I must have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies

I must have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. I must be wise in all my discussions. I must pick my topic of engagement wisely for there are many out there who simply want to talk about all kinds of controversies for the sake of arousing anger and promoting ignorance. I pray that the Lord will help me know which conversations to engage in so that I am not throwing pearls at pigs.

But in all my discussions I am to be kind to everyone and be gentle with everyone. This is extremely difficult when dealing with a foolish person. They are in every way incoherent in their views and they comfort themselves that they know it all. I must be gentle with such a one!

Help me with patience dear Lord and with the wisdom not to engage in a pointless discussion.

I must also be full of humility for there is a great danger in that I cant learn from no one, and just because I have found the truth in Jesus does not mean that I cannot learn more about him.

But I must have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. It is hard to spot sometimes on what is a fruitless conversation, on what is an ignorant controversy.

Should I engage in the conversation of a deluded atheist who is spitting on the existence of Christ? Or should I gently pass him by? Should I pass by those who insult the goodness of God and instead quietly pray for them that God may grant them repentance and bring them to the truth?

Should I engage in conversation with those who clearly worship angels and saints? Should I walk by everyone who is in opposition to me?

I know in all things I must pray for the lost and for Christians who are clearly following in erroneous teachings. And if I am faithfully teaching the words of Christ in love, perhaps many will come to the truth.

K.O

I can never live a hidden life

Indeed I must always remember that I should never think that I can live a hidden life without sharing it. I am not just to share the message of the gospel and not my life. I am to do both, hand in hand. I am to be authentic because the Christian life is not a show, it is real. I must be authentic! There is no posing, no pretending. On Sundays, or whenever I meet with my fellow believers, it is not a show but a gathering, it is an opening of my heart in wisdom to others in the hope of being encouraged and encouraging others. It is difficult because it requires commitment and vulnerability. Jesus opened his heart to his disciples. They saw him as he truly was. In his trials, he asked for prayer. In his victories, he asked them to thank God. 

K.Oni

Miscellanies 115

Let me pause here my beloved to dwell on your beauty. I have laid my tent and gladly have surrendered all my wanderings on your beauty. It is of first importance. It is I say a most delightful of topics, to meditate my mind upon. It is as a great mountain or terrain full of magnificent discoveries. And I will discover them all or at least attempt to if you let me. 

K.Oni

So he went to bury his feelings

So he went to bury his feelings, 
Head on her knees, 
She knows it won’t get easy, 
Every passing day he said
The rain gets a little heavier, 
She replied
In the end, we all die with pain.

K.Oni

The joy of confession

My sins are many, yea like the stars in the sky. Were you to keep a record of them all, they would fill the whole earth. But your love and grace are unending. It will outlast this earth. Indeed blessed are they whom the Lord does not count their sins, indeed blessed are they who are eternally counted righteous. May I learn to stand fast and be long-suffering. May I be courageous and bold. May I learn to kiss thy face rather than the ugly rags of sin. 

K.Oni

Dear Atheist Friends (and Other Skeptics)

DEAR ATHEIST FRIENDS,

If there is one thing I know for certain it is that I am not better than you. My purpose here is not to try to convince you that I am morally superior to you. Clearly, I am not. Neither am I the least bit interested in promoting my tribe. You are not our enemy. I am just like you. No, we are all, by nature, captives, blind beggars, and when God found me, He must have sought for the most vile creature he could find. And, in spite of me, He loosed my chains and opened my blind eyes to behold His glory. And I can testify that there is nothing more beautiful.

My purpose, when I challenge your atheism, materialism, or philosophical naturalism, is not to ridicule you, but because I deeply care about your welfare both now and for eternity. I do this by showing from your own words, that you hold an inconsistent, incoherent, irrational view that does not correspond to the real world we live in. That there is a conflict within you when you hold multiple contradictory beliefs at the same time, and for which you use a defense mechanism to suppress the reality of those contradictions. These may seem like fighting words to you, and if they do, it is only because I am fighting and pleading for your soul before God. I don't care at all to merely win an argument with you, but rather to bring another blind beggar to Christ so that he might open your eyes too.

