done. This is why the good news is so good! The essential message of Christianity isn’t “do” but “done.” The good news is news, not instruction, and it announces to us not “get to work” but “it is finished.” And so it turns out that the direct route to God-honoring behavior is born not of good behavior but of good beholding.
We have at our fingertips the very revelation of God to us, and yet we treat Scripture like a blunt instrument, like a dry reference book, like a prop for our propaganda, anything but the wellspring of God’s truth to be drunk deeply from. If we’re going to look at following Jesus as “abiding in Christ,” we have to dwell in God’s Word. This means meditating on Scripture, chewing on it, and savoring it. This does not come easily at first, but the more we do it, the more natural it will feel. After a while, we will experience having been shaped by the message to automatically live the message. But this all begins with simply listening.
The Bible is a book that teaches us how to read it as we read it.
The glory of Christ is actually blaring from the pages of the Bible. God is not only not giving you the silent treatment, he is practically yelling. The problem is not with his voice but with our ears. The more and harder we listen, however, the more of heaven’s glorious music we will hear, and thus the more of heaven’s glory we will see. And then our soul finds the rhythm of heaven.
Our daily life communicates where our hope and trust is placed; we are actually “praying” with our words and deeds every day. Many of our prayers may look like this: My self on earth, Awesome is my name. My success come and my will be done. Give me lots of things I want (but think I need). Don’t even think about debt (unless it’s someone else’s). Don’t worry about giving in to temptation, because you deserve it. Deliver me from guilt anyway. For this life is mine, and the world revolves around me. Amen. Okay, so that’s pretty silly. But don’t we live like that, or at least fight the temptation to live like that, all the time?
The truth is there is always something to be afraid of. And the more bored you are with the things of God, the more vulnerable you will be to this fear when difficulty comes. And this is why you can hardly go anywhere in the Bible without bumping into the words, “Don’t be afraid.” Some say it’s the most frequent command in the Scriptures.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Week in Review: May 7-13

KJV Reformation

  • 1 Kings 
  • 2 Kings 1-13
  • Psalms 90-150
  • Proverbs 1-20
  • 2 Corinthians
  • Galatians

Living

  • Psalm 29-65
  • Luke 1-6


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Give Them Truth

Give Them Truth: Teaching Eternal Truths to Young Minds. Starr Meade. 2015. P&R Publishing. 208 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Pendulums swing. They never move from one extreme to the correct balance and then stop. Instead, in their quest for balance, they first swing from one extreme and then move all the way to the opposite extreme. This is just as true with ideas as it is with a physical pendulum. As Christian parents and teachers longing to pass Christianity on to our children, we understand that it is not the possession of information, no matter how much of it is possessed or how well it is known, that will make our children into godly, faithful followers of Christ. Our children must believe in and love the Lord Jesus.

Premise/plot: Are you a Christian? Are you a parent, a grandparent, an aunt or uncle? Are you a Sunday School teacher or pastor? If you answered "yes" to any of the above, then Starr Meade's Give Them Truth is a must-read. I don't care how busy you are, or, how much you hate reading. You simply MUST make the time to read this one. The topic is too important to ignore, to push aside until later. Children grow up too fast.

Meade describes her book thusly:

  • It is a book on teaching, and it is directed to anyone—parent, grandparent, teacher, or pastor—who teaches children. I have been teaching children and teenagers for three decades (wow! how did that happen?). My teaching has been in churches, in Christian schools, and in my living room with homeschooled children. So I work exclusively with children whose families identify themselves as Christians and who attend Protestant churches. My hope in writing this book is to expose that appalling ignorance to those who are in a position to do something about it.
  • Part One makes my case: too many children from Christian homes do not know their Bibles and do not grasp Christian doctrine. Yet the possession of such knowledge is essential for everything else we desire for the spiritual lives of children.
  • Part Two showcases basic Christian doctrines children should grow up learning, providing some hints on ways we can communicate these things to our children and pointing out some of the clashes that occur between these teachings and the ideas of the culture our children will inhabit.
  • Part Three details some specifics for teaching our children: first, general principles, then specific Bible content, and finally, doctrinal truths. As an acknowledgment that there is more to the Christian training of children than simply imparting information, the book concludes with a list of added resources. Some of the resources will help with the studying and teaching that is urged in this book; other resources will help with additional aspects of raising children so that we point them to Christ as they grow. 
  • I’m calling for children to know the overall organization of the whole Bible, the big picture of the history it recounts, at least the important stories of all its main characters, and how the people and places and events of one Bible era relate to those of other eras. I want them to have a comfortable familiarity with basic Bible themes and to know definitions for concepts that are critical in understanding Christian doctrine. I desire to see them growing steadily in their ability to articulate these things. 

