Carpe Crustula

He feeds us with his body every week, and we sit down in fellowship with the Creator of the Universe. The sin that kept us from him for so long was dealt with once and for all, and now we can walk with him in fellowship just as did Adam and Eve.

The secret to being generous is to be able to recognize the literal ocean of generosity that we swim in every day. Look at the terms Paul uses with the Corinthians: abundant, enriched, liberality, abounding, all-sufficient. These are lavish terms chosen to describe the love that God has poured out on us. The word translated cheerful, as in cheerful giver, ἱλαρός, is the root word for the English hilarious. The world is a stingy and self-centered place. God’s people need to be joyfully, abundantly, hilariously generous. What better way is there to say “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

Blessings are not only monetary, but can include many things that the Lord built into our nature or our world to be received with joy and thankfulness. We can rejoice in fellowship with our friends; we can revel in the beauty of our wife; we can laugh with joy at an entertaining speaker or singer. Many things designed to delight us are built into our world. It is not a sin to delight, to rejoice, or to enjoy those things. It is a natural response of our nature to be delighted, to want to celebrate.

Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. – Ecclesiastes 5:18 – 20

We so often want to separate from God his attributes and then make those things the goals that we strive for. Think about peace, love, justice, mercy, and so many others. These things are attributes of our God which we experience as an echo of his character in nature and we desire to repeat them in ourselves. But the stark reality is that there is no peace, love, justice, mercy, and especially life outside of the Father.

Yesterday I went to Doctor Ratliff and he pronounced me healed. No heavy lifting yet, but I can drive again! There are so many of you that I need to thank. You watched over my family when I was in the hospital; you prayed for us; you brought food for us; you visited me when I was delirious in the hospital (I hope I didn’t say anything embarrassing!); you fixed toilets and hauled firewood. You are all blessings to me and my family, and it will take a lifetime to say thanks loudly enough. God Bless you all.

Let’s stop calling marriage “Traditional.” Marriage was instituted by God himself at the dawn of history. It is what he said it was: one man plus one woman for life. Adding a descriptor is simply playing into the hands of those who wish to destroy the institution. Any additional terms tacked on in front of marriage are attempts to make it something else. Let’s just stop playing along. Saying that I have a Mustang in the garage does not mean that I can feed it hay instead of gasoline. And, more to the point, putting two of them in there will never get me a pony, either.

Sometimes the relationship of type to antitype is plain. Hosea was told to marry an unfaithful woman to be the type of unfaithful Israel. Gomer his wife was an accurate picture of the unfaithful wife that Israel was to her husband. Paul wrote in letter to the Romans that Adam was a type of Christ. Both were the covenant heads of their respective families. Adam failed in his stewardship and the whole human race – his family – was plunged into darkness and death as a result. Jesus was faithful in his stewardship and light and life for his people is the result.