The God of reason.

While discussing the Divine Providence of our country's founding it was suggested that we are no more divinely inspired than any other country. While I agree that all nations are lifted up and thrown down by God, the difference in ours was obvious (just read the Declaration of Independence). Some differences I gave were:

1) The equal application of justice to all, 2) The right of one to enjoy the fruit of his labor, 3) The understanding that men are inherently wicked and should have checks upon their power, 4) The investiture of government's power in the people (and their right to overthrow it and institute a new one should it not protect their God-given rights).

A friend then gave a quote by Thomas Jefferson suggesting that this foundation was due more to humanity's ability to reason than to God who blesses. The quote reads:

‎"Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must approve more of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

It's a great quote and I agree with it to the extent that if mankind truly is made in God's image then we have the ability to reason, in part, as God reasons. Thus, the scripture is granted meaning when God proclaims to all men in Isaiah 1, "Come, let us reason together."

Still, the distinction between God as God and reason as god needed to be clarified. My thought process concluded that:

"Reason is a passionless god to serve. In any case, if not for man's depravity it would be reasonable to state that he would not be in need of redemption. Reason suggests that man, on the whole, is quite depraved, however. The truth is that reason is a quality of God and, like many of His qualities, we choose to serve it as opposed to the One who possesses it. Thus was Jefferson correct that we should serve a God of reason over fear but, more importantly, we trust that the unreasonable kindness of God in the face of our depravity is what leads us to salvation."

Regardless of what you think of our government now though, the promise that is to come is much better if you are His child! Isaiah 9:6-7 declares:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it in justice and righteousness from that time on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."

Christian Renewal in Manhattan.

While I was at the Superior Court today waiting to find if I would be picked as a juror I began thumbing through some magazines that were brought in. One that caught my eye was Christianity Today and an article in it entitled "How Tim Keller Found Manhattan." I heard of Tim Keller years ago from a friend who has extremely high regard for the man but I knew nothing about him so I was interested to investigate.

He is the Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan. He started his own ministry in the city in 1989 and has since seen it expand to five services at three different locations that he preaches at. Keller has helped to plant 65 other churches (of which only ten are his own denomination). He is a strong believer in God's ability to use different denominations as distinct tools to bring others to Christ.

I wanted to share some of the words he gave for this article. The magazine details how he believes that all human being are equally defined by the their original creation into innocence and fall into sin. Keller states that, "nonbelievers are far better than their wrong beliefs should make them, and we Christians are far worse than our beliefs should make us." It is a great explanation of the hypocrisy that we all possess and helped me to more greatly understand our need for grace. A Christian can turn only to God for righteousness and salvation if he knows that there is nothing that makes him inherently better than another. All men are created in God's image whether broken or restored.

On detailing his approach to moral relativists whose response to his call to understand the first commandment (to have no other gods) is "That's just your opinion," he responds: "When you say the ultimate sin is to put things in the place of God you take that argument away. You find that they say, 'Hmm, I don't know if there is a God.' When I describe sin in such a way that people wish there were a God, I'm making progress."

So what is the response to the life of grace that this attraction to God should produce in those who come to Christ? Or, in the words of Francis Schaeffer, "How shall we then live?" Keller's response is to speak of church in saying that, "The difference between a solid church and a terrible church is pretty much up to you. The difference between a solid church and incredible success has almost nothing to do with you at all. It's like you are out there paddling on your surfboard, and suddenly the wave comes and you ride in, standing up like you're a Greek god. That has everything to do with the wave."


That wave is the Spirit as it rushes upon us and strengthens us to do the works of God, whether great or small.

Providential randomness.

I'm not sure what my subject heading is going to have to do with what I write about but perhaps it has everything to do with what I am going to write about since this will be random. It's wonderful how God exercises absolute authority over all randomness and weaves it into a rich tapestry of life that can only be seen through faith.

The lesson of faith is this: Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And also: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And again: Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

I was considering the ways of faith in the tempest on Monday night while driving back home from school. As I was entering the on ramp for I-78 I saw a spider walking across my windshield. At that moment I got the green light to go and began to accelerate in my merge lane. I began to think that it would be neat to see how fast I had to go before the spider was torn from my astonished gaze. The speedometer needle crept up to 30 mph and then 40 and, as I watched, the spider began to hunker down into my windshield to cut down its wind profile. I marched my way up to 75 mph and could see that the spider had attached a silk line to the glass and was using every measure of its strength to hold on. Still, its windward legs flipped over its head and it began to slide. At this point, I took mercy on the spider and slowed down to 65 mph to see if it could endure the test of its strength all the way to my off ramp. It didn't make it through its tempest and blew off into the dark night.

Allow me to extrapolate my thoughts: I have found that I am in the place of that spider more often than I care to admit. I am caught in a situation that I cannot handle and my response is to buckle down defensively and use my strength to maintain an untenable position. My foundations are my sins and I run to them for comfort. In so doing, I am fearful that I will be taken by the night without support beneath my feet. Yet, it is fear that drives the engine of destruction if I am fearing those things that have no endurance before God. I fear my sin because I know that it has no power to save me and will lead me to death. But what is my lack of faith to the God of all creation? What is my fear to the God who casts out fear with His perfect and mighty love? He can provide even in the midst of my faithlessness and does even provide for me the small measure of faith that I have. It pleases Him to prove His faithfulness to me when I am lacking in faith.

We have a firm foundation in the middle of the tempest. We fear and stand in awe of a God who is mighty to save. We can release our grip from those things that so easily ensnare us and trust that Christ is holding us in His tender grasp. We can do this because He is the one who faced the tempest and was forsaken by God. Our Savior had no place to rest His head. He held onto our worthless sin and became sin when it held the power of death over us. By so doing, He enslaved death which had no power over He who gives us life. May Christ be our foundation because He is not dependent on our strength to hold onto Him. We are dependent on His mighty hand and its hold on us.