John Knox must be rolling in his grave...or in the hay....
Short daily devotions for busy Christians and Church meetings
Showing posts with label Calvinism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calvinism. Show all posts
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
4 Minute Devotions: Fringes
Calvin called them the ‘attestations of God’s wisdom.’ He was referring to the wonders of nature and creation all around us, which lead us to having faith in a benevolent Creator. Whether it’s the majesty of magnificent mountains, the crashing of waves against the shore, or even looking at a blade of grass under a microscope, all of them inspire a feeling of awe and wonder within us, which can only be explained as a oneness with the creator.Podcast version here
Job 26:14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"
I also like what Job has to say about these wonderful works of creation. To him, they were the outer fringes of God’s works; in other words, there are even greater things to experience about God. As I have written before, one of my hopes about being on the other side of death will be traveling throughout the whole universe and seeing everything that God has done. I want to watch stars being born and different planets. I want to feel the pleasure and delight that God has in His creativity. I want to be there when a new heaven and a new earth are created for the glorious purpose of a new beginning for humanity.
As I look out my study window, I see that the sky is overcast and that the trees have lost the brightness of their colors. But I know that very soon the sun will come out from behind the grey clouds and that these mere fringes of God’s creation will become bright and alive, beautiful and marvelous. All things attest to God’s wisdom and I feel both privileged and humbled to be a creature of His making, who experiences the wonders of His creating.
Prayer: Lord God, help us to take the time to feel the sense of wonder at the beauty which is all around us. No matter what we do or where we go today, remind us of the joy of creation and let us experience the awe of Your beauty. In the Name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org
Friday, August 31, 2007
Re-emerging
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (NIV)
It’s a hard time to be a Presbyterian right now, because our mainline denominations are failing. It’s as if we've reached the end of the line and that after 400 years of Reformed Faith, people no longer want to hear the doctrines of predestination, total depravity, or the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Instead, people want to make up their own brand of faith, something that will suit their life-style choices, which will not interfere with their decisions or make any judgments about the way they live their lives. What people want out of religion is something that will guarantee immortality at the end of their earthly lives, without any catches, conditions, or commandments to disbar them. It’s a bit like being in someone’s garden and wanting to steal apples from their tree without there being any consequences. It’s the same old sin of Adam and Eve – wanting to be immortal like God and trying to steal it from Him.
I'm not perfect, even although I'm a pastor. I've sinned many times against God and let Christ down time and time again. Each day I always say or do something that I'll regret later on, or I forget to do something and break a promise. Time just seems to consume me and I'm left wondering if I'm making any difference in the world that I know.
My role is to counter the culture that is choking the Christian faith. My call as a pastor is to help the people I know get past the sickness that is killing our society. My place is to be a prophet who preaches against the ways of the world that are leading people astray from Christ. At times, I feel like I'm chosen to be the Shepherd’s collie dog, snapping at the feet of the sheep in order to keep them in the fold and out of danger.
And then I read Paul’s letter to Timothy and I realize that the church has seen times like these before. When Timothy became a bishop to his people, he had to deal with the world; he had to preach against secularism; he had to keep people on the right track in order to get them home to Jesus. The people in Timothy’s time were itching to hear what they wanted to hear…and people are still the same today. Things may look different, but people are still the same – they want short cuts to salvation; they want the express lane to immortality; they want to cut in ahead of everybody else to get Christ’s blessings.
It’s hard being a Presbyterian these days, but it’s not harder than what Timothy’s people had to endure. It’s not harder than what pastors in China are suffering; it’s not harder than what Christian families in Nigeria are enduring; it’s not harder than what millions of Christians around the world have to overcome for the faith each day. And because of that, I've got to start drawing a line in the sand and say this day, we retreat no further. We will not quietly acquiesce to the world’s demands. We will not fade away into faithlessness. We will not continue to compromise our Reformed beliefs, our Calvinistic codes, our Presbyterian traditions.
It’s time to re-emerge. It’s time to revive. It’s time to reform. The itching has gone on long enough. It’s time to stop scratching and start fighting the good fight.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, our Presbyterian church is in a mess and people like me have caused it to be so. Instead of waiting and watching for Your return, I've been wallowing in sin and at ease in Zion. Forgive me, Lord, for all of those wasted years and sinful moments. Restore me, Lord, to the love and zeal that I once had for You alone. Help me, Lord, to climb out of this religious rut and back on to the highway to Heaven. In Your Holy Name, I pray. Amen.
