What’s your (n)omen?

Self-fulfilling prophecy (Photo credit: van.brussel)

The Romans had a little saying: nomen est omen. It basically means ‘the name is the prediction of the future’. Today we might call it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You must have known people like this at school? The kid with the oddly-spelt name (like my friend Traiycee) is sitting next to the kid who wants to go by their full, traditional name (like my other friend Edward); which one do you think is going to get better grades/behave better/not have children before they’re 16?

I know there are exceptions to the rule, but it doesn’t take much imagination to answer those questions, does it?

I think the Bible’s attitude towards our names is pretty clear: they matter. People’s names change when there’s a change in their character or circumstances (Mara-Naomi, Simon-Peter, Saul-Paul).

We call the Christ Jesus, but his disciples most likely referred to him as Yeshua, meaning ‘God saves’. A great name! Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy! Then on top of that, he was given the name that is above every name so that every knee would bow, and every tongue confess that he’s Lord, to the glory of the Father.

That’s very good. But it’s not the final word, because he gives Christians a name.

He calls us sons and daughters of God, in Jesus. That’s a wonderful name to reflect on when we hear nomen est omen.

Related articles

• Nomen est Omen (catterel.wordpress.com)

Not just ‘dog’ spelt backwards

Psalm 2 has a wonderful little verse in it:

Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Seems a bit like a bully, doesn’t it? ‘Be nice to me, or I’ll kill you!’ Well, perhaps this video will explain the situation better than I can.

You see, the defenseless kitten ought to be terrified of the enormous dog that could so easily kill it…but the dog chooses not to. That’s what the Bible means when it tells us to ‘fear the LORD’ but at the same time ‘fear not’; God is definitely someone we should be afraid of because his power is infinitely more than ours, but the punishment we’ve earned was dealt with on the cross.

That’s something to be happy about.

How the fruit of the Spirit grows

A plant finds a nook and grows on the side of a building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Galatians 5 records the fruit of the Spirit: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.’

Sounds lovely.

A couple of observations for what that looks like, though:

1. They’re not the fruits of the Spirit; you don’t grow a ‘love’ tree and reap love. Plant the seed of the Spirit (i.e. be a Christian) and the fruit will grow.
2. Fruit can take a looooong time to grow.
3. Fruit grows in seasons.

What will it take for you to believe?

 

Corcovado jesus (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

Have you ever wondered what blind faith actually looks like? We use it as a phrase but never really dig into it. Well, how’s about this as an example:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. (Matthew 28:16-17)

Hang on, some doubted? You’ve just physically seen the risen Lord and still doubt? Sounds like blind faith to me!

Earlier this month a guy took offense at some throwaway comment I made, suggesting that the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection was all fake. We had a bit of a chat but when I asked him what it would take for him to believe, I was met with silence.

In other words, he has already made up his mind about Jesus’ resurrection without having considered any evidence. That’s called blind faith.

Believe it or not I don’t have a problem with people’s blind faith so long as they admit that it is what it is! Someone who says, ‘I haven’t looked at the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection but don’t believe it and will never believe it’ gets my respect because at least they’re grown up enough to take responsibility for their own decisions (even if I think they’re wrong).

But if you say that you’ve looked at the evidence and would be willing to believe but still don’t, I do want to ask you the question: what would you need to be shown to be convinced?

 

Related articles

• Talking reason at Easter (samisaacson.wordpress.com)
• Doubt vs Faith (musiqdragonfly.wordpress.com)
• Blind Faith? (str.typepad.com)

Evidences of grace

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a concerning (but perfectly normal) thought progression that I had the other day. To give a bit of context I’d just read that bit in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says that even some who address him as Lord will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Who does he say will make it in? ‘The one who does the will of my Father’. Here’s my train of thought:

I want to make sure that I allow the Bible to change me rather than twisting the words of the Bible, but Jesus simply says that I won’t get into the kingdom unless I do the will of the Father. How, then, do I know I’ve been saved when I’m so aware of the fact that I don’t do his will?

I could use a whole host of Bible verses to make me feel better (like John 3:16 and Romans 10:9 for a start), but that would just leave me feeling that I’d twisted the words of the Bible! Have I actually been saved?

I wrestled with this for quite a while, remembering Bible verses that said ‘by grace you have been saved’, then remembering others that said ‘unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’. I realised that although I knew the gospel in my head, I had temporarily lost that heart knowledge – will Jesus disown me because of my disobedience?

But as I was thinking these things, something ridiculously small and silly happened. I got a free breakfast. If anyone’s been saved by the free gift of scrambled eggs, this was it! In this tiny action I saw a tiny evidence of grace, and almost burst out crying! I was so acutely aware of my sinful nature, so completely convinced of my total depravity, that this tiny evidence of grace was sufficient to prove to me that, yes, his grace is sufficient!

There is absolutely no way that I would receive a free breakfast if my salvation were not secure. If grace to all is true, then grace to the elect must also be true, and true for me because I believe!

I believe!

If you pray one prayer today, let it be Psalm 51:12

Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

Just wanting to be happy

Image by atomicity via Flickr

It’s odd, isn’t it, that despite the massive philosophical differences between Christians and everyone else we all agree on this fact: happiness is a good thing.

