Yikes...

So as I am trying to get into the habit of blogging more often (those of you that do know it can be a hard habit to get into), I am going to post something though I’m not sure about what. It seems the two extremes are I have too much on my mind to try to write anything or I have nothing on my mind. Right now I am in the midst of the book “Young, Restless, Reformed” which is forcing me towards the former at the moment. However, my mind has been more occupied today with 1 Peter 2:18-21.

I decided to read this today in continuing my personal study of 1 Peter. God has already blown me away with this letter and today was no different. I read it and tried to exposit it myself before looking at the notes in my study Bible followed by reading a message that pastor John Piper gave. The focus of the passage is Peter telling servants that, being “mindful of God,” they ought to endure suffering at the hands of unjust masters. I was a little baffled at first why Peter would issue such a command. Peter goes on to say that Christ suffered for us, “leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” But my life is so different from Christ’s. Christ’s suffering had the purpose of absorbing the wrath of God. What purpose could Peter (and God) have in mind when he tells servants to be subject to, and endure suffering from, an unjust master?

I’m taking a step back now and I’m realizing the scope of what I am saying. To be sure, I think it would be important to go through the verses and essentially exposit them as I did in my quiet time which might make for a little bit more of a blog than I intended. Actually, as I now think about it, I am frustrated that for me to get to the point(s), it will take several pages of background… a rookie mistake. As much as 1 Peter has been an incredible source of encouragement and blessing for me, I didn’t realize how difficult it might be to summarize my thoughts as they stem from several sources. But since I'm still more concerned with writing something, I'll still put this one out there. I’m not sure how to end this blog, so here’s a summarizing quote from John Piper:

“God often wills that we suffer unjustly and that we bear it by his grace and for his glory.” Amen.

Overflow

I have not written on my blog for several months. But as I have had some time to get into the Word consistently and read more often, I find that I am a lake with rivers flowing into it, but not out. I live in a small town and it can be difficult to find others who wrestle with the same topics as I. Though this blog is probably long deserted, I hope I might find great use for it as a means to pour out what is on my heart and mind, as on or misguided as it may be.

The greatest barrier to writing anything is the agonizing job of forming often vague thoughts into coherent language (and even more agonizing is personifying the affections that accompany those thoughts, especially when dealing with spiritual matters). My increase in reading and time for reflection has created both positive and negative results in regards to this writing. I love reading. I love it when I read something that breaks open the bottleneck of my limited capacity to form a concise and summarizing thought to my feelings and experiences. It so frees up my affections and transforms my frustration into joy. And this is not even limited to reading. I can recall conversations with friends and messages from pastors which have produced the same effect. I love this and I call it the wonderful expression of God’s glorious truth. It is like a shackle of the mind falling to the ground. How wonderful it is.

However, on the negative side, this wonderful expression often lends pressure to another bottleneck… sharing it with others! As much as I rejoice in the “penetrating, compelling expression” of thoughts and emotions, I balk at expressing these to others. I think the process is complicated by my current situation in rural Nebraska.

But, understand that I do not desire to showcase what is going on in my life for my own gratification, but I pray that with the words of this blog, my joy (and the joy of all) might increase in the wonderful expression of God’s glorious truth, as inexpressible as it is.