Why we love to praise what we enjoy

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This week I have been thinking a lot about the relationship between praise and joy. Have you noticed that we, as humans, love to praise? We were built for it. Praise is the outcome of what, or who, we enjoy. It is the eruption, and completion, that inevitably results in response to the joy we experience in someone or something. In other words, our joy and our praise are directly related; we praise what we enjoy and enjoy what we praise. God calls for our praise, not as a detached, isolated act, but because he is the most-to-be-enjoyed of all things we enjoy. Do you enjoy him? The best measure is your praise of him. I love how CS Lewis brings this point to life...

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Be careful how you treat God

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“Be careful how you treat God, my friends. You may say to yourself, ‘I can sin against God and then, of course, I can repent and go back and find God whenever I want him.’ You try it. And you will sometimes find that not only can you not find God but that you do not even want to. You will be aware of a terrible hardness in your heart. And you can do nothing about it. And then you suddenly realize that it is God punishing you in order to reveal your sinfulness and your vileness to you. And there is only one thing to do. You turn back to him and you say, ‘O God, do not go on dealing with me judicially, though I deserve it. Soften my heart. Melt me. I cannot do it myself.’ You cast yourself utterly upon his mercy and upon his compassion.”
— D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival (Westchester, 1987), p 300

Simply to say prayers is not to pray

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I am devoting a significant portion of my allotted reading this year to CS Lewis. You may have noticed an inordinate number of references and quotes by Lewis, from me, over the last 12 months and that is why. Though not a theologian, he was a brilliant thinker and a genius at taking profound truths and (literally) making them accessible to children. Like us, he too lived in a world of war, urbanization, increasing secularization and unbelief (popular and academic) in regards to the truthfulness of Christianity. Though imperfect, and oddly eccentric, we still have much to learn from him. Most recently I completed reading The World's Last Night and Other Essays, one of which was on the Efficacy of Prayer. Here's a sample:

“Simply to say prayers is not to pray; otherwise a team of properly trained parrots would serve as well as men....The very question “Does prayer work?” puts us in the wrong frame of mind from the outset. “Work”: as if it were magic, or a machine - something that functions automatically. Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person. Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine.”

Why the type of faith required by Christianity is more common than we suppose

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This is the best page of writing I've read in the last two weeks, so I thought I would share it here due to its clarity, insightfulness and wisdom. Lewis is such a help when it comes to taking seemingly complex matters and reframing them in ways that leave the reader wondering why he had not seen such things before. In his essay, On Obstinacy in Belief, he devotes a section to tackling the common objection that the type of faith (or trust) required by Christianity is simple-minded, naive and un-intelligent. His response is worth reading and considering. 

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The dangerous calling of pastoral ministry

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Over our most recent family vacation I spent some time reviewing a number of books I read earlier this year on pastoral ministry. (I try to make a practice of periodically revisiting those I find to be particularly helpful.)  One of those was Sensing Jesus, by Zack Eswine. You can read about that here. Another wasDangerous Calling, by Paul Tripp. Though Tripp's book is directed specifically to pastors, it is a must-read for any one involved in (or considering) ministry leadership. We have already made it part of the required study for our pastor and church planter training. The beauty of the book is its simple, straightforward focus on the gospel and its practical implications in life and ministry. You could call it gospel-licious. Here are a handful of my favorite quotes. 

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Why we're selected by God to do what we do

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I am currently working my way through CS Lewis' sci-fi trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength). Though I'm not a big sci-fi fan (admittedly, I haven't been exposed to much), I am of Lewis. The series is filled with his usual brilliant wit and colorful turn of phrase. I came across the following quote this week and have been thinking about it ever since. In this particular scene, the main character is explaining the reason for which he was selected for the task at hand. Surely his reply explains why any of us are selected for anything. I am certain Lewis is right here and, one day, we will laugh at any seriousness with which we treated ourselves.   

“Don’t imagine I’ve been selected to go on to Perelandra because I’m anyone in particular. One never can see, or not till long afterwards, why any one was selected for any job. And when one does, it is usually some reason that leaves no room for vanity. Certainly, it is never for what the man himself would have regarded as his chief qualifications.”
— CS Lewis, Perelandra, 22

If you're involved in ministry (in any form) you should read this

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I'm currently in the middle of two weeks of vacation. One of my goals during this time is to revisit a number of books which have impacted me most (so far) this year. One of those is Sensing Jesus, by Zack Eswine. Before reading this book, I had never heard of Zack and, to be honest, would have judged this book by its cover. However, if I had, I would have missed a treasure trove of gospel-laden wisdom for modern-day pastors ministering in a culture of consumerism and celebrity. If you're involved in ministry (particularly in the US), you should read this. In my mind, this book should be read alongside Dangerous Calling, by Paul Tripp. I have lost track of how many times I have recommended it since I first read it. Here are a handful of my favorite quotes...

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Why forgiveness is so difficult

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“We find that the work of forgiveness has to be done over and over again. We forgive, we mortify our resentment; a week later some chain of thought carries us back to the original offense and we discover the old resentment blazing away as if nothing had been done about it at all. We need to forgive our brother seventy times seven not only for 490 offenses but for one offense.”
— CS Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 25

Spurgeon on the type of men Jesus deserves to preach his gospel

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“Yes, I see; you have failed in everything else, and therefore you think the Lord has especially endowed you for His service; but I fear you have forgotten that the ministry needs the very best men, and not those who cannot do anything else.” A man who would succeed as a preacher would probably do right well either as a grocer, or a lawyer, or anything else. A really valuable minister would have excelled at anything. There is scarcely anything impossible to a man who can keep a congregation together for years, and be the means of edifying them for hundreds of consecutive Sabbaths; he must be possessed of some abilities, and be by no means a fool or never-do-well. Jesus Christ deserves the best men to preach His cross, and not the empty-headed and the shiftless.”
— Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 37-38