My thoughts: I reread this one this past week. I desperately needed to soak in the glorious TRUTH after muddying my mind with Madeleine L'Engle's horrid And It Was Good and A Stone for a Pillow. If L'Engle's theology is poisonous, then Starr Meade's is the antidote--the cure. Unlike L'Engle's theology which sprung largely from her imagination, Starr Meade's theology comes from the Bible itself, perhaps with a tiny dose of the creeds and catechisms.

As I said in my previous review, I love, love, love, LOVE this one.

My favorite quotes:

  • To the degree that our children do not know the fullness of God’s Word, to that degree they will not know God as fully as he wills to be known.
  • Our children cannot apply Scripture without knowing what it says. They cannot love Christ without knowing who he is. They can’t obey God without knowing what he has commanded. And they will not know these things if we do not provide deliberate, thorough, rigorous instruction, just as we would do for subjects like math or grammar.
  • Christianity is, first of all, a body of truth—to be known, understood, embraced, applied, and passed on. “Spiritual” ideas and feelings, divorced from that body of truth, are not Christian, no matter what those who have them say. Our children must know, first of all, the body of truth taught by Jesus, built upon and communicated by the apostles, and passed down in the church through centuries. Without that body of truth, they do not have Christianity.
  • Children need to grow up with the understanding that, at its very core, Christianity consists of truth—objective, outside-of-me, whetherI-believe-it-or-not truth. While Christianity is more than just a set of correct beliefs, it certainly begins there. 
  • Error comes in when only parts of the truth are studied or only some truths are cherished.
  • The Bible is not just preferred teachings for Christians. The Bible is what God said, put into writing. He whose creatures we are and who, therefore, defines all things and makes all rules, has spoken. Our only legitimate response is to hear, accept, believe, and obey. Whenever we understand truth one way, then learn that the Bible teaches something different, it is our understanding we must correct, and the Bible’s assertion we must embrace. Our children must grow up seeing us set aside our own opinions whenever those opinions bump up against the Bible’s teaching in disagreement. 


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Book Review: Stone for a Pillow

Stone for a Pillow. Madeleine L'Engle. 1986/2017. Convergent Books. 288 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: In the late afternoon, when the long December night had already darkened the skies, we opened Christmas cards, taking turns, reading the messages, enjoying this once-a-year being in touch with far-flung friends. There, incongruously lying among the Christmas greetings, was an official-looking envelope addressed to me, with Clerk of Court, New York County, in the upper left-hand corner. A call to jury duty. Manhattan does not give its prospective jurors much notice. My call was for the first week in January. To the notice inside had been added the words, Must Serve.

Premise/plot: Stone for a Pillow is the second in the Genesis trilogy. The best way to describe the book is that it's reflective "theology" written in a stream of consciousness style. It is loosely-inspired by the middle of the book of Genesis--the chapters focusing on Jacob and Esau.

My thoughts: In my review of And It Was Good, I wrote that L'Engle's theology was dangerous. I would definitely say that is still the case. If anything, the years between 1983 and 1986 led L'Engle even further from the Christian path. The more I read, I more I realize that it's just not a misconception or misunderstanding on my part, but, that she did indeed believe some mighty strange, actually heretical things.

