Darlin', you are the only exception

Thinking about future career decisions has got me thinking about other future things, mainly "future husband." As I contemplated this the other night, I put together a compilation of traits and qualities I'd like to think "future husband" will possess.

He will think I'm beautiful after washing off my make up and putting on my glasses
He will play the guitar and write and sing me songs
He will take me on adventures, big and especially small ones
He will learn exactly how I like my coffee and bring it to me in bed on occasion
He'll let me fall asleep in his arms
When I randomly burst into song, he'll sing right along with me
He will dance with me at any given moment

I don't know if this type of guy exists for me, but if not, God knows better what I'll need. I'm willing to throw this list away if the situation presents itself, but I don't seriously think that will happen. This list just feels right....

A Beautiful Monday

So, this is how I spend my first Monday as a college graduate:

1. Ate lunch at Cafe 212 (Turkey sammich on wheatberry - delicious)
2. Stopped in Ulta and got this liquid eyeliner and OPI nail polish in "Tickle my France-y" (Eyeliner is lovely! Haven't done my nails yet)
   
3. Went to the library. Checked out Tim Keller's The Reason for God and Spurgeon's The Power of Prayer in the Believer's Life
4. Got a sweetened iced green tea from Starbucks and sat in the sun reading The Reason for God:

A beautiful day!
SDG

A Paper for Judeo-Christian Ethics: A Brief History of the Sabbath and Its Practice Today

In the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments were given to God’s chosen people, Israel, after he delivered them from slavery in Egypt. They can be found in Exodus 20:1-17 and again in Deuteronomy 5:1-21. These commands were given as instruction of how God’s people should live and are applicable to the church today, who are revealed as God’s chosen people in the New Testament. For the most part, there is little disagreement within the church in applying such commands as “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13) or “You shall not steal” (Ex. 20:15), but what of the application of “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:80)? Some deny that this commandment is perpetually binding upon all men in all ages. In this paper, I will look at the fourth commandment’s establishment and examine how the church has responded to applying this command.

First, the history of this command in Scripture must be considered. It can be summarized in the answer to question 59 of The Westminster Shorter Catechism. “From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.”

In the creation account in Genesis, God sets the seventh day apart from the others. “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation,” (Gen. 2:3). It is with this explanation that the commandment is given to Moses:

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Ex. 20:8-11)

However, the command itself does not tell us that we must keep the last day of the week as Sabbath but that we must keep one day out of every week. In the New Testament, the Sabbath is seen as the first day of the week. This is where it becomes known as “The Lord’s Day,” since it was the day Christ rose from the dead. This practice of the early Christian Church was probably in response to men in the apostolic period who wanted to perpetuate Jewish religious customs.

An illustration of this new observance can be found in I Corinthians where Paul instructs the church on giving and says, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come,” (16:2). Another instance is found in Acts 20:7, which says, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread….” Therefore, the New Testament does not show that the fourth commandment should be abolished since Jewish sabbaths are no longer a part of God’s ordinance, but Christians have the Lord’s Day as Sabbath.

With the history of observing the fourth commandment established, it should be clarified at this point that Scripture is singularly sufficient for supplying the knowledge needed in correctly observing the Sabbath. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “The Word of God which is contained in the Old and New Testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.” II Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Therefore, God has supplied in Scripture all the instruction necessary to understand and live out His law.

Now, Scripture can be used to determine how the church should apply the fourth commandment. One application of observing the Sabbath is found in Exodus 16 when God provides manna for His people in the wilderness. Verse 26 states God does not provide manna on the seventh day. So, in verse 22 God tells the Israelites to gather twice as much on the sixth day. God instructs his people in verse 23, “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.” So, here is an instruction that in order for God’s people to observe “a day of solemn rest” they must prepare anything they need the day before, just as He has done with providing twice as much manna on the sixth day.

The New Testament presents other illustrations of correctly observing the fourth commandment. Jesus is rebuked many times by the Jews, and more specifically the Pharisees, for healing on the Sabbath. John 5 gives an account of some Jews who rebuke an invalid whom Jesus had healed, because the man had picked up his bed after Jesus told him to, which was considered unlawful for the Sabbath. “And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working,’” (John 5:16-17). Also in Matthew 12:5 Jesus says, “Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?”

I believe an accurate explanation and application of the principles found in these passages can be seen in the answer to the question “How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?” in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. It says:

The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; spending the whole time in public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

To clarify further, the command itself says that no one is to do any work, even servants and animals. However, we also see that there are exceptions in Jesus’ own healings on the Sabbath. It can be concluded that acts for worship and mercy are permitted. Jesus says that if His Father is working, Jesus will be working (John 5:17), which I believe could be interpreted as an act of worship. This is also an explanation as to why the priests who work in the temple on the Sabbath (Matt 12:9) remain guiltless.

It can be demonstrated through a few denominations’ confessions of faith how the Sabbath is practiced in the church today. The Westminster Confession of Faith, which is the confession of faith for the Presbyterian Church in America, says this about the Sabbath:

This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe [a] holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

The Baptist Faith and Message provides another example, but with some inconsistencies. In its 1925 version, it states:

[The Sabbath] commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and by refraining from worldly amusements, and resting from secular employments, works of necessity and mercy only excepted.