I understand completely that Christianity sounds foolish to your ears. I know. The gospel is foolishness and a stumbling block to both Jews and Gentiles (1 Cor 1:23-24). But let me be a fool for Christ and ridiculed by you if there be but one of you whom God would have mercy, break the chains and, in Christ, set free from captivity.

taken from https://www.monergism.com/blog/dear-atheist-friends-and-other-skeptics

Sat, 10/05/2019 - 11:03 -- john_hendryx

When a famous person becomes a Christian

It is indeed interesting how great care is taken when a famous person who was a hedonist becomes a Christian, how cautious we are of their confession. The first response that we pronounce is one of doubt. Really? Have they really been saved? Or we say, well, time will tell if their confession is genuine or not.

It is indeed interesting how this great care is taking to ascertain whether their faith is genuine and thus we scrutinize their actions and magnify our eyes on them to search them thoroughly. But do we cast these inquisitive eyes on ourselves and on the regular guy who professes faith in our Sunday services? Are we first being diligent to confirm our calling and election? 2 Peter 1:10.

When that lady walks up the aisle of the church to give her life to Christ, are we first to doubt in our heart if her confession is genuine? Most likely not and we perhaps think nothing of it. But if we hear news of a famous person who has given their life to Christ, we are immediately suspicious. We ought to have a more balanced view and apply the same principle to each one, namely that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved and also that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Indeed not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom, but only those who have done the will of the Father.

Indeed we can be assured now of the certainty of our salvation, but time will also be a great revealer of those whose faith was genuine.

K.Oni

My love, you are a fair delight

My love, you are a fair delight
Each day and night, it is clear to the sight
Of all living creatures,
And even the prettiest flower sigh
For all their virtue is foreign to the mind.
True beauty, that is the gentle mood
Of your soul, Grace, and kindness,
The ornaments of your breath.

K.Oni

The joy of confession

I met a boy who told me of his feelings for the one he loved. 

Dear Sir, her beauty is unrivalled. A paramount testimony to humanity. How lovely - how full of grace - how full! The lucky guy will forever be in love. And I will forever sigh for she feels me not. What sorrows upon sorrows that all men ought to call me a man of sorrows. Especially this night she looked better than a princess and far outweighs any queen. She is in the realm of goddesses and she is the god of them all. Oh, what brightness! Oh, what great glory of feminine beauty!!! What a delight! What essential glory!! What transcendental joy that I admire her so much. And if I was not a monotheist then I fear I would gladly worship at her altar.

But Sir, when I did see her kiss the cheeks of another, the jealousy did take over. It was a wild crazy feeling. But lo, must I relinquish this glad essence? This indescribable favour that the true lord has blessed me to feel! But the feeling will not meet its design. Oh what a lost but bless God for his infinite grace.

K.Oni

There is a surpassing worth in knowing Jesus

There is a surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ more than anything else. By surpassing I mean outstanding or incomparable. There is no comparable beauty! For he is the image and glory of God.

Think of the most beautiful thing you have ever seen, yea the thing that makes your heart glad. It is normally the person we are in love with. As we behold them our heart is full of delight and gladness. So we pursue the joy of knowing them deeply and intimately. The very thing that deepens our pursuit is the very immediate feeling of awe that impresses itself upon our minds. That very thing is indescribable. It is not merely her eyes, or soft cheeks, or elegance of her stance, or her golden hair, or the gentleness of her spirit, or the efficacy of her ways upon you or the gracefulness that leaks from her attitude, it is not one of those things but all of it at once. So with all of this impression of satisfying beauty, which captivates and enlivens you, there is a surpassing worth in pursuing her than any other lady.

Likewise, if we have truly beheld Jesus, if we have set him before the eyes of our mind, then we would easily say with the Apostle, “that Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.” I would easily count every other woman as a loss if I could but gain and know intimately the women my soul adores. It would be to me no great sacrifice but a very easy thing to do, that is if that joy of her beauty was always before me and because I know its worth.

