Luzon's ECQ Week 4 coincided with the 2020 Holy Week. Originally, the school calendar indicated Wednesday - Saturday of this week to have no classes. Since the quarantine, however, our principal announced that we would have the entire week off work and encouraged us to have our personal retreat and more time for family prayer. Have I told you how much I'm grateful for this school I work in? No? Let me say it then. I'm truly grateful for MGCNL community, in so many areas. So I was able to spend more time reading (and watching) more materials this week. At this point, though, I'd like to highlight first how I've been selecting which materials to read/watch.
I understand that in a world where new knowledge would be only a few clicks away, many could be intoxicated, so to speak, with the "power" to know more. But knowledge puffs up. The same authors who have helped countless believers to arrive at a deeper, personal, and experiential learning of who God is--they also wrote the same books that have been read by many who are now so arrogant of what they know. And growing up as a reader, I have to admit that the tendency for me had been to read as many richly beneficial materials as I could--indiscriminately. But doing that doesn't really help your soul, nor does it grow your discernment. As Abba would always say, you're simply stocking up head knowledge. It might even prove to be just intellectual entertainment for you!
So instead of randomly, indiscriminately viewing/reading everything-about-reformation-and -systematic-theology materials, here's what Abba encourages all of SGC to do: go back and review the preachings for that week, and supplement it with readings and other materials to help understand the word better. This, of course, is biblical. The word, which is God's appointed means of grace, is entrusted to your shepherd-pastor. Your growth and your church's growth, dear Christian, correlates to how much you meditate on His Word, and how much each member of the local church does its part to build one another up through the Word preached.
Hence, you might notice a lot of my readings have very similar themes. What about you? What has your local church been emphasizing on? If you haven't begun listing your supplementary materials yet, you might want to start with that. :)
April 5, Sunday - Day 22
One of the peculiar blessings during this ECQ is, ironically, the means with which the local churches gather on the Lord's day. No, I definitely do not prefer this "online setup." I am most definitely not comfortable with this abnormal situation, either. Still, I'm grateful that in the midst of all these hiatus, we're still given an avenue to express our worship. And along with this new setup, we're able to invite speakers from the other side of the globe. Last Sunday, Ptr. Bart Carlson (of TBC-NJ) preached to us about the path to blessedness from Psalm 119. His introductory materials included this quote from CS Lewis' Reflections on the Psalms (which makes this sort of two-in-one recommendation). Ptr. Bart's message clearly laid down the path on which every blessed man treads while on earth. If you want to hear the entire message (and I highly recommend that), click here.
CSL's "Reflections on the Psalms" is also a book worth revisiting time and again. Unlike other exposition on Bible passages, Lewis didn't offer, as he puts it, "a work of scholarship." Instead, he wrote about each psalm as someone who had gone through so many changing scenes of life, and how he these psalms had tremendously helped him, in sorrow and in joy, to look up to God. If you haven't seen the book yet, I think Scribd is still on its "freemium" until the 19th!
April 6, Monday - Day 23
At the end of Alistair Begg's "The Hand of God" was an excerpt from his other book, "Made for His Pleasure." Needless to say, I jumped right into the book. I'm afraid I've been reading and listening to Begg so much these days. But then again, all the materials he wrote and delivered so far are all very, very relevant and helpful to me. I couldn't thank him enough for that. I haven't finished this book yet, but it does have a strong message on endurance and committed devotion to our Object of faith in this earthly race.
April 7, Tuesday - Day 24
We know that the heart is deceitful, as Jeremiah said. I'd like to point out that our mind is included in the heart's faculties. And what deceitful hearts and minds we have! Left on our own, we are either too consumed with our self-conceit and overconfidence in our own strength, or else groveling and wallowing in despair, fear, and anxiety. Elizabeth George knows this full well and in her book, she shares her priceless lessons learned in a dark season of her life. I personally have read this book months ago and lent my hard copy to a friend, but right at this moment, I knew I needed to read Philippians 4:8 truth again. Thankfully, Scribd has a copy! How do we rein in our thoughts? Our emotions? How do we perpetually ponder only on that which is true? If you need the answers to these questions as well as I do, read George's book. One of the most helpful things I've read here, which is summarized by the calligraphy above, is this:
My friend, it’s a fact: Thinking about things that are untrue and unreal drain your energy, your life, and your strength for today’s issues! Obeying the command of Philippians 4:8, however, helps keep your bucket filled and overflowing! And your energy available to serve God, to take care of your responsibilities, and to move toward accomplishing your dreams.
No what-ifs. No if-only thoughts. No this-isn't-the-way-it's-supposed-to-be lines. Focus on what's true.
Here's another Begg material. Not entirely intentional, of course. It's just that what he discusses, be it in his books or in his sermons, is truly relevant to me--to us. This sermon titled "True Friendship" connects well with one of the messages we've had recently in the church: committed love for the brethren. And indeed, what better friends should we have but those who are in the same fold with us? Begg clearly tells us in this sermon that to have a true friend is a blessing to fallen, imperfect creatures like us. Only a faithful friend could point out to you your flaws without ceasing to love you.
(A material somewhat out of theme, but this was really what I viewed for Thursday hehe.) Because April is National Poetry Month, I've been trying to write poems again especially that I had more time and opportunity to. I came across this MOOC on poetry and reviewed the concepts of sketching techniques. While this is not necessarily a renewing of the mind kind of activity, learning to put one's thoughts into writing is one way of understanding better that things that one reads. And for me, the strongest imagery and concept explanation isn't the charts or the academic essays, but metaphors. I still haven't written any decent poems, but at least I learned something. :)
The Pilgrim's Progress. A classic. I've finished rereading Narnia, and I kept thinking about how CSL's "The Chronicles of Narnia" is really like Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" in its allegories and writing purpose. It's been years since I last read the book, so I decided it might be good to be reminded of our own pilgrimage to Celestial City. We're only passing through, and these trying times are but a reminder that this earth is not our home. Christian's cry on this chapter rings all the louder. May we likewise run towards the light, not letting anyone stop us from running towards life, eternal life.
April 11, Saturday - Day 28
Ptr. Bart's sermon back on day 22 didn't leave me the whole week. I kept thinking about it, not only because Psalm 119 has been my favorite psalm for years now, but also because his message last Sunday made the psalm shine even so much brighter to me. I checked my notes again and remembered that he also quoted Ryle as his way of concluding the sermon. I haven't finished reading JC Ryle's "Holiness," but this line from the book resonates well with me:
As a general rule, in the long run of life, it will be found true that "sanctified" people are the happiest people on earth. They have solid comforts which the world can neither give nor take away.
Let me bounce Ryle's and Ptr. Bart's question to you. Are you convinced that holiness is happiness? This book, and the sermon from which I heard the line in calligraphy above, should elicit from the Christian a two-fold response--mourning, for indeed we could never honestly say that our whole life is perfectly holy. But this should also, as what Ptr. Bart said, give us all the more the stronger desire to obey God and to more fervently pursue holiness.
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