It’s a hard time to be a Presbyterian right now, because our mainline denominations are failing. It’s as if we've reached the end of the line and that after 400 years of Reformed Faith, people no longer want to hear the doctrines of predestination, total depravity, or the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Instead, people want to make up their own brand of faith, something that will suit their life-style choices, which will not interfere with their decisions or make any judgments about the way they live their lives. What people want out of religion is something that will guarantee immortality at the end of their earthly lives, without any catches, conditions, or commandments to disbar them. It’s a bit like being in someone’s garden and wanting to steal apples from their tree without there being any consequences. It’s the same old sin of Adam and Eve – wanting to be immortal like God and trying to steal it from Him.
I'm not perfect, even although I'm a pastor. I've sinned many times against God and let Christ down time and time again. Each day I always say or do something that I'll regret later on, or I forget to do something and break a promise. Time just seems to consume me and I'm left wondering if I'm making any difference in the world that I know.
My role is to counter the culture that is choking the Christian faith. My call as a pastor is to help the people I know get past the sickness that is killing our society. My place is to be a prophet who preaches against the ways of the world that are leading people astray from Christ. At times, I feel like I'm chosen to be the Shepherd’s collie dog, snapping at the feet of the sheep in order to keep them in the fold and out of danger.
And then I read Paul’s letter to Timothy and I realize that the church has seen times like these before. When Timothy became a bishop to his people, he had to deal with the world; he had to preach against secularism; he had to keep people on the right track in order to get them home to Jesus. The people in Timothy’s time were itching to hear what they wanted to hear…and people are still the same today. Things may look different, but people are still the same – they want short cuts to salvation; they want the express lane to immortality; they want to cut in ahead of everybody else to get Christ’s blessings.
It’s hard being a Presbyterian these days, but it’s not harder than what Timothy’s people had to endure. It’s not harder than what pastors in China are suffering; it’s not harder than what Christian families in Nigeria are enduring; it’s not harder than what millions of Christians around the world have to overcome for the faith each day. And because of that, I've got to start drawing a line in the sand and say this day, we retreat no further. We will not quietly acquiesce to the world’s demands. We will not fade away into faithlessness. We will not continue to compromise our Reformed beliefs, our Calvinistic codes, our Presbyterian traditions.
It’s time to re-emerge. It’s time to revive. It’s time to reform. The itching has gone on long enough. It’s time to stop scratching and start fighting the good fight.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, our Presbyterian church is in a mess and people like me have caused it to be so. Instead of waiting and watching for Your return, I've been wallowing in sin and at ease in Zion. Forgive me, Lord, for all of those wasted years and sinful moments. Restore me, Lord, to the love and zeal that I once had for You alone. Help me, Lord, to climb out of this religious rut and back on to the highway to Heaven. In Your Holy Name, I pray. Amen.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Candid Camera
Romans 1: 7a To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: (NIV)
I’ve written to you before about St. Jude, the Roman Catholic patron saint of lost items and hopeless causes. My mother taught me to pray to him if I needed to find my keys. Over the years, despite being a Presbyterian pastor, when I get exasperated looking for something I’ve lost, I hear my mother’s words and say a silent prayer to St. Jude. Within a short period of time, I’ve always found what I’ve lost.
Well, at least that was the case until last weekend. My eldest daughter Lynsey was moving to Blacksburg, Virginia to begin her graduate course at Virginia Tech. The town is beautiful and the college buildings are exceptional. It all looks Ivy League to me.
I wanted to take some photos of the town, so I took my digital camera with me (if you want to see some of my past photographs, check out my photos, cartoons and drawings at http://www.flickr.com/photos/traqair57/ ). So, I drove the U-Haul truck to Blacksburg on Saturday morning with all of Lynsey’s furniture.
Evelyn, Lauren, Lynsey and I unpacked the furniture and set up Lynsey’s new apartment. In the middle of the afternoon, we were finished and so we decided to visit downtown Blacksburg. It was then that I sadly discovered my digital camera was missing. We hunted all over the apartment, in cupboards, boxes, purses and even the garbage bags.
