Knocking on the door of the brothel

"At [God's] right hand are pleasures forevermore" declares the Psalmist (in chapter 16). And tonight I return to a question I have to ask myself often: what "lesser pleasures" are ruining me for pleasures that last?

In Ravi Zacharias' devotional, A Slice of Infinity, Jill Carattini writes...

"We live in a world for which the pursuit of pleasure is the most celebrated passion, and yet, our own restlessness in the midst of this boundless pursuit testifies to the timeless truth Augustine once declared: God has made us for Himself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee. In his candid manner, G.K. Chesterton declared similarly, 'A man knocking on the door of the brothel is knocking for God.'

"That the Song of Songs is included in the canon of Scripture is an affirmation of the goodness of human love and pleasure. But, like all expressions, it too has limitations. Pleasure for pleasure's sake alone can become devoid of meaning. Boundless pleasure can in fact become binding. Yet in its given context, human love and pleasure can point us to the triune God who in his very being is the source of all love."

Am I bound to pursuing pleasure in anything besides God? Am I a slave to pleasing myself? O Lord, don't let us settle for less than You, cheat ourselves out of Your pleasures, or waste this life on cheap passions.

Turn our steps away from the brothel door and let us find forever-pleasures in Your presence tonight.

A Spiritual Appetizer

I've just had conversations with three different people about our mutual struggle with consistently having "quiet times." Let's admit it: it's tough to spend time with someone you can't see, hear, and touch with physical eyes, ears, and hands. It's definitely a discipline to use our spiritual senses. In the physical realm, we get hungry when we don't eat. But in the spiritual realm, when we don't eat from God's Word we actually lose our appetite for it. (And we get hungrier and hungrier the more we eat! Crazy how that works.)

Inspired by our common struggle, I'd like to serve up a spiritual appetizer: a week of working out our appetites so we're hungrier for more of God's Word and presence! If you're in, here's the plan...

During the first five days of July (this Tuesday through Saturday), we will daily spend:

- 5 minutes in prayer
- 5 minutes reading Deuteronomy 30 and Psalm 16
- 5 minutes in silence (meditating on and listening to the Scriptures we just read)

How fun would it be to know a bunch of people are reading the very same chapters every day and meditating on their truths together--around the world!

Um, and yes. Five minutes in undistracted prayer or silence is HARD. Sounds pathetic, but it's true. So if five overwhelms you, start with two a day! Remember, this is intended to create a bigger appetite--not constipation. Hmmm. Bad analogy. But you get the idea. ;-)

Feel free to shoot me an email (colleenlangley@yahoo.com) if you decide to join in; I'd love to be praying for each one in our hungry group. =)

Whatever your spiritual plan is this week, may your "soul be satisfied as with fat and rich food" (Psalm 63:5)!

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Is. 55:1

2 bananas and 1 ruby red grapefruit...

...blended with ice and soymilk is like summer in a cup! =)

And for summer soul refreshment, I'm reading Thomas a Kempis' "The Imitation of Christ." If you want some hearty conviction and a shove in the right direction, this is the book to read. But just a little at a time!

Excerpts from this morning's read:

"He is vain that putteth his trust in man, or creatures.

"Trust not in thine own knowledge, nor in the subtilty of any living creature; but rather in the grace of God, who helpeth the humble, and humbleth those that are proud.

"If there be any good in thee, believe that there is much more in others, that so thou mayest preserve humility within thee.

"It is not harmful unto thee to debase thyself under all men; but it is very injurious to thee to prefer thyself before any one man.

"The humble enjoy continual peace, but in the heart of the proud is envy, and frequent indignation.

"Whensoever a man desire anything inordinately, he becomes restless in himself."


Much easier to down the grapefruit smoothie. But so much better to chew on a Kempis. ;-)

Remember?

"But the LORD said to me, 'Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.'" Deuteronomy 3:2

I love how God points us to previous victories to help us in our present battles. "Remember, child?" He seems to whisper to our hearts. "Remember how you did it before? Remember how faithful I was to do what I promised?"

And then He calls us to move forward by faith. "Do not fear," He says over and over again. And why not? Because He is there, and just as He has been faithful in the past, He will be faithful in the present and the future.

Deuteronomy 3:22 continues, "You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you."

Perhaps today's fear is a small one. Or maybe your challenge is close to terrifying. Whatever the battle that creates an anxious heart in us, God is strong and faithful to fight for us. He has been for us all along; why would today be any different? Remember, dear friends, how He helped you win yesterday's battle... and then trust Him for victory in today's!

Prayer is irksome.

If this isn't kindling for a long and loaded conversation, I don't know what is. My (wonderful!) small group has been reading and talking through C.S. Lewis' Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on prayer for the past few months, and it has been more than enlightening: it has been appropriately disturbing.



Here are a few excerpts from this week's reading...

"Well, let's now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us.

"Now the disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer. The really disquieting thing is it should have to be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created 'to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' And if the few, the very few, minutes we now spend on intercourse with God are a burden to us rather than a delight, what then? What can be done for--or what should be done with--a rose tree that dislikes producing roses? Surely it ought to want to?"

Wow.