For example, this is L'Engle's writing on the topic of the atonement. She rejects the doctrine out and out.
In a vain attempt to make people see God as an avenging judge, theologians have even altered the meaning of words. Atonement, for instance. A bad word, if taken forensically. In forensic terms, the atonement means that Jesus had to die for us in order to atone for all our awful sins, so that God could forgive us. In forensic terms, it means that God cannot forgive us unless Jesus is crucified and by this sacrifice atones for all our wrongdoing. But that is not what the word means! I went to an etymological dictionary and looked it up. It means exactly what it says, at-one-ment. I double-checked it in a second dictionary. There is nothing about crime and punishment in the makeup of that word. It simply means to be at one with God. Jesus on the cross was so at-one with God that death died there on Golgotha, and was followed by the glorious celebration of the Resurrection… Sin, then, is discourtesy pushed to an extreme, and discourtesy is lack of at-one-ment.
She continues,
We are all going to face God’s judgment, but we will not receive forensic judgment from the throne of heaven. God is not going to abandon Creation, nor the people up for trial in criminal court, nor the Shiites nor the communists nor the warmongers, nor the greedy and corrupt people in high places, nor the dope pushers, nor you, nor me. Bitter tears of repentance may be shed before we can join the celebration, but it won’t be complete until we are all there. This is the God of Scripture, the God of forbearance, forgiveness, and unqualified love. We have been living in a world where we have viewed God and each other in a forensic way for too long, and it should be apparent that it is not working, and that it is not going to work. This forensic world is not a scriptural world, but a clever projection of the Tempter. Our only hope for peace, within our own hearts, and all over our small green earth, is for us to open ourselves to the judgment of God, that judgment that makes the waters and the hills to sing. For God’s judgment is atonement, at-one-ment, making us one with the Lord of love.
Is she a univeralist? You be the judge:
All will be redeemed in God’s fullness of time, all, not just the small portion of the population who have been given the grace to know and accept Christ. All the strayed and stolen sheep. All the little lost ones.
If God created all of Creation, if God is the author of Buddhists and Hindus and Jains as well as those who have “accepted Jesus Christ as Lord,” how can we avoid a wishy-washy permissiveness? Not by retreating back into a closed system. Not by saying: Only those who believe exactly as I do can be saved. Not by insisting that only those whose god fits into the same box as my god will go to heaven. Not by returning to polytheism and proclaiming that our god is greater than the gods of other cultures. Paradoxically, it comes back to us, to our acceptance of ourselves as created by God, and loved by God, no matter how far we have fallen from God’s image in us. It is not a self-satisfied, self-indulgent acceptance, but a humble, holy, and wondrous one.
I don’t understand why the idea of emptying hell upsets some people so. To be upset about it is to think forensically, and while we all suffer from a touch of this, we can surely recognize our own lack of generosity.
When we set ourselves up as being the only people in Creation who have the truth and who will inherit the kingdom, we are worshipping the little god of our own pride.
She is more influenced by the theory of the butterfly effect than the words of Christ--or the Word of God. Here are a few of her statements about the Bible.
It is a living book, not a dead one. It urges us to go beyond its pages, not to stop with what we have read. It is a book not only of history, and of the prohibitions of the commandments and laws, but of poetry and song, of fantasy and paradox and mystery and contradiction. It is not the only book in which I will look for and find truth.
The Bible is a book which urges us to keep our concept of God open, to let our understanding grow and develop as we are illumined by new discoveries. If we stopped where Scripture leaves us, in the New Testament as well as the Old, we could still, with clear consciences, keep slaves.
What a passage says to us today may not be what the same passage will say when we next encounter it. We must strive to be open to the deeply mythic quality, expressing the longings and aspirations and searchings of the human race.
If we are willing to live by Scripture, we must be willing to live by paradox and contradiction and surprise.
Once I remarked that I read the Bible in much the same way that I read fairy tales, and received a shocked response. But fairy tales are not superficial stories. They spring from the depths of the human being. The world of the fairy tale is to some degree the world of the psyche. Like the heroes and heroines of fairy tales, we all start on our journey, our quest, sent out on it at our baptisms. We are, all of us, male and female, the younger brother, who succeeds in the quest because, unlike the elder brother, he knows he needs help; he cannot do it because he is strong and powerful. We are all, like it or not, the elder brother, arrogant and proud. We are all, male and female, the true princess who feels the pea of injustice under all those mattresses of indifference. And we all have to come to terms with the happy ending, and this may be the most difficult part of all. Never confuse fairy tale with untruth. Alas, Lucifer, how plausible you can be, confusing us into thinking that to speak of the Bible as myth is blasphemy.
Though she ridicules people who make God into their own image instead of looking for the image of God within them. She seems to have no problem defining God herself throughout the book. She doesn't use the revealed Word of God as a primary source--but herself, her instincts, her insights, her biases.
I shudder at the once widely-accepted theory that God preordained us all before we were born for either heaven or hell, and nothing we did would change this predestination. What kind of god would predetermine part of his creation to eternal damnation? This is surely not consistent with God’s creation in the early chapters of Genesis, when Elohim looked at all that had been made and called it good, very good. And yet this brutal theology used to be widely accepted and taught, a kind of spiritual terrorism.
That being said, there were still some good statements--sentences. (Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. But a ticking-working clock set to the wrong time, is never going to be right.)
It is not a simple thing to accept God’s love, because if we do, we must return love.
Fiction draws us into participating in other lives, other countries, other ways of life or thinking.
It was a sad moment when I had to admit to myself that I was not going to be able to read, in this lifetime, all the books I need to read!
If we refuse to take the risk of being vulnerable we are already half-dead. If we are half-dead we don’t have to starve with the people of Ethiopia. We don’t have to share the terrible living conditions of old people struggling to exist on dwindling social security payments in our overcrowded, hostile cities. We don’t have to smell the stench of filth, and disease, and hunger in the favelas and barrios.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible