contentment

the state of being contented; satisfied.
happiness with one's situation in life.
a state of peaceful happiness or satisfaction.
to one’s heart’s content-to the full extent of one’s desires.

I think 1 Tim. 6:6 and 2 Cor. 9:8 are pretty clear about contentment as part of the Christian life.

But I am wrestling with what this looks like. Should the Christian be totally content with their life? What does that mean for our eschatology?

Are the above definitions missing something?

And I don't mean contentment as a dutiful acceptance of life just becuase things are the way that they are.

So many thoughts....

So many questions....

brain freeze, study and jobs...

After another remedial hebrew session with Athas, I felt as though my brain was squished. I'm starting to get slightly concerned about the upcoming final exam. It makes me question the foolishness at having picked this subject up. But then I remember the fun that I have when I feel as though I have decoded some translation.
(I call that fun - what has happened to me?!!)

Term 4 is well underway, and with only a few short weeks until the exams, I'm going to have to dig deep. I'm thankful for the public holiday next monday. I think I'm going to use it to get some study papers under my belt and to finalise my study program for the next 6 weeks.

I've started thinking about positions for next year. (I can't remember if I have mentioned that in previous posts). Although I was in discussions with some people about some full-time positions, I have decided to remain at college for next year. I'd really like to spend some more time thinking about contentment, and if I don't get approval to do a project on it then I will do my new testament issues paper on it. So unless there is a position that comes and bites me, which I just cannot walk away from, my plans are to remain and do 4th year.

Please pray for me as I seek a position.

More questions than answers...

Where is human responsibility? What is the place of human responsibility in dating?

Following on from my previous post, I have been wondering about the place of human responsibility.
My premise for contentment, and specifically contentment in singleness, is found in God’s sovereignty and God’s goodness.
But simply because God is in control, it doesn’t absolve human responsibility.
Imagine if we were to take the attitude of ‘Well, if God wants it to happen, then it will happen’ with evangelism. If this attitude is taken, then it is easy to sit back and not take part. So what does this mean for the dating scene?

I speak about contentment in singleness, marriage, financial matters, every area of your life. When people allow their desires to consume them, they not only become discontent, but they make those things their idols.
I am wrestling at the moment with the place of human responsibility in the dating scene. I am also wrestling with the place of discontentment in the life of the believer. What does it mean to be discontent? Is it ok to be discontent with sin in your life? What about being discontent with being in poverty?
But what does all this look like?

church visiting and dating

Last night I visited St Paul's Castle Hill. I really enjoyed it. They had a visiting preacher from the US, and the topic of the sermon was dating. Overall, I think he did a great job. Though I was left with many questions.
I approached him after the service and got his email addy. I'm looking forward to processing last night's data and then sending him an email with all my questions.

Many people say that you 'just know' when you have met the one.
So how do you know when it is the one? What is the X-factor?

It's up and running

I finally have put together a schedule and my Barth readings should now have a little more direction (ie - helping me for my exams).

music review

Here are some of my fav Christian CDs of the moment:



Mike Begbie's debut albumn, Promises. Available here.





Check out Garage Hymnal here.







For more info on Sovereign Grace Ministries and Music click here.

holidays

It is always cold, but each year I look forward to the first swim of the summer season. Today was the day. Although it isn't summer yet, the temps hit 30c on Friday.
Dad and I headed down to the beach this arvo to dive into the cold salt water. There were quite a few people down there. But not many in the water. We didn't last all that long either. The sun was tickling our skin, so we sat down and watched the water and talked about life, love and politics.

Tonight I headed back to an old stomping ground. I went to Nan0c's 30th birthday do. It was heaps of fun to catch up with people. I didn't stay too late as the essay nights of last week are haunting me.

So I sit here, laptop on my knees and think about stuff. Where will I be when I turn 30? What can I get Mum for her birthday? Should I get a cat next year? Or maybe a fish to replace Moe and Joe? Where should I work next year? Should I go to bed?

Psalm 19

I'm preaching on Ps 19 in Chick's Chapel in a couple of weeks.

I went to visit some friends tonight. When we read through this Psalm, one of them pointed out that I could talk for hours just on that one Psalm. Which is exactly how I'm feeling at this point. There is so much to say, and only a short 20-25 mins to say it in.

Why don't you have a read and tell me what you think?

--
Ps 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

doctrine essay in tatters

I spend 2 1/2 hours with MDB this arvo going through my doctrine essay. After giving him permission, he tore it to shreds. It was all very depressing. But at least I know how to improve. Apparently its not so much my thinking, but my writing skills.
blech

completion

3289 words on paper.
Done - finally!

