Immensity cloistered in a womb

I love this Christmas sonnet by John Donne:

Salvation to all that will is nigh,
That All, which always is All everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Loe, faithful Virgin, yields himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though he there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet he'will wear
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in his mind, who is thy Son, and Brother,
Whom thou conceiv'st, conceiv'd; yea thou art now
Thy maker's maker, and thy Father's mother,
Thou hast light in dark; and shutst in little room,
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb.

Thoughts on Loving God with All Your Mind

And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  ~Matthew 22:37-38


Of all the ways that we are commanded to love God, loving God with "all your mind" is probably the most neglected in the American church today.  A healthy distrust of academic "wisdom" has morphed into an abandonment of the life of the mind altogether.   We have emptied our relationship with God degenerating from "knowing God" to an "experience" devoid of content.

But this post isn't intended to be a polemic against problems in the American church.  Rather, I want to make a couple observations about loving God with all your mind, as a tool for you to evaluate your own obedience to the "great and first commandment."

1) Loving God with all your mind is not dependent on a sophisticated intellect; it is dependent on a sanctified intellect.  Don't make the mistake of assuming that loving God with all your mind is only for super-smart people like theologians and philosophers.  This command was first given in Deuteronomy to a group of largely illiterate nomads.  God's intent is not that we can analyze the minutiae of theological arguments, but that we take every thought captive to Christ, that we strive to bring more and more of our thought life into obedience to God's Word, that we seek to develop biblical discernment, and that our pursuit of knowing God involves greater and greater knowledge of Him.

2) Loving God with all your mind is a command.  To label yourself as unintellectual and therefore uninterested in the life of the mind does not absolve you from this command; it just makes you disobedient.  The redemption provided for us in Christ is a total redemption; God intends to transform our entire being with the truth of the gospel.  It is not enough for your relationship with God to start and end with your heart; God wants your heart, mind, body, will, emotions, and actions.

3) Loving God with all your mind is the ground of all transformative holiness.  Romans 12:2- Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Ephesians 4:22-23- Put off your old self... and be renewed in the spirit of your minds.  Colossians 3:10- Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.  In all these passages and more, the prescription for transformation is clear.  Knowing things equals believing things equals doing things.  Anything less is unbiblical and ultimately unfruitful.

4) Loving God with all your mind is central to eternal life.  John 17:3- Now this is eternal life: to know You, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  At the end of the day, this is why we pursue the life of the mind.  This is why we want to bring every thought into obedience to Christ.  This is why we want to love God with all our minds.  Because we want to know Jesus.  We want to have the full, abundant, eternal life of knowing God and being swallowed up into the experience of His glory that only comes through beholding Him with unveiled minds and hearts fixed on Him.

Let It Be Said of Us

Let it be said of us that the Lord was our passion,
That with gladness we bore every cross we were given,
That we fought the good fight, that we finished the course,
Knowing within us the power of the risen Lord.

Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song,
By mercy made holy, by the Spirit made strong
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song,
'Til the likeness of Jesus be through us made known.
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song.

Let it be said of us: We were marked by forgiveness,
We were known by our love and delighted in meekness,
We were ruled by His peace, heeding unity's call,
Joined as one body that Christ would be seen by all.

~by Steve Frey
download the song here

Islam, Fear, and the Gospel's Demands

This article at Desiring God by Ted Esler, the Executive Vice President of Pioneers, is an absolute must-read.  Pioneers is a missions organization dedicated to taking the gospel to the unreached peoples of the world.  Ted's insights into the gospel implications of militant Islam are profound.  Here's an excerpt:


"For many evangelicals, the threat of Islam—both real and perceived—has sometimes distracted from obedience to the demands of the gospel. While radical Islam certainly has a political agenda that should not be minimized, we should, in obedience, follow Jesus' command to love them.

How best should we love Muslims? We can pray, we can show them tangible acts of love, and we can send emissaries to them. While it is very disconcerting to see Islam grow within the borders of the USA, our hearts should break more over the fact that 1.2 to 1.5 billion people don’t know Jesus and will never experience the joy it is to know him. Most will never meet a disciple of Christ unless some of us go."



Read the whole article here.  And then pray over the implications of this verse:

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.  Go your way; behold, I am sending you." ~Luke 10:2-3

Costly Grace

The following from the early-20th century German theologian and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is worth reading, weeping over, and celebrating:

"Grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. Costly because it costs a man his life, it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. Costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, costly because it cost God the life of His Son: "You have been bought with a price" and what has cost God so much can't be cheap for us. It is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ, but it is grace because "My yoke is easy and my burden light."

