10 Commandments of Purity

On the heels of the Mark Sanford situation, Ed Young has published his 10 Commandments of Purity. All Christian men, especially those in the public eye, should heed these:

The 10 Commandments of Purity

1. I shall have no other human relationship before Lisa, including our children.
2. I shall remember our date night and keep it holy.
3. I shall honor Lisa on anniversaries and special days so that I may live long in the land the Lord has given me.
4. I shall not take the covenant of marriage in vain.
5. I shall not ride in a car or eat in a restaurant alone with a member of the opposite sex.
6. I shall not travel alone.
7. I shall not counsel a woman with the doors closed.
8. I shall not share the details of our marriage with others.
9. I shall not watch, read or expose myself to sexually explicit shows, books, websites, etc.
10. I shall remember the implications of committing adultery.

As he says, "something that has extreme consequences calls for extreme action."

Family Discipleship in the Summer

Here is a great practical article that reinforces the importance of family bible study. If you don't have time to read it, here are the cliff notes:

1. Keep consistent habits of Bible study and prayer.

2. Try to schedule vacations and other activities so that, as often as possible, you can attend your local church.

3. If your family is away from home on Sunday, try to find a good church in that area to visit with.

4. Even when (especially when!) on the road, don’t neglect those good habits of daily Bible reading and prayer.

Piper on God's Relationship to People in Hell

A sobering assessment on God's relationship with those in Hell:

The Difference Between the Gospel and Religion

Courtesy of my friend, Nathan

RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.

THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.

THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”-simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.

THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life-family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

New Posts

Here are a couple of new posts that I've written over at ministry-to-children.com

Children's Ministry Game: Quiet Ball

Facilities: Do you have Room for your Teachers?

Watch Out

Here is a good visual aid to use when teaching your kids (or yourself) about Proverbs 16:18

"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

Change of Pace

Since I am going to be publishing one article per week exclusively on children's ministry over at ministry-to-children.com I've decided to change directions slightly. I'll still be blogging from time to time on children's ministry issues, but I'll branch out and tackle other topics as well, most notably my life. For those handful of people that read this blog, this is an FYI.