Books

I am sick. I feel like every muscle in my body has been taken out pounded with a meat cleaver and then put back. Fever, chills, aches, the flu has descended upon our house. I will be very sad if the kids get this.

Reading two books right now. The first is called What is Faith by J. Gresham Machen. This is the type of book that requires you to have a dictionary nearby. I think I will have to read it a few more times before I get everything he is trying to say.

A section that I just read and liked

A true Reformation would be characterized by just what is missing in the Modernism of the present day; it would be characterized above all by an heroic honesty which for the sake of principle would push all consideration of consequences aside.
Such a Reformation we on our parts believe to be needed today; only, we believe that it would be brought about, not by a new religion which consists in imitation of the reduced Jesus of modern naturalism, but by the rediscovery of the gospel of Christ.

But this new Reformation for which we long will not be brought about by human persuasions, or by consideration of consequences, or by those who seek to save souls through the skillful use of ecclesiastical influences, or by those who refrain form speaking the truth through fear of "splitting the Church" or of making a poor showing in columns of Church statistics. How petty, in the great day when the Spirit of God again moves in the Church, all such considerations will seem!

No, when the true Reformation comes, it will comes through the instrumentality of those upon whom God has laid His hand, to whom the gospel has become a burning fire within them, who speak because they are compelled to speak, who, caring nothing for human influences and conciliation and external Church combinations and the praise or blame of men, speak the word that God has given them and trust for the results to Him alone. In other words, it will be brought about by men of faith.

I pray that I would be more in character as those who are mentioned above.

Speaking of modernism and new religions...read this article.


The second book I am reading is Seeing with New Eyes - Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture by David Powlison. This is actually book one of three written by Powlison on counseling. I often feel very inadequate in my responses to people who are dealing with some very hard issues. Thus the reason for reading this book.
I am not very far into this one yet. The point that has stuck with me so far is how important the Psalms are. This quote is challenging.

Rather, "psalms" provide a paradigm for a living, speaking faith in Christ. To be "filled with the Spirit" is to have your language alive to God, both your daily conversations with others and the inward conversation within your heart. Your cognitive stream-of-consciousness and your social interactions are meant to be pslam-like and psalm-informed. That includes the ability to quote a pslam in a timely and relevant way, but it is something much more. Paul calls you to a lifestyle of joyous dependence on Christ, to live in faith like the Psalms.