I think it’s a God-inspired desire, and look at the wonderful promise in Psalm 16:11:

in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Fullness of joy; maximum happiness, forever! For the Christian, the best is always yet to come.

I’m going on a blog Christmas holiday for a bit. Merry Christmas everyone.

The biggest concern when preaching

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I had the privilege of preaching at my local church last Sunday on Hosea and Gomer – the recording is here if you’re interested.

But in preparation for preaching I encountered the biggest challenge that I face every time I preach; I’ve spent hours and hours digging around, researching the passage and history and everything, then have to choose what to leave out.

So, I thought I’d just throw down here some of the bits I originally included, but then missed out from the preach itself.

Old Testament use of the word ‘whore’

The Hebrew word for whore is zanuwn – it’s used four times in the opening phrase of Hosea and over 100 times throughout the Old Testament…this word is important for our understanding of the Christian faith!

Jesus’ heritage

Rahab was a prostitute mentioned in Jesus’ family tree.

Reformed porn star

There’s a lady out there called Kim, but most people would recognise her as Houston – she once won an award for the best selling video of all time as she broke the record for having sex with more people in one day than anyone in recorded history, but is now a Christian.

Unfaithful wife

A Christian lady had cheated on her husband during their engagement, she eventually confessed and the husband bought her a new, clean, white nightgown. He dressed her in it and said, ‘I choose to see you as Jesus does’.

Grace a second time (3:1)

‘If you have had grace once the Lord has more for you. Did you have happy times when old Dr. So-and-so was your pastor? Well, the doctor is dead, but God is not. Were you very much delighted when you used to sit in such-and-such a church, in years gone by, and have you moved into the country now? Yes, but God has not moved. He is in the country as well as in the town. You tell me you had such happy times when you were young. Yes, but God is neither younger nor older. Go to him, for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.’ - Charles Spurgeon

God’s forgiveness, and forgetting

‘Suppose that someone had grievously offended any one of you, and that he asked your forgiveness, do you not think that you would probably say to him, ‘Well, yes, I forgive you; but I – I – I – cannot forget it’? Ah! dear friends, that is a sort of forgiveness with one leg chopped off, it is a lame forgiveness, and is not worth much.’ - Charles Spurgeon

Final chapter

‘This is a wonderful chapter to be at the end of such a book. I had never expected from such a prickly shrub to gather so fair a flower, so sweet a fruit; but so it is: where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound. No chapter in the Bible can be more rich in mercy than this last of Hosea; and yet no chapter in the Bible might, in the natural order of things, have been more terrible in judgment. Where we looked for the blackness of darkness, behold a noontide of light!’ - Charles Spurgeon

Why does God only save some?

‘God is a lover and a husband. He is not a rapist, he will not force his love. He will woo, draw by attraction, but not force.’ - Monsignor Charles Pope

You are sicker than you think

Isaiah 64:6 tells us that our finest efforts are a polluted garment – what is it like when we make no effort?

Shocking statistic

80% of married women admit to having frequent sexual fantasies about men who they are not married to. 98% of men do.

The nature of sin

‘It is not the importance of the thing, but the majesty of the Lawgiver, that is to be the standard of obedience…[The question] is really this: Is the Lord to be obeyed in all things whatsoever he commands?’ – Andrew Bonar

Foolish Dick – a quote from Spurgeon

I stumbled across a wonderful quote this week. Apologies for the spelling, but this is Foolish Dick we’re talking about:

We would…rather believe that our brethren will welcome all who, with true hearts, desire to testify to the truth as it is in Jesus, will cheerfully appoint them such service as they are capable of, and assist them in qualifying themselves for greater usefulness. This will be easy work for the pastors if the brethren are all of the same spirit as Richard Hampton. One of the last records of his experience runs thus:—

“My expearyance at thes time es, that I have laately found a grawin’ in graace, an’ have injoyed braave, cumfert ov laate. I have no end in view in going round as I do, from plaace to plaace but the gloary of God, an’ the good of sawls. In times past, I cud’n help shaakin’ an’ trem’lin’ when I used to see anybody cum that I thoft was come to shaw a bad sperrit, or to loff an’ grizzle, but the Lord have took away the feear of man from me—I doan’t knaw nothin’ ’bout et now, I’ve ben a straanger to et ever sence; thank the Lord! I do love every Methody ‘pon the faace ov the eaarth weth a partikler love, but saame time I do railly long an’ desire that aall mankind shud be saaved. I shud like to be consedered a member ov society in Porthowan class so long as I do live. I doan’t waant to laabour in no circuit no further foath than is plaisin’ to the praichers in that circuit: an I do wish all’ays to be in subjecshun to they that are ovver the flock, as ‘they must account.’ God es my wetness, I never look to praich in laarge chaapels nuther: owld baarns, staables, or any plaace like that; an’ I b’lieve the Lord will shaw, in the day of account, how hes poor sarvent have tried to maake the best of the taalent that he gove me.”

Foolish Dick went across the Jordan not very long ago, leaving behind him many who remember his name and work with devout thankfulness. He was never married, but he rejoiced greatly in his spiritual sons and daughters, who were on earth his comfort, and will be in heaven his crown.

I want to be like Foolish Dick.