Every Nation

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." ~Matthew 24:14

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" ~Revelation 7:9-10

I love that God is using The Daily Verse Online towards this end. It's amazing, and humbling, that what started out as emailing a friend a bible verse has turned into the work of missions, penetrating closed countries with "the gospel of the kingdom." More exciting to me than the hundreds receiving the Daily Verse in America is the one faithful in Pakistan, or China. I am thrilled to be playing even a small part in the expansion of the kingdom into these unreached areas.

Since the Daily Verse moved on to a new email server a couple weeks ago, I've been able to see what countries are receiving the Daily Verse. It's amazing. Here is the list (so far):

USA
Canada
Mexico
Costa Rica
Bahamas
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago
Guyana
United Kingdom
Germany
Poland
Senegal
Uganda
Kenya
Rwanda
Malawi
South Africa
United Arab Emirates
Pakistan
India
China
Taiwan
South Korea
Japan
Thailand
Malaysia
Indonesia
Philippines
Australia
New Zealand

A Thought on God-centered ethics

If God ever told a lie, that lie would be holy, good, and true, because holiness, goodness and truth are defined by what God says and does. But how could God's lie be "true," you say? Well, that's exactly the point. It can't happen- not because God can't tell a lie, but because a lie is incapable of being told by God. A lie, by definition, is something contrary to what God says. If God says it, it's not a lie anymore.

The Epistle to Diognetus

Today I had the incredible experience and blessing of reading the short "Epistle to Diognetus," the earliest example of Christian apologetics.  The only thing we know about the author is that he claims to be "a disciple of the Apostles."  It was written to Diognetus, a Gentile interested in the claims of these strange Christians he had heard about.  It was probably written in the early 2nd century-- somewhere between 100 and 160 AD.  That makes it one of the earliest extra-biblical Christian writings we have.

What I love about this epistle is its presentation of the gospel.  I was so encouraged to see that the gospel of substitutionary atonement and justification by faith we preach today is the same one being heralded 1,900 years ago.  I've copied chapter 9 of the epistle below.  By the time I was done with it, I was practically weeping.  It's definitely worth taking a few minutes to read:



Having planned everything already in His mind with His Son, He permitted us during the former time to be borne along by disorderly impulses as we desired, led astray by pleasures and lusts, not at all because He took delight in our sins, but because He bore with us.

And He bore with us not because He approved of the past season of iniquity, but because He was creating the present season of righteousness, so that, being convicted in the past time by our own deeds as unworthy of life, we might now be made deserving by the goodness of God, and having made clear our inability to enter into the kingdom of God of ourselves, might be enabled by the ability of God.

And when our iniquity had been fully accomplished, and it had been made perfectly manifest that punishment and death were expected as its recompense, and the season came which God had ordained, when from that time on He should manifest His goodness and power (O the exceeding great kindness and love of God!), He did not hate us, neither rejected us, nor bore us malice, but was long-suffering and patient, and in pity for us took upon Himself our sins, and Himself parted with His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy for the lawless, the guileless for the evil, the just for the unjust, the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal.

For what else but His righteousness would have covered our sins? In whom was it possible for us lawless and ungodly men to have been justified, save only in the Son of God? O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable creation, O the unexpected benefits; that the iniquity of many should be concealed in One Righteous Man, and the righteousness of One should justify many that are iniquitous!

Having then in the former time demonstrated the inability of our nature to obtain life, and having now revealed a Savior able to save even creatures which have no ability, He willed that for both reasons we should believe in His goodness and should regard Him as nourisher, father, teacher, counselor, physician, mind, light, honor, glory, strength and life.

Why Social Networking?

Beginning today, the Daily Verse Online is undergoing a major overhaul, a big part of which is the incorporation of social networking-- specifically, commenting and conversation on the Daily Verses, and unified integration with Facebook and Twitter.  This is is a big change in direction, and it didn't come without a lot of thought and prayer.  As Christians, everything we do should be "abounding in love, with all knowledge and discernment" (Philippians 1:9).  That means that every action we take should be rooted in deep thought and deep love.  Deep thought about the things of God, and deep love for God and others.  So here are my thoughts about social networking, and why the Daily Verse Online is moving this direction.

