Enriched Affections

It's been a while since I've posted. A lot of that is due to my efforts, through the Spirit, to kill off some idols of self-promotion. I'm still chugging away at memorizing songs and learning, but what I share will be a bit more sporadic. Lately I've been meditating a lot on the Psalms. My quiet time had me in Psalm 7 today. As I reflected on that the idea of God's judgment came to mind. In this Psalm, David asks for God to judge the wicked, knowing that he himself is a man who walks in righteousness. He seek to judge the wicked himself, despite his statements of personal integrity. That is just a unique view on things given our world today. In our culture it seems the more a person is self-righteous the more judgmental they are. Scripture tells us that the more righteous we are, the more we let God be the judge and leave it at that. With all that going through my mind I decided to right a poem regarding what I had learned. So, here it is... I see such so...

Persecution is nothing new to the people of God. From the first century to the twenty-first the enemies of the Gospel have sought to destroy it and its followers. As I was reading the story of Polycarp to my kids this morning I couldn't help but think of our modern day martyrs all over the world. Recently, the attacks by ISIS against our Christian brothers and sisters in the middle east have made this all the more relevant in our churches today. Martyrdom is not just a thing of the past. It isn't limited to Hebrews 11 and the stories of the early church fathers. It's alive and happening all over the world, all the time. In fact, while you are reading this post another Christian will die for their faith. This is why we cannot forget the truth spoken in Romans 8. The truths of this passage form the core of the song I'm memorizing this week. It's a truth we all need to be reminded of. Romans 8:31-39 is incredibly encouraging as we think of martyrdom. It states th...

Each of us that claim the name "Christian" has a unique story of our salvation. Some of us were raised in a Christian home by parents committed to our spiritual growth and maturity. Others came to faith later in life through the influence of a friend or family member. We read stories of men like John Newton who were taken from lives of horrendous sin and guilt and others like John Piper who were raised by evangelists and continue in that work. One of the greatest stories of salvation is the Apostle Paul, recounted in Acts 9 . Here was a man who was actively imprisoning Christians, the religious terrorist of his day, who God converted to be head of His mission to the Gentiles. No matter the conversion story; no matter the drama or seeming lack there-of, all stories of salvation share the same theme. We were all dead in our sin, chained in slavery to our flesh with no hope of recovery. Then God acted. He brought the dead heart to life, broke the chains of slavery to sin, an...

Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder  has been one of my favorite hymns for a number of years. I was first introduced to it (being the youngling that I am) by Jars of Clay on their Redemption Songs  album. The arrangement was a new one from Indelible grace which matched a beautiful melody and chorus to these amazing words. What I love about this hymn is its simplicity and depth. That may sound like an oxymoron, but what I mean is that it captures deep theological truth in simple phrases. The first verse gives us a great example of this: "He [Christ] has hushed The Law's loud thunder, He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame." Such a simple phrase, but what depths of truth! The thunder of the Law was its ability to convict and condemn. The flame of Sinai was a reminder of the unapproachableness of God. Each of these came at the same time Moses was receiving the Law, and both are remedied by the person of Christ who brought grace to the Law and tore the veil that kept...

In Genesis 49 we come to the end of the life of one of the patriarchs of the Jewish faith. Jacob is on his deathbed when he calls his sons together to bless and prophesy over each of them. If we look at the history of each of the sons we might guess how each blessing might go. Surely Joseph would get the greatest blessing being the favorite son and the savior of his family. However, that's not quite how it goes. The first three sons are quickly dismissed as heirs to the main blessing. Reuban "went up to [his] father's bed" by sleeping with one of Jacob's concubines (Bilhah in Genesis 35:22 ). This removes the blessing of the first born from him. The next two in line, Simeon and Levi, are dismissed as well for their role in the bloody massacre of the men of Shechem ( Genesis 34 ). That brings us to Judah, the fourth-born son of Leah. Judah is an interesting character in Genesis. He was the one who had the idea to sell Joseph off to the Ishmaelites rather tha...

This week I've resolved to memorize (RTM) one of my favorite hymns. The words open with one of the themes of Psalm 19- " All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing... alleluia!"  The hymn goes on to declare the glory of God from the heavens and all creation, urging us to join the refrain of praise. The original words of this hymn are credited to St. Francis of Assissi. In 2013 the talented Baird family took hold of it and wrote some fabulous lyrics to add to the original work. They take the broad creational focus of the song and narrow it down to the redeemed people of God. By doing this they show us a wonderful picture of praise beginning with creation and ending with those who have been newly created in the image of Christ. ( I wrote in detail about this in a previous Sunday Singable post.  You can click here to read that. ) The reason I'm memorizing this is two-fold. The practical reason is that we do this hymn often in our church ...

One of the foundational covenants in scripture is the covenant between God and Abraham. There are many layers to this promise, beginning in Genesis 12 where God promises blessing. It continues in chapter 15 where God promises offspring, and then is officially cut in Genesis 17 where God promises to be the God of Abraham and His offspring, promising him eternal blessing and an inheritance in the land of Canaan forever. "That's all well and good," you may say, "but what about me? I'm not a physical offspring of Abraham. Why is this a promise for me?" The answer comes from how we need to read our Bibles as New Testament believers. The Bible is one story, given by one divine Author, written to focus on Christ. Jesus Himself showed the disciples this after He rose from the dead ( Luke 24:27, 45 ). This is also affirmed in 2 Corinthians 1:20 as we read that all the promises of God find their "Yes" in Christ. The scriptures these passages point ...