In a quote…..

…from “Can We Trust The Gospels,” Dr. John R. W. Stott speaks to Mark D. Roberts, the author of the book, about Mark’s fear, as a freshman, that the study of the Scriptures in an academic way will undermine faith:

“I can understand your conflict and your fear,” Dr. Stott began, “Because I’ve felt them myself. Many of the popular theories in New Testament scholarship do challenge orthodox Christianity.”

“But, ” he continued, “you don’t have to be afraid. Let me tell you something that will give you confidence as you study: All truth is God’s truth. There isn’t anything true about the Bible that God doesn’t already know. You don’t have to fear that if you dig too deeply you’ll undermine genuine Christian faith. You may indeed discover that some of your beliefs aren’t correct.

What I am currently reading…………..

I just began reading “The Pleasures of God” by John Piper. In the preface, I read the following: “I ask people wherever I go: Do you feel loved by God because you believe he makes much of you, or because you believe he frees you and empowers you to enjoy making much of him? It is the difference between the modern world where all terminates on self, and the biblical world where all terminates on God. Add to that statement this twist: Since only God can satisfy the soul forever, his freeing us to make much of him is the deepest act of love possible - especially when it happens at the cost of his Son. To feel loved in this way, one must savor God as the most excellent of all beings. That is what this book is about.”

I look forward to a challenging read. I finished reading “Don’t Waste Your Life” by Piper, and the book profoundly focused my thinking in regards to living a Christ-centric life. In regards to the aforementioned quote from the preface to The Pleasures of God, how tempting it is to lean towards the former, where all terminates on self, rather than the later, where all terminates on God.

I have been guilty, and continue to be in varying degrees, of engaging a God of my own design, a cosmic concierge, rather than the God of the ‘biblical world.’ That being said, I have supreme confidence, as I endeavor to faithfully engage His word and His church, that He who called me will conform me by the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as he will for all who love Christ and are called according to his purpose, to his image. I find, as God directs this process, those temporal things that once delighted increasing cease to satisfy.

Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.