Posted in love, theology

‘Put on’ love

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I’m old enough now that the songs played on the radio’s Oldies station are the songs of my youth and teen years. The Supremes’ 1964 song “Baby, baby where did our love go” is catchy. It was on the radio the other day. It got me thinking in pictures. As in, ‘love’ going somewhere. Did it pack its suitcase and slink out the back door like a thief? Did it wilt then droop then evaporate, like the steam on the bathroom mirror?

The secular world sees love as a noun. Especially romantic love. They see it as a thing to be grasped. Something to be possessed. They see love as a thing that comes, then goes. That would mean that love has a mind of its own, will, volition.

The Christian knows that love is not a noun to hold but a choice to be made. Love is a verb. We choose it and we live it. Colossians 3:14 announces love as something we “put on”, indicating again that love is an act of our own volition. We are in charge of love, it is not in charge of us nor is it in charge of itself.

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. (Colossians 3:14).

Matthew Henry explains the Colossians verse-

In order to all this, we are exhorted here to several things:—1. To clothe ourselves with love (v. 14): Above all things put on charity: epi pasi de toutois—over all things. Let this be the upper garment, the robe, the livery, the mark of our dignity and distinction. Or, Let this be principal and chief, as the whole sum and abstract of the second table. Add to faith virtue, and to brotherly-kindness charity, 2 Pt. 1:5–7. He lays the foundation in faith, and the top-stone in charity, which is the bond of perfectness, the cement and centre of all happy society. Christian unity consists of unanimity and mutual love.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2335). Peabody: Hendrickson.

Warren Wiersbe explains-

Put on … love (Col. 3:14). This is the most important of the Christian virtues, and it acts like a “girdle” that ties all the other virtues together. This is not something that we turn on and off, like the TV set. It is a constant attitude of heart that makes us easy to live with.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 138). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Baby, baby, where did our love go? It didn’t go anywhere,t he person loving another simply got tired of choosing it.

Choosing to love is the hardest thing in the world, especially if you’re married. Making the choice to “put on” love toward someone who isn’t acting right, or who wronged you, or is just being a pill, is not easy. But love is the binding that holds the Body together and it is the quality that makes Christ attractive to the pagan. It is supreme.

Don’t be a bystander watching love come in and go out. Put it on, choose it, live it.

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Posted in potpourri, theology

Prata Potpourri: God’s Inner Work, washing dishes, Insta Manifesto, Breakfast Pizza, more

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

flowers 5

We’ve had two weeks of intensely hot weather here. It started in May and just didn’t let up. The hot dryness meant withering flowers and browning lawns. But today it’s supposed to be cooler and rainy. I know the plants and flowers will drink up any moisture we receive.

In my traveling days, my husband and I sought out places in the world that had perfect weather. We visited Quito, Ecuador for a variety of reasons and were pleased to discover that that second highest city in the world (at 9350 feet above sea level) boasts temps of constant 45 degrees to 75 degrees. So, no sleet or snow, and no heat. That suited us. But it came with a downside- thin air. So, no-go after all.

I wonder what the temps were in the Garden. I wonder what Jesus will consider earth’s perfect climate when He remakes the world and we are living on the New Earth. I can’t wait to find out!

Meanwhile, perhaps to distract you or edify you or at least interest you during this long wait for weather perfection on earth, here are a few things to read.

Women, Moms & Kids

Kim Shay at Out of the Ordinary with a wonderful essay on being ordinary.

I’m reading Christina Fox’s book Idols of a Mother’s Heart. I like it so far. Here’s the blurb-

Even good things can become idols if we give them central importance in our lives. Having children changes everything, and as mothers, we risk looking for life, purpose and meaning in motherhood. While being a mother brings its unique set of challenges, these years of raising children and helping them grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord provide an opportunity to grow in our own Christlikeness as well.

Someone else on Twitter mentioned Fox and recommended these books also by that author.

Sufficient Hope, Closer Than A Sister, A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope, Through the Psalms of Lament.

Ruth Clemence offers ideas on 5 Ways to Approach Washing Up, as in dishes. She wrote the following, and intrigued as to how to turn a mundane disliked task into glory for God, I read on-

Is there a household chore that you really don’t like? For me, the washing up is top of the list because it is never really done. We don’t have a dishwasher and it can be a real battle to stand at the kitchen sink throughout the day to be greeted with more dirty plates. But you know what I’m starting to realise? That means that my family have been fed. Rather than grumbling at the conveyor belt of utensils and the dance of the cutlery, I am turning soap-soaked hands into worship to the Lord.

