Always Look for the Light
For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond. If I turned the pot so the flower was facing the room, within a day or two it would have turned to face the light. And if I rotated it again, the flower would respond in the same way, turning itself toward the light streaming in from the window. I could not fool it. I could not discourage it or persuade it to give up.
You cannot read about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ without noticing his love for the natural world. Many of his most vivid illustrations are drawn from nature—the birds, the plants, the trees, the winds. You often observe him making use of the natural elements that were right before him to help his listeners understand his teaching—the fig tree that failed to bear fruit, the fields that were white for harvest, the birds that were unconcerned about their next meal.
And in that vein, I learned a lesson from that little flower—the lesson of the potted plant. No matter how I turned the plant, it dutifully responded by realigning itself to face the light. No matter how many times I turned it and no matter how completely I turned it, it responded in the same way.
From the plant, I learned that life’s circumstances often turn us into times of darkness, times when we are overcome by pain, sorrow, or other trials. For a time the world around us may look dark and foreboding, like the Valley of the Shadow of Death is closing in around us and threatening to swallow us up. Yet our duty in such times is to look for the light and to turn toward it.
God never leaves us without some truth to believe in, some promise to cling to, some hope to long for, some light to turn toward.
And there always will be a source of light, for our God never deserts or abandons us. He never leaves us without some truth to believe in, some promise to cling to, some hope to long for, some light to turn toward. For God does not just have light or display light—he is light.
I’m certain that if I had taken my little potted plant to a dimly lit room in a hospital, it would still have turned toward whatever light came from the window, no matter how dim the source. I’m certain that if I took it to a prison cell with nothing but a single little window high above, it would lift its face toward that one shaft of light. It could not be stopped. It could not be discouraged. It could not be dissuaded.
And neither should we ever be dissuaded from turning toward the Lord in every circumstance. Our eyes may be weary and full of tears, the light may seem distant and dim, but the Lord is present, close to the broken-hearted and eager to save those who are crushed in spirit. It falls to us to simply turn and to look toward the light that streams from his presence and illumines us with his grace.
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A La Carte (May 13)
May the Lord be with you and bless you today.
I have only found one Kindle deals so far today, but it’s a good one at least.
Why Pro-Abortion Activists Desecrate Churches
Carl Trueman: “The church service is not simply a convenient place to intimidate pro-life campaigners. To attack a worship service is not simply to annoy the participants. It is to profane the sacred. It is to enact that which abortion itself represents. It is to spit on the very identity of those worshipping and thus upon the God whom they worship. It is to strike at the very heart of what Christians believe it means to be human, a dependent creature in the presence of a holy God.”
Why I got out of Twitter
Ray Ortlund’s reasons for leaving Twitter sound a lot like my own.
Screaming in the Face of Death
“It is difficult to tell if the countenance is grinning, scowling, or yawning open with insatiable hunger, but it seems that Death’s face is closer than usual as it stares out from the inky shadows at the edges of life. Death feels more present than usual right now.” It really does, doesn’t it?
A Conveyor Belt
“Jesus wants you to do the next thing in your walk with him. The next act of repentance, the next act of forgiveness, crush the next idol, love the next person above yourself, refuse the next temptation, tear down the next boundary. And he wants you to do nothing else.” That’s worth pondering.
Fertility Is Not A Disease
“Sexual pleasure has become the god of our culture to which all other gods must bow. One of its contenders is reproduction itself. We must separate the pleasure of sex from reproduction and fertility, or there can be no sexual freedom. ‘My body, my choice’ is the battle cry of a generation who, whether they realize it or not, are rebelling against their natural design. Nature, not the patriarchy, is what our culture hates most.”
DJ Mattson’s Senior Testimony at The Master’s Seminary
This is quite something. “Twelve days after giving his testimony, DJ graduated. He walked across the platform, received his diploma, moved his tassel from the left to right side of his cap, descended the stairs, and died.”
Flashback: The Joy of Self-Discipline
When we associate discipline only with avoidance of negative outcomes we rob ourselves of a means God uses to promote our joy and ultimately our joy in him. Where would God have you develop a discipline for your joy?As sure as ever God puts his children in the furnace, he will be in the furnace with them. —Charles Spurgeon
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A La Carte (September 21)
For those who have been looking for it, the song “In the Valley (Bless the Lord)” which was written to go along with Seasons of Sorrow has now made its way to Spotify, Apple Music, and so on. You should now be able to listen to it wherever you listen to good music!
Speaking of the book, if you have been wondering what it’s all about, there are now a few reviews out there you can read: Donna Evans; The Palest Ink; Lisa LaGeorge.
Westminster Books is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Piper’s classic Let the Nations Be Glad by putting it and other similar titles on sale.
One Last Magnificent Porous Day
This is really good: “For one brief day the world was porous again. For one brief day we recognised that the invisible world still leaks into the visible. For one brief day – perhaps one final day – transcendence was admitted into the public square in the modern Western world, and we all stood and acknowledged it.” (See also Intermission: Last Post for Christian England)
Sharpshooter
The John 10:10 Project has another neat video. “It’s not particularly big, fast, or strong, yet the archerfish is one of the most proficient hunters in all of nature. Inhabiting shallow estuaries from India to Australia, the archer generates powerful jets of fluid that routinely dislodge insects clinging to branches up to six feet above the water line.”
Remembering Rich Mullins
It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since Rich Mullins died. Lisa remembers him in this article.
