by jot and tittle

The gospel is amazing. We are sinners, and our sin separates us from God. In our natural state, the Bible calls us dead (Ephesians 2), in the domain of darkness (Colossians 1) and enemies of God (Romans 8). But God doesn't leave us that way. Jesus came to the world as the God-Man, lived a perfect life as a substitute for our sinful life, died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us.  The gospel.  But salvation is not the end of the Christian story. Salvation is not, fundamentally, about getting into Heaven when we die, but about living in relationship with God as we were created to do. Jesus has broken down the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2) and has transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1), so that we can live each day with God.  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and wo...

We want a whole, happy, calm life. We want to be healthy. In "crunchie" circles, people use essential oils, grow their own produce, and stop using plastics. In Christian circles, there is an idea, an ideology, gaining ground that presupposes a holistic, restful life is possible if one follows the spiritual disciplines of the desert fathers and mothers. Mysticism. Prayer, scripture, silence, solitude, sabbath, fasting, rest, etc. (If you're looking for a couple interesting reads on this topic you could see these books by Jefferson Bethke and John Mark Comer. ) I want a holistic, happy, balanced life. My kitchen contains wooden cutting boards and loose leaf tea. I begin all my mornings with homemade kombucha, prayer, quiet, and scripture. I do Pilates throughout the week and hold the Lord's Day as holy every Sunday.  And I'm tired. And I'm weary.  And I wonder if that's just how it is in this sin-soaked world as we run to Heaven.  After all, the Spirit tell...

 "I love the LORD, because He hears my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2 NASB How can it be, that the God Who rules on high,  Who commands kings and kingdoms, also hears my cries?   This Maker, great and holy, rules through all eternity, The Captain of Angel Armies, Inclines His ear to me.   He knows my self, containing of dust and soul and sin. I have found distress and sorrow, I call to Him. Amazingly, with hearing ear, He gives heed to me, Whether I cry aloud or moan in mind, I know He sees.   Quiet, my soul, be quiet, and rest in God who never lies, I shall walk before the Lord, And on His strength rely.   What shall I render to the Lord, for all He gives to me? I lift my voice in thankfulness, To the God Who sees.  What I'm Reading  Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson. This is our book club book this month.  Andrew Bonar's comment...

 Life is full of ups and downs. One day you love your job, the next day you come home and eat a tub of ice cream. One day you're thriving as a mom, the next hiding in the bathroom while those mini-yous watch TV. Life is unsteady, and emotionally we are unsteady. Contentment in your place, whether its the life you dreamed of or not, can be a hard fight for self-control and joy. How many of us have asked the question why am I even here??  Probably everyone if they've lived long enough.  We may not be asking why am I here? as in, why do I exist in this world? rather, we may be asking why am I here? as in, why am I in this house, at this job, at this collage, at this church, living in this town? The latter are questions that I ask. Sometimes, when I listen to the way I feel, I feel that this home, this job, this church, this town are all a bit much, a little too hard, a little pointless, so why am I here anyway? Last week I finished reading the New Testament and circled back ...

 Yesterday morning I went to my outdoor aqua cycling class. This class involves stationary bikes in the outdoor public pool, an instructor, some music, me, and a bunch of grandmothers. Yes, it's me and a bunch of grandmothers. Between finishing our workout and doing the cool down, our instructor asked "if I get the waterslide going, would any of you want to go down it?" Immediately five or six women expressed great delight at the idea. As I watched the first woman come down the slide, screaming with happiness, I thought about how that's the type of older woman I want to be. These women, ranging from their mid fifties to mid seventies, show up to class with smiling faces and hair done. They are classy, happy ladies. They crack jokes and talk about their families and discuss where to go for lunch on Friday.  In my seventies I want to be the woman who can still do an exercise class, who has friends to get together with, who laughs, who is up to have fun. But I don't ...

