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We must reject a view of the Christian life that emphasizes what we should do more than what God is doing in us by his Spirit. We should reject any view of the Christian life that says that the change God calls us to is impossible, or only takes place in eternity. We should reject any perspective on the Christian life that minimizes the war that rages in our hearts every day – or ignores the fact that God is fighting it for us and with us! The biblical picture is that God meets us in the trials of life, and he doesn’t just give us rules – he gives us his Son! Because of him, what we are called to be is not unrealistic.

From How People Change, by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp – a book which I highly recommend because it is realistic, hopeful, and hope-giving.

To be slighted is to be treated as someone insignificant or trivial, as of no account. We feel slighted, for example, when we demonstrate kindness to others and our good deed goes unnoticed, unacknowledged, or (in the worst case) our gift is criticized by the one to whom we gave it. We feel some of the least pleasant emotions of life: anger, shame, frustration, disappointment, confusion.

But being slighted has a bright side: it can serve as a small reminder to us of the One who was slighted for us. Our slights are of course “slight” in comparison to his, yet their bitterness gives us a small taste of what he endured for us. And by doing so he did not treat us as insignificant, trivial, or of no account.

In my opinion, the finest exploration of his love being treated with contempt is George Herbert’s “The Sacrifice.” In this poem Herbet presents Christ speaking from the cross, and recounting the innumerable ironic ways in which his people received good from him and repaid it with evil. If you follow this link, you will find a version of it that I edited with a few footnotes to help. His Slight is worth your reflection.

Autolatry is defined simply as “self-worship.” The object of worship is by (my) definition a god. Therefore, whether he is conscious of the fact or not, the autolater makes himself (“his Self”) a god.

Gods share certain attributes, and the Self, when it is made a god, assumes these attributes. For example, gods are jealous and reluctant to share their glory with other so-called gods, so they demand exclusive allegiance and single-minded obedience. To borrow some familiar language, the Self has two great commands:

1. Love the Lord your Self with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
2. Love your neighbor for your Self.

With a little reflection you can see how these two commands are mutually interrelated: you cannot love your Self without loving your neighbor for your Self; and if you love your neighbor for your Self, then you are loving your Self with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Autolatry is therefore self-consistent as a religion.

We also see in these two great commands the common hunger of a god for more worshipers. The Self is always in the market for admirers, and when you love your neighbor for your Self, you are making (or trying to make) your neighbor into another servant of your Self.

When, for example, you give something to your neighbor in need, it may appear on the surface to be a conflict of Self-interest; but if you maintain at your core an ultimate desire that the neighbor would call your Self “generous,” you are loving your neighbor for your Self, and recruiting another devotee for your Self. Likewise, if you admire your neighbor’s face, or hair, or eyes, or car, or house, or anything that is your neighbor’s, yet give your admiration expecting in return some reciprocal praise, you are loving your neighbor for your Self, and are a faithful autolater.

The folks at Third Millennium Ministries are now making their video series available online–for free. Click here to watch Richard Pratt’s introduction to Systematic Theology. You can also listen to some audio courses online. I highly recommend Pratt’s material on the prophets, and John Frame is always good as well.

Since we are packing our stuff to move to Slovakia, we have to go through lots of memorabilia in order to figure out what to keep and what to throw away. I get distracted sometimes by what I discover. For example, consider the drawing of Francis Schaeffer I did in 1984 when I discovered the Schaeffers, their writings, and their lives. I found many journal entries about the Schaeffers from those months before Nicholas (our first child) was born. And I was particularly taken by the drama and romance of their lives recorded by Edith in The Tapestry.

As you can tell from some of my recent blog entries, I’ve been reading more Schaeffer lately. One theme that has gripped me is expressed by Francis in these comments from The God Who Is There:

The world has a right to look upon us and make a judgment…. The final apologetic, along with the rational, logical defense and presentation, is what the world sees in the individual Christian and in our corporate relationships together…. What the world cannot explain away will be a substantial, corporate exhibition of the logical conclusions of Christianity.

What Francis states as a proposition, Edith describes in their story, as she says in her introduction to L’Abri:

The story which follows is one in which the author has attempted to show the reality of the fact that God exists, and that He is the One who has, time after time, answered prayer in the midst of well-nigh impossible circumstances to bring about something out of nothing.

Their lives together demonstrated in remarkable ways that “God is there, and he is not silent.” And of course I wonder what my life demonstrates about God, and how I can live in such a way that others will be certain that I live in the presence of God.

How then will you live?

Here’s another gem from Francis Schaeffer, which I record as a note to myself:

The problem which confronts us as we approach modern man today is not how we are to change Christian teaching in order to make it more palatable, for to do that would mean throwing away any chance of giving the real answer to the man in despair; rather, it is the problem of how to communicate the gospel so that it is understood.

The God Who Is There, section four, chapter three