Conservative Theology Marks many new Canadians
I’m so thankful that my church has also been blessed in the ways Clint describes here. “The encouraging feature of many of the new Canadians at my church is the fact that they are bringing their theology with them. And the theology is good.”
Raising Emotional Healthy Ministry Kids
Eliza Huie: “This article is written for parents who are serving in ministry, and it is for the church. We all have a part in raising emotionally healthy ministry kids. Below are three issues ministry kids face and what parents and the church can do.”
Something to Eat
Andrea expresses a matter of caution here that we’d do well to consider.
Flashback: No Hand But His Ever Holds the Shears
If it is our loving gardener who does the pruning, we can be sure there are never any unwise or careless cuts. Though we may not know why this branch has had to be trimmed or that one removed, we do know the one who wields the blade.A person may not allow us to talk to them about God, but they cannot keep us from talking to God about them. The power of Intercession! —Paul Washer
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Accelerate Your Ministry Training
For those called to ministry, Spurgeon College and Midwestern Seminary offer a dual-degree program that allows students to earn their Bachelor of Arts and Master’s degree (MDiv; MA, Biblical Counseling; or MA, Christian Education) in 5 years. Learn more about Accelerate here.
On the last day, we will be held accountable for how we have utilized the resources and gifts our Lord provides us—money, time, talents, relationships, and more. Disciples of Jesus are called by our Lord to leverage our resources and gifts with diligence, wisdom, and risk-taking faith in order to expand His kingdom and showcase His glory. As we do, we are spurred on by the hope of hearing our Master tell us on that last day, “Well done, good and faithful servant… Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt 25:21, ESV).
For those aspiring to church leadership, this call to accountability and stewardship should transform how we train for ministry. Many sensing a call toward church leadership recognize the value of a Bible college or seminary education. While aspiring leaders have many different options for theological education in front of them, there are certain principles that every aspiring leader should seek to live out during their season of theological training and formation. Here are four God-given resources that aspiring church leaders should focus on leveraging during their season of ministry training.
Leverage Your Mind
Speaking to a group of seminarians in 1911, Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield exhorted, “Say what you will, do what you will, the ministry is a ‘learned profession’; and the man without learning, no matter with what other gifts he may be endowed, is unfit for its duties.”[1] Amid all the opportunities and responsibilities that one’s season in Bible college or seminary may bring, it is vital that aspiring leaders remember their special vocation as a student. Bible college and seminary are special seasons to develop the habits, disciplines, instincts, and foundational convictions of a lifelong student of God’s Word. In a seminary setting, your hope is to learn an immense amount about God, His Word, and His people in a short amount of time. This is 3 to 5 years of training meant to equip you for the next 30 to 50 years of service. In that short period of time, you cannot learn everything you will need to know about souls and Scripture. But you can develop the foundational habits of study that will shape you for decades of service to God’s people.
Even as you study (and study… and study some more), it is important that you remember the ultimate goal of your study. Warfield warns against pitting your study against your devotional life: “Why should you turn from God when you turn to your books, or feel that you must [turn] from your books in order to turn to God? If learning and devotion are as antagonistic as that, then the intellectual life is in itself accursed and there can be no question of a religious life for a student, even of theology.” The truth is that what we don’t know about God, we cannot worship Him for. And the goal of theological training is not degrees, it is doxology. As aspiring ministry leaders leverage their minds, they must recognize that they do so not for human applause or any temporal gain, but so that they can know, delight in, and serve the God of their salvation.
Leverage Your Relationships
Aspiring ministry leaders should not only be concerned with what course of study they are committing themselves to, but also what type of community they are committing themselves to. Perhaps the most impactful aspect of residential study in particular is the number of deep relationships that students develop with fellow classmates and faculty members. It behooves those training for ministry to find a school and a program where fellow learners and mentors can become lifelong partners in ministry.
Leverage Your Time
The Apostle Paul exhorts believers in Ephesians 5:16 to make “the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” This is not a law-fueled burden to maximize every waking moment by the standards of modern “productivity” or “efficiency.” Instead, it is a call for believers to prayerfully and prudently use their one non-renewable resource. Aspiring leaders, then, should seek out theological training pathways that avoid redundancy and accelerate the attainment of key competencies in Biblical exegesis, theology, preaching/teaching, counseling, evangelism, and more.
Leverage Your Finances
Jesus’ words in Luke 14:28 are binding for those looking to commit to formal ministry training: “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?” Aspiring leaders should look to find affordable programs, and work to avoid large amounts of debt. As you leave your season of training and embark on a lifetime of ministry, financial freedom and well-formed habits of frugality will allow you to serve the church with greater effectiveness and joy.
Accelerate Your Ministry Training
Over the past years, I have had the privilege of watching these principles of stewardship play out in the lives of students as I have led the Accelerate program at Spurgeon College & Midwestern Seminary. Accelerate is a dual-degree program that allows students to earn both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in just five years. These students—both on-campus in Kansas City and around the globe—have chosen a path of academic and spiritual formation that allows them to leverage their mind, relationships, time, and finances with wisdom and intentionality. Whatever path an aspiring ministry leader might pursue, the calling remains the same for everyone. Leverage everything that’s been given to you for the glory of God and the good of others! And do so with the hope of that last day in mind, when you will hear your Lord welcome you into an eternity of joy in His presence.
[1] B.B. Warfield, The Religious Life of Theological Students
