bekahcubed

“Beauty was created by God for a purpose: to give us the experience of wonder. And wonder, in turn, is intended to lead us to the ultimate human expression and privilege: worship. Beauty is both a gift and a map. It is a gift to be enjoyed and a map to be followed back to the source of the beauty with praise and thanksgiving.”

~Steve DeWitt from Eyes Wide Open, quoted by Tim Challies

The wedding wasn’t until three–and Laurie didn’t expect any of us to be there until one, which left us with a free morning in Colorado.

“Do you have any suggestions for what we should see tomorrow morning?” we asked at the rehearsal dinner.

Laurie suggested the Black Canyon and gave us basic directions.

Okay, we thought. We’ll check it out. See the little local wonders in our free time.

As we drove along the designated road, we wondered if we’d missed it. “Was that it?” we wondered.

And then there it was. We stopped, aghast at how we’d underestimated the place.

We moved eagerly from look-out point to look-out point, running as quickly as we safely could to see as much of the canyon as possible in our limited time.

“How can anyone see this and say there is no God?” we wondered aloud.

And then we turned our attentions upward to praise the God who made this beauty. We lifted our voices, singing what was becoming our trip’s theme song:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul
O-o-o my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before, O my soul
Worship His holy name

The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes”

~From “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman

On the drive through the Rockies, I’d asked how the mountain chain was formed–and had looked up the answer on my Kindle (I <3 Free 3G!) Per current geological understanding, the Rockies were formed via plate tectonics in the Laramide orogeny. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison was the result of swiftly moving water gradually cutting down rock to create the beauty we see now.

Stephen Altrogge’s comment strikes me:

“Spiritual coldness isn’t the result of a single life-changing event. It’s the cumulative result of a thousand small, seemingly insignificant choices, like neglecting prayer, shunning fellowship, and ignoring the word of God. True spiritual fire isn’t the result of one, over the top, mountaintop, spiritual high experience. It’s the beautiful accumulation of consistent time invested in the spiritual disciplines. Our spiritual lives are the result of many small actions piled on top of each other.”

~Stephen Altrogge, via Vitamin Z

The raw material from which God would form the mountain was made in a single creative act at the beginning of creation–but the beautiful mountain and canyon were not built in a day, or in a single experience. They are the result of years and years of steady influence, shaping them into what I wondered at this weekend.

In the same way, God created spiritual life in me in a single act when He saved me. But a beautiful spiritual life is not formed in a day or in a single experience. It is the result of years and years of continued submission to the hand of God, allowing Him to shape me.

The little choices of submission are hard, but the end result is worth it. For I trust that someday someone will look at this little canyon and wonder. And I trust that someday, when someone looks at this little canyon in wonder, they will turn their eyes to Christ and worship.

It is for that reason I invest in spiritual disciplines, like a mountain submitting to the relentless flow of water. Because a beautiful life brings Him glory.

May I ever see beauty and wonder at it, worshiping the One who made it.

And may my life become beautiful, that I might incite those who see me to wonder at and worship the One who made me.

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

I recently purchased a Kindle (rather a shock to everyone, myself included) and have been doing a bit of browsing of the free books available in Kindle format.

Many of my favorite classics are available for free, for which I am immensely grateful–but I’ve also enjoyed looking at some books that I otherwise might never have picked up. Books like Mrs. Isabella Beeton’s The Book of Household Management.

I’m not sure exactly when The Book of Household Management was written, but it was sometime between 1836 and 1865, since that is the dates of Mrs. Beeton’s life. (Crazy that she only lived to age 29!)

Some of the advice gets somewhat strange, intended as it was for a totally different age. But some of it rings out with ageless truth.

“To live well in abundance is the praise of the estate, not of the person.”
~Bishop Hall, quoted by Mrs. Isabella Mary Beeton in The Book of Household Management

It is when my resources seem insufficient that I can test and prove good management. It is no credit to me when I can live well with plenty.

“No man is rich whose expenditure exceeds his means, and no one is poor whose incomings exceed his outgoings.”
~Judge Halliburton, quoted by Mrs. Isabella Mary Beeton in The Book of Household Management

In a culture that forever cries out “more, more” and dreams of getting rich, when those around me have nicer clothing and cars and houses, this is a good reminder. Oftentimes, even in material things, I am richer than they. They are enslaved, in debt, in order to obtain their belongings. I have sufficiency and am not indebted.

“Recreation is intended to the mind as whetting is to the scythe, to sharpen the edge of it, which would otherwise grow dull and blunt. He, therefore, that spends his whole time in recreation is ever whetting, never mowing; his grass may grow and his steed starve; as, contrarily, he that always toils and never recreates, is ever mowing, never whetting, labouring much to little purpose.”
~Bishop Hall, quoted by Mrs. Isabella Mary Beeton in The Book of Household Management

I love this illustration and how it warns against the two extremes that we all are prone to fall into. May I be a sharp blade, put diligently to the task.

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

Five weeks ago, my Sunday school class turned a corner.

We finished the Old Testament and began the New Testament.

Last week, we reached another bend in the road. With the book of Acts, we entered the era of the church.

And my job as a Sunday School teacher got a lot harder.

I have a dozen students, give or take. Some have made professions of faith, others have not. Some are likely regenerate, others may not be.

Teaching the Old Testament is easy.

Almost every line tells of our desperate need for salvation and our absolute inability to effect salvation of ourselves. Every line points forward, from where many of my students likely are (unregenerate) to Christ’s work.

Teaching the New Testament is hard.

The epistles are especially hard, since they’re written to believers. Most of the epistles answer the questions “What just happened?” and “Now what?”

Good questions, necessary questions, but ones I have a hard time teaching to little unbelievers.

The epistles can quickly become either a set of doctrines to memorize or a set of rules to follow–unless one has already been gripped by the reality of the gospel.

Which is why I must be wary.

I cannot follow the popular Sunday School treatment of the New Testament–in which the armor of God becomes something one works hard to put on and the fruit of the Spirit become something one works hard to produce.

Instead I must point my students backwards, ever backwards.

The author of Hebrews speaks of leaving the elementary doctrines of Christ, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God (Heb 6:1)–but I cannot do this.

I am laying a foundation. My students are not yet mature. To teach them mature doctrine would be fatal–for without the foundation of repentance from dead works, I set my students up to become self-righteous dead men.

“It is easier to save us from our sins than from our righteousness.”
~C.H. Spurgeon, quoted by Tim Challies

If my students are allowed to think that they are good, that they know much, that they are wise and holy and right, I have failed as a Sunday School teacher.

Because good, holy, wise, and knowledgeable students see no need for Christ. Which means that good, holy, wise, and knowledgeable students will die in their sins.

“I am indeed a sinner in this life of mine and in my own righteousness, but I have another life, another righteousness above this life, which is in Christ, the Son of God, who knows no sin or death, but is eternal righteousness and eternal life.

For if the truth of being justified by Christ alone (not by our works) is lost, then all Christian truths are lost.”

~Martin Luther, quoted by Vitamin Z

This is what I strive to teach my students, even as we move from the simpler to the more complex portions of Scripture. I must forever point them backwards to the futility of their works and the absolute sufficiency of Christ for salvation. Any other teaching, at this point, would be presenting a false gospel.

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.