One of them nights

I usually get home from work at about 11:30 PM. After some supper I delve into my devotional reading which takes me till about 1:30 or 2:00 AM. Then it's off to La, La Land.

Well, last night my trip into La, La Land lasted only untill 3:30. Yup, I was the only one awake. I could hear both my wife and my son snoring away. My daughter? She just groans periodically. She's done that since she was a new-born. It was just me alone. There was the sound of ticking from our grand-father clock that kept me aware that my sleep period was passing me by.

Oh, to get back to sleep. But it wasn't to be. I could be like some people, and be spiritual enough to use the time wisely and to pray; but I wasn't feeling particularly spiritual. Nope, I just layed there wondering about things.

I did, however, spend some of the time dwelling on the L/S versus the Free Grace debate. I am L/S, but I do differ with MacArthur on some of the issues.

One place I disagree with MacArthur is on his take of 2 Cor. 13:5. I've covered this ground before. I will not go again over that ground. Suffice it to say that I do not believe that this is a challenge for all Christians to examine their standing before God. I lean more heavily towards "objective assurance" (assurance based on biblical promises) than I do "subjective assurance" (assurance based on observation of the Spirit's work in your life). Don't get me wrong here. I believe that the regeneration experience INEVITABLY results in a changed life. But, what I believe to be MacArthur's wrong stand on 2 Cor.13:5 leads to morbid introspection. And, other than when false teachers infiltrated the church with gnosticism and docitism, I don't see the early church worrying about assurance, or whether or not they were regenerate. That seems to be a by-product of British 17th century Puritanism.

I know that many Reformed will disagree with me here. So be it. I've been down that alley of self examination before. I ALWAYS came up short. Just how much fruit is enough for one to gain assurance. With Christ as the standard, well....

There, now that the Reformed have disowned me, and I am not at all in agreement with the so called free gracer's, well...

Then I went on to think about The Four Tops. They lost their lead singer last Friday. http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-levi-stubbs-1021oct21,0,3199993.story. Their music was always so pleasant, yea, so powerful, to listen to. I'll miss Levi and that special group that really knew how to put poetry to music. What a loss. Thanks, guys, for such beautiful music.