Heart Soul and Might

For the last couple weeks, I’ve been showing my five-year-old Josiah a few basics on the piano. Basically using three fingers starting on middle C… I still think he’s too young for formal lessons, but it’s been fun to see him picking up some things at such a young age.

This morning we had an interaction that reminded me a lot about life.

A few weeks back, I decided to resurrect some Scott Joplin material, so I’ve been practicing “The Maple Leaf Rag” here and there when I have a few moments. I’ve gotten it to where it sounds great, and it’s a lot of fun to play. It’s one of those classics that most people would recognize if they heard it. Not the easiest song, but of course practice delivers results, right?

Well, this morning I sat down with Josiah to have him play his 3-note scale and he did so well that I added fingers 4 and 5 as well, so now he can play a 5-note scale up and back down. He picked it up quick! I asked him to practice three times - and I welled up with excitement as I saw him negotiating his fingers on each key. He did it perfectly the first time! So, I said to him “Ok, two more times, Jo-Jo.” His next comment floored me, and I knew we were moving into a teachable moment.

Sitting on the piano bench, he turned around to me and said, “Now I wanna do some hard stuff, dad.”

I said, “What hard stuff?” and he said “The song you were just playing. Show me what to play, and I’ll play it.”

I got down on my knees and looked him in the eye and said “Josiah, you have to learn the easy stuff first and keep working on it before you can learn to play the hard stuff.” His eyes deflated, and he leaned his head down on the piano keys and said “But Dad, I really want to play the hard stuff.” So we spent the next couple minutes talking about how Daddy needed to work hard for years on the “easy stuff” before he could ever start to play the “hard stuff.” He wasn’t too excited about that prospect in that moment, so he jumped off the piano bench and went back to playing with his rubber crocodile.

It reminded me of life and growing to maturity in Christ… I’ll let you make the connection as it relates to you personally…

Al Mohler writes a great commentary on this crucial issue in today’s Church given the cultural landscape in which we live. Read the whole transcript here. I highly recommend reading the whole thing. Below is an excerpt:

Confronted by the biblical evidence, we must make a vitally important interpretive decision. We must choose between two unavoidable options: either the Bible is affirmed as the inerrant and infallible Word of God, and thus presents a comprehensive vision of true humanity in both unity and diversity, or we must claim that the Bible is, to one extent or another, compromised and warped by a patriarchal and male-dominated bias that must be overcome in the name of humanity.

For biblical traditionalists the choice is clear. We understand the Bible to present a beautiful portrait of complementarity between the sexes, with both men and women charged to reflect God’s glory in a distinct way. Thus, there are very real distinctions that mark the difference between masculinity and femininity, male and female. Standing on biblical authority, we must critique both the present and the past when the biblical pattern has been compromised or denied. Likewise, we must point ourselves, our churches, and our children to the future, affirming that God’s glory is at stake in our response of obedience or disobedience to His design.

For too long, those who hold to the biblical pattern of gender distinctions have allowed themselves to be silenced, marginalized, and embarrassed when confronted by new gender theorists. Now is the time to recapture the momentum, force the questions, and show this generation God’s design in the biblical concept of manhood and womanhood. God’s glory is shown to the world in the complementarity of men and women. This crucial challenge is a summons to Christian boldness in the present hour.

I’m not bashful about saying John Piper is one of my favorite theologians and authors, if not my favorite. His words are trustworthy because they are always based in truth, and most often on God’s Word. The following letter is a must read regarding the gospel, the Christian life, and the call for all to repentence. The call for a radical change of the heart and the “mind’s perceptions and dispositions and purposes…”
Letters From Cambridge #2

April 19, 2006

As part of my sabbatical here in Cambridge, England, I am working on a book with the tentative title What Jesus Demands From the World. The demand to repent is as basic as it gets in Jesus’ message. It is equally basic to, and almost synonymous with, the command, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). One of my concerns is to show that repentance in Jesus’ message is not behavior but the inner change that gives rise to new God-centered, Christ-exalting behavior. Here are some thoughts to help make the meaning of repentance more plain.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:41)

Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3, 5)

The first demand of Jesus’ public ministry was, “Repent.” He spoke this command indiscriminately to all who would listen. It was a call for radical inward change toward God and man.