I drove back to U-haul and asked if they found a camera in the truck. They hadn’t. I looked over the grounds outside of Lynsey’s apartment and even the parking lot, but the camera was nowhere to be seen or found. That’s when I started to pray to good old St. Jude, but this time it didn’t seem to work.
Glum would describe my mood for the rest of the weekend. Blacksburg was beautiful, but I was carrying my own shadow around with me. Even during worship at Northside church on Sunday morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about the camera, so when it came to the offering, I said a prayer inside of myself like this: “Lord, I give my camera to whoever has found it. May he or she enjoy using it just as much as I have done. Amen.”
St. Jude had obviously missed an opportunity to make a Presbyterian pastor happy, so I just put it down to good old Presbyterian predestination. St. Jude had greatly disappointed me, so the Calvinist within me took over. Praying to the saints is not something that Presbyterians, especially pastors, should be doing. In my mind’s eye, I could see John Knox sternly rebuking me for asking St. Jude to intercede. I felt ashamed.
And then on Wednesday morning, the U-Haul guy in Blacksburg called me to say that he had found the camera hanging under the seat of the truck. Good, old St. Jude had come through! Maybe I’m a Calvinistic Catholic after all!
All together now!...“Oh, when the saints, go marching in…”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for the saints of old and for their past ministries. We know that You alone intercede on our behalf for our salvation. Thank You for saving lost souls and for the work of the saints in Your earthly church that goes on throughout the world today. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen
I’ve written to you before about St. Jude, the Roman Catholic patron saint of lost items and hopeless causes. My mother taught me to pray to him if I needed to find my keys. Over the years, despite being a Presbyterian pastor, when I get exasperated looking for something I’ve lost, I hear my mother’s words and say a silent prayer to St. Jude. Within a short period of time, I’ve always found what I’ve lost.
Well, at least that was the case until last weekend. My eldest daughter Lynsey was moving to Blacksburg, Virginia to begin her graduate course at Virginia Tech. The town is beautiful and the college buildings are exceptional. It all looks Ivy League to me.
I wanted to take some photos of the town, so I took my digital camera with me (if you want to see some of my past photographs, check out my photos, cartoons and drawings at http://www.flickr.com/photos/traqair57/ ). So, I drove the U-Haul truck to Blacksburg on Saturday morning with all of Lynsey’s furniture.
Evelyn, Lauren, Lynsey and I unpacked the furniture and set up Lynsey’s new apartment. In the middle of the afternoon, we were finished and so we decided to visit downtown Blacksburg. It was then that I sadly discovered my digital camera was missing. We hunted all over the apartment, in cupboards, boxes, purses and even the garbage bags.
I drove back to U-haul and asked if they found a camera in the truck. They hadn’t. I looked over the grounds outside of Lynsey’s apartment and even the parking lot, but the camera was nowhere to be seen or found. That’s when I started to pray to good old St. Jude, but this time it didn’t seem to work.
Glum would describe my mood for the rest of the weekend. Blacksburg was beautiful, but I was carrying my own shadow around with me. Even during worship at Northside church on Sunday morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about the camera, so when it came to the offering, I said a prayer inside of myself like this: “Lord, I give my camera to whoever has found it. May he or she enjoy using it just as much as I have done. Amen.”
St. Jude had obviously missed an opportunity to make a Presbyterian pastor happy, so I just put it down to good old Presbyterian predestination. St. Jude had greatly disappointed me, so the Calvinist within me took over. Praying to the saints is not something that Presbyterians, especially pastors, should be doing. In my mind’s eye, I could see John Knox sternly rebuking me for asking St. Jude to intercede. I felt ashamed.
And then on Wednesday morning, the U-Haul guy in Blacksburg called me to say that he had found the camera hanging under the seat of the truck. Good, old St. Jude had come through! Maybe I’m a Calvinistic Catholic after all!
All together now!...“Oh, when the saints, go marching in…”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for the saints of old and for their past ministries. We know that You alone intercede on our behalf for our salvation. Thank You for saving lost souls and for the work of the saints in Your earthly church that goes on throughout the world today. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)