Jen Oshman opines on the darndest things six-year-olds say, her daughter remarked on God’s gifts. Cute!

Abigail Dodds has A Manifesto for Women on Instagram

Most of us who are on social media didn’t put a lot of thought into it before joining–especially if we’re under 40. I jumped on because I wanted to connect with people, plain and simple. I thought it would be fun to share pics of my kids with people I love that live far away. Because none of us can see into the future, we didn’t really know what we were signing up for. We didn’t know how social media could rewire our brains and change the way we interact with the world. We didn’t know it would turn every experience into a spectacle to be consumed by our “followers” and ourselves, as Tony Reinke points out in his fantastic new book. [Ed. Note- The book is Competing Spectacles, I’m reading it too and it IS fantastic] We also didn’t know that Insta would become a place for words and massive influence. Micro-blogging, not merely pictures.

Susan Lafferty was at a conference in Thailand and while walking on the beach and seeing the sand-smoothed shells, mused on God’s Inner Work. I admire people who can take a mundane thought or scene and make a practical application out of it.

Church & Theology

Ligon Duncan opines about Serious and Sensitive Preaching About Hell. Hell and brimstone preaching is so important, especially in these snowflake-meltdown days. The Gospel has been watered to ‘accept Jesus” and ‘He loves you’ rather than ‘repent and believe because otherwise you’ll go to eternal punishment for your sins’.
Jenny-Lyn de Klerk on Owen on Church Discipline, (done in love) another topic that is pretty well abandoned these days
If you are following the controversy over women, preaching, and what seems to me to be the near collapse of the SBC then you will enjoy this one by Josh Buice on Egalitarianism and the Radical Role Dysphoria

Canadian pastor Darryl Dash writes about The Time Has Come for True Comfort. At the outset of his essay, he listed three terrible things that happened in his life in one week. Does it seem that way to you lately? Sudden tragedies appearing all over the place in people’s lives? He refers us to our true comfort. I think we all need to read this one…

Culture & Fun

World reviews Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I loved the original Godzilla, the 1954 movie. It had more heart than you’d think and was pretty interesting. It spawned a franchise of 43 further Godzilla movies, of which, this is the 43rd. Can spectacular CGI generated special effects enhance a movie that was originally made 65 years ago with a man stomping around in a rubber suit? Read to find out…

I finished watching the Australian series on Netflix called Clash of the Collectibles. I enjoy learning about what is collectible and why, and the Netflix show did not disappoint. As a bonus, it was low key, with soft music (no pounding Wagner to trump up drama) and the two men ‘competing’ were friendly toward each other.

Kovels is a go-to source for antiques and collectibles since 1953. Their newsletter is always interesting. In the vein of Clash, here is their summary of how to prepare for a visit to swap meets and flea markets this summer.

Kristy Kapp at Kapp’s Kitchen teaches how to make breakfast pizza. It looks yummo!

Need some gift ideas for artists? My Modern Met has a few and they are gorgeous.

My Modern Met also has some ideas for Father’s Day card ideas. Hurry, Father’s Day is June 16. Did you forget?

This summer, whether you’re washing dishes or going to the movies or hunting antiques or posting to Instagram or musing on God’s inner work in your heart,

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Posted in salvation, theology

Lost person: Needs a Missionary. My (short) story of the Amazon

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In 2013 I watched a movie called End of the Spear, about missionaries making first contact with the Stone Age Huaorani tribe of Ecuador not far from the Shell oil company corporate base in Shell-Mera Ecuador. It’s a good movie and I recommend it. The missionaries made the contact in 1956 in the Amazon basin. I got curious and looked up where Mera is, and it is only 5 miles from Puyo.

huaroni tribesman 1956
Ecuadoran Huaorani 1956. Needs a missionary

I was in Puyo, I was in the Amazon.

This is why I am so fascinated by Providence. Little did I know that the incident the modern movie depicts was in 1956 a famous event in Christianity- and still is. When the five missionaries who were killed by an aggressive tribe in the jungle in the middle of the last century in a different hemisphere, that a mere four decades later there I would be at that nearly exact place, sitting at a cafe on the main street unaware of my own lostness and need for those same missionaries who had arrived years before.

I was unaware and unaffected by the drama of courage and salvation that had taken place and had opened up so many hearts. And how Jesus knew that a few years after that, I would become one of His children, my very own heart He opened up to His grace.

