– Colossians 1:15-17

Self-deception in the life of the Christian is an insidious thing. We often find ourselves undertaking a fool’s errand in the service of nothing more than a self-righteous piety. Suppose you discover, much to your horror, that you have made something of an idol out of a mere created thing (be it visible or invisible). You have abandoned your purported first love and taken on a mistress. I suspect for most of us this is not difficult to imagine. For most of us, there is nothing to imagine, as it is all too real – either a recent memory or perhaps a present reality.

How do we respond to this discovery? -

We may seek to correct our mistake by disengaging, by abstaining, from the illicit affair. So repulsed are we at our infidelity, we may weep bitterly. Some tears may even be shed for the dear thing we’ve now lost; given up through the sheer force of our own self-determination. We are determined to have no other gods before him. So, we identify our idols and cut off their heads, throwing them into the fire.

Yet, soon there will come another unpleasant discovery and, later, another still. Didn’t Calvin say that the heart is an idol factory? – We take some shallow comfort in the universality of our experience. Perhaps, we might even take some satisfaction in the fact that we engage ourselves in this pious work at all – pitying those who are so ignorant and backwards as to worship their idols without thought or care. We are not like them.

No, we are not like them. The depth of our self-deception and the heights of our hypocrisy are far greater than theirs. For they are at least consistent in their rebellion – they make no claims to ‘having seen the light’

We do. Even so, we deceive ourselves by arbitrarily choosing the chief distraction – the whore of the moment – and picking up stones to do away with her ourselves. Having identified what is a real error, we all too often fail to address its root. The heart is an idol factory. It is that factory that must be destroyed.

Idolatry is rooted in a false prioritization of anything before the living God. This essence of all evil is produced in us by the opposite of faith. It is birthed out of our self-determination. Idols are made when we claim for ourselves the exclusive right to uphold the universe by the word of our own power – when we claim that anything has its true meaning, its ultimate significance, in our acceptance, apprehension, and estimation of it. In short, we can only suffer idolatry when we apply the edict: perception equals reality.

Of course, in order for an edict to be effectual, it must be backed by an appropriate authority. In asserting this metaphysical edict of our own authority (since it is nothing more than that itself), we make ourselves out to be God. We take on for ourselves that queer claim of Jesus Christ that is the great offense of the gospel. In short, we blaspheme.

It is nothing more or less than self-righteous empty human religion to deconstruct endlessly our idolatrous relationships to the created order – to play the martyr and embrace a masochistic, so-called, self-denial – while failing to recognize that the true competitor to the living God is not whatever we have presumed to destroy but is, in fact, ourselves. We are, in point of fact, no better off than our pagan friends – no more capable to deliver ourselves from the folly of our self-deception. We are no more ready to recognize than they that real justice and righteousness demand that we cut off – not the head of the harlot – but our own. We fail to see that it is our own person that must be thrown into the fire.

Until we refuse to labor in the factory of our hearts and instead set fire to its walls, we have no claim to true religion or the living God. We must do more than simply deny ourselves something. We must deny ourselves.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

– Matthew 16:25

In thinking about how to best answer this question, I decided to write a little about the nature of my faith and found myself turning again and again to my favorite book of the Bible (Hebrews). So, I hope that my wanderings (from mere lists) will be forgiven, if not entirely unwelcome.

- – -

Having said that, here is my (mere) list:

I – God is that which is most real and, by his light, he reveals all that is such. (John 1:1-3, Heb. 11:3, Ps. 33:6-9, 119:105, Prov. 1:7)

II – God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. (Heb. 1:1)

III – We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. (Heb. 2:1)

IV – These things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. (1 Cor. 10:6)

V – How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? (Heb. 2:3)

- – -

I ) God is that which is most real and, by his light, he reveals all that is such –

In discussing reasons of any kind, I think it is necessary to recognize the reality of God’s existence. Apart from him, any discussion of ‘reasons’ (or even reason itself) becomes unintelligible. So, the answer to this question (as for all questions) has to be the person of God. It is perhaps obvious to say that “the existence of God is the reason we should study the Old Testament.” However, the author of Hebrews felt it necessary to explicitly state belief in this fact as a prerequisite for drawing near to Him (Heb. 11:6).

