Category Archives: Borrowed_Words

Ulysses, Sirens, and Marriage

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From my reading corner,  a beautiful analogy on marriage:

“When Ulysses was traveling to the island of the Sirens, he knew that he would go mad when he heard the voices of the women on the rocks. He also learned that the insanity would be temporary, lasting until he could get out of earshot. he didn’t want to do something while temporarily insane that would have permanent bad consequences. So he put wax in the ears of his sailors, tied himself to the mast, and told his men to keep him on course no matter what he yelled.

What can keep marriages together during the rough patches? The vows. A public oath, made to the world keeps you ‘tied to the mast’ until your mind clears and you begin to understand things better. It keeps you in the relationship when your feelings flag, and flag they will.”

Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage

 
Becky

You can read another good quote from this same book on my other blog.

He Came to Save -Notes From Galatians-

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Monergism Books

I am now studying Galatians using The Lectio Continua Expository Commentary: Galatians by J.V. Fesko. And every time I come to this epistle, I am grateful to be reminded that salvation is by grace alone and not by our own efforts; that I did not gave Him the opportunity to save me, that it was not me choosing Him or opening the door of my heart to Him. He called me and I could not resist His amazing Grace.

Galatians 2: 21 says,

“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Vesko comments,

“If the believer’s justification is based upon the work of Christ and the obedience of the believer, then  Christ came in vain. In other words, the work of Christ is insufficient to save and requires augmentation -the addition of the believer’s obedience. If the false teachers are correct, then Christ did not secure salvation for anyone, but only the possibility or opportunity for salvation to those willing to complete their salvation with their own good works. This, however, is the farthest from the truth. This is why Paul calls the Galatians heresy a false gospel. Christ did not come to give people their possibility or the chance at salvation; he came to save his people from the wrath of God: actually, finally, completely, eternally, and immutably.” (emphasis mine)

I can only say, Amen and Amen! All glory be to God who saves!

Becky

A Few More Quotes from Joy at the End of the Tether and a Winner

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Annie Pliego Photography

Yes, I am very excited to announce who the winner is of the book Joy at the End of the Tether: The Inscrutable Wisdom of Ecclesiastes by Douglas Wilson. But before you jump to end of the post to find out if it was you… I would like to share with you a few more quotes.

Read Eccl.7:16-22 and then come back… Now:

“What does it mean to overly righteous?… Clearly Solomon here is not addressing genuine pity, righteousness, or wisdom. He is speaking of what too often passes for it. So what does it mean? Not to point a fine point on it, it means… Nice Christian, Priggish Christian, Sanctimonious Christian. Tight-shoes Christian, Pursed lips Christian, Stickler Christian. Insufferable Christian. Prudish Christian. Doctrinally correct Christian. Know-it-all Christian. Ostentatious Christian. Quiet-time-everyday-or-I’ll-go-to-Hell Christian. Conceited Christian. Orthodox Christian. UnChristian Christian.”

 

“What men like in religion is not necessarily what God likes. What men admire is not necessarily what God admires.”

 

“The antidote to this religiosity is the fear of God and not a pagan moderation. If a man fears God sincerely, then he will not fall into religious foolishness (v.18). True wisdom is strength, while the desire to appear wise is suicide.”

Now read Ecc. 8:16-9:3…

“The wise know how to identify what cannot be known. Solomon is is not referring to the actions of God on the other side of the universe (which, of course, no one thinks we could know), but rather His governance of our lives here and now. He sets the limitation upon any man (v.17) and not just upon himself and his own endeavors. Look around as you please, you do not know hat is happening.

Wisdom does not seek to explain this sovereignty of God.”

 

“Always remember that Ecclesiastes is at war with the folly of self-sufficiency. The key to wisdom is coming to understand what we do not know.”

You will have to get this book to fully enjoy it. I am sure this is the perfect kind of book to read around the family table with our grown-up children along with a nice dinner –because this is what the wise do, they enjoy nice dinners with bacon and wine.- I promise you will find in this little book much to consider and talk about… and even laugh.

Well, now the announcement. The winner is Jessica! Yay! Congratulations, friend! And just because books are also a gift from God, and I am happy, and I love my friends… I will give you not only this book but also the other one I am loving… This Momentary Marriage by John Piper. I will contact you soon, Jessica!

Much love to you all and once again, thanks for taking the time to read.

Becky

On Mutual Submission and Unique Roles – From my Reading Corner-

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When my dear friend Elizabeth mentioned that John Piper’s book, This Momentary Marriage, a Parable of Permanence, was perhaps the best book on marriage she and her husband had read, I soon ordered my own copy. And now that I am reading it, I can absolutely say that I agree with her. Thanks for the recommendation, friend!

Here is an excerpt from the chapter entitled, Lionhearted and Lamblike, a chapter in which Piper deals with some of the problems of egalitarianism:

“…[F]ew things are more broken in our day than manhood and headship in relation to women and families. The price of this brokenness is enormous and touches almost every facet of life.”

