LOOKING TO PRAISE AND WORSHIP JESUS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. 18 No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

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.

6 Comments:

Blogger jazzycat said...

Mark,
Waking up and not being able to go back to sleep is a preview of coming attractions. The older we get the more that becomes a problem.

I guess we are in the same boat with the "reformed" as I have some problems as well. Sometimes I believe some are theoretically reformed but Arminian in practice.

October 21, 2008 8:51 AM

 
Blogger Ten Cent said...

Hi Mark,

You said:"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...."

I, for one, whole-heartedly agree with you. As a Christian, we can't look to our works for assurance, for our security. We look to Christ.

Hope you get some sleep...at the appropriate times and locations.

In Christ,
Ten Cent

October 21, 2008 10:15 AM

 
Blogger Rose~ said...

Thanks for sharing this, Mark.

October 21, 2008 11:19 AM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Wayne,
Ya mean this wakefullness thing gets even worse?

I'm glad that you are a free thinker and not a follower.
(Ooops, did I just get myself in trouble with the Reformed again?)

October 21, 2008 12:02 PM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Ten Cent,
I'm honored that you stopped by. Looking to Christ... Hmmm. If you go back into this blog's archive you'll see that is exactly the course I started out on. Your comment here just made me remember why this blog existed in the first place.

October 21, 2008 12:06 PM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Rose,
ALWAYS a pleasure to see you comment here!

October 21, 2008 12:07 PM

 

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