God is that which is most real. That is, God alone is self-existent and self-sustaining. Everything else was created by God and is sustained by him. In this way, he serves as the very basis for all things and (not much of a stretch) knowledge about those things. Van Til used to say that “every fact is a created fact.” Since this is true, it is impossible to conceive of interpreting those facts correctly apart from their Creator.

God’s revelation in the Bible is the interpretation of the facts of creation. It is the only authoritative interpretation, as it is that of the Creator himself. All that to say, without faith it is futile to study anything. Believing that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb. 11:6), the Christian has the only basis for knowledge and stands to benefit greatly (and uniquely) from the discipline of seeking it in his studies.

- – -

II ) God spoke to our fathers by the prophets -

The fact of God’s self-revelation is utterly amazing. God spoke! God, if it be he who works, works in no uncertain terms. For, he will never be robbed of his glory. God is not hiding away somewhere, wishing that someone might navigate the labyrinth of his universe, that he might be found. He speaks! He has made himself known. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets (Heb. 1:1) and it has been recorded and preserved in a collection of books.

- – -

III ) We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it -

There are some things that are powerful for their truth and not necessarily their amiability. These things can be sweet. They can even be sung. I have always felt this way about this line in Come thou Fount:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.

That is a truth that is devastatingly real for me. The maxim of my Christian life has been: don’t despise what you know to be true. We only know anything because God is there and is not silent (as Schaeffer would say). God has spoken. Faith comes by hearing. I have heard much. I long to pay much closer attention to what I have heard.

- – -

IV ) These things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did -

Many people talk about the history of God’s people in the Old Testament as a kind of corporate expression of what we experience (in microcosm) as believers. This is not hyperbole. Paul writes that these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did (1 Cor. 10:6).

It is this kind of talk (see also: Rom. 15:4 and 1 Peter 1:10-12) in the New Testament that paints an awesome picture of God’s design in the happenings of the Old Testament. It is not just that the Old Testament provides examples for us (like the reading of good fiction might), but that the very events themselves (stop and think about that!) “took place as examples for us.” God, the sovereign author of, not just inspired writings, but all of history, takes us into account as he puts pen to paper and sees whole civilizations rise and fall! The word of God is living and active (Heb. 4:12), indeed!

- – -

V ) How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? -

The message declared by angels proved to be reliable (Heb. 2:2). That message refers to the law given to moses at Sinai. It is as though the author of Hebrews says to us: “since the message (of the Old Testament) proved to be reliable, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation (which was made clear in the message of the New Testament)?” (Heb 2:2,3).

If the Old Testament message is unreliable or ignored, there can be no context to even begin to understand the life of Christ. Since the message is reliable, we can enjoy such a great salvation. Discounting the Old Testament not only results in a neglecting of salvation, but the utter impossibility and incoherency of the concept itself.

- 1 Timothy 6:17-19

O Lord, it is so wonderful to know you in that which is truly life. That my running would not be after riches and fleeting pleasures of this world – but rather – surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let me also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let me run with endurance the race that is set before me, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of your throne (Hebrews 12:1-2). O Father, your word is so precious to me! Break my heart before the words of your Son:

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

- Matthew 10:39

How close have I come to losing my life in my effort to find it on my own, Lord? – How hard have I sought after position or security apart from you? -

“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

- James 4:4

Teach me what it means to never love the world to the exclusion of you – but – always love you to inclusion of the world! For whoever loses his life for your sake will find it

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

- John 17:3

O Lord, I long for you – the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6) – You are the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8 ) Riches are uncertain – but – you are the very basis for inexhaustible certainty! – You are that which is most real, and by your light, you reveal all that is such! Make me yours – that I might come to know Jesus more and more – which is truly life -

- Psalm 30:5

The first day of winter has brought us the first falling of snow. It is an inescapable reminder of the vividness of creation, as Christ upholds it. He makes all things new.

God is merciful in the changing of seasons. For we are so prone to complacency in our fallen condition that we are like whitewashers of an entirely different sort. We don’t coat our fallow ground with an insulating blanket to reflect the brilliance of light, which brings the warmth of hope, until the plow comes in its season. No, our coating is a vain deadening that knows no end. It pretends peace and if it knows anything of light, it is only in refraction.

