First up is Clive Staples Lewis, who wishes to comment on why the psalmists do something extraordinary--not only submit to, but actually delight in the law of God. Perhaps he has in mind that phrase in Psalm 1, "His delight is in the law of the Lord":
"Their delight in the Law, is a delight in having touched firmness; like the pedestrian's delight in feeling the hard road beneath his feet after a false short cut has long entangled him in muddy fields."(C.S. Lewis, quoted in Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be, namely DeYoung and Kluck, p.85)
Professor John Frame comments on the first commandment, no other gods:
In many ways, Christians have an easy time in the modern West. For the most part, we aren't asked to die or to suffer physically for our faith. But God does call us, on occasion, to hold unpopular beliefs. Can we not do even this much for Jesus? And if not, can we really claim to love God with all our heart? At this point, theology becomes a first commandment issue. It is a question of whether we value cultural trends more highly than God.(John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.424)
We accept comments from all kinds around here.
6 comments:
I'll add my own comment, which is that Blogger is upsetting sometimes. You upload pictures and it adds all those extra spaces. Is there a commandment that forbids THAT??
I love John Frame!
I wish we would've spent more time together when you were closer. I often think of the last time we met and you talked about how much you enjoyed being in a "Christian Bubble" for a time. Not many will admit that, but I loved the couple times I had that and believe it is a foretaste of the New Heavens and New Earth.
I hope you are doing well and giving New Covenant a flavor of that. I'm praying for you.
If you have appreciated John Frame in the past, I highly recommend the book referenced here. It is a powerhouse. The second half is a helpful, powerful exposition of the Ten Commandments. What a gift from God as I (along with Joe) was preparing to preach a series on the Ten.
NOTE ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN BUBBLE: That will now take some explaining... I didn't mean "happy, safe place where only soft music pipes through the ceiling" but "time period where I was in a tight Christian community serving the Lord in practical and focused ways" ;;-)
What do you mean? The New Heavens and New Earth won't be a "happy, safe place"? I don't if I want to get there.
Just kidding. I know what you are saying.
I guess I meant not MERELY a happy, safe place. Heaven is happy and safe, but also loud, busy, and dangerous (swinging palm branches).
You know, it's having these kind of heavyweights as guests on your blog that make the rest of us look bad.
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