Two things show us that repentance is an internal change of mind and heart rather than mere sorrow for sin or mere improvement of behavior. First, the meaning of the Greek word behind the English “repent” (metanoeo) points in this direction. It has two parts: meta and noeo. The second part (noeo) refers to the mind and its thoughts and perceptions and dispositions and purposes. The first part (meta) is a prefix that regularly means movement or change.1 So the basic meaning of repent is to experience a change of the mind’s perceptions and dispositions and purposes.

The other factor that points to this meaning of repent is the way Luke 3:8 describes the relationship between repentance and new behavior. It says, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” Then it gives examples of the fruits: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise” (Luke 3:11). This means that repenting is what happens inside of us that leads to the fruits of new behavior. Repentance is not the new deeds, but the inward change that bears the fruit of new deeds. Jesus is demanding that we experience this inward change.

Why? His answer is that we are sinners. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). What was Jesus’ view of sin? In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus describes the son’s sin like this: “He squandered his property in reckless living . . . [and] devoured [it] with prostitutes” (Luke 15:13, 30). But when the prodigal repents he says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Therefore, throwing your life away on reckless living and prostitutes is not just humanly hurtful; it is an offense against heaven—that is, against God. That’s the essential nature of sin. It’s an assault on God.

We see this again in the way Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He said that they should pray, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). In other words, sins that God forgives are compared to the ones people commit against us, and those are called debts. Therefore, Jesus’ view of sin was that it dishonored God and put us in debt to restore the divine honor we had defamed by our God-belittling behavior or attitudes. That debt is paid by Jesus himself. “The Son of man came . . . to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). But for us to enjoy that gift he says we must repent.

Repenting means experiencing a change of mind that now sees God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience. This change of mind also embraces Jesus in the same way. We know this because Jesus said, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God.” Seeing God with a new mind includes seeing Jesus with a new mind.

No one is excluded from Jesus’ demand to repent. He made this clear when a group of people came to him with news of two calamities. Innocent people had been killed by Pilate’s massacre and by the fall of the tower of Siloam (Luke 13:1-4). Jesus took the occasion to warn even the bearers of the news: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5). In other words, don’t think calamities mean that some people are sinners in need of repentance and others aren’t. All need repentance. Just as all need to be born anew because “that which is born of the flesh is [merely] flesh” (John 3:6), so all must repent because all are sinners.

When Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32), he did not mean that some persons are good enough not to need repentance. He meant some think they are (Luke 18:9), and others have already repented and have been set right with God. For example, the rich young ruler desired “to justify himself” (Luke 10:29) while “the tax collector . . . beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ [and] went down to his house justified [by God!]” (Luke 18:13-14).

Therefore, none is excluded. All need repentance. And the need is urgent. Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” What did he mean by perish? He meant that the final judgment of God would fall on those who don’t repent. “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:41). Jesus, the Son of God, is warning people of the judgment to come, and offering escape if we will repent. If we will not repent, Jesus has one word for us, “Woe, to you” (Matthew 11:21).

This is why his demand for repentance is part of his central message that the kingdom of God is at hand. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The gospel—the good news—is that the rule of God has arrived in Jesus to save sinners before it arrives at his second coming in judgment. So the demand to repent is based on the gracious offer that is present to forgive, and on the gracious warning that someday those who refuse the offer will perish in God’s judgment.

After he had risen from the dead Jesus made sure that his apostles would continue the call for repentance throughout the world. He said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47). So the demand of Jesus to repent goes to all the nations. It comes to us, whoever we are and wherever we are, and lays claim on us. This is the demand of Jesus to every soul: Repent. Be changed deep within. Replace all God-dishonoring, Christ-belittling perceptions and dispositions and purposes with God-treasuring, Christ-exalting ones.

