Basics For Believers is Carson's commentary on the book of Philippians - a book in the Bible that VCF is basing their Bible study materials on for this academic year. In the first chapter, Carson talks about putting the gospel first in everything that we do.
"I would like to buy three quid's worth of gospel, please. Not too much - just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don't want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust; I certainly don't want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture. I want ecstasy, not repentence; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, broad-minded people, but I myself don't want to love those from different races - especially if they smell. I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that i find my ambitions redirected, or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like about three quid's worth of gospel, please."
A bit crass by his own admission, but I was startled out of my seat on my early morning MRT ride to work.
Going back to putting the gospel first and everything else second entails being a Christian full-time. An analogy in the book tells of a person who answers every question about his occupation as being a "Christian." It is only on probing that he reveals that he's "a Christian full-time, but he packs pork to pay expenses."
Am I prepared to say that I am a Christian full time, but am a journalist to pay the bills?
But not another level, reading Carson also reminded me that there's so much to God's word that can be expounded on. I remembered enjoying every single part of Carson's commentary of the Sermon on the Mount I borrowed from Renita who pinched it from her dad's library in church sometime back.
It also reminded me that I need to go back to studying God's word in this next season of my life.
Going back to putting the gospel first and everything else second entails being a Christian full-time. An analogy in the book tells of a person who answers every question about his occupation as being a "Christian." It is only on probing that he reveals that he's "a Christian full-time, but he packs pork to pay expenses."
Am I prepared to say that I am a Christian full time, but am a journalist to pay the bills?
But not another level, reading Carson also reminded me that there's so much to God's word that can be expounded on. I remembered enjoying every single part of Carson's commentary of the Sermon on the Mount I borrowed from Renita who pinched it from her dad's library in church sometime back.
It also reminded me that I need to go back to studying God's word in this next season of my life.
But before I could even get to veer off to another extremist tangent, on the same train ride that morning, the July 27th entry in Oswald Chambers' all-time devotional classic reminded that "the golden rule for understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience."
"Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance; spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to obey."
It was then I began to realise that my problems over the last few months was that of obedience, and not anything else. Yet, knowing is one thing, acting upon what we know is quite another. But it is really amazing how God speaks.
And when God speaks, I don't know about you, but it usually shakes off any inertia and do something about it. Just that this time around, it's just a reminder to continue fighting the battle. To stand for goodness.
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