Skip to main content

authority

The ladies in our church have started reading through Jerry Bridges' book Respectable Sins. I'm on chapter four and so far it has been both an easy and difficult ready. It's been easy in the sense that Bridges is not preachy nor theological deep in this book, but difficult in that he's not hesitating to deal with the areas of our lives where we actually live.

Early on, he addresses the fact that disobedience to the commands of God is actually rebellion against the authority of God. We're challenging his laws and decrees, which He has the authority to make.  I've always pondered the verse from King David that said, "Against you and you only (talking to God) have I sinned."  The sins of King David impacted many, many people, but in all honesty, God is the only one we can truly sin against. People may wrong me or hurt me, but their sin is against God's laws, not against me. That's not an easy thing to digest.

And along those same lines, while reading and watching some of the inaugural highlights yesterday, Bobby made the comment that he was bothered by the number of people, specifically Christians, who showed disrespect to our President and his authority. We mentioned Daniel, and how he served a King with a different worldview, and yet Daniel was always respectful in his speech. For that matter, the three Hebrew friends who faced the fiery furnace were respectful, even after being threatened with their lives. Their refusal to obey was even respectfully stated. There was no rudeness nor sassiness in how they responded to his commands.

I normally struggle through reading non-fiction, but this is a book that I'm enjoying, even though it's very convicting. We won't finish our study until March, but if I finish reading early I'll try to give a final review. But so far it's all thumbs up!

Comments

Jennifer said…
Sounds like a great book. I need to get myself in gear and get going. I can't make Thursday so I guess that is why I haven't been motivated, but hopefully tonight I can sit down and start. Sounds really good and it made me think when you mentioned that we are sinning against God alone even when we hurt others. I also like your comment about honoring Obama and the examples you gave. Great post

Popular posts from this blog

things we do for love

Saturday we had a baby shower for Bobby's niece. As I was making the mints, Bobby asked what else was on the menu. After I recited off the litany of items, he responded with "No peanut butter?! This shower is for Hannah! What's she going to eat?" (Hannah has had stomach problems over the years and has been unable to tolerate many foods, but peanut butter has been her staple.) Despite my assurances that she would enjoy the foods we were having, he was adamant that I needed to make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the shower. Even though I protested that NOBODY took that to a shower, he persisted, and informed me I could make them dainty with my little cutter. And so I did. To my surprise all but 3 were eaten. Who'd a thunk it?

perspectives

A few years ago after a Bible study a lot of the group continued to sit and talk and simply relax. One of the ladies felt like she was being mistreated by her boss. She was always given extra tasks or asked to assume responsibilities that no one else was asked to do. She felt it was unfair. As she was listing off some of the extras (she worked in a cafe for a plant), I was in flashback mode. My last year of college I was a shift manager at a fast food place. One of my many duties was to ensure that certain cleaning jobs (extra duties) was assigned and done properly. We were inspected by company headquarters once a quarter, and 3 of their 4 visits was ALWAYS a surprise visit. When I handed out those extra assignments, I had three things in mind: Who will do this job without making a bigger mess? Who can quickly do this job so we don't impede serving customers? Who will do this without the most drama? In essence, I wanted the best person for the job. Use the teenager who griped and c...

fun...funny houses

 We saw the above house in Pittsboro while on our way to the mountains. It was the strangest house I've ever seen. Evidently this isn't a modification, for Bobby remembers thinking it funny as a child. Evidently a governor lived here at one point. I think the sign said it's now a Masonic lodge. And if seeing one funny house wasn't enough, the latest issue of This Old House had a link to their website that had several galleries of funny (or strange houses). Here's my favorites from their collection:   Szymbark , Poland  This just makes me laugh, and I would love to visit this house in person. Created by a designer who wanted to demonstrate "wrong-doings against humanity".  Visitors have stood in line for as long as 6 hours to tour the house, and many come out feeling "sea-sick".     Kalambaka, Greece... This 1,000 foot cliff drop has housed monastaries since the 11th century. Six of them are open to the public, " assuming, of course, th...