It takes a God given change in the whole landscape to finally cause me to stop my efforts to create beauty and sit silently to behold His.

Travel can induce a kind of artificial contentment. What beauty we refuse to see in our own backyard often screams at us from across an ocean. What sorrow a painter would feel if he knew his masterwork was finally hauled up to the attic, to make friends with the dust, in return for his generosity in loaning it for so long.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

- Lamentations 3:22-23

He knows our fickle hearts and has compassion on us. His paint has not only colour – but – movement and life; always fluid to meet us where we are. Joy is a mercy that is new every morning for those whose eyes have been opened to light and blinded to darkness.

Snow-blind,

C. W.

If we live in God’s grace,
We’ll see all that we ought.

People say that perception equals reality. However, the reality of perception is that it is, no more or less than, the determining factor in the question of real knowledge vs. self-deception concerning what is. Perception does not equal reality. It merely determines whether we benefit from a proper understanding of it.

We saints often find ourselves in a fog of false fellowship, motivated by nothing but the sake of appearances, we forget the reality of perception and despise what we know to be true. Chiefly, that truth exists and can be known in Christ.

A. W. Tozer said that true revival only results from a critical mass of individuals who are, themselves, independently seeking God. He called it ‘heart religion’.

I call it damning.

Do you fancy yourself a revolutionary? – Real change (that pleases God) is born first in the prayer closet of the desperate broken-hearted saint.

Prayer is the realization of God’s will – both for the saint and for God.

Prayer is the answer to the saint’s – What

We realize His will in the substance of our prayers, which is, itself, given us by the Spirit. In this way, we (literally) come to the realization of God’s will in what we pray.

Prayer is the answer to God’s – How

God chooses prayer as the means to bring about the end of His will in this age because He works in no uncertain terms so as to never be robbed of His glory. In this way, God has ordained that our prayers serve (literally) as the realization of His will on earth.

O that I would realize His will

In prayer,

C. W.

- G. K. Chesterton

It is merciful of God to prevent those of us moving in our own strength from speaking His words in power by His Spirit. A mercy and a necessity. For, if it be He who works, it will be in no uncertain terms. So, I find myself both thankful and ashamed that I held my tongue so well at Thanksgiving. It will not do to say what ought have been said, in love, then and there, in vanity, here and now. No, I thank God for His mercy – and knowing it – even in rebellion – receive it in forgiveness.

It does start me thinking though . . . thinking on what repentance and obedience look like when the commanded and sovereign wills of God collide in our experience.

So it is that I find myself in my current circumstance – undoubtedly – as a result of, perhaps countless, decisions made apart from faith – and – apart from God. That is to say, I have violated His commanded will.

Yet, I know that – even in my rebellion – my very sinful actions serve to prove God’s will. For, everything serves to prove God’s will and His will is never proven in vain. That is to say, I am only, ever, and always having my being within the sovereign will of God.

So, what of my current situation? – - – - – Should I be scurrying about to correct my mistakes – that is, by undoing their ramifications (my very life, such as it is)?

It is interesting – and, oh so, liberating – to know that when we know God in repentance, and His grace in help to keep His commandments – He allows us peace and rest in His sovereign will. So much so that we can say:

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

- Romans 8:28

I was called to not sit idly by and let darkness pass unanswered by the light – even, and perhaps most especially, when that darkness is found in my own family. Yet…

there, to my great shame, I found myself company for the nights unrepentant misery.

Now, it is left for me to weep – knowing that while my silence is worked together by God for my own good – it bears witness, in stark contrast, to His wrath being proven against them.

Yet, my calling still remains, by His grace He shall make me, and His will, perfect in it.

O to be humble – it is to give voice to the truth!

It was Van Till who suggested that real boldness only comes from absolute humility -

God answers the prayers of His saints…

Praying for a humble voice

To speak at a total loss,

C. W.

P.S. – I believe in ‘the best of all possible worlds’ (I have to), I live in it.

So, what am I trying to say? –

Only what I believe to be real.

So, what is that exactly? –

Firstly, God. If not Him, than nothing.

