You need to keep your language simple. If you can’t take your PhD dissertation to a pub and explain it to simple people, your PhD is not worth anything.
—Prof. Derek Newton, Asian Theological Seminary
Category: Random
How a Verb Can Boost Your Faith
David Pawson on Greek verb tenses:
Greek has a “present continuous” tense for verbs which is not easily translated into English but is so often crucial to a proper understanding of the text. It means to be continually doing something. To translate the sense into English, it is necessary to add the two little words “go on.”
For example, Jesus did not say, “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you.” implying that each action need only be done once. He actually said, “Go on asking and you will receive, go on seeking and you will find, go on knocking and it will be open to you.” So if someone does not receive the Holy Spirit when they first ask, they should not panic: they should go on asking. Continue reading How a Verb Can Boost Your Faith
Homesick
One of the greatest privilege of a pastor is to make people homesick, to instill in them a sense of longing to go home to God and not covet the temporary treasures of this world.
Providence
Be patient in times of difficulties and be thankful in times of abundance. Whatever happens to us, we can place our firm trust in the hands of our faithful God and Father knowing that nothing shall separate us from His love. Since everything is in His hand, not a single creature moves apart from His will.
—Adapted from the Heidelberg Cathechism
True Religion
True religion is a matter of the heart. The ultimate aim of studying theology is to bring us to our knees in worship and prayer.
The Practice of Grace
Lee Eclov on the life and calling of a pastor:
Doctors enter the practice of medicine. Lawyers, the practice of law. Pastors enter the practice of grace. Grace is the pastor’s stock-in-trade.
Pastors, like all believers, are agents of grace. But we dispense the grace of Christ as no other believers do. We are shepherds. Search as we might for a word more suited to our contemporary culture, shepherd is the only word that will do. If we hope to understand what we’ve been called by God to do, we have to step into a foreign world of sheep and pastures, folds and staffs, night watches and wilderness searches. Look hard at the timeless figures “keeping watch over their flocks by night.” Patient, long-suffering, committed to the often lonely routines of care. That’s how God wants us to see ourselves. In fact, that is one way God sees Himself. Continue reading The Practice of Grace
Jojo Agot 