Category: gift

I like to study the Bible. I like history, culture, commentaries, natural history, dictionaries, Greek and Hebrew lexicons…anything to help me understand God’s word better.

Of course, there is no substitute for studying God’s word directly in submission to the Spirit who illuminates it…in prayer and in a spirit of truth and repentance.

I found two large boxes leaning against my door. So glad I am on vacation and could retrieve them immediately. There is no covering or porch to deliver them to and weather is a factor.

However God raised up men throughout each age to help us. Some were preachers, some were scholars, some were professors, some were students…but God raises up men to help us learn His word. We are grateful to the Apostles, Augustine, Hus, Calvin, Luther, Edwards, Clarke, Gill, Henry, Spurgeon, Warfield, S. Lewis Johnson and many, many more who have left behind a written legacy of a lifetime of depth in God’s scripture. We know we benefit from their evangelical and pastoral labors, but we also benefit from their scholarly labors too.

One of these men God has raised up for this generation is John MacArthur. After 35 years of writing and a decade beyond that of preaching, Dr MacArthur completed his New Testament Commentary Series. Upon completion of verse-by-verse explanations of each book of the NT, he and his team have made the commentary available for an incredible price for a limited time.

A lot of books!

A dear, generous brother in the faith contacted me and offered to subsidize part of the sale price, and after thinking about it and prayer, I said yes. Otherwise I’d never have been able to purchase this resource for my own study.

It arrived today, 33 volumes, 3 feet 4 inches of towering knowledge. I live in a 400 square foot apartment and my four bookcases are full. When I ordered the set, I figured I’d cross that bridge when I came to it, and now that day is here. After pondering and looking around and re-arranging, I will later install these wonderful books onto my bookshelves, readily accessible and waiting to be absorbed into my daily studies.

The brother who sent me the donation said it was an investment. We are a body, united through Christ and His blood, death, and resurrection, our old men have been put to shame and death and the new man is growing in each of us. When we all use our gifts to the good of the Body and the glory of Christ, we all benefit. He believed it would benefit the body to ensure I had access to this study aid. How encouraging to be thought of. How wonderful to be given a gift.

I’m humbled by this, and I also take the responsibility seriously. I’m grateful for the opportunity to deepen my study and to be reminded every day when I look at the books, that we are not alone, none of us. What one person does affects us all, to the bad and to the good. I pray I use this gift wisely to the good and glory of the Name who made it possible to be in His body at all, and to have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Sorry kitties, your hidey-hole has got to go. I need the space now

UPDATE

It took some doing and a bit of culling but I fit it all. I moved several bookcases of books around and had to put away my rocks, gems, geodes and fossils that had been displayed on the shelves of a smaller bookcase. That was not too sad because I’d had to put them all in jars anyway and push them to the back of the shelf because in the wee hours Murray flung them off their decorative dishes and bashed them all around the house. A fossil shell survived the Flood but not the cat. I put them up until he gets older. That freed four shelves and it was just enough.

But in so doing I had an opportunity to re-group my books by subject and size. (Yes, I’m that way). I also cleaned the bookcases since they were emptied. Amazing how much dust collected. All my theological and bible books are together and grouped by subject. I know I’m going on about this but change is hard, even for a good thing. I sit in my wing chair sometimes and simply look at my books on the shelves. (Yes, I’m that way).

Of the half shelf of new MacArthur Commentaries I could fit all my older commentaries on the rest of the shelf. I’ve got commentary on Ecclesiastes, three on Revelation, Daniel, Corinthians, Peter and a few others. Here is how it looks now.

The top shelf is Italy, Renaissance, Art and poetry. The rest is given over to theology, dictionaries, and Christian/missionary biographies.

On my other shelves I’ve got Native American and Border issues, Mythology, classics such as The Peloponnesian war, Socrates, and Tacitus, some medieval diaries and castle stuff, and half a shelf on natural history including field guides to mammals and shells, Stephen Jay Gould and Farley Mowat. A few novels round out the newly freed up shelves with some favorites including “How Proust Changed My Life”, Isabel Allende, etc.

Spring break is here, but summer’s coming! Plenty of time to read and study. Time Enough at Last