Al Mohler on the amout of media time our kids now consume (mostly non TV!).
The Kaiser Family Foundation has just released a new study on the online lives of children and teenagers, and the statistics are simply astounding. America’s children and teenagers are now spending an average of more than 7 1/2 hours a day involved in electronic media.
Whatever happened to being seen but not heard? Diana West asks that question in a recent essay, noting that there has been a massive shift in Western culture away from adult authority and toward the “wise child.”
There is no law in the Bible that dictates when to have a quiet time. In fact, we are to meditate on God’s Word day and night! However, there is biblical encouragement for rising early to seek the Savior.
“And I am afraid there are Calvinists, who, while they account it a proof of their humility that they are willing in words to debase the creature, and to all the glory of salvation to the Lord, yet know not what manner of spirit they are of . . . Self righteousness can feed upon doctrines, as well as upon works; and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free grace” (John Newton, “On Controversy,” The Works of John Newton, Vol. 1, p. 272.)
Apparently this diatribe has been around for awhile and I somehow managed to miss it until now, but how true are the sentiments expressed! If there is one thing that absolutly kills me about the generation or so behind my own is this cloudy, etherial kind of conversation where I can hardly understand a word that is said, probably because nothing of any substance is being conveyed.
This is a good reminder to us all to let our ‘yes be yes’ and our ‘no be no’ and for people to know what constitutes the difference!
I recently gave an exhortation to our body to add the Spiritual discipline of journaling to their daily routine in the coming year. This was an attempt to draw some very practical applications out of the text of Luke 1.
When you come to Luke 1 and do just a sight scan of the passage you notice two very distinct sections of that singular chapter. Those two sections are Mary’s Magnificat and Zechariah’s Benedicuts. They are songs of praise (NT Psalms as Ryken would say) and they are littered with Biblical references from the OT. Some scholars suggest that both Mary and Zechariah refer to at least 30 different OT passages in their brief songs as they respond to God’s Sovereign working in their lives.
This begs the question: “When God Sovereignly blesses me with great grace and goodness and I actually recognize that work in my life, does my heart, mind and tongue burst forth in similar praise? Does my response of joy burst forth back to God and in the hearing of others with the language of Scripture being fulfilled by God towards me for my good and His glory?” The answer is probably all to often no.
How often have I heard others, and how often have I myself, attributed the blessing and Providence of God to human means? How often has someone attributed a healing act of God up to the advancements in medicine. How often has someone attributed a relational reconciliation up to time, “which heals all wounds?” How often have we robbed God of the glory He is due to common and worthless explanations as opposed to filling the air around us with sound of His praises and the testimony of His word rolling off our tongue in thankful praise?
Journaling your way through your daily time of Scripture reading and prayer as well as journaling the ins and outs of everyday life is a way to cultivate this habit. Why? Journaling makes you slow down, contemplate your thoughts, contemplate the construction of a sentence that accurately captures your emotions and accurately conveys the truth from Scripture that you’re meditating on so that someone coming behind you could read it and understand. In a sense, journaling forces the habit /discipline of meditation.
Journaling forces me to linger over a verse longer than I normally would. During my devotions, if a particular verse or phrase catches my eye, I write it down and begin meditating on it. Reading through Jeremiah recently this phrase jumped out at me: “Their ears are uncircumcised , they cannot listen” (Jer 6:10 ESV). As I wrote this phrase, I pondered what it meat that they had uncircumcised ears, noting some of the things that came to mind: ears that are covered, blocked, unable to hear God’s voice.
As I wrote out the passage, I remembered that circumcision is also described in God’s Word as a sign of: spiritual rebirth (Rom 2:29), God’s covenant (Gen 17:11), and spiritual humility (Deut 10:16). I was reminded of some key spiritual truths that I had not considered in a long time. I prayed something like; Lord, circumcise my ears so I can hear you when you speak. Let me hear your warnings your instructions your encouragement, and your assurance. The concept of uncircumcised hears became more meaningful when I incorporated it into my prayers. Suddenly a passage that seemed only about the history of rebellious Israel had a very practical personal application.”
In coming posts, I’ll add some more thoughts and examples of how journaling can become one of the most fruitful Spiritual disciplines in your life. Give it a dedicated try in the coming months. I’d love to hear how God is using in your life to bear good fruit.
My worship guys and an elder sent this to me as a gag saying this would be our closing song on Sunday. While that will not happen, I did love this video, rap and all. Great job to the guy(s) who produced this. Can’t believe I haven’t seen this on the blogosphere somewhere else. Any Fundamentalists or Truly Reformed types stumbling across this post, be forewarned: Content may challenge your Theology and/or cultural sensitivities but in God’s Providence that might prove to be a great thing!
Since there is no honor among thieves, I am ripping this off Kevin DeYoung who ripped his off Justin Taylor. Apparently there is such a thing as Palindrome Day and that day passed on the 2nd of this month. Who knew? Anyway, here’s a video clip of Weird Al Yankovic’s song “Bob”, a tribute to palindromes. Thank God for humor!
This is an excellent post from Kevin DeYoung about a very real problem in evangelical churches today. A problem that I sense and see often in my own church. These seeds are seeds the evil one loves to sow. They are easy to miss or easy to simply ignore, and absolutely necessary to be fought against and weeded out. Here’s a snippet.
No one enters the ministry to further the status quo. Every evangelical pastor, every enthusiastic young Christian for that matter, wants to see conversions, spiritual growth, and biblical reformation where it is needed. But youthful zeal wanes. Life crashes in. Pastors get tired. Congregations fall back into old patterns.Here’s Richard Lovelace’s explanation:
Pastors gradually settle down and lose interest in being change agents in the church. An unconscious conspiracy arises between their flesh and that of their congregations. It becomes tacitly understood that the laity will give pastors special honor in the exercise of their gifts, if the pastors will agree to leave their congregations’ pre-Christian lifestyles undisturbed and do not call for the mobilization of lay gifts for the work of the kingdom. Pastors are permitted to become ministerial superstars. Their pride is fed and their congregations are permitted to remain herds of sheep in which each has cheerfully turned to his own way (quoted in C. John Miller, Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, p. 19).
The result of this compromise, argued Jack Miller, is “the church as religious cushion.” The body of Christ becomes less a living, breathing, growing, healthy organism and more a coping club, a society of mutual reinforcement, nothing but a cushion against the pains of life. Miller explains:
The religious cushioning may take a number of forms. In its liberal variety, its primary concern is to comfort suburbanites with a vision of a God who is too decent to send nice people like them to hell. In its sacerdotal form, its purpose is to tranquilize the guilt-ridden person with the religious warmth of its liturgy. Among conservatives and evangelicals, its primary mission all too often is to function as a preaching station where Christians gather to hear the gospel preached to the unconverted, to be reassured that liberals are mistaken about God and hell, and renew one’s sense of well-being without have a serious encounter with the living God (p. 26).
