I am in the process of writing a ‘rule of life’ for myself. At this point in my life (and maybe always) I need some structures/rituals that draw me to my knees before God and provide a context for me to seek his face. I trust that these will help me to place my sails in the gust of the Spirit’s wind, so to speak.

Here is Jonathan Edwards’ rule of life. And here is another guy’s rule.

Bishop N. T. Wright weighs in.

Another Wright, Christophet, weighs in on some false dichotomies in evangelical mission here, and here.

Here.

Daniel Kirk on N.T. Wright and the PCA

Daniel Kirk distinguishing Narrative theology/N. T. Wright from conservative presbyterianism (The Structure of the Universe. Part 1: The Universe, Part 2: Ethics, Part 3: Atonement, Part 4: WWJD?, Part 5: Cur Homo?, Part 6: Why Israel?, Part 7: Revealed)

Another series by Daniel Kirk: The Story of the Universe. (Part 1: A Storied God, Part 2: The Father-Creator, Part 3: The Father-Gardener, Part 4: Firstborn Son of Creation)

Lesslie Newbigin

“The world reads Christians, not the Bible.”
Andrew Marin

Reading through Genesis I was struck with how gracious God really is. Sometimes in the past I have had this idea in my mind that the biblical characters of the covenant are moral models to be emulated. And in a certain sense they are, as Hebrews 11 shows. But when I read about these guys in Genesis I begin to see that they are just as sinful as I am.

Abra(ha)m: A model of faith in a large way. Left his home country and kin to follow the Lord to the land that He would show him. But in spite of the Lord`s promise to Abram that He would make him into a great nation, Abram lied in saying that his wife Sarai (Sarah) was actually his sister, even to the point of giving her away twice as the wife of another, to save his own skin. He also took Sarai`s servant Hagar and `went into her`in order to make it a reality by his own more plausible means.
Isaac: Lied to Abimelech in saying that Rebekah was his sister, to save his own skin.
Jacob: A major deceiver – taking the whole birthright thing into his own hands – twice. His house was also full of ‘foreign gods’ (Gen. 35.2).
Joseph (although not necessarily counted as a ‘patriarch’): He was an arrogant little kid rubbing his dreams of grandeur into his brothers’ faces. He was probably the most exemplary of the four, but it took being sold by his brothers into slavery, and then yet again being wrongly put in prison for some years, in order for him to be humbled and trusting enough to follow Yahweh with this whole heart.

Clearly, then as now, it is first and foremost about God’s gracious initiative as opposed to our goodness.

A little change of pace in this post, in light of the fact that my wife is introducing me to the world of pets. The strange thing is that once you begin to see and experience pets, these quotes start to make sense…

If your dog is fat, you aren’t getting enough exercise.
-Unknown

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
-Robert A. Heinlein

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
-Mark Twain

N.T. Wright responds to Piper’s The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright and sets out in clear terms his understanding of Paul’s doctrine of ‘justification by faith’.

George Eldon Ladd, in his book The Gospel of the Kingdom makes some comments on ‘eternal life’ as a relational, experiential fellowship with God (as the characterizing feature). In an already/not yet framework he discusses Paul’s “now I know in part”. This relational, experiential fellowship with God also includes knowledge about God, for it would be very hard to know somebody if you didn’t know anything about them! But Paul, of all people, confesses that now he knows only in part, but when the Age to Come is fully manifest he will know in full, because he will see God face to face instead of through a mirror dimly (1st century mirrors were anything but crystal clear). Ladd goes on to remark that this is why Paul sees love as the greatest gift of the Spirit. It is because of our ‘in part’ knowledge (factual and relational) that we need the various gifts of the Holy Spirit in this already/not yet overlap of the ages. When the Age to Come is fully manifest, we will not need these gifts anymore. However, love will abide. Love will be the main characterization of the fully manifest life of the Age to Come. Love is the very (inter-trinitarian?) life of God.

I found this really inspiring to think about. God is love. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. The most important [commandment] is, ‘Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. It makes sense. Now let us more forward in repentance and deepening faith as we pray for the Father to work the old self out of, and the life of Jesus the Messiah into, our hearts via his Holy Spirit.