 

“After declaring that there is mutual submission in Eph 5:21, Paul devotes twelve verses to unfolding the difference in the way a husband and wife should serve each other. You don’t need to deny mutual submission to affirm the importance of the unique role of the husband as the head and the unique calling of the wife to submit to that headship.

The simplest way to see this is to remember that Jesus himself bound himself with a towel and got down on the floor and washed his disciples’ feet (the bridegroom serving the bride), but not for one minute did any of the apostles in that room doubt who the leader was in that moment. In other words, mutuality of submission and servanthood do not cancel out the reality of leadership and headship. Servanthood does not nullify leadership; it defines it. Jesus does not cease to be the Lion of Judah when He becomes the lamblike servant of the church.”

“It is not enough to say, “Serve one another.” That is true of Christ and his church- they serve each other. But they do not serve each other in all same ways. Christ is Christ. We are the Church. To confuse the distinctions would be doctrinally and spiritually devastating. So also the man is the Christ-portraying husband, and the woman is the church-portraying wife. And to confuse these God-intended distinctions, or to abandon them, results in more disillusionment and more divorce and more devastation.”

“The role of the husband and wife are rooted in the distinctive roles of Christ and his church. The revelation of this mystery is the recovery of the original intention of covenant marriage in the Garden of Eden.”

“When sin entered the world, it ruined the harmony of marriage not because it brought headship and submission into existence, but because it twisted man’s humble, loving headship toward hostile domination in some men and lazy indifference in others. And it twisted woman’s intelligent, willing, happy, creative, articulate submission toward manipulative obsequiousness in some women and brazen insubordination in others. sin didn’t create headship and submission; it ruined them and distorted them and made them ugly and destructive.

…Wives, let your fallen submission be redeemed by modeling after God’s intentions for the church! Husbands, let your fallen headship be redeemed by modeling it after God’s intention for Christ!”

May God help us to reflect in our marriages the deepest meaning of marriage, the “drama of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and the Church.”

Becky

The Secret of the Quest

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We cannot find God without God.
We cannot reach God without God.

We cannot satisfy God without God- which is
another way of saying
that all our seeking will fall short unless
God starts and finishes the search.

The decisive part of our seeking is not our
human ascent to God,
but his descent to us.
Without God’s descent there is no human ascent.

The secret of the quest lies not in our brilliance
but in his grace.

Os Guinness*

May the Lord bless us this week as we abide in His grace.
Becky

*Quoted by Tullian Tchividjian in his book Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels

Borrowed Words from Joy at the End of the Tether and a Giveaway

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Canon Press

Ecclesiastes has been  my “prayer book” these past weeks. I have been studying it and to help me dig deeper into it, I have been reading Douglas Wilson’s book, Joy at the End of the Tether: The Inscrutable Wisdom of Ecclesiastes. I am half way through it and I can already recommend it to you all. It has been a blessing to me.

Here are some borrowed words from it:

 

“The great Hebrew philosopher who wrote this book called Ecclesiastes calls us to joy, but to a joy which thinks, a joy which does not shrink back from hard questions. He calls us to meditation, but to meditation which does not despair.”

 

“The meaningless of all things, as Solomon presents it, must work down into our bones. We should let the Word do its work before we hasten to make Ecclesiastes a grab bag of inspirational quotes.”

 

“God is the One who gives things, and God is the One who gives the power to enjoy things.. Only the first is given to the unbeliever. The believer is given both, which is simply another way of saying that he is given the capacity for enjoyment.”

“To be wise, a man must know his limitations.”

“We are being told that we have been placed in a world that we did not create or fashion, and that this world has various repetitive cycles, to which cycles we have been assigned by someone else. We are under the authority of these repetitions and have been placed under that authority by the hand and purpose of God.”

“God only promised a way of escape from every temptations, not from every unpalatable doctrine.”

 

“When calamity comes, and the tears follow, the Lord was in it. When rejoicing brings relief, the Lord was in it. The doctrine has a hard edge and more than one person has cut himself on it. But denial of the doctrine does not remove the light and darkness, the peace or evil. It just removes the possibility of finding any solace.”

 

“Relationships which form under His sovereign will, and relationships which dissolve are all from Him as well (v.8). Euodia and Synthyche were close and had a falling out. No longer under the sun, they are together again. The time for the friendships and the time for the quarrels are all appointed.”

 

“Eternity has been placed in our hearts. God has made us in relation to Him, and nothing we can do will alter this. He is always our Maker and we are always made. He is always Creator and we are always created.”

 

“We must begin with God and not just any old divinity.”

 

“Rejoice, do good, eat your bread, drink your wine. Believe in the sovereign God and enjoy these inscrutable repetitions (3:15). This is a gift (3:13). Remember his judgments (3:15) and sit down to your dinner.”

Now, it’s been a while since I have not hosted a giveaway here, and I am thinking that this is the time to do so, and this is the perfect book to give away. So if you want to enter the drawing, leave a comment here. The winner will be announced Wednesday, August 1st.

May His grace abound as we live under His sun and by his grace,

Becky