This differs little from the Westminster Confession of Faith. However, in the 2000 version, the specification of what a person should refrain from and what a person should engage in is replaced with, “Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate with the Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”

In conclusion, basic principles can be seen in Scripture as to how the fourth commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” should be observed. I believe that the principles presented are consistent with what is laid out in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which is resting from worldly employments and recreations to worship with the exceptions of acts of mercy and necessity. It appears that these principles have transcended into application in parts of the church but may not be in others, since “the Christian’s conscience” does not seem to encompass any guidelines laid out in Scripture for observing the Sabbath.

Works Cited
“Comparison of 1925, 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.” SBC.net
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
“The Westminster Confession of Faith.” PCAnet.org
The Westminster Confession of Faith: For Study Classes by Williamson

The End of an Era

This week is my last week as a college student.

It's been an interesting ride, especially the past few weeks as I went to my last class, last RUF, last Noonday, last choir concert and practice, last weekend with my roommates....

It's so hard to believe that I've accomplished what I've been working toward the past four years. It's a little surreal. This last semester has been the best by far. The Lord has blessed me beyond measure. I've learned so much, made so many encouraging friends, and got to experience new places.

In a few days, I will be returning home. I have no plan at all as to what I'll be doing for at least the next year or so. It seems God is calling me to fully trust Him in the job-seeking department. He's never let me down before, and I know He won't now. It's just so hard knowing that the world expects me to have it all worked out and I don't. But I know that the life I'm living is not mine anymore. It has been bought with the blood of Jesus, and I have died. It is Christ that lives in me.

So... my future consists of wholly trusting God to reveal to me the good works He has prepared in advance for me. My life's goal is to glorify God - not to make a six digit salary. I will not give in to the pressures of the world. I have much higher things to live for.
SDG

My Day Without Shoes

Today, Thursday, April 8, 2010, Tom's shoes (which is, if you don't already know, an organization that donates a pair of shoes to needy children for each pair you buy) asked people across the nation to ditch their shoes and go barefoot. Why? It wasn't to seem cool as part of some subcultural movement, and it wasn't to bring attention to a brand of footwear. It was to bring awareness to what a blessed life we as Americans live. We take so much for granted in our comfy little bubbles. Tom's wanted people to experience what children in Third World countries go through everyday: a life without shoes.

I participated in this event today. I must admit I cheated - I rode my bike to class from my apartment and foot pedals are hard and pointy. I know this kind of goes against the point. Children in Third World countries deal with a lot more than hard, plastic bumps jabbing uncomfortably into their feet. I did shed my shoes when I got off my bike, though, and I went from 8:00am until 1:00pm sans zapatos. It was quite liberating, though I highly doubt the sidewalks and paths of Mississippi State's campus are nothing like, say Rwanda or parts of South America. It was quite an experience when I caught the eyes of a few other barefooters as we exchanged silent high-fives.

However, I expected a lot more people to participate. When I asked a few people why, I got responses like, "Oh, I would have, but I had to go to work," or "It's just so dirty on campus," or "It's a good idea, bu I really don't see the point."

Well the point I see is this. For one day, a group of people decided to experience first-hand the hardships other fellow human beings endure. This wasn't as much an awareness campaign as a recommended shock of reality. Yes, I got to tell people why I wasn't wearing shoes and hopefully they were inspired to respond to this need. And there's the beauty. We can help. One for one. Such a simple, taken-for-granted item can drastically change the quality of life for children around the world.

Day without shoes, you made me think. You made me share. You made me pray.
God, help me to not stay focused on my tiny, sheltered, spoiled life. Help me to see the big picture.
SDG

Resurrection Power

Dear readers, I would like to share with you some Good News. On this day, I celebrate the death and resurrection of a Man who took my sins upon His guiltless head and made Himself a sacrifice to atone for my debt to God. He did this not only for me, but for the whole world (1 John 2:2). That means you too may enjoy this freedom! We have a Savior who died but now lives in us (Galatians 2:20)! That is the power of the resurrection.

This morning I visited the church of my aunt and uncle. It being Easter Sunday, there was a full house. I'd imagine that at least a fourth or more of the people there were not believers. What a great opportunity to present the Gospel! However, and I hate to say it, the message was lacking. The theme in the message was "Resurrection Power," yet I didn't once hear the pastor define or expound on this power, but only say that we need it in our lives. While I do wholeheartedly agree with this statement, I could only apply it through what knowledge I have already, knowledge an unbeliever would not have.

That is why I wanted to write this little blog. To explain what power the resurrection holds for us. We are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and deserve death, but have been given a free gift to receive life instead (Romans 6:23)! That gift is what I mentioned earlier. God graciously sent His Son to receive the punishment of our sin, to die on a cross. He died, but now He is alive and living in us! That is the power of the resurrection!

Friends, if you are in Christ, rejoice! Your sins are forgiven and on this day you celebrate the life of your Savior. However, if you have yet to receive God's forgiveness, acknowledge His presence in your life and relinquish control to Him. He offers peace and freedom from death. He's already paid the price! You simply say, "Lord, I know I am a sinner and deserve death, and there is nothing I can do to reach you except through Jesus. I give my life to you."

Celebrate the Resurrection Power today! Rejoice and give praise to the Living God!
Sola scriptura, Sola fide, Sola gratia, Solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria!

MGMT's Congratulations