Monthly Archives: December 2010

A Christmas letter to my 14 year old son

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Here’s a letter I wrote to my son this Christmas:

Christmas 2010

Dear Son,

This is a letter that attempts to explain some of your Christmas presents this year. I will try not to make it too long. I will be writing separately to each of your siblings, but this letter is especially for you.

I love you very much and I am extremely proud to be your Dad. I still vividly remember the day of your birth. You will only comprehend what I felt, should God in His grace give you children of your own. I pray that you will experience this same joy. When I saw you for the first time, it was the proudest moment of my life. I have since had the joy of seeing 3 other children born into this world and with each one, the same overwhelming emotion filled my heart.

One of the things about life is that with great privilege comes great responsibility, and because it is an amazing privilege to be a father, with it comes the responsibility of being a good one. The Bible tells parents, especially fathers, to bring their children up in the ways of God. There is a passage in Ephesians 6 and it says, “1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Continue reading →

I admit it. I am just not good enough!

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I fail the test of being good. I have failed it every day I have lived. Oh, on a vertical level, I am a little nearer to God’s standard of goodness than some. I have not killed anyone (outwardly at least). Compared to mass murderers like Hitler or Stalin, I guess I am doing quite well, but I am still so far short of God’s standard that I am not even close to measuring up! That’s right, not even close!

You see, Jesus never taught that my fellow man was the standard. He never said, “do better than Hitler and you will be fine.” The standard is the perfection of God’s character, His absolute holiness and majestic glory. The standard is a life lived in full devotion to God, loving Him with all the heart, soul, mind and strength and loving others as I love myself.

You see, not only have I failed in terms of bad words, thoughts and deeds each day, I have failed by even attempting to gain right standing with God by the things I do. Even the “good” things I have done have been tainted by motivations that were never 100% pure. I never did anything motivated entirely by the glory of God alone – not 100% anyway. My good works are filthy before God, not just my sins. Continue reading →

Assuming Grace

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Dr. R. C. Sproul: “I wonder if we really are amazed by grace? I think we express more amazement at God’s wrath than at His mercy. We’ve come to the place, I think, in our religious thinking where we assume that God will be merciful, that God will be kind, that God will be gracious, and so we’re not surprised whenever we experience His kindness. . .

One of my favorite illustrations about the dilemma that we face with respect to understanding God’s mercy goes back to the early days of my career as a teacher in college and seminary. One of my first teaching assignments was to teach 250 freshmen a required course on “Introduction to the Old Testament.”

Here I had 250 students assembled in a large lecture hall, very uncomfortable, trying to communicate with so many students at one time. I had to print up in advance the requirements for the course because I’d already learned, very quickly, that college students are all budding Philadelphia lawyers. You have to “dot your i’s and cross your t’s” to make sure that the assignments are clearly set forth. I gave them a published syllabus and told them what their requirements would be. Continue reading →