One Quiet Life

God's Word is the word we need to hear today. We live in a strange day, when even Christians who claim to be born again and churches that claim to be evangelical ignore God's Word. -Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (p. 54) Four years ago I blogged through Mark Dever's book. I've decided to revisit those posts. The first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching. Why expositional preaching rather than topical? An expositional sermon is focused upon the Word, whereas - as you might have guessed - a topical sermon is centered upon the topic itself.  A topical sermon might be replete with Scripture, but there is an inherent danger of misunderstanding and misapplying Scripture if a verse or a passage is taken out of its context merely to support the preacher's sermon.  I have found that topical preaching encourages me to place myself in the passage, to make the Word of God about me and my problems. My friend Persis has written about why this p...

She'd denatured parts of her own existence by printing and framing and freezing them. And they'd become denatured even further by being written about, analyzed, lionized by other people, by strangers.  - Anna Quindlen Still Life with Breadcrumbs (p. 231) and this, It’s great that struggling and lonely people can find community, resources, and honest conversations with others online. But one drawback is that we can feel a weird sort of obligation to put our private stuff out there for everyone to read -- as if a little privacy were the same thing as a lack of authenticity. - Rebecca Reynolds @ Thistle and Toad  as well as this, The internet makes the world too big sometimes. Big can be good, as the internet delightfully stretches our reach across the globe, enabling us to glimpse what gospel laborers are so faithfully doing in various creative ways. But then, when our view is stretched out across the world, it is far more difficult...

Just two weeks into my 2016 reading plan and I'm already reaping the benefit of reading less and thinking more. The slower pace gives me space to tie my reading together and apply it. Though beneficial, I can't say it's entirely fun. In fact, this extended pondering has led to conviction and brokeness. Read the rest here ...

I've long struggled with the place reading has in my life. I've decided to control my reading this year, instead of letting it control me. You can take a peek at my reading list by joining me at Out of the Ordinary.

God's promised Messiah was a merciful gift of love to a people who needed both mercy and love. He could come to them in all their pain, brokenness, and struggle, and make everything new. They were desperate for this, and the proof of their desperation was perhaps most evident in the fact that they couldn't bring themselves to live as though this promise was real. ~Russ Ramsey, Behold the Lamb of God The gift of the Messiah is no less merciful today. Right here, right now. In the midst of my sinfulness - my stubborn pride, my harsh words, my critical spirit - God's mercy through Christ pours over me. I am in need of mercy and love. Oh! how great is that need! He meets it, without fail. He comes into my pain, brokeness, and struggle every day. Every day. Yet I am so wrapped up in my flesh that I forget God became flesh and dwelt among men in order to redeem me from this broken world. From suffering and sorrow. From sin and guilt. Like the children of Israel, I am desp...

I'm sharing them at Out of the Ordinary this week. Click on over and join me.

I tell you again, if there be any pathway in which there be not fire, tremble, but if your lot be hard, thank God for it. If your sufferings be great, bless the Lord for them, and if the difficulties in your pathway be many, surmount them by faith, but let them not cast you down.   - Charles Spurgeon It seems that I can't get away from suffering. Lately it's been a recurring theme in my reading and listening, and not by my own design. Which makes me wonder if the Lord is preparing me for something. Or maybe He's preparing me to minister to others. Either way, I haven't been able to ignore this providence. Join me at Out of the Ordinary to read the rest...

Today I'm over at Out of the Ordinary, rambling on with my thoughts on common grace.  You can read it by clicking here .

I've been reading Housewife Theologian all year, carefully pondering each chapter and how it applies to life. Despite the amount of time I've given to this project, I never saw the overarching theme and importance of the book until last week when I read a devotion based on 1 Timothy 4. This short chapter of Scripture packs a powerful punch. Paul's words give me much to mull over. He is exhorting Timothy to godliness, to live as he has been "trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed" (v. 6). He encourages the young pastor to "set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity" (v. 12), to "[p]ractice these things, immerse yourself in them" (v. 15). These words have become especially clear to me as I've been reading The Hiding Place while studying the Housewife Theologian chapter on hospitality. Corrie ten Boom's family opened their homes and lives to the very le...