That is, perhaps, abstract at best and obvious at worst –

Although, have you ever considered the humble position of a child? They know hardly anything. Yet, they know it so well. I would submit that they are aware of this position. This status is enjoyed as a kind of romantic curiosity. We then, as learned adults, often come along and say something to them like:

“You think you know everything but you really don’t understand anything.”

I would argue that the opposite is closer to the truth. In fact, I would go further and say that the above is a more proper description of most adults in the world.

You see, children are born into a world of absolutes. Everything is black and white, right and wrong. It is a world populated with clear distinctions. Theirs is a worldview characterized by utter dependence. Rightfully so, as the child is utterly dependant on its parents and, in a more philosophical sense, all things external. As no one can give birth to ones self. Rather, we come to realize that we were something a victim in the whole affair.

So, the child knows that it is a victim of circumstance right from the very beginning. Whereas, we wise adults spend our whole intellectual development trying to convince ourselves of the opposite. We rebel against the slightest suggestion that we are dependant in anyway on anything or anyone.

It is incredible because the child’s innate understanding of things (hardly well thought out and devoid of any pretense) is very much the way things are. That is, they understand that there are things to know (that can be known) and also, I think, that they know hardly any of them. This makes them quite curious. They do not, and mark it well, throw up their little hands in despair and say: “Even if absolutes do exist, I can never know them absolutely!”

No, they go on about the happy business of discovery – knowing, all the while, that there is more to be uncovered.

The point of all this? –

We are called to have faith like a child.

What if faith had a revelatory function? –

This function could be described like this:

Faith is the means by which God reveals that which is (reality) to whom he wills.

A child looks at the world with wonder, not because reality is ultimately uncertain. Understand this, not entirely. Rather, he views the world with wonder (a curious child-like faith) because it is almost too certain. That is, there are seemingly endless things to know and they can seemingly be known endlessly.

There is always a positive and a negative way to view anything. I would argue that most people today view romanticism in terms of the negative to the tragic exclusion of the positive. A Christian Theistic view of the romantic – we could call it: Christian mysticism – is rooted, as is all else, in the very person of God. More particularly, it is rooted in his being incomprehensible.

So, in order to view romanticism correctly, one must have a correct view of the incomprehensibility of God. This is a doctrine that arises from God being infinite. Consequently, it is not so much that he cannot be known. In fact, God is that which is most knowable, simply because there is more to know about him than anything else. Just because we will never know him fully, does not mean that we cannot know him truly.

In this way, God is the very essence of inexhaustible certainty. I believe that this is the proper basis for romanticism – or the intangibles in life (i.e., beauty, love, that feeling you get when a cool breeze hits you on a warm summer day, etc.). This is certainty we come to through experience. We all experience the world around us, insofar as we have been born into it. So, consequently, we all have experienced certainty.

Having seen so much, we all make a choice. It is a decision. We all have to answer the question:

How do I account for such certainty?

Or

How do I explain reality?

The child knows that it is not his place to write his story, but rather, to live it. Isn’t it strange that, as adults, we often come to reject this most obvious state of things? The very state of ourselves in our world. We attempt to support everything in and of ourselves. The tragic result, however, is that we lose the very possibility of supporting anything. When all we need do is enjoy what has been given us, we all too often feel the need to claim responsibility for it. So, through our sense of entitlement, we reject the very gift of life.

I believe all this to be consistent with Christian Scripture:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”

- Romans 1:16-23

Note, particularly, verse twenty:

“…his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

This is a picture of certainty. We are only condemned on the basis of what we know and never what we do not. Certainty is only possible if rooted in some authority. The only authority large enough is that of God himself. God has revealed himself. As a result, we can have real certainty. We can have real knowledge.

All that to say,

To deny certainty is to deny God.

To suggest that certainty can only come through a human institution is to do the same.

These two sentiments are, very much, the basis for my agreeing and disagreeing with various things that have been expressed here. I trust that I have not assumed too much in these disagreements. If so, I am sorry and quite thankful.

It is at a total loss that we come to know Him, the greatest of gains.

At a total loss,

C. W.

You know, being a recuperating fundamentalist, my first inclination is to pick apart your passionate discourses. It is to find fault. O how I hate that inclination. There is so much beauty in your words and their meanings.