For Christ and his kingdom,

Pastor John

This letter can be found on Piper’s website at http://desiringgod.org/library/fresh_words/2006/041906.html

The community group that I lead is a marriage accountability group and right now we’re actually going through a parenting curriculum with a book called Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining and Bad Attitudes… in you and your kids! It’s a great book providing some real practical tips on parenting, but inevitably in each weekly discussion, we find things that apply to either our personal lives or our marriages.

The major theme in this book is establishing “honor” as a principle which guides everything we say and do. The goal is to always be honoring of one another and the authors provide many practical insights on how to instill honor in our kids.

This week’s chapter was entitled “Six Ways to Teach Honor to Your Children” - and while there were a number of takeaways as a parent, one of the most impactful applies to ALL of us.

#2: Teach children to do more than what’s expected 

“Honor does more than what’s expected. It looks past the words to [the] intent. Honor involves being thoughtful and thorough about what you do.” (p. 50)

“Honor sees the need and takes care of the problem. If it’s broken, fix it. If it’s empty, fill it. If it’s open, shut it. If it’s out, put it away. If it’s messy, clean it. if you can’t, then report it. That’s honor.” (p. 50)

I think this has huge implications for me personally, and for all of us - yes, even us adults. It’s our natural wiring to do just what it takes to get by. I don’t have to think too hard to do the bare minimum. It’s my natural inclination… You have to get out beyond “self” do do more than what’s expected, and for most humans like me, getting beyond “self” is the problem. We’re all naturally selfish. It takes forethought, planning and energy to be selfless. Some people do it really well, and it seems like it comes naturally, but I’m guessing that even for them, it takes conscious effort. Maybe less conscious effort than it takes for me, but still effort.

What would our world be like if EVERYONE simply did more than what was expected? If people went out of their way to serve others. To go beyond the bare minimum and do even just a little bit more than what is expected. I can only imagine what our house would look like if, instead of walking over or around the toys or my dirty clothes on the floor, I naturally picked something up on my way by… Ouch! Writing this is reminding me of just how lazy and ignorant I can be sometimes!

The passage that immediately comes to mind is one that we’re all familiar with, but probably don’t live out enough.

Philippians 2:1-5

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…”

It’s all about having the mind of Christ Jesus. He is our ultimate example of being a true servant - and ultimately doing more than what was expected. In fact, it almost seems trite to talk about Christ’s example of servanthood in the same discussion as picking things up off the floor… But the point is - Christ truly was selfless, and in every way, thought of others before He thought of himself. And, He is our model for how to live. When I do only what is expected, or worse yet, less than what is expected, I am not exhibiting the spirit of Christ.

So, let’s teach our kids how to do something extra - something more than what is expected. But, let’s first start with ourselves. I need to start with me.

Lord, help me to exhibit the mind of Christ in every way - seeking to serve and not be served. To assist, help, guide, serve… and not out of duty, but out of a heart that wants to be like Jesus. Help me to look beyond simply what is right in front of my eyes, and see the opportunities to honor and bless others by my actions that go beyond the minimum.

Bishop J.C. Ryle says this about the importance of living according to “the heart”:

What is the first thing we need, in order to be Christians? A new heart. — What is the sacrifice God asks us to bring to Him? A broken and a contrite heart. — What is the true circumcision? The circumcision of the heart. — What is genuine obedience? To obey from the heart. — What is saving faith? To believe with the heart. — Where ought Christ to dwell? To dwell in our hearts by faith. — What is the chief request that Wisdom makes to everyone? “My son, give me thine heart.”