He knew I’d come to understand the debt I owe to those missionaries who in the great relay race over centuries, kept the faith alive for all peoples and tribes and tongues to hear the words of life, the baton of belief passed from hand to hand and mouth to ear, so that one day I might partake of the great truth. All I knew back in 1996 was that there were too many Jesus statues in Puyo.

amazon rainforest1
American woman, 1996. Needs a missionary

With a magnificence as great as His grace and the power of the Gospel word, we should rightly celebrate His work in the world in awe and in gratitude. Even on the days when you feel useless for Christ, know and understand that the seeds of faith are powerful and everything you do and say in His name adds to His tapestry of faith, and makes a difference. Providence is an amazing thing- because Jesus is always at work.

Posted in christian life, theology

So late so soon? The passage of time for us all

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I was driving along, listening to my favorite radio station. It’s a station that plays country during the day, old timey southern Gospel at night, and in between, random oldies from the 60s, 70’s and 80s. I like the variety.

A song from 1978 came on, “I Love the Night Life” by Alicia Bridges. It’s a disco song and you’d know it if you heard it. Maybe. If you’re of an age.

And that’s the thing.

I sang along, marveling that I could remember the lyrics from…wait…I counted back. It was High School, senior year. So … 1978.

So … 41 years ago.

Four decades of adult life. Wow.

It feels strange to have so many decades under my belt. Very strange.

It was yesterday I was driving home from one stupid teenage job or another, singing along to I Love the Night Life…wasn’t it? Yesterday.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (James 4:14)

I believe every word in the Bible. I believe the Spirit when He inspired those words from James. Life goes fast. And then one day, you don’t just believe the words, you’re living them.

How did 4 decades of life suddenly pile up in my memories? How many people, events, meals, tragedies, joys, births, deaths, woes, and hills have I climbed, endured, lived? A tsunami’s worth. It all came crashing back as I drove along, singing lyrics to a song I don’t believe (no I don’t love the nightlife but I love the singer’s voice). How is it that a song can suddenly place us firmly back in time? How can time, ephemeral and temporal, suddenly seem like a ponderous burden, weighing heavily?

This little opinion piece isn’t anything new. Many people before me have opined the same. You see it when someone gives birth and suddenly the child isn’t an infant but walking and talking and cutting teeth. When you realize you’re out of your 20s and an adult with full responsibilities. When you start getting AARP and Life Insurance bulk mail. When you can’t remember the last time you got up out of the chair without groaning or something popping. ‘Where does the time go?’ we ask.

It isn’t just in James that the Bible speaks to time passing as rapidly increasing flow –

Psalm 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

Psalm 78:39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

Psalm 102:3
For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.

Psalm 144:4
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Time is smoke, vapor, breath, breeze.

OK, we know this. What to do about it? First, realize that these lazy days of your 20s or 30s or 40s etc are fleeting, as the Bible says. Second, do as Colossians 3:23 says of servants to masters,

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

Meaning, don’t work hard just when the master is looking but work hard with all your soul, all the time.

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. (Titus 3:14)

Proverbs 6:6 tells the sluggard to look to the busy ant and consider her ways. Many Proverbs speak badly of sluggards. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says that those who will not work, won’t eat.

Wisely shepherding the time that Jesus ordains of our days on earth is to His glory. There is work to be done. It’s good to be mindful that time is finite, at least here on earth. It sometimes feels like time is endless, that we have infinite days to accomplish what we want, but we don’t.

Third, it’s good to be heavenly minded. We will be called to account when we arrive before the throne. What will Jesus say to us? Well done good and faithful servant? Or ‘You’re here as just barely escaping the fire’? (1 Corinthians 3:15). I heard a preacher say once of the verse where God will wipe away our tears in heaven, (Revelation 21:4) that the tears could be from sorrow for all the time we wasted on earth failing to labor for God’s glory while we had time to do so. It’s a good an explanation as any for why there will be tears in heaven, if the verse is meant literally.

Even if that is not so, it’s a good thing to keep in mind. We will see our works that we not do for Christ and perhaps the time wasted that had no works at all, burned as hay and stubble. I think of Edwards, Spurgeon, Muller, Apostle Paul, who worked what seemed like every second of their waking hours for the Lord, and I think of the time that I spend frittering away. If there is anything to cry about in heaven, that would be it.

