I've moved.

New blog, new year (skipped two years), different me, and the same good God. Head on over for updates. http://blog.davidjsa.com/

Taiwan

I walked into a massage parlor with my dad today (my dad loves massages) and probably got one of the most painful massages of my life. I could feel the guy's thumbs poking into my nerves and it even made my fingers twitch when he was massaging my arm. More pertinently, my dad observed that most of the people in there have bad eyesight, and his observation caused me to notice something.

Every single person in there had their eyes squinted, or otherwise had an eye set off. There was something wrong with the vision of every person in that room. It made sense, then, that they would be in that shop; they could do nothing else that would require their eyesight to be better. Surely they didn't have much ability to read for schooling.

The impression of seeing their eyes is still with me, and I wonder what should determine that their vision should be as such? That they should be blind in an eye, or hopelessly nearsighted with little hope for correction? What should determine that?

Then I think, "at least they're not jobless. At least they're not homeless. At least they're making something of the situation they have." My dad and I were talking about choices, and how our generation seems married to the idea that we must have a choice, yet choices don't necessarily make us happy. He illustrated it this way: if a woman has to wear a uniform to work, she will be perfectly happy to take that uniform and clean it each day and make herself presentable to go to work. Give her five outfits for five days, however, and she will be unhappily trying to figure out what to wear for each day.

I've little insight to this, only the thought that perhaps the key to what we think is happiness is far simpler than we realize; it may not be at all that which we expect. Paul said he learned the secret of being content whether living in plenty or in want, and I wonder, have I learned that yet?

I've a lot to think about out here in Taiwan... I wonder what this contemplation will lead me to.

2010. Day Six.

New Year's resolutions. Did you make any?

I didn't. You know why?

Because when December 31st became January 1st, when 2009 became 2010, when the count hit zero and the ball dropped, guess what happened to the sun?

Nothing. It still rose January 1st, the same way it did December 31st.

You see, the newness of 2010 is actually an illusion. The fact that it is a new decade really holds no significant portents for changes in life. We are not especially empowered to become different because we write "10"s in our dates instead of "09"s, we're not magically revived to become stronger.

The significance of the change of the numbers has been ingrained in us by a culture that wants to believe that the way that we have parceled off our time (heh, our time, as if somehow we owned the age) is actually cosmically significant in changing us, when in reality we are the exact same rotten people we were a week ago, and a week from now we will continue to make the same mistakes, save for a few here and there.

"How is it that you are turning back to the same weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved to them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!" Thus the apostle Paul indicted the Galatian church because they continued to buy the notion that their "special days" would make that much of a difference in their walk with God.

Your strength to see change in your life, to move forward, to do what is right is not contained in the year 2010. It is not contained in a certain day of the week, month, or year. Your strength to do what is right is precisely this freedom: 2010 has no hold on you. It has no claim on you. It cannot wave anything in your face and blackmail you into relying upon it.

Soon, 2010 will be the old year. Its lustre will fade, its appeal will vanish, 2010 will be so last year, or, even worse, 2000 and late. I don't plan on letting its newness entice me. Rather, I'll be holding on to the good, the permanent, the things that will continue to provide strength long after the emotions of "it's a new year" fade away. I'll be clinging to that which will be the same in 2011, 2012, 2021, 2100.

Friends, if you're going to rely on anything to live rightly, choose rightly what you rely on to live.

PS. My LoveBeta-ites... hahaha I know we were supposed to make new year's resolutions and I put in the packet to make them. I guess if you made them, be faithful to them... just do so by God's strength.

Excerpts from my Reflections on leading a Life Group

I found, though, that it is easy to compromise the time spent on the Bible Study in order to work on other things or to meet with people, but I need to remember that my primary goal as their leader is to feed them and to teach them, not just to be friends with them and hang out with them (important as those things are). We could be friends anywhere, but we are engaged together in Christian community because we are community around the Word and around the truth, and if this goes, then everything goes and we might as well start a country club. It is so easy to compromise that time spent on preparing the Bible Study because there are so many other things to take care of, but that must not be an excuse. There must be more discipline exercised on my part to set time aside as sacred to spend in preparing the Bible Study and thinking about how that Word applies to the group, thinking about how the body needs to be fed and led by it. This must not be compromised. This must be the main goal of our fellowship. I believe in the deeply reforming power of his Word, and the attractive power of people who have been reformed by it. While lights and shows and games might attract for a time, love always attracts, and the only love that can survive in this evil world is that based on the indestructible life of Christ and the immutable truth of his Word. Lord, help me to remember and to believe this truth in the midst of a world that continues to tell me differently.