As one who lives intimately connected with my heart, I really appreciate this. I believe we need to live balanced lives - balancing our intellect (mind) and our affections (heart). Living out of balance can be dangerous. Living only out of our mind, we can risk becoming unfeeling, cold, lacking compassion and grace, arrogant and critical. Of course, living only out of our heart, we can risk losing the soundness of our doctrine, principles and absolute truth and make critical decisions based in the subjective realm of our emotions. (I’ve done this!) Neither extreme is good. Taking a balanced approach, living somewhere in the middle would be something to shoot for…

HT: Together For the Gospel

Every Friday is Fenelon Friday, where we drink from the very deep well of my favorite 17th century French Bishop in the Catholic Church. (Everyone should have a little Fenelon with their coffee in the morning…) Francois de Salignac de La Mothe-Fenelon (born 1651) was a mentor to a number of younger men on the court of Louis XIV. In fact, he was given the responsibility of raising the young man who would proceed Louis XIV to the throne of France (the King’s grandson). Many of Fenelon’s writings are actually letters he wrote to some of these young leaders as they sought to walk the life of faith in the face of opposition and adversity. Fenelon’s teachings were met with resistance within the Catholic Church because they aligned more with Reformation teachings than with Catholic dogma at times, and his hope was that once his student became the King of France, he would be instrumental in the reformation of the Catholic Church and bring a real witness of Jesus Christ to France. Those hopes were dashed in 1712 with the premature death of the King’s grandson. Fenelon died not long after that in 1715 at the age of 63, but his teachings live on and continue to influence 300 years after he died.

The Purpose of Suffering

God never makes you suffer unnecessarily. He intends for your suffering to heal and purify you. The hand of God hurts you as little as it can.

Anxiety brings suffering. Sometimes you are simply unwilling to suffer, and you end up resisting God’s work. If you put away all your restless longings and your anxiety, you will experience the peace and freedom that God gives to His children. The yoke that God gives is easy to bear if you accept it without struggling to escape. You make life more painful for yourself when you resist God in the least way.

Usually you bargain with God to set a limit on your suffering. The same inward waywardness that makes the work of the cross unnecessary in your life is what will try to push the cross away. God has to start over with you every time you push Him away.

Sometimes God takes away His gifts until you can possess them purely. Otherwise, they will poison you. It is rare to hold God’s gifts without possessiveness. You think everything is for you. You do not think first of the glory of God or you would not become depressed when your visible blessings vanish. The truth is, you are mostly concerned with yourself. Self-love is proud of its spiritual accomplishments. You must lose everything to find God for Himself alone.

Don’t waste your suffering. Let suffering accomplish what God wants it to in your life. Never get so hard that you suffer for no reason and for no purpose.

Francois Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon, The Seeking Heart, pp.30-32.

Every Friday is Fenelon Friday, where we drink from the deep well of one of my mentors - 17th century French Bishop with (and Reformer of) the Catholic Church, Francois de Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon. Click here to read more of his biography.Today’s reading comes from the first Fenelon book I ever received (given to me by my good friend and “Life Coach”,Ken Edwards), Let Go, and is taken from the letter I’ve most often read, Letter 5:

Peace Comes Through Simplicity and Obedience

Learn to cultivate peace. And you can do this by learning to turn a deaf ear to your own ambitious thoughts. Or haven’t you yet learned that the strivings of the human mind not only impair the health of your body, but also bring dryness to the soul. You can actually consume yourself by too much inner striving. And to no purpose at all! Your peace and inner sweetness can be destroyed by a restless mind. Do you think that God can speak in those soft tender accents that melt the soul, in the midst of such inner confusion as you permit by that endless, hurrying parade of thoughts going through your mind? Be quiet, and He will soon be heard. The only principle you need to be concerned about is to be scrupulously obedient.

You have been asking for comfort and peace. But you do not understand that you have been led to the brink of the fountain, and are refusing to drink. Peace and comfort can be found nowhere except in simple obedience. So be faithful in obeying even when you do not understand, and you will soon find that the rivers of living water will flow, as God has promised. You will receive according to the measure of your faith: much, if you believe much; nothing, if you believe nothing and continue to listen to your own restless thoughts.

…If you will learn to be honest and simple in your desires, I think you will be more pleasing to God than if you were to suffer a hundred martydoms. If there is anything you should be concerned about, it is simply your own hesitation in offering a sacrifice so right in the sight of God.

Francois de Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon, Let Go, New Kensington, PA: Whitaker Press, 1973, pp.9-10.

I’m a huge fan of both Al Mohler and C.J. Mahaney, so I highly recommend first reading Mohler’s review of Mahaney’s Humility: True Greatness here, and then motivated by Mohler’s inspiration, just go ahead and read the whole book yourself. It will change your life.

