The Gate is Small (Pt. 2)

The following is a continuation of a story started in The Gate is Small (Pt. 1). I encourage you to read it first. 

I made my way across the bridge with growing confidence that the path I walked was a good one. I thought about the man so afraid of the height of the bridge that he forgot about the builder of bridges! All who hiked this mountain knew he was as trustworthy a builder as they come.

Dismounting the bridge on the other side I continued my hike along the trail. It wound around the mountainside, along a ridge for some time and then turned into little more than a goats path. It rested on the precipice of a steep cliff on the right hand side, and a steep rise on the left. I clutched at the wall-like rock on the left as I inched my way around the mountainside. More than once my foot slipped off the narrow path and I came close to plummeting down the cliff to who knows where! I knew I would not be happy if that happened, and yet it occupied my mind more than any other thought.

Baby Don’t Hurt Me: Four Things Love Isn’t

Let’s define love.

My absolute favorite extra-biblical definition of love comes from J. Budziszewski’s “Ask Me Anything.”

“Love is a commitment of the will to the true good of the other person.”

This succinct, profound, and jam-packed definition is my favorite because it clears up so many misconceptions about love that people have these days. Let me show you four of them.

The Gate Is Small (Pt. 1)

“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are they that find it.”

As I was hiking through the mountains, and following a pleasant little trail, I came upon a gate. It was small and unassuming as it sat alongside the trail; I had nearly passed it by. Wrought iron framed the parallel bars that ran up its middle and a small wooden sign hung on the gate. “To Life” it read, barely legible, in faded painted letters. I looked down the path, thinking that I couldn’t spare the time. There was so much more to see, and the path I was on was so beautiful and spacious.

To Be "in Christ": This is the Gospel

To Be “in Christ”

To be “in Christ” is a curious thing. It’s a distinctly Pauline idea. He seems to use it of anyone who is a believer in the gospel, as in anyone who has been saved by grace through faith in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ to save them from the penalty of their sins. Galatians 2 gives, I think, the clearest explanation of what he means by the phrase.

“Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

What’s he saying? He’s saying that having faith in Jesus to save you from the penalty of sin puts you in the camp of “in Christ.” He’s also saying that if you think you can work your way to perfection, you’re not in the camp of “in Christ.” Being “in Christ” means living by faith in the son of God, not by the works of the law. The law reveals sin, grace deals with it.

Introducing Theology: A Forgotten Essential

Below is a paper written for an Introduction to Theology class at DTS. It is a response paper to two introductory books about theology, but let me explain the picture.

I think theology is much more essential to Christian faith than the average Christian realizes. It's a forgotten essential, as this paper tries to prove. Hence, I show you a rusty old gear without which many a machine would cease to run. Theology is like that gear. We need it for Christianity to run, and you can hate it all you want, but without it, the Christian life goes no where.

 I hope you enjoy.