First, a bad reason for social networking:
1) Everyone's doing it.  This is never a good reason to do anything.  The wide road is the one that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13), and just because everyone's on the Web 2.0 social networking bandwagon does necessarily mean that Christians should jump onboard too.  There may be a place for Christian social networking, but NOT simply because the world is doing it.  If anything, the fact that social networking is so popular should make Christians pause before jumping in.  Friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4).

Some cautions about social networking:
1) The tendency towards pride.  The habit of "tweeting" the details of your life and thoughts to an audience of followers as if those thoughts and details were somehow important is arrogance.  "The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin" (Proverbs 10:8).  Christians should be striving to develop the humility of James 1:19-- quick to hear and slow to speak.  This is certainly possible with Twitter, but the very concept of Twitter works against this.  With Facebook, the temptation towards pride is different.  Reveling in your friend count, basing your worth on your accumulated contacts or number of people posting on your wall is dangerous.  "The LORD takes delight in His people" (Psalm 149:4); do not look beyond this for identity.
2) The tendency towards time-wasting.  Those who live in the world of Facebook know how true this is.  It is possible to waste hours on Facebook.  This is a tragedy.  The cross of Christ frees us from trivial pursuits to become a people for His own possession, zealous for good works (Titus 2:14).  We should take the command of Colossians 4:5 very seriously: "Make the best use of the time."  Life is a vapor, a mere breath before eternity, and with the souls of men dying around us, why would we consign ourselves to time wasted in front of TVs and computers?  God is calling us to something much greater.
3) The tendency towards triviality.  No one, not even your Twitter followers, really care what you had for breakfast this morning.  But sadly, this sort of conversation is common on Twitter.  Even those tweeting about relatively important things-- politics, social issues, etc-- are limited to 140 characters.  Neil Postman was right: the medium really is the message.  140 characters inherently limits and shapes discourse away from thoughtful reasoning and towards the sound-byte, the showy, and the shallow.

In light of all these tendencies and pitfalls, why is the Daily Verse Online embracing social networking?
1) Redeeming social networking.  All three of those potential pitfalls are not unique to social networking; they are inherent in the human condition.  And yet God, at great cost to Himself, has planned from all eternity to redeem not only a people for Himself, but all that is good and true and beautiful in human culture (Revelation 21:23-24).  As Christians, therefore, we should not shrink back from the public arena, but rather should seek to influence it for Christ.
2) Social networking belongs to Jesus.  "All things were created through Him and FOR Him" (Colossians 1:16).  Jesus Christ is supreme and sovereign over every area of creation, from supernovae to subatomic particles, from nations and history, to Twitter and Facebook.  Abraham Kuyper famously said, "In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare,'That is mine!'"  To that end, let's use Facebook and Twitter and everything else, not as a means for our own pleasure and glory, but to make much of Jesus Christ who claims ownership over them, and us.
3) Serving you.  The Daily Verse Online's mission is to "ignite a passion for worship in all of life."  I recognize that today, many people live out a good part of their time on their smartphones, websites, and networks.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as we are aware of the pitfalls above and are striving to submit our surfing to our Savior.  The DVO wants to help with that.  By expanding our ministry into these areas that touch so many parts of life, my hope and prayer is that Twitter and Facebook can become tools in your arsenal for your fight to see and savor and show Jesus Christ more fully.

For more thoughts on how Christians can tweet to the glory of God, you can read this older blog post.  John Piper at Desiring God also has very wise things to say.

A man of one book

This is a great quote from John Wesley:

"I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence I am no more seen. I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven--how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach me the way: for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the Book of God! I have it. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of one book."

The Gospel of the Grace of God

A new poem I wrote today:

The gospel of the grace of God
Was planned for Jesus Christ's applause;
The end of grace, the end of sin
Is sinners making much of Him.

Unblinding light, a death that saves,
Immortal placed inside a grave;
Wisdom that confounds the wise
And opens doors to Paradise.

The brilliance of a plan so bright
Alone could shatter evil's night
And wake the deadened sinner's heart,
A view of glory to impart

The sun in all its radiance shines
Barely a glimmer next to Thine
Whose glory outranks honor, fame
Of every earthly favored name

The gospel of glory divine
Makes grace forever, always mine
To join with countless, freed from sin,
Enjoying making much of Him.

