An unhealthy avoidance
I have had a lifelong tendency to skim over Psalm 119 because, well, it’s pretty long and it evokes feelings of constraint and condemnation. Such a reaction clearly contradicts the spirit of the psalm’s author whose intricate poem comprises 22 magnificently and painstakingly crafted sections in which the first letter of each verse corresponds to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. With unrestrained ardor, the psalmist sets the all-time standard for extolling and expressing allegiance to the perfect law of God.
A healthy appetite
As I said, I sometimes find it hard to identify with the psalmist’s unbridled rhapsodizing and seemingly unblemished record of cherishing and claiming to conform to God’s lofty laws of justice and righteousness. My reflexive tendency toward works-righteousness rears its ugly head and I am reminded once again that I dare not trust for my salvation in the fidelity of my disposition or the faithfulness of my obedience to the Almighty’s righteous precepts. My feeble love and fickle obedience signify not only that I remain among the all who, have sinned and are falling short of the glory of God (Rom, 3:23) but also that in Christ God has regenerated me and implanted in me a new inclination, however faltering, to love and obey Him.
A healthy anger?
Year by year, I find myself more genuinely able to say I am growing in love for and loyalty to God’s law. One example of this transformation is the resonance I recognize with the psalmist’s assertion in verse 53: Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked who forsake your law. My revulsion at the breathtaking and blatant disregard for the Creator’s just claim to govern His creatures is indeed visceral when I contemplate such atrocities as child sex trafficking; drug lord torture and extortion; fetal tissue peddling; violent territorial incursion and heartless population deprivation and dislocation; rapacious commerce; predatory lending; gratuitous religious persecution; and preening perversions of gender identity and sexual freedom.
A healthy balance
My anger about such things is tempered by my awareness of my own depravity but it is nevertheless evidence that I am indwelt by God’s Word and God’s Spirit. I do love God’s law and I am determined to make it my day-long meditation, hide it in my heart, allow it to illuminate my path. And if I care about God’s Word, I cannot help but cringe at those who flaunt it in their wickedness even as I humbly pray for divine grace in order that their blind eyes will be opened to behold the glorious beauty and freedom offered in God’s righteous law.
Fresh gleanings to fuel your leadership awareness, reflection, and conversations …
Is the patient unresponsive?
Here’s a worthwhile IBM research report documenting the disconnect between higher education and the needs and realities of the workplace. I reject the contemporary orthodoxy of the “commodification” of higher education, i.e., the notion that higher education is intended primarily, if not exclusively, for personal and societal economic advancement. Nevertheless, I think there is much to learn from the report’s analysis of higher education’s persistent refusal to engage with external stakeholders in a radical redesign of methods and modalities in order to test and equip next generation leaders in the laboratory of real world ministry. This should be a serious conversation starter–and we dare not merely be talking among ourselves.
Is Your Digital Content Working for You?
Have you and your team plugged in to Bart Caylor’s weekly blog? If not, you are missing out on some solid gold, bankable and easily implemented digital age insight and advice. Check out this recent post: Is Your Digital Content Working for You? And be sure your enrollment management, marketing, and communications team members are subscribed.
Encouraging the Twenty-First Century Church: A Father-to-Son Letter
Check out this thoughtful exhortation from my friend and former colleague, Dr. Roy King. Writing to his millennial generation son, Mark, Roy sets forth some insightful and enduring principles about how to cling to the wild, biblical, spirit-blown vision for the church with patient, nurturing love for the existing one. King’s letter is one chapter contribution to a new 2015 festschrift, Transformed from Glory to Glory, in honor of Columbia International University President Emeritus, Robertson McQuilkin.