Sure Guidance

“If you ask, ‘Why is this or that happening?’ no light may come, for ‘the secret things belong to the Lord our God (Deuteronomy 29:29); but if you ask, ‘How am I to serve and glorify God here and now, where I am?’ there will always be an answer” (The Lord’s Prayer, by J.I Packer, p. 14).

Pastor Envy

I'm so grateful for the wealth of free sermons and conference messages available online these days. On a good week, my MP3 player holds hours of these to be listened to while I'm at work or driving. I've grown familiar with the teaching style and voices of certain pastors - MacArthur, Piper, Mahaney, Harris, to name a few. I am always challenged to understand more about God, to live a more faithful Christian life when I hear these men proclaiming the Word.

That's a good thing. But.

Over the past while, I've recognized a growing discontent when I'm sitting in church Sunday morning, listening to my own pastor. He is faithful to God's Word, he preaches the truth with love and concern. But, I sometimes think - I wish he preached with John Piper's passion. He doesn't go as deep into Scripture as John MacArthur. If only...

I've sensed that my Sunday-morning thoughts and attitudes were not right in some sense, and when I came across a post on Tim Challies blog that confronted this very issue, I was convicted. Challies notes,

Christians today have access (via the Internet, of course) to vast libraries of the best sermons by the best preachers... They are men who are extraordinarily gifted by God and who have been faithful to use their gifts for his glory...

The fact is, God has put us in churches with less-than-perfect and often less-than-brilliant pastors. The fact that there are extraordinary preachers tells us that there must be vast numbers of perfectly ordinary pastors. This means that most of us have been blessed by God with a very ordinary kind of pastor...

These men, these ordinary pastors, are the ones to whom we owe our loyalty. They are the ones to whom Paul refers when he tells the church at Thessalonica “to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.” These are the men God has given to serve you and to labor as pastors before you. It is through these men that God means to specially bless you in that unique body called the local church...

(Read Challies entire post here)

Like Challies, I agree that having access to great teaching online is a good thing. I'll continue to download and listen and benefit from the ministry of "extraordinary pastors". But at the same time, I want to be especially grateful for the unique pastor that God has placed in the church I attend.

That time again

The weather here in Ontario is already growing cooler, and I am excited for my favorite season!

Last year I decided to try and do a personal retreat each fall, and it's hard to believe it's that time already! (You can check out my posts on that retreat here, here, and here. )

Just in time for my upcoming birthday this year (twenty-five...sigh) I found a great resource online that I encourage you to check out as well:

Ten Questions to Ask At the Start of a New Year or On Your Birthday

But of course, it would benefit you for any time of personal evaluation. :) I'm planning to journal my way through some of the questions (there are ten main questions but thirty in total) - here are a few samples:

- What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?

- What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

- What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better this year, and what will you do about it?

Good stuff huh? Why don't you print the questions out and join me in striving to grow (by grace!) for the glory of God this year?

Some pictures for you!

This past week, with my sister, I drove to the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island. Walking along the Atlantic, I often wondered if I had slipped into a corner of heaven. :)

Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven. (Lam 3:41)

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! (Rev 4:8)

Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great!

You are clothed with splendor and majesty, coverying yourself with light

as with a garment, stretching out the heavents like a tent. (Ps 104:1,2)

I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Ps 18:1-2)

This is our God

What refreshing reminders of the Lord's character and provision I found this morning in Psalm 145! Just a few things to meditate on as I move into my day...

He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, great in loving kindness, good to all! (Ps 145:8,9)

He sustains all who fall, raises the humble, provides what we need when we need it, opens His hands to satisfy our desire. (Ps 145:14-16)

He is righteous and kind in everything He does, near to all who call upon Him in truth, keeping those who love Him. (Psalm 145:17-20)

Don't we serve a beautiful God?!