Pascal on man's plight:

If man is not made for God,

why is he only happy in God?

If man is made for God,

why is he so opposed to God?

- Blaise Pascal, Pensées, as read in R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God

12 Ways to Glorify God at Work

A good word from Josh Etter at Desiring God about glorifying God at work. As I look forward with some anxiety to the new job I have before me, the thing that most relieves my anxiety is the knowledge that God will be using me for His glory here. That knowledge can make any work seem bearable and worthwhile. Here's the beginning of Josh's blog post:

Mark Twain once said, "Work is a necessary evil to be avoided." Although there may be days when we feel like he got it right, we know God has ordained work as a stewardship of his created world (Genesis 1:28; 2:15). He has designed work for his glory and our good. But how might we glorify God at work? This list is not exhaustive, but here's at least 12 ways...

Read the rest here:

12 Ways to Glorify God at Work

For our God is a consuming fire

I picked up a new book yesterday after getting off of work for the weekend. I'm still reading St. Augustine's The City of God but that is going to be a long-term project. The book I picked up yesterday was written by a man for whom I have gained ever-increasing respect over the past few years. The man is R.C. Sproul and the book is The Holiness of God.

Also over the past few years I've become more and more convinced that it is God's holiness which is His attribute most frequently distorted or forgotten in our modern context among Christians from many different churches and denominations. It is this forgetfulness about God's holiness which leads to people rejecting certain stories of the Old Testament which they find unsettling, such as the conquest of Canaan under Joshua or the death of Uzzah as he reached out to steady the Ark of the Covenant. In my opinion, the New Testament presents even greater problems for those who distort or forget God's holiness. This is because when God's holiness is down-played or distorted there is no way to understand the cross while being faithful to Scripture. There is no way that Isaiah 53 can be affirmed as a prophecy concerning the crucifixion of our Lord, much less the words of St. Paul who wrote that Christ saved us from God's wrath in Romans 5:9. Without a proper understanding of God's holiness one can make no sense of the wrath of God which is frequently mentioned in Scripture. It would make no sense that in the saving of sinners that Christ was "crushed for our iniquities," and that upon Him, "was the chastisement that brought us peace (Isaiah 53:5)," much less that, "it was the will of the Lord to crush him (Isaiah 53:10)."

I respect R.C. Sproul for a number of reasons, most importantly for his obvious love of the Lord, but also because he strikes me as a very intelligent man and because he seems to be well-read in Church History. I was very impressed that in the first chapter of The Holiness of God, Sproul interacts a lot with the writings of St. Augustine and even cites Augustine's writings as something which first caused him to be intrigued by the holiness of God. Sproul begins his third chapter with an amazing quote from St. Augustine touching on the holiness of God which I will conclude with:

What is that which gleams through me

and smites my heart without wounding it?

I am both a-shudder and aglow.

A-shudder, in so far as I am unlike it,

aglow in so far as I am like it.

- St. Augustine

Random Update: To every thing there is a season

It's been a week now in the new season of life I've entered into. The Lord has provided me a house here that I'm very happy with and hopefully this weekend I'll also find a community of brothers and sisters to worship with over the next three years. I also know at least one other Christian co-worker for whom I'm very thankful.

Anyone who follows this blog most likely knows where I'm at and what kind of job I'm doing but from here on out I'm going to be purposefully vague about my location and work. I look forward to continuing to write about theological reflections and hiking trips among other things.

This Sunday I think I'll check out a nearby church called New Hope Anglican, which, from the website, looks like a great church.

I have already seen so much of God's faithfulness to this unworthy sinner in the last week that I am overwhelmed by His graciousness. It has reminded me of the truth expressed in Romans 2:4, that God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance.

Greatest Generation

After our graduation Sunday I celebrated with my family, the family of one of my housemates in Loma Linda and also with the family of the boys from San Bernardino with whom we've studied the Word of God for the past 3 years. We had a barbecue which ended up being a great way to say goodbye to Loma Linda.

As the various families visited I realized something. I realized how much I had taken for granted a generation which has now all but passed away in my family, that generation which lived through the Great Depression and fought in WWII.

Growing up, listening to various grandparents and great aunts and uncles tell stories about days-gone-by, I was never bored but I never realized what a gift it was to have those relatives around who could relate a story in-person the way a written account will never be able to.

I also was reminded of the fact that people from the "Greatest Generation" do generally seem to have a kind of respectability, maturity and common-sense which seems to have been lost in the upheavals of the 60's and 70's. Like any generation they had and have their own predominant sins and rebellions against God. But I can't help but think that, as a generation, they do just seem better in some way. I wish I could have been as thankful for them while they were still alive as I think I would be now.

With the last remaining relative from the "Greatest Generation" in my family, my 93 year-old Aunt Jo.

M.D.

God brought me through the end of my medical school career today as I graduated from Loma Linda University School of Medicine. Now, by His grace, I will cling to Him as I make my way through residency.

But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. - 2 Thessalonians 3:3

Loma Linda Hooding Ceremony Prayer

I was honored to be asked to do the invocation for my medical school class' hooding ceremony tonight, a couple of days before our graduation on Sunday. Here is what I wrote and prayed:

Almighty God, we gather before you tonight a people full of gratitude for the many gifts You have bestowed upon us throughout these years of medical school. All good and perfect gifts come down from you, the Father of lights, and you have given us these gifts in sustaining us through many trials and many joys. You have imparted to us a great amount of knowledge and skill through the work of the teachers with whom you have blessed us here and for that we are ever-grateful.

As we begin our practice as physicians make us into doctors who would look to the example of Christ. Let us remember that He came as One not to be served but to serve, and let us do likewise. Let us remember His compassion as He wept for the friends and relatives of Lazarus who had died and let us have that same compassion.

Above any imperfect imitation, O Lord, let us look by your grace with faith to the gospel of your Son, our Lord, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. He became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and out of love for sinners humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, for our salvation. He displayed His victory over sin and death on the third day in His glorious Resurrection from the dead and reminds us that as we look upon the suffering of this world, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

All this we ask in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

I thrill to see Old Glory paint the breeze

So happy to be home!

With hand upon my heart I thank the Lord for this my native land,

For all I love is here within her gates.

My soul is rooted deeply in the soil on which I stand,

For these are mine own United States.

'Tis Only the Splendor of Light Hideth Thee

Augustine on end-times nonsense

Augustine isn't going camping...

But He said, "It is not for you to know the times, which the Father hath put in His own power." When they got that answer, they had not at all questioned Him about the hour, or day, or year, but about the time. In vain, then, do we attempt to compute definitely the years that may remain to this world, when we may hear from the mouth of the Truth that it is not for us to know this. Yet some have said that four hundred, some five hundred, others a thousand years, may be completed from the ascension of the Lord up to His final coming. But to point out how each of them supports his own opinion would take too long, and is not necessary; for indeed they use human conjectures, and bring forward, nothing certain from the authority of the canonical Scriptures. But on this subject He puts aside the figures of the calculators, and orders silence, who says, "It is not for you to know the times, which the Father hath put in His own power."

-St. Augustine, City of God