Many simply have not beheld Jesus this way, that is they have not beheld his incomparable beauty, as to make them willing to forsake everything because there is a surpassing worth in knowing him more than anything else. Many are half-hearted because they love their estates, family, work, play, and all other earthly pleasures. Because they do not see with the eyes of their minds how infinitely Jesus is incomparable to these things, they love Jesus equally with these things or they love Jesus a little more or a little less. It is a travesty and Jesus would have no equal. it is not surprising then when Jesus said that ‘whoever does not love me more than father or mother is not worthy of me.’

Imagine if a man loved a caterpillar more than his wife. Is he worthy of his wife? Or if he loves a stray cat more than his own child. Is he worthy of his child? Common sense would tell us that he doesn't and yet there are many Christians who love infinitely lesser things to Jesus who is the eternal beauty of God. How awful! O forgive us for our trespasses! This indeed is a great trespass that we do not adore him as we ought.

So there is a surpassing worth of knowing Christ which is greater than all other worths. That is why scripture encourages us to set Jesus before our eyes. To seek those things which are above. Is seeking Jesus the first and greatest desire of your soul? Is he the most ravishing being that your soul adores? The surpassing pursuit of knowing Jesus will always lead to the satisfaction of our soul.

K.Oni

Why does the Bible ask people to repent and believe if they are unable to respond?

QUESTION:

Why does the Bible ask people to repent and believe if they are unable to respond?

ANSWER:

That's an important question... As R. C. Sproul once said, "God is not going to negotiate His holiness to accomodate us".  As fallen creatures God does not lower the bar of his holiness  He still requires of us to obey his comands perfectly, even though we are morally incapable to do so. Our inability does not alleviate responsibility, including our responsibility to obey the command to believe. Fact is, fallen men are unable because they are unwilling. By nature they are hostile to Christ.

Perhaps think of it like a farmer planting crops. He casts seed after plowing up the fallow ground, but nothing will happen to the seed unless the blessing of rain come down from above. The seed is not sufficient to produce life by itself without the proper conditions. Likewise, we cast the seed of the gospel into the hearts of men, but unless the Holy Spirit plows up the fallow ground of their hearts and "germinate" the seed of the gospel, no fruit will come forth. We call men to repent and believe, but their hearts are willful and hard. Only the Holy Spirit can disarm the hostility and quicken them to life (John 6:63, 65). We plant and water but God causes the growth. (1 Cor 3:6) Only as the Spirit gives us a new heart do we see the truth, beauty and excellency of Christ in the gospel.

God calls all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel but they reject the message...but to those who are inwardly called through the message, salvation.

Paul said,

"we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." -1 Cor 1:23-24

Wed, 10/02/2019 - 13:09 -- john_hendryx

Taken from https://www.monergism.com/blog/why-does-bible-ask-people-repent-and-believe-if-they-are-unable-respond

The Joy of confession

How I have fallen! Oh, how I have fallen that in all my trials I have not remained steadfast. Yea, against lust, I have fallen. Against truth, I have fallen. And against love, oh that sweet tree that is planted in the sweet garden, I have fallen bitterly short. But His love is steadfast. His love remains unchanging towards me! O restore to me the joy of your salvation. 

K.Oni

Your light blueish eyes

Your light blueish eyes

Round figure and exuberant smile

Candour qualities and respectable charm

Warms my heart whenever far or nigh.

I see you whenever it's time to worship
I see your face, and your thoughts I tried to put away
I am torn and when I'm on my knees I see your countenance
The eloquence of His grace takes me far away.

I am far too busy to fall in love
If I ask her to marry me, she will increase my love for Christ
I long to be hers; hand by hand on the pilgrim way.

Fresh fortitude I take today, to declare in a letter my love to thee;
You need not be afraid of refusing my proposal
For bless God, he will free me from this passion if need.

I am convinced this is the will of God
That I should altar my state
Your denial will prove to me
You were not the pilgrim marked out for my way.

Love for a woman could and will not dislodge my Love for Christ
But many times I have prayed that you should be my One.
I would not marry but for Him and in Him, for ten thousands worlds.
Christ is my life and my all and my God.

Her light blueish eyes
Round figure and exuberant smile
Candour qualities and respectable charm
Warms my heart whenever far or nigh.

K.Oni

This is an adaptation of one I wrote in 2011