“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 37 As we labor in our various callings and businesses, we have to remember that there is no such thing as luck. Neither good luck nor bad luck exists. The fortune that one man experiences and another man misses are …
Discrimination
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 36 Discrimination used to be a good word, and it is still possible to use it that way in some settings (e.g. “He is a man of discriminating taste.”) But for the most part, our modern thought police have seen …
Faithful in a Little
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 35 Jesus teaches us that if we are faithful in little, we will be able to be faithful over much (Luke 19:17). Someone who was a slouch as a teen-ager with his paper route is likely to be a slouch …
Big and Little
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 34 Radical individualism wants to believe that those who are faithfully living together in community are actually sowing seeds of discord in community. But life together does not mean overlooking everything. One of the basic principles of life together in …
Life Together
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 33 As evangelical Christians, we know that we are saved by grace through faith, and it is not of ourselves, lest any should boast. Our salvation, in other words, is gracious, and completely detached from any notion of merit or …
Take It Slow
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 32 We have been emphasizing the possibility of progress, and, because we believe the promises of God we may even assert that progress is inevitable. Using the glorious imagery of the prophet, the lion will lie down with the lamb, …
For Now
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 31 Many years ago, when I was laboring away in a class of classical Greek, whenever our instructor would give us some grammatical rule or other, the class would chant in unison, “For now!” We knew that somewhere, up around …
The Sin of Striking Back
When someone hurts you, the natural, carnal reaction is to strike back. No one needs to teach us this; we learn it from Adam. And even though we are in the new Adam, with this new way of being human being renewed in us, we still have regular provocations to the old Adam. As we …
Wisdom and Application
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 29 Christian maturity comes down to making applications from the Bible. The Bible commends the wise, for example, and condemns the foolish. And so, if we are wise, the Bible praises us. If we are foolish, the Bible rebukes us. …
Trinitarian Snobs
GRACE & PEACE “At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 26 As we consider the task of living full, Trinitarian lives we have to avoid the temptation of becoming what might be called narrow Trinitarian snobs. By “Trinitarian” here I mean the art and discipline (guided by …