Being Thoughtful and Deliberate

On occasion I'll look through a devotional entitled Day By Day With the Early Church Fathers. Often their comments are challenging, and it is interesting to see how people of a different time sought to apply Scripture to their own situations.

Yesterday's reading was a quotation from Clement of Alexandria:

The Savior teaches nothing in a merely human way, but teaches His own with Divine and mystic wisdom. Therefore, we must not listen to His words with worldly ears. We must search out and learn the meaning hidden in them. For what the Lord seems to have simplified for the disciples requires even more attention than puzzling statements because of its overabundance of wisdom. In addition, the things He explained to His children require even more consideration than the things which seem to have been simply stated. Those who heard such explanations did not ask questions, because the Lord's words pertaining to the entire design of salvation were meant to be contemplated with awe and a deep spiritual mind. We must not receive these words superficially with our ears, but must apply our minds to understanding the Spirit of the Savior and the unspoken meaning of His Words.

I don't think that Clement is suggesting that there are hidden meanings that need to be discovered in place of or in addition to the normal meaning of what is said, but that we need to contemplate, meditate, think through what we read. Scripture is amazing in its simplicity, yet profound in its depth. In our fast-paced world, we may get the general meaning by a fast reading, but only by thoughtful contemplation can we see the implications. For me, this was a reminder to slow down in my study and meditation, and I've actually decided to start my prep a day earlier so that I have time to think more about the passage than I have.

Milton Stanley posted something yesterday about letting the text speak to us over time. Some guys can work on sermons months in advance. I have found that doesn't work for me. I do my best when I am focusing my energies on what I am going to communicate on the coming Sunday. Of course, in a situation where one is preaching through a book of the Bible, one can increase a broader perspective by continuing to look at the context of what is being preached on a given week. But the point of what Milton blogged is right - we need to do a thorough job of preparing the meal we intend to feed to our flock.

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Bob at Mr. Standfast recommends two CD's he has been listening to. If you like Celtic-type music, you will probably like these. As a long-term listener to country music (to be distinguished from the bad rock and roll that often plays on contemporary country radio), it is interesting to hear the Celtic roots in so much of American music. Now if Bob would just buy several of us the CD's to "review."

Tim Challies has a fantastic post: Making Christianity Better or Rock and Roll Worse. Right on. The authors - regardless of their spiritual orientation - have captured what we look like to people on the outside and it isn't pretty.

Slice of Laodicea points to an article entitled The Gospel According to Rick Warren. What was particularly interesting to me in the story was this quote:

John Macarthur is on target when he writes, "Listening to a seeker-sensitive evangelical preacher today, we're likely to think it's easy to be a Christian. Just say these little words, pray this little prayer, and you're in the club."

The article's author goes on to say that "Admittedly, salvation is received by faith alone in Christ alone, but it is not received by mouthing a little prayer lacking in biblical content and understanding, with the hopes that you will find purpose in life."

Macarthur warns, "People are breezing through those wide, comfortable, inviting gates with all their baggage, their self-needs, their self-esteem, and their desire for fulfillment and self-satisfaction. And he most horrible thing about it is they think they're going to heaven. "