The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

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July 10, 2013

Letter #10: Closer than a Brother

Dear Jonathan,

I laughed so hard at the story about your conversation with your concussed friend. Not that concussions are funny, but the conversation was hilarious!

Believe it or not, I had a similar experience with my friend, Jeremy, while in seminary. We played intramural basketball together and he would get injured every single game (at least it seemed like it).

I even had to drive him home one night after he got a concussion. Needless to say, he did not make much sense, especially when we tried to order food at Sonic and he couldn’t even remember or pronounce the words “coke” and “hamburger.”

I share that story with you to remind you of one very important thing that is often forgotten or overlooked by seminarians…

friendship2There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

You have the amazing opportunity to form amazing, life-long friendships while in seminary. I know I have mentioned this to you before, but I wanted to tell you a little more about why I believe this is so important.

Knowing that you are heading for pastoral ministry, finding fellow pastor-friends will be vital to your (and their) spiritual, mental, and emotional health. Pastoral ministry is very unique, and it can be difficult to find friends that can understand the particular challenges you face.

However, fellow pastors can often relate to the things you experience even when you cannot express it with words. They can point you to joy in Christ when no one else can. They can pierce your heart with truth that you need to hear. They can make you laugh in almost any situation.

Find friends in seminary that will be these kinds of friends for life…people with whom you not only study, but also laugh, cry, joke, talk, etc. If you find the friends similar to those I have been blessed with…you will have found people who are as close to you as blood.

Just the other day, I received a random text from Keith that lifted my heart to the Lord. Then there’s Bradley who stops for breakfast every time he passes through my town…these times of refreshment are priceless. And whenever my soul is hurting or rejoicing, I immediately call Allen. No one else has the ability to speak life into my heart quite like him.

I know it may sound like I am exaggerating the value of friendship, but I really don’t think that is the case. I would tell you to pursue incredible, godly, passionate friends just as hard as you pursue your studies.

The friends that I have listed were people I took note of during my first and second semesters and sought them out. I was determined to make them my friends because I saw in them a treasure, a richness and authenticity in their relationship with Christ to which I wanted to get closer.

Right after Scripture (and alongside my family), God has used these friends more than anyone or anything else to speak to my heart. Jonathan, pursue brothers and sisters in Christ who will lovingly live life with you, pointing you to Jesus.

Pursue friends that will stick closer than a brother.

Grace and Peace,

J

*To know/understand the premise behind these letters please click here.

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July 2, 2013

Letter#9: Being Critical Without Becoming Cynical

Dear Jonathan,

So another semester has begun! Are you getting used to the rhythm of seminary life yet? I’m glad that you are already enjoying your new set of classes and Profs.

In your last letter, I was particularly interested in what you had to say concerning the field of “text criticism” that you are beginning to explore. It is fascinating to study the process through which we have received the text of Scripture, but there are a few things you said that bothered me…some things that sounded slightly cynical.

cynicalI want you to know that it is possible to be critical without becoming cynical.

Seminary is a wonderful time to ask questions, engage your mind, and think deeply…in fact I hope seminary is not the only place for this, but the church as well. Yet, seminary does afford you a focused time for serious thought.

However, do not believe the lie that you have to check your faith at the door in order to engage with critical scholarship. Let’s take the field of “text criticism” as an example.

You told me that seeing the multi-layered process through which the text has been transmitted to us took some of the awe and wonder out of it all. Suddenly, the Bible did not seem like this beautiful book handed to us by God, but a very normal historical source that has been formed through a human editing process.

That is only one way of looking at the facts! Could we not also say that this long, tedious process of textual transmission puts God’s providence on display in a most remarkable way? Could we not say this affirms the truth that our God loves to communicate with us through very physical means!

Our God does not bifurcate the spiritual and physical, but is apparently bent on communicating spiritual realities through very physical things!

Is this not affirmed by baptism, communion, preaching, Bible reading, prayer, music…even the incarnation itself! God himself put on flesh and communicated with us through the gritty means of language and action.

Lev_septuagintThe fact that Scripture has been passed down from one generation to the next in a very nitty, gritty process affirms who our God is and how he works! Many other religions have holy books that have been seemingly dropped from the sky, but our God is the one who created all things and loves to work through those things.

Jonathan, think critically! Engage your studies in a manner that forces you to dig, evaluate, wrestle, and draw conclusions…but fight cynicism. The road of critical scholarship does not necessarily lead to the dead end of cynicism. No! If you end up in that cul-de-sac it is because you drove yourself there!

Many great, critical thinkers are some of the most faith-filled theologians! The harder they press into the study of the Word, the more they are filled with faith in the God of the Word!

Always remember, you do not stand over Scripture to master it! Through the Word, God is mastering you! Engage the Bible critically for the sake of seeing more of God, not more of man…and may the Spirit reveal to you the wonders of how he works spiritual wonders through very physical means.

You can be critical without becoming cynical!

Grace and Peace,

J

*To know/understand the premise behind these letters please click here.

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June 27, 2013

My Purpose

life-purpose2How does one define the purpose of their life?

Life can often seem so pointless. Like you are just going through mundane day after mundane day with no real direction or eternal significance. How do remind ourselves of why we are here?

I have found Paul’s words in Philippians 1:20-26 to be particularly helpful for daily setting my mind on the reason I’m still breathing. Every morning, when I wake, I quote these words to myself…

“…it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress andjoy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus…”

I agree with Paul…if I compare this life to being present with Jesus in glory, it would be far better to depart and be with Christ. But, as long as I am here, there is a reason for my presence, and Paul brings clarity to that reason…I labor to point others to Jesus in all that I do, so that they (and I) may progress in joy and the faith!

I do all things that people may have ample cause to glory in Christ!

ByPurposeThe purpose of my mundane day to day life is to lift high Jesus and proclaim every glorious reason we have to trust in him and rejoice in him.

The mundane and monotonous are redeemed by the monumental and mesmerizing glory of Jesus!

Day after day, our “regular, routine” lives are drawn up into the eternal realities of the living God. As you work, parent, change diapers, think, read, write, talk, meet deadlines, hurt, rejoice, suffer, endure, make friends, struggle…as you do normal life…enormous, eternal things are at stake.

All you do, even things as mundane as eating (1 Corinthians 10:31), can be done for the glory of Christ! All you do can point people from the daily to the eternal!

Nothing you do is insignificant!

To live is Christ! And, all we do may be done for him! Nothing is mundane! Everything is monumental…for Christ may be honored/glorified in all!

4458294625_f17dd8dbb7Have full courage! Live to give your kids, your coworkers, your family, your friends ample cause to glory in Jesus!

To live…with every mundane moment being caught up in monumental meaning…because…to live IS CHRIST!

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