My thoughts later... (Not that we are in need of my puny little thoughts after Lewis' profoundity, but it has been so stimulating to discuss these things as a small group that I thought it'd be neat to pass along a bit of what I've been processing. I wish I could hear your thoughts and insights and responses as well.)

Thoughtful and tasty procrastination

C.S. Lewis
"God is the only comfort, he is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from...Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion."

Jonathan Edwards
"O sinner, can you give any reason why, since you have risen from your bed this morning, God has not stricken you dead?"

Sinclair Ferguson
"The holiness of God teaches us that there is only one way to deal with sin--radically, seriously, painfully, constantly. If you do not so live, you do not live in the presence of the Holy One of Israel."

~*~*~*~*~*~*

I should be grading a pile of finals (it's our last week of school), so I'm gonna share a couple of my new favorite healthy recipes instead.


Amazing Sugarless Cookies
(I can't rememember where I found this one... but I love it! And it makes for a great breakfast food!)

1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. (And by the way, these are amazing with iced coffee!)


Carob Treats
(compliments of my friend Dustin Ceithamer)

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan on the stovetop.
Add carob chips; stir until melted.
Add nuts and raisins to taste. (I personally love golden raisins, pecans, and sunflower seeds. And I add a lot of 'em, so my treats are chunky!)
Spoon onto a cookie sheet and top with drizzled honey.
Stick in freezer until set.

I make a batch of these weekly, keep 'em in the freezer, and eat one almost every day. =)


Chunky Slaw
(This salad and dressing were borne out of one of my playtimes in the kitchen. I love experimenting!)

Chop up and mix together:
apples
red pear
celery
carrots
broccoli
pecans
bean sprouts
raisins (or craisins)

Toss with dressing:
olive oil
apple cider vinegar
honey
lemon juice
liquid amino acids
freshly ground pepper
dash of salt
(Add ingredients to taste; my portions are always a little different every time I make this, but the combination has always been yummy! Just make sure you shake it up well before pouring.)

To the anonymous giver of $500...

Thank you with all my heart. What an unbelievably generous, beautiful, and timely gift!

Were you aware of my need? I assume so... but whatever your motivation, you will never understand how tangibly the Lord cared for me through you. It's a gift I will never forget.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Your Maker is your husband." Isaiah 54:5

My heart is bubbling over tonight. No. Not bubbling over. Full? Overflowing? I guess what I'm feeling is described in the words of Isaiah 60:

"Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy..."

As John Piper says, joy isn't complete until it is expressed. But then, it's so hard to put into words my happiness in my Heavenly Bridegroom; I wish I could adequately boast in the One who has loved me perfectly and completely, provided for all of my needs, filled my heart with His joy, planned out my days in His loving sovereignty, and graciously allowed small sufferings along the way to woo me to Him (to make sure I don't settle for lesser loves).

How I love Him.

And to the anonymous giver of $500: Thank you for letting Christ love me through you.

The Importance of Gender

This last week was Spring Break... and a much-needed visit with best friends in Washington, D.C. One of the highlights of this annual trip is attending Karen and Carlynne's church, Capitol Hill Baptist, where Mark Dever pastors. His sermon on Sunday was phenomenal--a must-hear! =)

Click on the link and enjoy!

http://chbcaudio.org/

God is for you.

"When you understand foreknowledge (to the small degree that is possible), when you grasp election, when you appreciate call, when you benefit from justification, when you anticipate glorification, you realize that God is overwhelmingly, obviously for you. Nothing can separate you from the love of Jesus Christ!

"He is for you. He has convincingly demonstrated that. The basis for understanding whether or not God is for us is not subjective. Our emotional state is irrelevant. The objective, eternal fact of the matter is that God is for us.

"If you need proof that God is for you, look no further than the Cross. [God] forsook his own Son so that we might know him as Father and never be forsaken ourselves. What further demonstration do we need? That bloody form hung there on the Cross to make this eternal proclamation: 'I AM FOR YOU!'"

-C.J. Mahaney (on Romans 8:31-32, in "This Great Salvation: Unmerited favor, unmatched joy")

C. H. Spurgeon once said...

A vigorous temper is not altogether an evil. Men who are easy as an old shoe are generally of little worth.

By perseverance the snail reached the ark.

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.

To my single friends...

“The thing has come from the Lord.” Genesis 24:50

“The thing” was a match made in heaven. Rebekah was chosen to be Isaac’s wife—by God Himself (“who has not forsaken His steadfast love and His faithfulness,” 24:27) and the help of a father and family servant.

Single friends, no matter how long it takes and how hard it may seem at times, let us not force a match that is not “from the Lord.” Let’s learn to faithfully serve the people around us, even watering their camels if need be, and wait for the man God brings our way if He so desires.

And if He withholds, it is only out of His great goodness and eternal purposes. “He does not willingly afflict the children of man,” so if He allows us to suffer long, we can be sure there are fabulous purposes at stake—that we will someday understand and love!

Waiting with you…
Colleen

I like the way this guy thinks.

"What if it were discovered that fetal tissue were a delicacy? Could you eat it?"

-Stanley Hauerwas' argument against fetal tissue experimentation, as quoted in WORLD Magazine, March 17, 2007