Genesis 32 records Jacob's journey back to Canaan after serving his father-in-law for twenty years (Gen. 31:38). His brother, Esau, is on his way to meet Jacob, which freaks Jacob out because they did not part on the best of terms (Gen. 27: 41-28:5), and Jacob does what godly men do: he prays and reminds God of his promises. During his prayer in Genesis 32 he reminds God of this command and promise "Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you" (ver. 9) and again in verse 12 he reminds God of His statement "I will surely treat you well."  This struck me because the rest of Jacob's life does not go what I would call "well". Sure, Esau doesn't kill him, but in the chapters that follow his daughter is raped and his sons slaughter a town, Rachel dies, Isaac dies, Joseph is sold into slavery, Judah strays from his family and from God and God kills his sons because of their wickedness, there's a famine and when Jacob...

 Grief is a crazy thing. Sometimes you cry till you fall asleep, sometimes you're angry, sometimes you can't feel anything, and sometimes you're so, so tried. Grief is also unpredictable in that it can take a long time to heal...and sometimes it feels like its been healed and then you're crying on your way home from the grocery store and you aren't even sure why. Grief is not logical and polite and convenient. It interrupts our lives on its terms. A couple mornings ago I was thinking about how tired I am. I'm not weepy or angry or even really sad, just tired, and this tiredness is physical, mental, and emotional. Which surprises me because my life is actually really great and I haven't had anything in recent months to be sad about. However, the more I contemplated it,  I think the tiredness is a long term symptom of a deep sadness that I lived in a couple years ago. Which is the first thing I wanted to share with you. Maybe, like me, there has been nothing r...

Then thousand thousand precious gifts my daily thanks employ; nor is the least a cheerful heart that tastes those gifts with joy.  This is the fourth verse in a hymn titled When All Your Mercies, O My God,  written by Joseph Addison in 1712. If you'd like to sing the verse, it's written in common meter, which just means you can use the tune of  Amazing Grace  or O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing  or a bunch of other common tunes to sing it. I've been singing through a hymn book in my private morning worship, and until a couple days ago I had never heard of this hymn.  The verse above is a beautiful thought, isn't it? Not only does God give us thousand thousand gifts, one of His kindest gifts is a cheerful heart that can enjoy them. Food, work, home, friends, family, all of them are good gifts, and another very good gift is the ability to enjoy them with a cheerful heart.  So this too is another reason to give thanks. We can thank God for cinnamon buns...

In the morning I've been reading through The Valley of Vision , a collection of Puritan prayers. It's a bit like praying through convicting poetry--beautiful and searching. Pages 122-123 contain a prayer called "Self-Knowledge" which begins with these lines: " Searcher of Hearts, it is a good day to me when thou givest me a glimpse of myself; Sin is my greatest evil, but thou art my greatest good; I have cause to loathe myself, and not to seek self-honour, for no one desires to commend his own dunghill." No one desires to commend his own dunghill.  What a phrase. And notice how this godly man connects seeking your own honour with commending your own dunghill. I've been thinking about this because  seeking my own honour exactly what I do. Would you like to know what I'm good at? Just ask me. I'll tell you.  However, the only reason there is any honour about me or anything honourable in my life is because of the grace of God and the work of the Hol...

It is very likely that not all single people will completely agree with the list I'm about to share with you, because no two people are alike, but I've heard similar things from single people that I follow online and think it will be helpful to share these. If nothing else, let this post lead you to have conversations with the single people in your life and find out what would  be helpful to them.  1. Hug Them I'll admit, I'm not much of a hugger, but a few months ago another woman I follow recommended to her audience that they begin hugging their single friends and I've been thinking about it since. Now (due to a change in my life) I'm seeing certain friends more often than I had been, and I am also receiving more hugs; this is good for me . In particular, it is good for me that one of my guy friends often gives me a hug when I see him. I don't mean that in a sensual sense, I mean it in a brotherly sense. The quick hug he offers tells me that I am seen, I ...

