Things related to faith

In John 6 there is a curious phrase about how the Father initiates the process of Salvation in the hearts of men. John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. The word is the Greek ([ helkyo]). This word doesn’t mean “draw” like how we would immediately understand it - in the sense of wooing, or convincing… I’m not really sure why is the common English translation, I have a theory about theological presuppositions in the modern Christian movement but it’s not super relevant to my thought on it. It’s not relevant, because this word in its most native sense nearly perfectly describes my experience with Jesus. Before diving in - here’s a couple more Biblical examples of the word… John 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw [helkyo] it for the multitude of fishes. James 2:6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich…

Psalm 119:15 I will meditate on your precepts and look at your ways. Meditate # Spurgeon had a good thought here… It is not the act of eating that actually nourishes our bodies, it is digestion… The same is true for our spiritual growth - merely listening to a sermon will not transform your heart and life, the Word of God must be digested and meditated upon to work in our members and change us. What is it to go to church every week but never spend time musing upon the things of God? If you chew your food and spit it out right after the meal what good did it do you? Maybe you felt good during the songs, liked the taste of the food, heard something interesting from the pastor, commented on the decor in the dining room…. but once you leave, do you remember what you ate? Do you talk about it with those who ate with you? Did you practice cooking that delicious meal later in the week? So it is with us and the precepts of the Lord. The law of God, in light of Jesus, is not a burden any longer…

Jude 24-25 24 Now to the one who is able to protect you from stumbling and make you to stand before his glory blameless with exultation, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and now and for all eternity. Amen. make you to stand before his glory blameless with exultation # The ultimate hope of the one called to Jesus - to be made blameless. Those who are blameless are those who are free. When we are in debt we are limited - this feels like a pretty natural thing. I owe money on my house, so there’s about $1000/mo that I have to put towards that, no options. Worse than a necessity (cause a place to live is a foundational need for humans) is unnecessary debt - debt for free choices. pay as you go Have you seen these pay-as-you-go services? Affirm and Klarna, etc…. You can finance (go into debt) your door dash orders, uber rides, amazon cart all usually with just a few clicks! They want you poor. Jesus doesn’t…

As if the Lord orchestrated Spurgeon’s meditation to give me a spring board to what I need for the third day in a row… Reflection - 1 Kings 19:8 He showed me that he sustains me unto his own service and glory Reflection - John 4:14 He showed me that I’ve been pushing away aspects of his provision And today I see the trials in my life reveal the status of my faith… Last night I got a phone call that I missed a credit card payment, which I thought odd since everything is on auto-pay. Well, turns out our checking account got a smidge low, low enough that the credit card payment was cancelled… In reality this isn’t a huge deal, but it threw me off and continues to this morning. The truth is, the only issue is my lack of in-depth understanding of our money movement. Our lifestyle and living expenses are well below what we can otherwise afford, but in my laziness I have mostly neglected each of our accounts individually. No doubt this “trial” is self-imposed but Spurgeon’s meditation is snap…

Today Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening” was on John 4:14 John 4:14 But whoever drinks of this water which I will give to him will never be thirsty for eternity, but the water which I will give to him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” Being autistic and growing up in the Church led to a few acute pain points for me growing up. A commonplace issue for me was when theological truths were expressed in absolute terms but didn’t “feel absolutely true” for me. I made a practice of trying to force myself to just “be ok” in light of the truth. A Memory Marissa was one of my best friends in high school - we spent a lot of time together in church, school, extra-curriculars, etc. She was an ever-present friend to me even when I was difficult to love. I recall multiple times, and one vivid memory for sure where I wasn’t doing well and she inquired. But my response was “I have Jesus, so I have to be OK”. I tried to filter my immediate acute pain through the lens of ete…

Spurgeon picked 1 Kings 19:8 this morning and his meditation was encouraging at a meta-level. Highlighting to me that we (Christians) in maturity can be refreshed from any passage of scripture. This isn’t because the Bible is magic, and I believe it should be studied appropriately in context (heavily) in order to solidify foundational pieces of understanding. But I also cannot deny that I serve a living God who actively works in the lives of people - and one way he might do that is to encourage through pastoral reflection on Biblical truths that may be brought to mind though not necessarily instructed in a passage. This is a specific point of Christian life that I have been meditating loosely on lately - to be open in my heart to finding joy and refreshment in Biblical truths that God may bring to mind even though the “origin” of that thought might be an unrelated passage of Scripture. This has been the case for a few weeks at this point, and today felt significant as I read Spurgeon’s…