CCC Gainesville | Blog
In thy presence there is fullness of joy, in thy right hand are
pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:11). I hold the heady doctrine
that no pleasures are so frequent or intense as those of the
grateful, devoted, single-minded, whole-hearted, self-denying
Christian. I maintain that the delights of work and leisure, of
friendship and family, of eating and mating, of arts and crafts, of
playing and watching games, of finding out and making things, of
helping other people, and all the other noble pleasures that life
affords, are doubled for the Christian; for, as the cheerful old
Puritans used to say (no, sir, that is not a misprint, nor a Freudian
lapse; I mean Puritans—the real historical Puritans, as distinct from
the smug sourpusses of last-century Anglo-American imagination),
the Christian tastes God in all his pleasures,and this increases
them, whereas for other men pleasure brings with it a sense of
hollowness which reduces it. Also, I maintain that every encounter
between the sincere Christian and God’s Word, the law of thy
mouth (Psalm 119:72), however harrowing or humbling its import,
brings joy as its spin-off… and the keener the Christian the greater
the joy. I know for myself what it is to enjoy the Bible—that is, to be
glad at finding God and being found by Him in and through the
Bible; I know by experience why the Psalmist called God’s message
of promise and command his delight (Psalm 119:14, 16, 24, 35,
47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 174—ten times!) and his joy (vs. 111, cf. 162;
Psalm 19:8), and why he said that he loved it (Psalm 119:47, 48,
97, 103, 113, 119, 127, 140, 159, 163, 167—eleven times!); I
have proved, as have others, that as good food yields pleasure as
well as nourishment, so does the good word of God. So I am all for
Christians digging into their Bibles with expectations of
enjoyment…What is enjoyment? Essentially, it is a by-product: a
contented, fulfilled state which comes from concentrating on
something other than enjoying yourself… Bible study will only give
enjoyment if conforming to our Creator in belief and behavior,
through trust and obedience, is its goal. Bible study for our own
pleasure rather than for God ends up giving pleasure neither to
Him nor to us… what brings joy is finding God’s way, God’s grace
and God’s fellowship through the Bible, even though again and
again what the Bible says—that is, what God in the Bible tells us—
knocks us flat. –JI Packer
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Jesus came to raise the dead. He did not come to teach the teachable; he did not come to improve the improvable; he did not come to reform the reformable. None of those things work. –Robert Farrar Capon
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“There’s a lovely Hasidic story of a rabbi who always told his people that if they studied the Torah, it would put Scripture on their hearts. One of them asked, “Why on our hearts, and not in them?” The rabbi answered, “Only God can put Scripture inside. But reading sacred text can put it on your heart, and then when your hearts break, the holy words will fall inside.” –Anne Lamott
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“We present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is wisdom; this is the royal law; these are the lively oracles of God.”
With these words in the coronation service the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland handed to the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth a copy of the Bible.
Spread the word!