I will not compromise on time spent in personal study of the Bible for the purpose of building up the saints. I will not do it. Everything else can fall, but the time in the Word must be priority.

Part of me wonders how much I am trying to be a pastor when I am not one, but then I remember that elders are called to teach and to lead, not because of title or position or salary, but because that is the very core of the disciple-making task. Indeed, if we as a whole church, especially as the men, learned the priority of God’s Word over and above everything else, we would see the reforms popping up naturally. Not effortlessly, but surely they would come as a result of our dedication to God’s truth in the midst of the world’s falsehood.

And so I remain focused and devoted: God’s Word and the teaching of it will be a priority.

2010. Day one.

"My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42

There is no ecstasy or euphoria as that of a sinner who, at long last, finds sight of the cross in the midst of the nightmare.

Compare a lost and thirsty sailor who is surely on his final day of rations. For months on end, he has seen nothing but the ocean blue, and the weight of the companions that he has lost on this disastrous journey has worn his soul. Imagine the moment that he looks out upon the horizon to see a speck, no, it surely flotsam, no it is! Land, finally, land, after weeks of searching, land which bears fruit and brings promise of fresh water and life!

Even in this case, his celebration must pale compared to that of the sinner who sights the cross. The sailor finds relief only for a time, the sinner has the weight of his sin lifted forever. The sailor would be filled with an excitement only to realize that the land offers no truer security than the sea, only his familiarity with it; the sinner's security is sure and immediate. There will be no snatching of the sinner from the cross into the depths of the dark again, though there may be brief periods where he cannot find his way to it.

Think to the moment that the lost sailor finds solid ground, and wonder in amazement that the joy there is to be found in Christ eclipses that in every way. Have you come across the cross after your wanderings? Has it stricken you that you are finally awake, alive, free? Have you fallen to your knees in repentance to immediately be lifted up by the holy breath of grace?

Perhaps you are weary, tired, and you had once sighted the cross and have now lost sight of it. Brother, sister, do not despair, only open your eyes! You have not left that cross. He has held you this whole time. When you discovered him truly, it was forever, and will be forever. Open your eyes and let his joy renew your heart.

Seek that joy that can only come when the dead discover life. Seek it with all your heart.

From David Prince: Family Worship

Life Group Leaders would do well to read this article and think about how it applies to their groups. Taken from cbmw.org.

Teach Them Diligently

Deuteronomy 6:7 makes it clear that the commands of the Lord, that are to be in the heart of the parent (Deuteronomy 6:6), should be passed on to the children. “You shall teach them diligently to your children.” The New International Version translates the phrase, “Impress them on your children.” The word translated “teach” is a word that means, “to pierce.” It carries the idea of being “sharp.” Parents are to teach (pierce) their children diligently (carefully and repeatedly) with the truth of God. Eugene Merrill suggests the image of an “engraver” chiseling with painstaking care into a solid slab.

Some parents take the approach that they are not going to push Christianity onto their children. Their plan is to simply live Christianity out before their children and then let them decide for themselves. First of all, this position is in direct conflict with Deuteronomy 6:7 and many other portions of Scripture. Second, the culture is not neutral and passive. Christian parents must not be passive in the task of passing on the faith and calling their children to hope in God. It is a dangerous position to be in a war and be the only one not fighting. Carefully, Christian parents teach to pierce their childrens hearts with the truth of God.

When should Christian parents do this teaching?

Sitting

Deuteronomy 6:7b continues, “and shall talk of them when you sit in your house.” Sitting suggests inactivity. To put it in the common vernacular, this would be times when the family is simply “hanging out” together. The word translated “talk” in this verse is elsewhere translated speak, declare, command, promise, warn, and even sing. It calls for teaching about the commands, character, and nature of God to occur in those “sitting” times. Mealtime is a wonderful time for parents to talk to their children about the things of God. Parents should discuss the sermon and Sunday school lesson with their children every Sunday afternoon as they rest together as a family. These are wonderful times for transmitting the truths of the faith.

As a point of application and a plea for every Christian parent, set a daily (or at least routine) family worship time. This centers the family’s life around what is most important. Families probably will not talk about the things of God around the house if Bible study is not shown to be a priority by the leadership of the parents. Families should schedule a time to “sit” and talk about the things of God and respond to Him by worship. Parents, we must not dishonor God and forsake our children by failing to provide them vigorous instruction in the faith.

