A love affair with God's law

Just reflecting on the recent talk about the 10 commandments and God's law....

The bible is a united proof of God's love for us... yes, it may be divided into the Old testament and the New testament-- but some christians start to believe that the OT is bad news and the NT is good news.

"They sniff from the theological wind that the God of the OT is a demanding God, while the God of the NT is a giving God. But children do not smell this odour. They see as many demands in the NT as there are in the OT- and perhaps harder ones. If the good news depends on God not demanding, there is no gospel. But kids know better. And we might learn from them to enjoy the OT if we see that the obedience it demands is the obedience of faith in future grace."
- John Piper "Future Grace"

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice then Cain...
By faith Noah... prepared an ark for the salvation of his household...
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac...
By faith Moses... refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter...

Hebrews 11:4,7,17,24

When Moses recorded what the Lord required of his people, he said it was "to keep the Lord's commandments... for your good" (Deut 10:13) It is for our good that God commands us to do his will. The men and women of the Old testament knew this. They who loved God received his commandments as blessings and not burdens. They seemed to have a love affair with God's law!

"I shall delight in Thy commandments, which I love. And i shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments which I love; and I will meditate on Thy statutes... I love Thy commandments above gold, yes above fine gold." (Psalms 119:47, 48, 127)

King David knew, more than anyone, how the law of God could crush with guilt- like the guilt of adultery and murder (2 Sam 12:13). But no one loved the law more than David. He reveled in its practical, spiritual value. he said that it "is perfect, restoring the soul;" it is "sure, making wise the simple;" it is "right, rejoicing the heart;" it is "pure, enlightening the eyes." It is "sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:7-10) In other words, he experienced profoundly the truth of Moses' words that the commandments of God are "for your good."

The law is not a mere list of commandments. The commandments of the law are woven together with threads of grace- past grace, future grace, forgiving grace and empowering grace. These threads are part of the Old testament law. Before God gave moses the Ten commandments, He reminded him of past grace: "... You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then , if you will indeed obey My voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine." (Exodus 19:3-5)

God promised forgiving grace at the centre of the law-giving on Mt Sinai. God identified himself as "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished." (Ex 34:6-7) In other words, at the head of the law stands a future provision for failing to keep the law- God has poured out his forgiving grace!

The grace of empowerment for obedience was not poured out fully in the Old testament times. This greater outpouring was promised in the "new covenant" which Christ inaugurated and sealed by the shedding of his blood (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25). Both prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel mention the time that was coming when God would empower his people with a new heart, and a new spirit!

"Behold the days are coming... I will put My law within them and on their hearts I will write it." (Jer 31:31,33) "I shall give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. I shall take the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and Keep My ordinances" (Ezekiel 11:19-10 cf. 36:26-28)

We are living in exciting times! The 'days which are coming' in the bible are the times now! Do not exalt our precious privilege as beneficiaries of the new covenant at the expense of the old covenant- it did not command the wrong things- it was not complete because it was not accompanied, by and large, with inner, transforming, enabling divine power (Rom 8:3)

Taken as a whole, the old testament has one great aim:" Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perserverance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE" (Rom 15:4)

The OT was written to strengthen our hope in God!

The commandments of God are not negligible

because we are under grace.

They are doable (through Christ) because we are under grace.

The new covenant gift of the Spirit

is the power to obey the revealed will of God;

but the path along which the Spirit comes and works

is faith in future grace.

- John Piper 'Future grace'

Angel of Learning

I love it! Thanks girl =)

Faith vs Pride

Thus says the Lord,

"Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom,

And let not the mightly man boast of his might,

let not a rich man boast of his riches;

but let him who boasts boast of this,

that he understands and knows Me,

that I am the Lord who exercises

Lovingkindness, justics, and righteousness on earth;

for I delight in these things," declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Excerpts from Faith in Future Grace vs Pride
Future Grace by John Piper

Humility is not a popular trait in the modern world.
It's not touted in the talk shows or celebrated in valedictory speeches or commended in diversity seminars or listed with corporate core values. And if you go to the massive self-help section of your sprawling mall bookstore, you won't find many titles celebrating humility.

The basic reason for this is not hard to find: humility can only survive in the presence of God. When God goes, humility goes. In fact, you might say that humility follows God like a shadow. We can expect to find humility applauded in our society about as often as we find God applauded.

