from The Valley of Vision

Blessed Lord Jesus, Before thy cross I kneel and see my iniquity that caused thee to be ‘made a curse’ the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath.

Show me the enormity of my guilt by the crown of thorns, the pierced hands and feet, the bruised body, the dying cries.

Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God, its worth is infinite, its value beyond all thought. Infinite must be the evil and guilt that demands such a price.

Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper, born in my birth, alive in my life, strong in my character, dominating my faculties, following me as a shadow, intermingling with my every thought, my chain that holds me captive int he empire of my soul.

Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light, the air supply breath, the earth bear my tread, its fruits nourish me, its creatures subserve my ends?

Yet thy compassions yearn over me, thy heart hastens to my rescue, thy love endures my curse, thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.

Let me walk humbly in the lowest depths of humiliation, bathed in thy blood, tender of conscience, triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:5-10 (ESV)

Several things that strike me here:

• Scripture is always very quick to point out and clear in its declaration that darkness and light are two different things. If there is one theme that I see in the book of 1 John, it is the theme of distinction and discernment; seeing the opposites and calling them what they are. We must not call darkness light,nor call light darkness.

• Sin separates us from God and other believers; however recognizing our sins and confessing them brings us closer. If I say that I do not sin, or even give the appearance of righteousness apart from Christ, I am not telling the truth. If I do not tell the truth, I walk in darkness. If, however, I lean wholly (or as wholly as I can in my sinful state) upon Christ’s righteousness, I walk in the light and desire to confess my sins. When I do so, two things happen: 1) He forgives me and cleanses me as he has promised to do; 2) I walk in the light and, thus, have fellowship with my brethren in Christ. I confess that I struggle with this. I like to be seen as righteous and desire that men would speak well of me. I especially struggle with this in regards to those who have authority over me; rather than admit my weaknesses, I would like to be seen as strong so that they look on me with approval.

• John here refers not only to right practice, but right beliefs as well. So it’s not a matter of “deeds, not creeds” as if they are in opposition to one another, but deeds AND creeds. Orthodoxy yields orthopraxy; right doctrine leads to right practice.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 1 John 1:1-4 (ESV)

What particularly strikes me about this passage is that John says that he is “writing these things that our joy may be complete.” He does not say “your joy”*, but “our joy”. Too often I think of witnessing to others as a duty or a chore, but not something that is going to bring me joy. This fits with the Westminster Shorter Catechism’s first question, however: Q: What is man’s primary purpose? A: To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We find our greatest joy when we glorify God and how better to glorify God than to proclaim His Word, the Gospel, to those around us. Having seen Jesus, my first response should be a desire to tell everyone about Him and what He has done. In this my joy will be complete as will that of those who hear and believe

*although, according to footnotes I read, some manuscripts do have “your” rather than “our”

Who am I and why am I here?

I am a husband, father, deacon, support analyst and geek; not always in that order, but I try to keep everything in proper perspective. In a former life I was an English Literature major and theatre minor until I realized that I couldn’t make a living with those credentials alone. I have several hundred pages of stories, failed starts to novels, poetry, scripts and various and sundry other writings. Don’t worry, I won’t share all of them here; just some of them.

My aim for this blog is to write about all sorts of things that interest me and catch my attention. These can be just about anything including, but not limited to, music, books, movies, television and technology. Most importantly I write (or try to) from a distinctly Christian perspective and intend to discuss theology and God. In fact, everything I do should be couched in and informed by my beliefs. I’ll even throw in a little politics from time-to-time just for fun.

So Open Minded?

The question that I get asked most often is not one that is relevant right now so, instead, I will tell you where the title of this blog comes from. There is a song by Steve Taylor entitled “Whatcha Gonna Do When Your Number’s Up?” and one of the lines in there sums up what is wrong with being “open minded” as defined by the world; “You’re so open minded that your brains leaked out.” There are some things that we simply should not be open minded about and these are some of the things I want to explore here. At the same time, one should always be open to being wrong, because we so often are.

I look forward to writing and discussing here for as long as I am able; or until it is time to move on to version 4.0.