Discipline of Grace

Only until the last day of my winter holiday I consider to write something here. This is my last winter holiday in this city. It is not as fruitful as I planned. Nothing much is worked out.

I used to like to do origami, and once again this interest is stirred up when I saw origami of Saint George and the Dragon. Kind of addicted to it. A hobby or an interest can be unhealthy, when it starts to take away the sweet time of prayer and daily Scripture reading. This reminds me what Robert Murray McCheyne said.

Brethren, if you are ever so much taken up with any enjoyment 

that it takes away your love for prayer or for your Bible...... 

then you are abusing this world. 

Oh! Sit loose to this world’s joy: 
‘the time is short.’ 

- Robert Murray McCheyne - 

So I ended up putting all the colour papers, scarp papers, and the origami that I made into a box (a random box was lying around in the hall of my floor, maybe it is for this reason the box is there), and put it away. I was not easy. The temptation is always there, but by the grace of God I manage to put this old enjoyment aside. However I am glad that I learned how to make an origami book.

I also managed to learn some making-pizza skills from Frank, who used to open a pizza store in the States before he was called as missionary. He used Nehemiah 8:10 for his store "...the joy of the LORD is your strength." Next time if I also open a store, this verse will be used also. The only think I didn't learn is how to make a pizza dough.

Managed to read some books. Finished reading Legacy of Sovereign Joy by John Piper. It is impressing to see how Augustine, Luther, and Calvin had walked with the Lord faithfully. Start with a new book The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. It is a regret to not able to finish Josephus: Throne of Blood, and not able to really resume my Greek study. I also didn't manage to really prepare for the Advance ECG CME.

Last but not least, I also managed to watch some films or documentary. First one is How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis August Schaeffer. It is impressive that none of the extra-biblical worldviews can stand firm with the flow of time. Only Christ and his church will persevere through the generations. Second is Seventh-Day Adventism: The Mind Behind the Church. When someone adds his/her own writings into the canonical Scriptures and elevates its authority above Scriptures, or takes Christ away from the Trinity, the result is a man-made religion, or a cult. The sad thing is that many people are buying into it, even though it is straying away from the truth of God. 

I watched an interview of Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, the author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. It is surprising that a homosexual university professor came to believe in Jesus Christ. It was not without struggles. She said, "Conversion put me in a complicated and comprehensive chaos." A pressing question that she many christians is this: "I need to give up my girlfriend to come here [church], what did you gave up to come here?" And I asked myself this question too, what did I gave up to come to church? What did I gave up to follow Christ? Answer: time, priorities, verbal persecutions, challenges, lust, sexual sins, and most unthinkable one — a chance for a romantic relationship. I don't know what else I need to give up, but what is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)

Lastly and the most exciting one is Candle in the Dark: The Life and Ministry of William Carey, the father of modern missionary, who wrote this powerful words:

Expect great things from God, 

attempt great things for God.

- William Carey, 31 May 1792 -

I really wonder how he survive for six years at India, without a single convert, without any harvest, but most adversities including poverty, death of his son, and the insanity of his wife. How can he struggle with the doubt that whether he has misread God's will or not. The director of the film answered it: God doesn't demand us to be successful, He only demand us to be faithful. Faithfulness is the answer. Because of his faithfulness God used him to change India. Vishual Mangalwadi said, "Buddha has more followers and Gandhi more admirers than William Carey, even though Carey has done more for the regeneration of the India subcontinent than any other individual in our entire history." Even after some harvests, he still met with trials. A fire at the press burnt up all his hard work of translation. Instead of giving up, he chose to start all over again. The director commented with a line from a song: 

From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success. 

The astonishing part is that William Carey (and I) realised that it is not men that bring salvation to people. None of his preaching in the first six years bring any conversion. It is the Word of God, which Carey has translated into Bengali, that save people. Paul said it well: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Romans 1:16)  

I guess I will close with a verse that Jerry Bridges used as the epigraph of Chapter 5: Disciplined by Grace in his book The Discipline of Grace.

___________________

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions,

and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

Titus 2:11-12