Boring Technical Stuff

Normally I reserve this blog for my theological musings, but today I'm pretty excited about the major back-end overhaul of The Daily Verse Online website over the last couple days.  To get The Daily Verse Online back up and running after a year sabbatical, I've spent the last two weeks writing Daily Verses and working on some of the technical aspects of the site.

Unlike previous website overhauls, very little has changed in the way of appearance on the DVO site.  But behind the scenes, things are a lot different.  For those of you tech-minded people, here's a summary of the goings-on:

-->I've switched to a new hosting company, which both greatly reduced operating costs and streamlined a lot of the webmaster tasks that I have to do.
-->The DVO site is now updated via an RSS feed.  Previously, in order to put each new day's Daily Verse on the site I had to manually edit the HTML code.  Doing that every day got very time-consuming and tedious.  Now all I have to do is copy and paste the Daily Verse straight into a blog post, which in turn is connected to Google's Feedburner, which then republishes it on The Daily Verse Online site.  A lot of coding and fiddling with settings went into that change, but it will probably save me a good ten minutes every single day.  Yay!
-->Because of those changes, you can now subscribe to The Daily Verse Online via RSS at http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyVerseOnline (for those of you who like RSS feeds).  What you'll get in the RSS feed will be the same thing you get by subscribing to the email or visiting the website.
-->This blog finally has its own subdomain on the DVO site.  The address of the DVO blog is now blog.dailyverseonline.org.  Much easier than the previous Blogger address.
-->RefTagger has come to The Daily Verse Online!  Starting today, on both the blog and the main site, if you put your cursor over any Bible text reference (for example, 1 Peter 3:18), a little box will hover right there on the page giving you the entire text of the verse.  How cool is that?  A shout-out to the Logos.com team for there awesome RefTagger code is definitely in order here.
-->A new email server.  The email address is still the same (dvo@dailyverseonline.org), but it's now being handled by the new hosting company.  This is still in progress, so the site's email might be down for a day or two.  I'm hoping that everything is working by Monday.

Well, there you have it.  My most technical blog post ever, and a little glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes here at The Daily Verse Online.

God bless!
Brendan Beale
The Daily Verse Online

Marriage and Justification

In my ponderings and strugglings over the doctrine of justification, I think I've come up with a really good way of describing what goes on in the "great exchange" whereby Christ takes all my sin and gives me His perfect righteousness.

I've noticed that all the talk of justification in the Bible hinges on our union with Christ. For example, Philippians 3:9- "and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." Or Romans 5:19, where Paul has been contrasting union with Adam versus union with Christ- "For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous."

So here's my analogy: justification is like marriage. In marriage, a husband and wife are united and become one flesh, and suddenly everything that was his is also hers, and everything that was hers is also his. The wife’s credit card debts are now the husband’s credit card debts, and everything that was in the husband’s bank account now jointly belongs to the wife. God has decreed that our union with Christ means that everything that was ours (namely, our sin, shame, rebellion, and death) is His, and everything that was His (namely, His perfect obedience, death on the cross, resurrection life, and eternal inheritance) are ours.

No wonder He is described as the Bridegroom and the church is described as the Bride!

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

In 1717, Alexander Pope wrote a poem, "Eloisa to Abelard."  In the poem, Eloisa mourns over her lost love Abelard, finally coming to the realization that the love of God is sweeter than the love of Abelard.  Even still, she struggles to let go, and looks forward to heaven.  It's an amazing poem, and I commend it to you.  Here is the turning point of the poem, where Eloisa realizes that experiencing God's forgiveness and knowing the certainty of heaven is the highest of all joys.


Oh come! oh teach me nature to subdue,
Renounce my love, my life, myself-- and you.
Fill my fond heart with God alone, for He
Alone can rival, can succeed to thee.


How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned;
Labor and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
Desires composed, affections ever even
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heaven.
Grace shines around her with serenest beams,
And whispering angels prompt her golden dreams.
For her the unfading rose of Eden blooms,
And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes,
For her the Spouse prepares the bridal ring,
For her white virgins hymeneals sing,
To sounds of heavenly harps she dies away
And melts in visions of eternal day.


What happiness and joy it is to know the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, a conscience cleansed by the blood of Jesus!  For me the heavenly Bridegroom prepares the bridal ring, for me the unfading rose of Eden blooms, for me there is pardon and rest and accepted prayer.

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