thoughts on the eve of breaking bread

I've just been pondering Paul's doxology at the end of Romans 11. It is so beautiful considering the depth of theology he has just been laying down: "Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor?' 'Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?' For asasdasdfrom and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." I'm sitting here amazed at the providence of the Almighty. "Who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?" Matt Redman wrote a song about this concept called "Breathing the Breath", on his Facedown record. We have nothing to give That didn't first come from Your hands We have nothing to offer You Which You did not provide Every good, perfect gift comes from Your kind and gracious heart And all we do is give back to You What always has been Yours Lord, we're breathing the breath That You gave us to breathe To worship You, to worship You And we're singing these songs With the very same breath To worship You, to worship You Who has given to You That it should be paid back to him? Who has given to You As if You needed anything? From You, and to You, and through You Come all things, O Lord And all we do is give back to You What always has been Yours We are breathing the breath That You gave us to breathe I love that statement: "And all we do is give back to you what always has been yours". God has never lacked praise. In eternity past He was praised in perfection by His Son, His Spirit and the angels. He made man in His own image to show His dominion and glory all over creation. Tomorrow I'm going to break bread with some of my brothers and sisters. I'm going to remember the One Who gave His life, who asked His Father to "forgive them for they know not what they do" as men killed Him rather than praised Him. I can't wait to be a part of the chorus that rises from the redeemed. I can't wait to fathom the depths of His grace toward me, a renegade, and towards countless others like me. And all praise that arises from this soul is something that does not originate in me nor in me does it find its culmination. It is from Him, through Him and to Him. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

Jealous for my affection

Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
(Exo 34:12-14)

This morning I pondered a message from John Piper. The message was about our affection for Christ- specifically, how does my affection for Christ compare to my affection for the "other" things I love in my life? How does it compare with my love of comfort? My love for "down time"? My love for Amy and Matthew?

I love to spend time with Amy and Matthew, they are gifts from God. I enjoy leisure time, kicking back and taking in a football or basketball game. And I believe that those things too are gifts from God given for my enjoyment. But when enjoyment of those things becomes an end in itself and not a means to enjoying God, I become an idolater.

This morning my prayer is that my affections, my deepest love, would be reserved for God alone. That I could enjoy all other things only as a means of enjoying Him, never letting my delight in temporal pleasures compete with my utmost delight in the one for Whom I was made.

God is jealous for my affection. He does not want me to take things which He has made good and mold them into idols. All things in my life should point toward the God Who made me for Himself.

We bow our hearts
we bend our knees
O, Spirit, come make us humble
we turn our eyes
from evil things
O, Lord, we cast down our idols

Give us clean hands
give us pure hearts
let us not lift our souls to another

O, God, let us be
a generation that seeks
who seeks your face, O God of Jacob
"Clean Hands", by Charlie Hall