[The] avid interest of the countryman in his neighbours is a most vital part of country living, and is the cause of both pleasure and annoyance. I suppose it springs from the common and pressing need for a story. Books supply the panacea to this fever for those who read; but for the people who find reading distasteful, or are too sleepy after a day's work in the open air to bother with books, then this living drama which unfolds, day by day, constitutes one long enthralling serial, with sub-plots, digressions, flash-backs and many delicious aspects of the same incident as seen through various watchers' eyes. ~Miss Read, Village Diary I find great truth in this excerpt. I am easily held captive by the living drama that plays out before me on social media. The cure is simple: when I spend more time reading, I spend less time staring at a screen. It's time to lay in a supply of good books and teas for the Autumn and Winter...

I'm continuing to read Jean Fleming's Pursue the Intentional Life , taking it slowing and letting the thoughts and challenges of the book sink into my soul. I've underlined and marked many passages, praying that they will stay with me. I'm learning a great deal that's particularly meaningful to me at this point in my life. As I've said repeatedly, I continue to ponder the intentional life and what it means. Not just what it means in general, but what it means for me . I'm continually  challenging myself to implement what I'm learning, through Scripture and Fleming's book.  I'm sure it will be something I do for the rest of my life. At least I hope so. I've set goals , to narrow my focus to the areas that are most important to my life and my family now. I imagine they always will be. The reality of how short I fall in each of these areas is startling and humbling; the progress to be made, overwhelming. My natural - and sinful - inclina...

A while ago my friend Trisha reviewed Pursue the Intentional Life by Jean Fleming. I already had the book on my wishlist. Trisha's review  sparked me to move it off the wishlist and into my shopping cart. Sometime after that, Becky told me she was reading as well and suggested the three of us write a series of blog posts about the impact the book has made on our lives. Join me over at Trisha's lovely blog today as we continue discussing how to finish well and pursue an intentional life.

...if you - you married women - embrace the truth that your womanhood, true womanhood is uniquely and indispensably created by God to display the glory of His Son in the way you relate to your husband, you will have a calling of infinite significance.  - John Piper ( source ) As I hoped it would, reading intentionally gives me a fresh perspective; in January I read with eyes bent toward my role in our home and helping my husband . Once I began looking, I couldn't stop seeing .  My Living Intentionally notebook can't confine the lessons, they're pouring out into my thoughts and - oh, how I pray! - my actions. One lesson that has struck me with force came through reading A Severe Mercy . It's an exquisitely written account of the love and marriage of the author, Sheldon Vanauken, and his wife, Davy, and her untimely death. In the pages of their story, the Holy Spirit pricked my heart. " A year before her death, Davy offered-up her life for me, for the fulf...

One step on the path of intentional living , and I was confronted with soul-searching questions . I have not yet made it past the first set. How do I support, protect, and help my husband? The conundrum burrows deeper into my spirit as I read Ephesians 5:22-24, and  these words from Claire Smith: The husband is to promote his wife's godliness and sanctification, sparing no effort in advancing the work of Christ in her life. He is to help her prepare for the future marriage of Christ and the church. ( God's Good Design , p.119) The command to submit rings in my ears. Not because I don't want to submit to my husband, although there have been times when this has been the case. Not because it's unfair or antiquated, as the women's liberation movement decries. No, I keep mulling this command over and over in light of Genesis 2:18, and my role as my husband's helper. Aimee gives me something to consider: As a helper, we always need to remember that we repres...

If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. The grammar of this old Southern bit of wisdom makes me cringe, but the older I get the more I understand - and am convicted by - the truth it contains: my attitude, countenance, words, mood, and actions set the tone in our home. As I begin this journey toward intentional living , I have found exhortation in Aimee 's wise words in Chapter One , We must certainly show forth our Lord God's beauty in this awesome task [being a helper to our husbands]. And for us to do this properly, it is imperative that we are functioning appropriately in our role. (p. 22) I see these very words lived out in the life of Sarah Edwards .  As Noel Piper says, Sarah Edwards was a supporter, protector and homebuilder for her husband, a godly mother and example for her children, and a hostess, comforter and encourager to guests. While she uniformly paid a becoming deference to her husband and treated him with entire respect, she spared no pain...

"Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. Let your soul be filled with a sense of the excellence of Christ." - Robert Murray M'Cheyne When you think about the deeply narcissistic age in which we live and how much we are tempted and encouraged to be focused on ourselves, M'Cheyne's words still echo in our ears down through the corridors of time. We need to take them to heart every single day. ~ Alistair Begg & Sinclair Ferguson, Name above All Names (37) I look at myself too much. Not necessarily in a mirror, although that is probably true. Throughout the day, I look at myself constantly - internally grading my performance at work, mentally patting myself on the back for my efforts to care for my family, silently berating myself for not keeping our home as clean as I'd like, congratulating myself for any number of trivial things. There is no end to how often I think of myself. Is it any wonder I don...

In a world of endless self-promotion obscurity may seem enigmatic, foolish, and futile. From the moment the serpent enticed Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, mankind has been trying to supplant God; each of us has become the center of our own little universe. Perhaps we want to put God in His rightful place, but we have no idea how to start. We must first understand what it means to actually embrace obscurity. It's "... not about wiping ourselves from existence but rather, voluntarily, becoming nothing in light of everything God is and has promised us. Why? So we can bring Him greater glory. It's about making Him, not ourselves, look good ." (p. 3) Now that we understand the purpose of living a life of obscurity (or, as I call it, a quiet life ), we can begin to think about what it encompasses. Modern technology has certainly reduced the size of the world. News satellites, the internet, and social media put information and relationships at our fingertips. With all o...

Hello, Melissa. We were in a shop at Disney World. I was eight and I'd never seen this man behind the counter before. How did he know my name? I was not young enough to think it was magic; I thought it was creepy. I knew I wasn't in any real danger. After all, my parents were beside me. In fact, when I demanded to know how he could call me by name, they erupted in laughter. I didn't understand. This was not funny. I was on the verge of tears. When Mama realized how upset I was, she prompted me to look down. The day had been so full that I'd forgotten my name was embroidered across the top of my peach-colored shirt. As we left the shop I feigned laughter at my own silliness, but deep down I was unsettled. The world has changed considerably since 1976. Our names are emblazoned on practically everything, our pictures online for the entire world to see. Far from being creeped out when strangers call us by name, we have made them privy to our innermost thoughts. We li...

God uses all the circumstances of life to shape the trajectory of our growth in grace, including the doctrines that we adopt and the churches that we attend. He is sovereign over each and every detail that will shape the trajectory of each individual growth curve. We will not all reach the same level of maturity in Christ, nor will we all believe identical things in this life, but every one of us will live and grow under his loving care and sovereign rule. (loc 439) Every chapter of Barbara Duguid's book  Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness challenged my thinking. Using the writings of John Newton (author of the hymn "Amazing Grace"), Duguid makes a compelling argument that God uses our sin for His glory. I must admit, there were times I shook my head and wanted to throw my hands up in frustration as I read. As Duguid writes, "It is a radical and almost frightening thought to see that God is actually as much at work in our worst moments ...

In the 18 years we spent at our former church, we witnessed first hand the turmoil that being without proper leadership brings. Each time we were without a pastor, chaos ensued. Relationships and ministries suffered because the church had no clear leader. Perhaps that's why the church government of a different denomination appealed to us so strongly. We didn't set out to move to another denomination but when our pastor introduced the leadership model during our new members' class, my husband and I were thrilled. The last mark of a healthy church is biblical church leadership. Mark Dever spends this final chapter discussing five facets of church leadership: congregational context, biblical qualifications, charismatic nature, Christlikeness, and relationship to God's nature and character. I've spent this summer blogging through  Nine Marks of a Healthy Church , and I've realized that, as much as we church members want to put the responsibility of the church...