As is our family Christmas tradition, we watched yet again the wonderful Charlie Brown Christmas special that first aired in 1965, when I was all of five years old. I don’t remember that first one, but I’m sure I’ve watched it almost as many times as years I’ve been on this earth, and it never gets old, like me. What makes it so special, pun intended, is that in simple and profound ways it captures so well the pathos of human existence. Coming from the Greek for suffering or experience, and coined by Aristotle, the Peanuts gang are pure pathos, starting with Charlie Brown himself. His misery is hilarious, but hits home. Who hasn’t wanted to throw their own pity party when nothing seems to go our way, and nobody seems to care, and we know we shouldn’t feel that way amid the bright lights and joy of the season.
This is more of a challenge in this year of our Lord 2020, when hell has seemed to make a more obvious visit to earth than usual. I will spare the gory details, but we all know them, and all wish they were not as they are, but they are. Imagine, though, having to go through such a year without a hope that goes beyond this life. Imaging hurtling toward death as we all are . . . . and this is as good as it gets??? This is it??? We all know it’s not, but often live as if it is. Shame on us. Even back in 1965 when secularism was making its way to the pinnacle of the culture, but not quite there yet, the TV executives were pressuring Charles Schultz to pass on the now lionized Linus speech, What’s it all about. Thankfully, his Christian faith enabled him to him stand firm, and hundreds of millions, probably billions over the years, now know what Christmas is all about.
I recently wrote a post on I Timothy 2, where Paul says something that is a favorite proof text for Arminians, but they ignore the difficulty the text presents for their position. Reformed theology has been a critical part of attempting to build an enduring faith in our children, so I thought for the record I’d put my argument down here as well. I’m not sure I’ve addressed this passage directly with any of them, so I will enjoy sharing this to see if I’m as persuasive as I think I am. (more…)
Living in a culture that is so obnoxiously secular, it’s easy to fall into a trap that somehow the life we now live is eternal life, that we have forever, that this life is the life that matters. I know that sounds silly. You may respond that of course everyone knows they’re going to die. Maybe. For most of us, though, as Freud argued, our own deaths are inconceivable to us. We can’t fathom that we’re actually going to ever die. I imagine we’ll refuse to believe it until the bitter end, but the end will come no matter how hard we deny it. Yet, deny it we do. So being reminded that we will not in fact live forever, that the Grim Reaper will come for us too, is an important aspect of living the Christian life. Again you may say, we shouldn’t have to be reminded of the obvious, but we sinners are a stubborn lot, and lying to ourselves is our default nature. So what has history to do with this? (more…)
Maybe it’s because I’m officially old and cry at Hallmark cards, but it seems over the last number of years that God’s truth is able to elicit in me tears that I don’t remember in the younger me. I’m sure this has nothing to do with age per se, but with a growing realization that comes with growing in the knowledge of his benefits. These words of John Calvin in the first chapter of his Institutes captures well the nature of this divine-human relationship:
I call “piety” that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces. For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that his is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him—they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him.
Bingo! There are many profound truths here that would take many posts to unpack, but here is the gist: God is for us, not against us. (more…)
I was listening/watching the Steve Deace show a couple weeks back, and the host, a Christian, said he needs to repent for not being thankful enough. Bingo! I was instantly convicted. I wrote a chapter in my book about gratitude, and how important being thankful is, continually, in the life of a Christian. I’ve taught that to my children as they’ve grown up, but it’s so much easier said than done. Life lived in a fallen world enduring the gravitational pull of sin is hard. In one of the great understatements in all of history, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble . . .” Ya think! But he finished his sentence with, “but take heart; I have overcome the world.” I love the world for trouble in Greek, thlipsis-θλῖψις, in a sadomasochistic kind of way: properly, pressure (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow place that “hems someone in”; tribulation, especially internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined (restricted, “without options”). That is life in a fallen world! (more…)
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