In the local news paper (Minneapolis Star Tribune, sept 12 1994) a guest editorial captured the atmosphere of our time that asphyxiates humility:

There are some who naively cling to the nostalgic memory of God. The average churchgoer takes a few hours out of the week to experience the sacred... But the rest of the time, he is immersed in a society that no longer acknowledges God as an omniscient and omnipotent force to be loved and worshipped... Today we are too spohisticated for God. We can stand on our own; we are prepared and ready to choose and define our own existence.

In this atmosphere, humility cannot survive. It disappears with God. When God is neglected, the runner-up god takes his place, namely man. And that, by definities, is the opposite of humility, namely, the haughty spirit called pride.

An appetite for God in the heart

Trusting God and being arrogant are opposites:" An arrogant man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper" Pro 28:25. Stephen Charnock said," A proud faith is as much a contradiction as a humble devil." To see why faith and pride are opposites we need to remind ourselves what faith is.

The heart of biblical faith in Jesus is coming to him for the satisfaction of all that God is for us in him. Jesus said in John 6:35 "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in my shall never thirst." Unbelief is turning away from Jesus in order to seek satisfaction in other things.

Belief is not merely an agreement with facts in the head; it is also an appetite for God in the heart, which fastens on Jesus for satisfaction. In the very first verse up on the top of this blog post-- the bible mentions 3 things which God names his great competitors for the boast of the human heart. Each one-- Wisdom, might and riches- tempts us to take satisfaction in ourselves-- our intelligence, our strength, our material resources. Each one lures us away from trusting God as the superior satisfaction above them all.

When knowledge puffs up

The apostle Paul warns that "knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies" 1 Cor 8:1. This does not mean he favours ignorance and irrationality: "Do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature" 1Cor 14:20

G.K Chesterson, the British Catholic Journalist-author who died in 1936, warned that in the 20th Century we are not clear about the relationship between intellectual conviction and pride.

What we suffer from ... is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert-- himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt-- the Divine Reason.

Paul is not calling into question the necessity of firm conviction and true knowledge. Nevertheless is he keenly aware that what we know- or think we know- can lure us away from resting in God's wisdom and lead us toward boasting in our own.

The organ of knowledge was given to us that we might know God and how the world relates to God. One of the first things we learn, when we know him as we ought, is the Word of Jesus: "Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" Matt 16:17.
All true knowledge depends on God. "Who has been [God's] counselor... for from him and through him are all things" Rom 11:34,36
God gave us minds not only to know, but to know how we ought to know.

We know the way we ought to know when we boast in the Source of all knowing-- God. Not in our fragile little chip-- our limited understanding and knowledge-- with its tiny, God-designed circuitry. When we boast in our wisdom we show that we have turned from God to trust in ourselves.

Deut 8:11-17
Beware lest, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart becomes proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery... In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. Otherwise, you may say in your heart," My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth."

The bible never tires of telling us, "The king is not saved by a mighty army; a warrior is not delievered by great strength" Ps 33:16-17. You can have all these which you buy with your wealth, but unless the Lord decides to give you deliverance and victory, they will be useless in the day of battle. That's why the next few verses in Psalms 33 point to an alternative treasure for our trust: "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His loving kindness... He is our help and shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name. ps 33:18-21.

This is the remedy for pride.

Funny Advertisements

This is obviously a burger King Ad.... haha.
This one is brilliant. It's Baygon!

Some things to do before i die

this is an ever increasing list...

1. Raise children who are healthy, funny & god-fearing.
2. Read 90% of all the books i own- there are books i'm not sure why i've got.
3. Pack Europe and put it in my bag; alternatively- backpack across Europe
4. Keep my eyes on the bigger picture

My brother

There was a young man named Josh
Who went for an event quite posh
He bought a new vest
Snazzy with zest
All the girls screamed, "My gosh!"

haha, that was really fun to write. will write more! haha

That's enough!!

okay, since the time i hung the bedsheets out to dry on sunday... it's rained... *counts fingers*
at LEAST 6-7 times (light/ heavy)!!!
I'm giving up, definitely NOT washing the clothes again... altho i probably should-- cos acid rain is not the kind of softener smell i like... BUT that load cost me $4.40!!!
i REFUSE to wash the clothes again.
Now it'll cost me another $3 to dry them... GAH!!!!!