1040 words to go.....

downhill slide

1500 down
1500 to go

--
ok, so its sounding a little less like a sermon since i added this sentence:

On deeper investigation, this connection is not an
anthropological-soteriological statement so much as a
Christological-cosmological distinction that Paul is highlighting.

hope... where are you?

it is in severe danger of sounding more like a sermon than an academic essay on Christian hope....

1200 words
1800 to go

deadlines come and deadlines go...

800 words
2200 to go

326 words written
2674 words to go

slowly, slowly

158 words
2842 to go

contentment and blessings

I heard it said that it is when you give your struggles over to God, then, and only then, he will bless you.
I’ve heard it said that when you learn to be content with who you are, when you learn to love yourself, then God will bless you with someone to love you.
I’ve read that the secret of contentment is when we distract ourselves from our worries, giving these things to God letting him deal with them, then God will bless us beyond our wildest imaginings.

This is not the case.
The above statements are dangerous. Yes, they may be said with good intentions, and people genuinely wanting to give you a piece of comfort. But all this does is lead to a works based faith and mentality. If I do this, then God will give me this. And even if we aren’t thinking it out loud, it becomes immersed into our sub-thinking. God doesn’t require that we attain a certain level of being before he blesses us. He gives all gifts - freely. Just like salvation, it is not something to be bought, earned or bribed. It is something given in God’s infinite mercy and grace.

Yes, we need to focus on God.
Yes, we need to give our concerns to him and not hold on to them.
Yes, we need to learn contentment with who we are as a child of God.
Yes, we need to learn contentment with all areas of our lives.
BUT
we cannot and must not affix the expectation of a blessing to these things.

/endrant

the countdown begins....

I interrupt your regular program to announce:

1. 73 words, 2927 to go.
2. 10 weeks til summer break.
3. 8 weeks til exams.
4. 40 hours til essay is due.

Ich habe eine Struktur für meinen Aufsatz!
YAY

Jetzt muss ich finden, dass dreitausend Wörter es ausfüllen

reconsiderations

Essay week always makes me reconsider whether I should continue studies. I would much rather give 10 sermons than write an essay. -- Its normally in hindsight that I can reflect and enjoy what I have learnt during an essay.

I picked a question on Christian hope. It looked nice enough on face value. Scratching the surface, I have realised that it is asking about the new perspective - arrrgghhhh
I will look back once this is handed in and realise that it is has been good!

But it still makes me ask the questions that I have asked many times before....
Should I really do 4th year?
If I do 4th year, should I do a project?

--
I would dealy love to finish up study at the end of this year. I feel that I have been a student for eons. I know that there is only slim chances that I will escape and not continue studies into next year, but it makes me wonder if I should pursue some of the options that have come my way in terms of fulltime work for next year.

--
Ethics essays came back. This was the one that I frantically emailed in from holidays. I am quite happy with it all things considering. AJC marked it. I found his comments helpful. Escpecially his comment on the section about english expression. He said that there were only some minor glitches, but I should try to make sure that each sentence includes a verb!!!
I can laugh about this becuase it is so typical of me.

encouraging moments

Last year, my eldest brother (the one pictured here) became a Christian. To see the way in which God transformed a stubborn 30year old has been amazing.
He has never held a job for more than a couple of months, yet now he is in his second semester at uni. As I sit here and look over at his study space, I am encouraged to see that plastered around his computer are prayer points. He has changed from being an inward looking man, to being a man who prays that he would be outward. He has changed from being a man who would rarely talk to anyone, let alone talk about God, to being a man who seeks to have conversations wtih you and wants more than anything to talk about God.

I am encouraged. I hope this encourages you. For he was someone who was completely anti-God for the first 29.5 years of his life!!! Take hope. You may have someone in your family or friends who seems to be so completely closed to the good news of the gospel, but nothing is impossible for God.

waiting

for a break in the rain
for the ice cream to melt
for a hug from a friend
for a smile to shatter
for the waves to stop moving
for the sand on your nose
for you to come home

Reading Through the Church Dogmatics

click the above link - go on, you know you want to

laughable exam experience

when we turned the paper over in friday's exam, there was a general burst of laughter and even a few groans.
it hasn't been since first year doctrine that i have looked at an exam and had such a complete lack of knowledge. and there wasn't any choice in the questions, you had to answer what was in front of you!
i am pretty sure that they are going to be kind markers though.

so who the heck is archbishop laud anyway, and what were his litergical aims?

you say it best when you say nothing at all

it has been a week of radio silence from me.
to sum up - stuff happens. (which is my one rule for doing hebrew, but i'm seeing a very versatile application to that philosophy)

stuff happens:
(no particular order, and i'm sure there was more stuff in there - like class)
dinner with trinity
heeb with mamma swan
laughable exam experience
cleaned my room - yes, would you believe it??? you totally wouldn't recognise my room. i actually have carpet!

now to forecast the coming week:
severe crisis
new testament essay
predictions of catastrophic elimination

God - a school teacher on playground duty?

