Gospel centred prayers.

When you read Paul's prayer for the Philippians you see that it is a Gospel centred prayer. Here is the prayer:
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9 - 11
Notice that he prays that they will abound more and more in knowledge. Now this is not general knowledge like knowing more mathematics (I am a mathematician by training and I do like to continue to grow in my knowledge of mathematics) but a particular knowledge about God Himself. He also prays that they won't be satisfied with mediocrity but rather that they will be able to discern what is best and strive for that. All of this should be prayed for the glory of God.
So how do we pray for those suffering and dieing of cancer, or the one who is having marital problem or for our children? Is there room for that type of prayer? Most certainly there is but too often it becomes our primary prayer focus and we add "to the glory of God" as a postscript. Lord teach us to pray.

Friendship or fellowship.

Quick, what is the difference between friendship and fellowship? If you have people over after church for tea then it is fellowship but if you have people over after a ball game it may be friendship if those friends are non-Christian or fellowship if they are Christians. Now the conversation may be exactly the same, the refreshments may be exactly the same but if they are Christians we call it fellowship instead of friendship.
Fellowship is much more than Christian friends. Fellowship is partners in the Gospel. Fellowship is much more like a partnership than a friendship.
Look at what Paul says about fellowship. "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:3 - 6

Keeping the main thing the main thing.

Our pastor in Thunder Bay had a sign on the door of his study which said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
So what is the main thing? Put the Gospel of Jesus Christ centre. It is almost redundant to say the Gospel of Jesus Christ as there is no Gospel without Him. What is at the centre holds everything else together like the hub of a wheel holds the spokes, the rim from flying off. We run into heresy when we make something else the centre. If we make the effects of the Gospel centre then we are in danger of losing other things.

What do you live for?

Paul says, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21 There are many people who live for things that will pass. They may say that sports, or fame, or money, or power, or relationships, or family, or whatever is their life. But what happens when they die? It certainly isn't gain. If temporal things however good is your life then what happens when you die? Paul wanted to live as long as he was doing what God had called him to do but he knew that death would bring him to the one he loved. What do you live for? Will it be gain or loss when you die?

Photo of the Day

Three years ago today I started taking a photo of the day. Each day for the past three years I have taken photos and have put one in a file as the photo of the day. Shortly after I started someone broke into my car and stole my camera so that even though I have taken a photo each day there are three days without photos. One thing about taking a photo a day is that you have to look at things differently.
When you are studying Scripture you also have to take time to look at it differently than you have always read it. Many times that doesn't change anything but there are times that you get fresh insights.
The picture below is four pictures that I took of the same scene.

Skunks and the Gospel Coalition

Today I attended a wonderful and inspiring conference, the Ontario regional conference of the Gospel Coalition. The two main speakers were Mike Bullmore and Don Carson. Lots of fuel for coming lessons.
Don Carson came to our home for Sunday dinner when we lived in Thunder Bay. At that time we were having difficulty with skunks raiding our garden so our number three son took to trapping the skunks. As we sat around the dinner table the conversation turned to skunks. Our oldest son was mortified that we had one of the leading theologians of our time at our table and we talked about skunks. Maybe, just maybe, that was a refreshing change for Dr. Carson. Let me tell you it is one visit I have not forgotten.

Why are evangelicals concerned about marriage?

To many people in the world they do not understand why evangelicals get so concerned about the definition of marriage. They believe that we are following an ancient tradition and in doing so we are against human rights. I sometimes think that Evangelicals do not get the reason for marriage right. Marriage is a picture of Christ and His church. The church is His bride. That is why marriage is sacred to the Christian. Christians are not against human rights but human rights do not trump the Gospel.
"Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." Hebrews 13:4. Christians are to honour marriage as we honour the relationship we have with our Saviour.