Walking

Deuteronomy 6:7b also admonishes parents to teach their children “when you walk by the way [the routine goings of life].” All of life should serve as teaching opportunities to talk to one’s children about the greatness of the great triune God of the Bible. Mountains can lead to conversations about the immensity of God. The stars in the night sky can cause parents to consider with their children the sovereignty of our creator God. A windy day can help parents direct their children’s thoughts to the Holy Spirit of God. Driving by a courthouse can lead to a discussion of justification. Parents must instill in their children a vision to see all of life from a God-centered perspective. Contemplate and speak of His perfections in all of life. Traveling, playing, and even yard work, can be transformed into wonderful teaching times for the parent who is leading a God-centered life.

In case the argument has not been sufficiently clear; Deuteronomy 6:7 concludes that this diligent teaching of one’s children should occur, “when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

Touching and Seeing, Coming and Going

“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand [all you touch] and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes [all you see]” (Deuteronomy 6:8). This verse has been taken literally by some Jewish people who actually wear small containers (phylacteries) containing the “Shema” on their hands and foreheads with straps of leather. While this verse is not meant to be taken in such a literal fashion, it nonetheless provides a graphic illustrative picture of what it does mean. The parent is to never be away from the truth of God. It is to be so much a part of the parent’s life that it should affect everything they touch and all they see. Deuteronomy 6:9 continues this line of thought: “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house [a reminder of your priority as you enter] and on your gates [a reminder of your priority as you return].” In all of life parents are charged with the responsibility to teach and pass on the faith to their children. When a child sees a parent hoping in God in this way, it provides a strong attraction to call him to hope in God.

Conclusion
This writer (pastor and father) is absolutely convinced that the starting point in obeying the command that has been set forth, to “diligently teach our children” the truth of the faith, is a set family worship time that centers around the Word of God and prayer. If this is established as a priority in the home, then perhaps all of family life can be transformed into a pursuit of God.

Family worship could include singing and catechizing as well as studying the Scripture and praying. Catechize is the anglicized form of the Greek word “katecheo” (see 1 Corinthians 14:19; Galatians 6:6; and Acts 18:25) which means, “to instruct.” The Webster’s New World Dictionary defines catechize as “to teach by the method of questions and answers.” This is a method of instruction that arises out of the biblical testimony itself and has stood the test of time throughout the history of the church as a profitable method of transmitting the faith to the next generation.

But far more important than the specific forms that are used in family worship is to actually commit ourselves to consistently doing family worship with an infectious passion. J.I. Packer said of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “He gave more of a sense of God to the text than any other man.” That is exactly what parents must desire to do for their children in family worship- give a sense of God to every text that is taken up. There should be a sense of importance and weightiness to the consideration of the things of God that provide a sense of awe and wonder. The parents’ teaching of the children must flow out of a passion for God in their own lives. Passion cannot be faked if the goal is to be reached. “That [by God’s grace] the generation to come might know them [the things of God]” and “that they may set their hope in God” (Psalm 78:6-7). As a believing parent, is that not what you want for your children?

Rain runs

I love running in the rain and being in thunderstorms. There's something beautiful about being in the midst of a power that is absolutely unbridled and out of your control. Hearing to the thunder and seeing the lightning gives this somewhat frightening but absolutely thrilling tingle, "what kind of strength could make a noise like that?" It is humbling and scintillating to so starkly realize that there is something that is far greater than us, and we can experience it without being destroyed.

Elihu says it best as he conveys the majesty of the Almighty:

At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.

Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.

After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.

God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.

He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'
and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'

So that all men he has made may know his work,
he stops every man from his labor.

The storm is unstoppable, uncontrollable; it cannot be mitigated, it absolutely engulfs. Such is the all consuming, all encompassing power of God, so much so that storms are like drizzle to him. His whisper makes the thunder clap, and the tip of his finger obliterates as the lightning.

To stand in the midst of the storm is to be at the center of the Almighty's power.

And so I cried to God, "Will you reject us forever? Will you not send your power and your signs so that this people and this place will not deny you? Can you not bring the sheer power of 'I am' to show us who life is?"

He answered: "Be patient, then, David, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near."

And then he spoke "Your trial is the storm you stand in, and you will soon hear my thunder. There will be no denial when I speak that I have spoken, no question when I touch you that I have been present."

The rush of the rainstorm is but a glimmer of the force of El Shaddai. When the Lord comes, I want to make sure I'm outside right in the midst of him.

And I will know that I am alive because he is alive.