Time. Where does it go. Soon time will be no more. I’ll be glad that the burden of memories and the weight time gone under the bridge will be lifted. Meanwhile,

“How did it get so late so soon?”
——-Dr. Seuss

seuss clock

Posted in theology

Don’t read the Bible as water through a pipe

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

One of our elders referred to this quote by George Muller at Sunday School yesterday. I focused on the part that said ‘water through a pipe’.

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time unless he eats, so is with the inner man. What is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God-not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe. No, we must consider what we read, ponder over it, and apply it to our hearts.

 

― George Muller, The Autobiography of George Muller

Do you read the Bible as water runs through a pipe? Sometimes I do. I finish a paragraph and realize it hasn’t ‘sunk in’. Our elder said we must not allow the word to run through our brain in one ear and out the other, as water runs through a pipe. We should absorb the word like a sponge. Hold onto it, keep it, treasure it.

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Here are a few resources for you

Stephen Altrogge at Bible Study Tools
How to Understand the Bible

Grace To You:
How to Study the Bible: Cultivating truth, 4 sermon series

GotQuestions:
What is the Proper Way to Study the Bible?

Posted in encouragement, theology

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

In Psalm 51, David famously wrote-

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
(Psalm 51:10-13)

His is a magnificent statement of repentance. No wonder God called David a man after His own heart. (Acts 13:22).

You notice that David’s contrition and petition for restoration didn’t include restoring a kingdom to him, or his fortress or his armor or his lands. He did not ask for material things. He wanted the ‘joy of God’s salvation’ – spiritual things. David wanted the spiritual joy of a right relationship with His God.

I often ponder the joy of my salvation. I don’t want to lose that wonder and awe of the miracle of a purified mind and a clean heart. Maybe it’s because I came to the Lord in my 40s, and I remember so well the feeling of moral confusion, impurity, and guilt. One thing I enjoy about salvation is the release of my mind from having to work so hard to justify my sin. Or the efforts of my heart to hide it. Or the difficulty in having my conscience making valiant efforts to tamp down the morally questionable things I said and did.

A willing spirit that finds joy in knowing and obeying our Savior is a release that can only come from Jesus. It’s a gift to us, borne on His blood and His cross. In gratitude, David said he would teach others the ways of God so that sinners would be converted. He is passing along the gift he himself thirsts for and treasures.

by faith you have been saved verse
Posted in encouragement, theology

Party of three to party of infinity

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The intra-Trinitarian delight of the God-head in each other has always been perfect. The Father gives all to His son. The Son does all His Father does. John MacArthur put it this way:

God is love and because it is His nature to love, that love is expressed in the purest essence of His nature which is the Trinity. That is to say the Father loves the Son perfectly, the Father loves the Spirit perfectly, the Son loves the Father and the Spirit perfectly, the Spirit loves the Father and the Son perfectly and they live in this perfection of intra-Trinitarian love.

For eons, we don’t know how long, the intra-Trinitarian delight had been ongoing in perfection. Yet, God decided to make man. He decided to make His “Party of Three” into a party of infinity. He chose to open His closed circle and include a multitude of humans made in His image within it. In love. For His purposes. Humans who will dwell in infinity love and in infinity time forever.

Why?

That is a good question. It was not because of some lack within Himself. He was not lonely and He was not suffering some kind of lack. God is complete.

Here, Steven Lawson with a short devotional exploring that question explains in nearly poetic language God’s decision to…create.

God’s dazzling display of sovereignty in creation was a primer on His right to rule in matters of salvation. God, who commanded the light to appear on day one of creation, soon would order gospel light to shine into the darkened hearts of spiritually blind sinners. God, who separated the waters on day two, would cause an infinite chasm to separate Himself from sinners. God, who gathered the waters together on day three, would gather sinners to Himself. God, who created the sun, moon, and stars on day four, would omnipotently create saving faith. God, who began to create the animal kingdom on day five, would graciously send His Son to be the Lamb of God to take away sin. God, who created Adam and Eve on day six, would soon re-create sinners into His image. His free grace would perform the second Genesis in the salvation of lost men and women.

And grace upon grace, saved and forgiven sinners are now embraced in that Trinitarian circle of delight and mutual love. It is a mystery to me, and a wonder, and a source of ever-expanding gratitude. To be embraced by an Almighty God as Father, Redeemer, and ministering Priest, is the greatest gift. The fountain of love that flowed internally among the Trinity now flows over human souls, swelling and sweeping and lifting human souls into its holy and sweet current.

flow

Posted in encouragement, theology

Having a loose spirit

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

An excerpt from my devotional reading in the Valley of Vision this morning-

When I sin against thee I cross thy will, love, life, and have no comforter, no creature, to go to.
My sin is not so much this or that particular evil, but my continual separation, disunion, distance from thee, and having a loose spirit towards thee.

