Enjoy this guest post by writer Ruth Wood, editor of Comfort Café.
The Secret Longings of Christmas
“Bah Humbug!” you say. “I may love Jesus, but you can have these commercial Christmases. And if I hear one more sappy rendition of Frosty the Snowman, I’m going to lose my mind!”
Fasting seems to be an oft-neglected spiritual discipline for Christians these days. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on fasting?
A few years ago I was involved in a study group with some younger men, and we went through Dallas Willard's book, The Spirit of the Disciplines. One of the issues we discussed was fasting. Below is what I wrote to them when we decided as a group to fast:
Fast for a full day. We came to this because fasting is one of the least practiced and/or understood of the disciplines among us.
Our schedules and ...
When I'm asked what writers had the most profound influence on me as a young Christian, I always say there were three, and they continue to influence me today: C. S. Lewis, A. W. Tozer and Francis Schaeffer. In past months I’ve written about the subject of desire and longing in Augustine, Pascal and C. S. Lewis. Today I want to share from Tozer.
Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy, a fabulous book on the attributes of God, is my favorite nonfiction book of all time. I’ll talk about it another time.
After coming home from dinner last night, Nanci and I enjoyed watching the total lunar eclipse. Wow. What a show. And it wouldn’t happen if God hadn’t made the moon just the size it is and set it at just the distance it is. The Sun's distance from the Earth is 400 times the Moon's, and the Sun's diameter is 400 times the Moon's. I just read an article on what an “amazing coincidence” this is. Yeah, right.
Most weeks now I’ll post a couple of blogs, a longer one like this (length ...
Aurelius Augustine, 354-430 AD, was a church father and theologian who made a remarkable impact, to the point that nearly all of us today are in his debt for some of the distinctives of our theology. After pursuing a life of selfishness and immorality, through the prayers of his mother and the grace of God, Augustine came to faith in Christ. If you want to know more about him, check here, though you (and all students doing term papers) should remember that Wikipedia is not the ultimate reference! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo
I spoke two weeks ago of the annual March for life. Barbara Curtis sent a link to some pictures. Go here and watch the slide show. You’ll see lots of young people standing up for life. Barbara’s blog “Mommy Life” is very popular among mothers, and you may want to check it out.
I wrote first about the longings of our heart, then last week about longing pictured in Scripture as hunger and thirst for God, righteousness and Heaven.
This week I want to talk about our Longing for Joy, something that isn’t selfish in the bad ...
Most days, by God’s grace, I am happy and content, even joyful.
But not today. And no, it’s not because of the playoffs this weekend. (Not that they helped, but the groaning and crying out of Romans 8 is a lot bigger than the NFL.)
I had a wonderful church experience this weekend, and some great conversations with my wife and others. It’s been six months since I last experienced a couple of days of depression. But today I feel drained of joy.
Perhaps you feel this way too. If so, and even if not, this won’t be a pity party, but perhaps we can walk together toward God. His is a path familiar with joy, both its presence and its absence, as the Psalms testify. Or Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
There is a sweetness and comfort to God’s presence even in times of heaviness, and I’m grateful for it. The Holy Spirit always takes me to His Word for perspective, encouragement and hope. Today He has taken me to the subject of the longings of the heart. I think I’ll devote several blogs to this, dealing with different aspects of our longing.
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