So, I will glory in that instead. They are the things that draw me to worship in your words. First, and foremost, it is the longing after the God who is real. I do not classify myself as a ‘postmodern Christian’ and I suspect that you would say the same of yourselves. Yet, I do love the spirit that looks outside of men (and their hierarchical constructs) for authority.

Moreover, I delight in and am quite satisfied to join your struggle against the institutionalization of spirituality. The body that presumes to be the visible manifestation of the Church universal in the west is, I believe with you, little more than empty human religion. Indeed, they negate God in their very preaching, liturgy, and endless methodologies.

The attempt to systematize the spiritual disciplines results in little more than Christ-less legalism.

The somewhat blasphemous hypothetical illustrates this wonderfully:

“If God did not exist, what would change in your church?”

Far too often the answer comes back… “nothing”.

The church that does not need God for its every movement is utterly bankrupt and has nothing to offer a dying world. Rather, it is, itself, in want of a savior.

Fundamentalists find their certainty in the authority of Scripture. Well, that’s what they say. However, with a concept of priesthood tragically and unwittingly adopted from Romanism, they far too often place the authority in the interpretation of a man (the senior pastor) – rather than that of God.

How to say – - – certainty is possible. It is the essence of the gospel. It is who God is. However, it will never be dependant on any interpretation of man. Yet, it is found – in varying degrees – in the heart of every man.

I believe in common grace, and in general revelation. I also believe that it often manifests itself strikingly in the things we cannot deny. Every culture gets some of it right and some of it wrong. Culture can be seen as the corporate personality. So, as a microcosm each individual gets some things right and some things wrong which are intrinsic in their personality.

That which is most undeniable to a man is often that part of reality that God, in his mercy, has allowed him to see most. These are the sweetest and most beautiful things in life – they become the basis for philosophies and countless, more tangible, works of creativity.

The tragedy is, I believe, that we often see them as significant in and of themselves – not recognizing that they are the reflected glory of God – and we are meant to enjoy (worship) Him in them. We are called not to love the world to the exclusion of God, but rather, God to the inclusion of the world.

It is left for God to reveal, by grace and through faith, what is real. It is not an accident that He always starts with Himself. For, He is that which is most real.

In this way, Jesus is not some icon – or even – just some profoundly important and genuinely perfect person – He is, in the words of (for my money) Apollos:

“The radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature…”

- Hebrews 1:3

“At many times and in many ways,” we read before the above statement, “God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son.”

God is real. It is no happy accident that faith in Christ is the only faith that reveals that which is most real (God) and by his light, all that is such.

It is in these things, my brother and sister, that we part ways. And may I be damned if I speak of them out of arrogance or with a haughty spirit. For I own none of it – save from God lavishing it upon me as a gift.

To give up the only legitimate epistemology (or theory of knowledge) in the name of love – is to destroy the very possibility of love.

I love you all,

C. W.

Authority. It is a concept that is necessary if one is to establish anything. It is little wonder than that in our day, when all authority is questioned, there is nothing established. Indeed, some begin to postulate that there may never have been or is currently anything to establish. Glorious and romantic, these vague wanderings are elevated to the position of the holy. In this way, that which is set apart becomes that which is vulgar and marked by no more than normalcy.

If the holy is the normal, it is the normal seen as strange. What a different view of Christianity we have today. Forget the religion though, what a different view of reality we have today. Postmodern Christendom has offered a great deal to the church. This cannot be disputed. It is a shame that most who criticize it do so out of utter ignorance – and often times – arrogance. The most important contribution you self-proclaimed “progressive” saints have offered is a successful and crucial criticism of Modernism. Recognizing that it cannot support a belief in absolutes.

However, the tragedy of such quick pretense to knowledge and progress was the resulting denial of absolutes altogether. It is the death of certainty. O saint of God, if you could hear – - – If there is no certainty, there is no true mysticism. Sincerity. It is what our generation longs for. However, true sincerity can only come from certainty – not the other way round.

In this way, we have traded one false religion of man for another. The apparent nobility of the new order is in the eyes of men, not those of God. For God, if it be he who works, works in no uncertain terms. He will never be robbed of his glory.

It is a question of commitments and it is a question of beginnings. Wisdom is found in the answering of both.

That wisdom has a name. It is called faith.

It is the answering. It is God who answers.

Asking the questions with you,

C. W.