Before bed, I am reading the Life and Diary of Andrew Bonar. If there was one saint from old that I could sit down with over a cup of tea, it would probably be this father in the faith. He was a Puritan, but he wasn't what you think of when you think of a stereotypical puritan. Andrew Bonar was kind, good with names, and beloved by children. When he went into the town to visit the people it was not uncommon to see children take his hand and walk with him. He was best friends with Robert Murray M'Cheyne, he wrote and edited several biographies and Bible commentaries, he longed for the revival of the Jews, he buried a young son as well as his own wife. He knew his weakness and he prayed. But most of all, he really loved the Lord Jesus.  In reading his diary, I came across this section: Often I have wondered that I did not feel the temptations of Satan more frequently and plainly. But now I discover his plan. For a long time, indeed for years, I can see that he has contrived very ...

Over Easter weekend I had the opportunity to visit my grandparents. We caught up over soup and egg salad sandwiches and then migrated to the living room with cups of tea. Gradually the conversation turned to a couple young siblings from their church whom they've observed seldom fight. Sometimes these kids do get angry or annoyed with each other and then they fight, but that is not their normal relationship. My grandfather made this observation, "isn't that just like sin? You are living your life of obedience and then all of a sudden its like sin gets the better of you." It was a comforting statement coming from my elderly grandfather who has been walking with the Lord for over 80 years. Even as a seasoned saint, sin still creeps up on him. But it has also made me think quite a bit. Sometimes I am tempted to think that if I do everything right (regular devotions, get enough sleep, listen to good music, eat well, have Christian fellowship, exercise) then I won't fal...

Crossing the street from the pool entrance to my parked car, I looked into the park. In the dusk and after-rain light the grass looked greener and the air smelled of dirt and worms and growing things. In this moment the question suddenly came to me: do you like your life? Perhaps my post-exercise mind was just more awake and present than it had been in a while, but the thought came as it was, walking into my mind with a comfortable smile and taking a seat to stay for a while.  Do you like your life? My life is a mix of my decisions and my response to circumstances outside of my control, and it is not what child and teenager me ever planned or dreamed of. I'm guessing that it is easier for each of us to think about things that we dislike in our lives than the things we like, but this morning during prayer I was reminded that God is good and He is good to me, including the parts of my life that I'm not a fan of.  When I start with the goodness of God, it is harder to concentrate...

 "You know how to be kind." Those words were spoken by a wise, older woman at a conference I recently went to. She was talking about evangelism and using our homes and meeting people... and her words struck me right in my offended heart. I wasn't offended by her, she was lovely, I was offended by someone else from the day before.  The reality is that sometimes the people we meet and interact with will be nasty. We live in a nasty world. We live in a world full of people who only know sin; they grew up in sinful homes, were categized by sinful systems and education, and have only had relationships with people like them. Broken people. And broken people tend to let slip a little bit of nastiness every now and again.  The bit of nastiness that got spilled on me the day before came from a coworker and it involved an emotional over-reaction and the f-word, which was a bit shocking. Anyway, to make a long story short, I walked away without saying anything and she later gave me ...

 Living in Southwestern Ontario, I don't know many people who really love winter. It's cold, dark, and snowy. The weather tries to kill us with snow or ice, or the short days and long nights encroach on our mental well-being. Winter is the not-so-easy season.  A couple years ago a saying was making it's rounds on social media that went something like this; you can choose to complain about the snow...but you'll still have the snow. It's true. We can complain about the winter weather and the challenges that come with that, but it won't change the white flurries or dark evenings.  This past summer, following Annie F. Downs' example, I made a list for the "Best Summer Ever." It included things like learn to stand while paddle boarding  and go camping.  And this winter, I've decided to make a "Best Winter Ever" list to add some enjoyment to the season. Here are some of the things on my list: Outdoor skating (my town has a free outdoor rink...