Valley of Vision, “Christ the Word.”

loose2

Do you ever feel that way? I do, often. The Puritans who penned these prayers were collected by Arthur Bennett in the 1960s through the 1970s times and put together into a collection, in order “to prompt and encourage the Christian as he treads the path on which others have gone before.” It is helpful to read a hundreds-year old prayer and realize our spiritual forefathers in the faith yearned and struggled with similar issues that we do today.

The phrase ‘a loose spirit’ caught me. We live in a casual age. The usual haunts where one might have found formal dress, such as dinner in a restaurant, the theater, or even Proms, have gone by the wayside. The last three bastions of formal dress; church, court, and funerals, see people showing up as if they just rolled out of bed. The outer wear in my opinion is indicative of an inner overall status, even in many Christians. Loosey-goosey attitudes toward study of the word, toward Christ, and toward His laws are wrapped in an attitude of “Oh well, I’m sure God will forgive me.” Or, “Oh, well, there’s always tomorrow.”

The Jesus-is-your-boyfriend attitudes so rampant in the last decade for women, and experiential feelings based theology taught to us by other women have not helped. God is GOD, the I AM, who is thrice holy and august in His magnificence and power. That God is forgotten in favor of the wimpy needy Jesus, as Voddie Baucham famously preached.

The Christian’s walk is tight, not loose. It is a narrow gate. It is a straight way. It is a circumscribed walk, according to the canon of scripture and no more, and no less. We are told to be vigilant, watchful, and sober. That leaves no room for a loose spirit.

It’s easy to puff one’s self up in thinking, well, I’m not embezzling, or fornicating, or engaging in adultery, or murder. “My sin is not so much this or that particular evil” as the Puritan wrote. But it is also sin to have a loose spirit; to leave off prayer, to justify a smaller sin, or to ignore it completely. Anxiety, mistrust of God’s ordination of one’s circumstances, worry, or simple apathy are also ‘non-particular’ sins that can cause a terrible disunion. Worse, a general disunion or distance from Christ is in itself a sin, born from a loose spirit.
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Paul advised the Ephesians in chapter 6 to gird up, tighten the belt, snap on the helmet, grasp the shield, cling to the word. Tight, not loose, is the watchword for the day.

Posted in theology

God doesn’t leave you alone to figure it out

Posted on by elizabethprata

I follow Ayanna Mathis on Instagram. She puts together a good word of encouragement and exhortation. Here is another one by Ayanna.

By ayannazariya
GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS COME WITH HELP 

Have you ever felt like you’ve been given a task to do that you felt alone in? Maybe you can recall a time when given an assignment in school in which the instructions were very detailed, but you still felt like you lacked the support you needed? Or perhaps you were in a position in which you had to give instructions for a task, but the person on the receiving end of those instructions felt like they couldn’t ask for help or they just didn’t know how…

I want to encourage you to know that God is neither extreme. He doesn’t give instructions without help or help without instructions. His Word gives us parameters to work within, and His Spirit promises to never leave us and to always guide us as we journey through this life, fulfilling the instructions of God. They aren’t arbitrary. They aren’t so secret that they can only be known by certain people. God from the beginning of time has been making Himself known in ways unimaginable. And He also continues to do so today.

We live in a culture and time where Christian messages can tend to get away from our dependency on God when preaching sermon points that can leave you feeling as if this walk is all up to you. I’m here to remind you that it’s not. God’s good work didn’t start with your capability nor does it end with it. He goes FIRST, every single time. He went ahead of you, first with Jesus, laying down His life so that you may live, flourish, know Him and eternally live with Him. He went FIRST when you wanted to take temptation’s bait and sin your way until you could do nothing other than repent, by giving you a way out before you got started. He GOES FIRST, every single day, showing up for you, even when you can’t show up for Him.

Why?

Because He’s a good God, who is also so much wiser, stronger, knowledgeable, powerful, gracious, loving and merciful than you are. And that’s a blessing, friends! Be encouraged. Don’t let the pendulum swing towards legalism or apathy when it comes to living out God’s instructions outlined in Scripture. Know them well so you don’t do the most, or the least. Undergird ALL of your efforts, with the knowledge that God extends help ALWAYS! —-end Ayanna Mathis

instruct verse