Going to trudge to the laundromat to dry them now....
I was whining to mari the whole way back from school yesterday and today (cos it always chose to rain after school).... NOOOOO.... my laundry..... =~(

*drags feet AND laundry to the laundromat*

AND I'll have to take my laundry down in the rain!!!!!
i detest this. UGH.

boys and guns

My thigh bruise.... (sorry if it's visually unappealing)

I hope he doesn't shoot me in the head!!

Four Guys squeezing behind one barrel... tsk tsk.

Our Medic Max

Getting ready to "chiong"

That's me, number 19.

Can't tell who this is, but he looks super pro!

My bro: the sniper.

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And so it was the much anticipated Paintball day!!
So much talk about it the entire week... the boys (and some girls) were hyped up about it!
Kept talking about firing squads and army games......
i know my injuries will look gross... but seriously- look at the size of that bruise on my thigh!!!
haha got shot within 3-4 metres... haha...
The weather was fine... @ least it didn't rain!
i was pretty amused at how serious the boys were about the whole thing.
check out some of the shots shin_arkhangel took!!

Jarrah Forest

Pine Nut

Stick and Stone ants
These ants are amazing. They make their nest out of sticks and stones- the structure is incredibly strong. (i tested it) haha.
During winter-- you can see the white, reflective stones which are on the top of the nest. They use the stones to absorb the sunlight and at night they carry it into the nest to keep the temperature up. During Summer, their nest is made of more sticks-- to provide ventilation for the nest-- keeping it cooler on hot days.

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Went to the Jarrah forest near Mundaring Weir on thursday with the geography kids. Altho i don't teach geog, i really love the subject and the physical aspect of it. (studies of geography are mainly split into human geog and physical geog)
The eco-tour was about fire and it's advantages and disadvantages. Well, we all know about wildfire and the destruction it causes to the bush here in WA... but there are advantages of fire as well. Some plants require fire to crack open the hard seeds in order for the baby seedlings to grow. Here in WA, there's a practice called "prescribed burning" -- where the rangers set fire (in mosaic patterns) to the forest to enable certain plants to resprout. This also reduces the chances of wildfires starting.

Fire is not all that bad- little is known about the Aboriginal practice of prescribed burning- but it is evident that they have been doing it for centuries before the British came to Australia.

hi, remember me?

i think it's been awhile since i actually sat down to surf the net. haha.
Anyway, i said in class today:
"there are no excuses for not doing your homework- i've tried them all in school and i know what you are up to. The dog did not eat your homework, and your work did not slip out of your bag whilst you were running for the bus. Between the time you watch the Simpsons, Neighbours and Australian Idol-- Sit down and get it done. End of story."

haha. and then there was silence.
Amazing.

I am struggling with my year 8s and some behaviour management-- the girls are good workers, but some of them are really too chatty... the noise drives me insane, gives me a headache and stretches my nerves a lil' too much.

I wish

... that i actually paid attention in my Economics classes.

Happy Fathers' Day

Dear Dad,
they say a Father's love conquers all
gives hope to us whenever we fall
Brings strength and love
Hope and courage from above
Thank you for the tears,
the laughter and the cheer
When life deals us zero
You are our "Lau Hero"
We love you very much
From the bottom of our hearts!

Of Sphinxes and Pharoahs

I liked the very succinct descriptions of the exhibits... not long winded... i really enjoyed myself browsing the different stages of the Egyptian afterlife.
I cldn't take any photos of course-- didn't want to get dragged off screaming by 2 security guards. But here is a nice photo gallery that thewest.com.au managed to scrummage.

It doesn't encapsulate the splendour of the exhibits per se... but it runs through the key statues/ things-that-quite-look-the-same-after-a-while-especially-when-your-students-are-making-al ot-of-noise.

Made me wonder as well... about the Egyptians as a people-- and their many gods. And it brought me back to Exodus when the Israelites were slaves to this great civilization. I thought about people... about Moses, Aaron... haha the exhibits brought me back to biblical times!

"The exhibition comprises 500 objects collected over nearly 200 years from the Archaic Period (3100-2700BC) to the Ptolemaic Period (c.332-30BC). It is touted as one of the finest collections in the world." Thewest.com.au

Go see it! On display til 28th October 2007!