I once heard a joke that illustrated Ephesians 2:8-9 quite nicely:
An upright, clean-cut man dies and finds himself standing before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St Peter says, “Ok, so here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into Heaven. Tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I’ll aware you points depending on their goodness level.”
Yesterday, I attended the annual South Brunswick Women’s Leadership Conference. I went to a workshop on education and another one on culinary arts (yeah, yeah, stop laughing). Listening to the panelists share about how they arrived at their current careers made me reflect on how I made the decision to attend seminary.
Really, I am indebted to several folks: spiritual mentors, professors, friends…and Tim Keller and Rick Warren…
“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” – Psalm 126:5
I am going to seminary in six months. Three months ago, I made a list of 10 reasons why I should not go to seminary. One of the items on my list was this: An M.Div. would draw me into deeper and more direct ministry in the church. In other words: I’m afraid to serve God, because His people can be mean and may drive me bananas.
In middle school, I had an endearing, but somewhat-strange Social Studies teacher who liked to shout, “No kadosh!” while rapping our desks with a wooden ruler, whenever he sensed sub-par studenthood. We seemed to hear “No kadosh!” a lot, but in our defense, his was the ninth and last class of a very long school day. (Edit: On second thought, this quirky saying may have belonged to one of my high school math teachers instead…)
I had no idea what “no kadosh” meant until recently, when I discovered (while preparing a Sunday School series on the Book of Numbers) that “kadosh” (qadosh) is the Hebrew word for “holiness.”
This is a joke that I once heard from a Sunday School teacher:
A missionary was unable to attend his friends’ wedding, so he sent the new couple a brief telegram that read: ”May your marriage always reflect the beauty of John 4:18.”
Unfortunately, he meant to reference 1 John 4:18, which reads: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Recently, I talked to some friends about how difficult it is to communicate the Gospel to someone who recognizes no higher authority beyond himself. Equally (if not more) difficult is communicating the Gospel to someone who acknowledges God and even divine revelation, but would rather trust his own reasoning than trust the Bible for what it says.
Last night, it occurred to me to ask God for more humility and more confidence. As I prayed, I realized how lacking I was in both. It seemed like a strange contradiction. How could a proud person lack confidence?–or an insecure person, humility?
But then I began to understand that a person cannot have true confidence unless he is first humble, nor can he be truly humble unless he first has confidence.
This is the first Tim Keller sermon I’d ever heard, and it transformed my understanding of one of Jesus’ best-known and best-loved parables. Recently, I listened to it again for the third time. It’s roughly 38 minutes and worth every second, every time.
It is a powerful reminder of what it means to love God (rather than the blessings of God), and what it cost (God) for Him to love us.
For the past two weeks, the PCC Youth Group has been watching science videos and thinking about creationism, Intelligent Design, evolution, and such. It all reminds me of this joke I once heard…
