Today Was Supposed to Be My Wedding Day (from the Gospel Coalition blog)
May 26, 2012. It was supposed to be a momentous occasion—the day I would walk down the aisle in my mother’s lace wedding gown, peonies in hand, best friend at my side, family and friends looking on with joy. It was supposed to be the day I started a new chapter, the day my dreams would be fulfilled. Little did I know, God had other plans.
Marriage should represent Christ and the Church and this woman gets it.
I enjoy Christian hip-hop. My fiancée does not. Except for this song. (Luckily it is one of my favorites as well.) This song is a (very) quick exposition of Philippians by Trip Lee.
So here it is, the only Christian hip-hop we agree on.
I have toyed with the idea of starting a weekly post on Christian music, focusing on the lyrics since, well, I have absolutely no knowledge/talent/insight on any other aspects. We will see if it ever happens. As far as blogs go, the only thing I am sure of is that I am unsure when I will post again. Until then, I hope you enjoy this one.
To some people, God grants a bigger view of what marriage is really all about. Here are two of those people.
If I am to have any hope of loving my (future) wife in any meaningful way, I must continue to learn how Christ loves his Church and model my love by his example alone. However he loves his bride, that’s how I must love mine.
“What makes sin sin is not first that it hurts people, but that it blasphemes God. This is the ultimate evil and the ultimate outrage in the universe.”
So what is sin?
“The glory of God not honored.
The holiness of God not reverenced.
The greatness of God not admired.
The power of God not praised.
The truth of God not sought.
The wisdom of God not esteemed.
The beauty of God not treasured.
The goodness of God not savored.
The faithfulness of God not trusted.
The promises of God not relied upon.
The commandments of God not obeyed.
The justice of God not respected.
The wrath of God not feared.
The grace of God not cherished.
The presence of God not prized.
The person of God not loved.”
That is sin.
–John Piper, “The Greatest Thing in the World: an Overview of Romans 1-7,” September 2, 2001
I just bought a CD featuring a janitor.
Stephen the Levite: The Last Missionary
What kind of man, being publicly humiliated and facing certain death, claims to be King of every nation and over all the Earth?
One who is.
Don’t get it twisted: Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 when he cried out from the cross, “”Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 ESV). Why? Because he wanted us to know who he was.
“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.” (Psalm 22:27-31 ESV)
What did he do?
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
Jesus Christ “has done it” and, “it is finished.” (John 19:30)
because, if your eyelids look better, your next marriage will most certainly, probably last.
"Divorce Expo offers advice for the recently split"
This is a screen capture from a photo gallery on Access Atlanta. The photos are from the recent “Start Over Smart Divorce Expo” in New York. This is the world’s answer to difficult marriages: find a new partner (he/she wasn’t good enough for you anyway). How do you do that? Create a better you.
Good luck to those who purchased that lie; grace, the real answer to every relational problem, including marriages, is always free.
…at all today, read this: Underage Dating: The Elephant in the Social Conservative Living-Room
The trouble with underage dating is that it presents an entirely faulty view of what interaction with the opposite gender should be about. Rather than placing emphasis on building one strong relationship with one person at a stage of life when a marital commitment is feasible, dating encourages young people to pour their energies into consistently seducing other young people at a time when neither of them are capable of making any long-term commitments. Their “relationships” are destined to fail from the get-go because they are founded on unhealthy perceptions of love and not backed by any real necessity to stick it out…
…But perhaps the most ludicrous and most willfully naïve assertion is that “relationships” between young teens are “not really about sex.” Just what do we think such relationships are about between people too young to be interested in any of the other things (family, stability, home-making, etc. ) that come out of a romantic involvement with the opposite gender? Contrary to such half-baked assurances, it is all about sex for these young people.
– Bryana Johnson
It looks like the blog is moving in a new direction very soon. My good friend, Benji, was talking about starting a blog of his own but I invited him to join me here instead so that we can double our efforts. I will still be posting/writing primarily about marriage…at least until the wedding. Benji will be writing about, well, anything he wants.
Should be fun!
"He who finds a wife..." 