Last week I had a conversation with a friend of mine.
She said:
"God is like a school teacher on playground duty. He doesn't let things get completely out of control, but He watches the bad stuff that we do to one another, but isn't really in control of it all."
I can understand that this statement comes from her looking at bad stuff that happens and what role God plays in all of that.

Is God like a school teacher on playground duty? Is God really in control? What does it mean if we are to say that God isn't in control?

Open Theism is a danger for the church. It undermines our very confidence in God. My friend feels the tension that lay between God's goodness which she knows, but also that evil happens. Open Theism is attractive to people who struggle with working out why evil happens.

A reformed approach says that God knows in advance everything that will happen, every exact and precise detail. God knows the suffering and evil that will occur. This does not in any way mean that God is responsible for sin. God uses suffering for his good purposes (Rom 5:1-5).

Open Theists argue that if God cannot know about the evil and suffering that will occur. They want to absolve God from any moral responsibility of creating or being involved in sin and suffering. They say that their God is one who wishes that suffering and pain does not occur, and when we foolish humans do things that cause suffering, then God is there to provide us with the strength and endurance to get through it.

This is why it is persuasive. And dangerous.

So why do bad things happen to good people? Can God really be in control? If God knows exactly what bad stuff is going to happen to us, then surely he must bare the responsibility for setting it in place, and as such cannot be a loving God? Surely it is not for our good?

The following is a list of what open theists say about pain and suffering:

• God does not know in advance the future free actions of his moral creatures
• God cannot control the future free actions of his moral creatures
• Tragic events occur over which God has no control
• When tragedies occur, God should not be blamed, becuase he was not able to prevent them from occuring, and he certainly did not will or cause them to occur
• Suffering is gratuitous and pointless, ie suffering has no positive or redeeming quality to it all, so that God should never be seen as intending suffering in order to bring some good from it

Bruce Ware, Their God is too small: Open Theism and the Undermining of Confidence in God (Crossway: Illinois, 2003) 67-8

You see, I can understand and feel weight of this arguement. But as I said to my friend, once you start saying that God is not in control, there are some pretty serious implications.
If God is not in control, then who is? satan? no one or nothing?
Is God omniscient or omnipotent?

I believe this arguement for God stems from a misunderstanding of God's goodness.
BY NO MEANS is suffering good in and of itself. The very fabric of this creation is torn and groaning for a release from its suffering (Rom 8:18-24). Suffering is not something that is part of the way that God created things, that is why there is the hope of future re-creation, the hope of glory.
Open theists will say that suffering is not designed by God and has no good. But I disagree. I believe that God uses suffering for good. I believe that he ordains suffering to serve a purpose. A good purpose.

And since when has God promised that life as a Christian would not have suffering?

So is God like a school teacher on playground duty? Is your God in control of the good, the bad, the small and the large? If he isn't, who is in control of those things?

--
a few initial thoughts, I'm sure there will be more to come later, but i didn't want too long a post.

Now what do you think?

dreaming

floating
watching
waiting
crying
smiling
running
sharing
hating
loving
wishing
dreaming

awwwww

spring is here

I saw pumpkin head yesterday, and she was wearing a skirt, she reminded me that it was the first day of spring. The weather certainly reflects that. It has been glorious. I have slight feelings of trepidation for the coming summer and lack of rain.

I went around to the Ould's this morning to pick up my fruit and veg from them. I ended up going on an impromtue picnic with them to centenial park. It was a lovely day. The sun shone, we had a BBQ lunch, I played with Charis in the playground, we fed the ducks (and eels), and generally enjoyed a Saturday day off.

It was all good.

--
caffiene detox has gone by the wayside (i only lasted 2.5 days - oh well)

why is it

that it is always after midnight when i realise that i have mountains of washing that needs to be done?

C is satisfactory

It is what i must keep reminding myself.

Today we got our long awaited doctrine 3 essays back. They were our first essay to be returned this year. I cannot help but be dissapointed with my mark. I spend much time researching, but it seems that my skills are not up to scratch.

In first year, I was happy with C's. So why am I upset with this mark? I suppose that it is because my marks went up last year. I suppose that when my marks went up, I saw that I was capable of more than C's. I suppose it is because I put a many hours into the essay. I suppose it is because I felt that I grappled with the topic well. I suppose it could be that external factors have pulled me away from my studies in a way that I am frustrated about. I suppose many things.

It is not a marks-pride thing. It is more that I am putting pressure on myself so that I can keep my grade point average up so that I can do my project next year. My mark today has done nothing to help that.

I must remember, C is satisfactory.

headache?

day two, caffiene detox over

but just how much caffiene is there in one incey teeny square of lindt 70%?