I sort of wrote a review of this book, but I like Mohler’s MUCH better.

I read from Matthew 19 and 20 this morning and once again came face to face with the theme we find throughout the New Testament and especially in the teachings of Jesus: the first will be last and the last will be first. He puts wealth, possessions and priorities into perspective in Matt. 19:29-30, where He says:

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

He’s giving us an eternal, Kingdom perspective here. The gospel and the Kingdom of God should come first - everything else should come second. The context in 19:16-22 is the rich young man’s perplexity at giving up his possessions to give to the poor. This quandry, and Christ’s following statements should serve to remind us that in God’s economy, the temporal is simply a means to the eternal. But we get it turned around and upside down. In vv.29-30, Christ says that not only riches, but even family should come second to the kingdom. That one’s a hard one to swallow at times - especially because family IS so important. But, Christ’s point is that it should never come at the expense of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus’ interaction with the mother of James and John in vv.20-28 provides such a convicting perspective on life. She’s trying to be a good mom and look out for her boys in asking Jesus who will have the places of position in His kingdom. Again, Jesus turns the perspective upside down in outlining the Kingdom’s perspective regarding position and authority:

“but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:26-28

Be first, we must be a servant. To have the place of position, we must be as a slave. Oh, to live like this! Lord Jesus, may you give me your mind, your heart, your perspective. May I live by Your example of a humble servant who gave His life. Help me be a servant for Your glory.

Ok… so, I’ve written two posts on this book now and have said that everyone should read it. For another, more weighty endorsement, read Mark Dever’s post here at Together for the Gospel - now definitely one of my favorite blogs, featuring CJ Mahaney, Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler and Mark Dever. Mark might be a little tongue-in-cheek on this, but there’s no doubt Humility:True Greatness is catching much deserved attention.

I am definitely not an authority on this subject. Truth be told, this is one of my areas of greatest struggle. The irony is, if anyone claims to be an authority on the subject of humility, they’ve just disqualified themselves from the discussion (for obvious reasons)! No… the reason I’m writing about this is that it provides another layer of accountability for me as pride rears its ugly head on occasion - probably more often than I’d care to admit. Plus, as I mentioned in a previous post, I just finished a great book by C.J. Mahaney called Humility: True Greatness, and in the last couple weeks the Lord has continued to impress this vitally important character trait on my heart. Funny… I was telling a friend a couple weeks ago about this book and the fact that I was able to finish it in a day (it’s pretty short) and he informed me I seemed quite proud of that fact. I was caught.

I am such an utter failure at living in humility, I thought I should just get that fact out there and do my best to encourage us to grow and at the very least, pray you’ll read this convicting and yet encouraging and promise-filled book!

The important thing to realize is that God “opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble”, (James 4:6) and is actually seeking out those who walk in this way. (Isaiah 66:2) I would think that if you’re reading this right now, you are most likely one who wants to be sought out by God as one who walks in humility. It’s not important that we make sure that those around us are walking in humility - it’s absolutely critical that we start with ourselves, take spiritual inventory and check our own heart motives against what God desires. I have to do this continuously since much of what comes out of my mouth or my heart has the potential to be self-seeking as opposed to God-honoring.

In this book, Mahaney does such a great job of laying out a plan for cultivating more humility. He does this by redefining greatness based on what Christ taught in Mark 9:35:

“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

It’s so easy for me to relate to James and John in this passage because I see myself in their desire for position - to sit at a place of importance in the kingdom of Christ. But Christ turns this ambition on its head as He tells us that the path to true greatness is servanthood. That’s not what we want to hear! But, that’s God’s heart. And that’s the example of Christ that we need to follow (see Philippians 2:1-11). Christ’s serves as an example to us in considering others more important than ourselves and becoming a servant. Christ came to SERVE, not to be served. (Mark 10:45) Oh, how often do I wish to be served - and oh, how my flesh repels so often from the thought of serving another. Humility is definitely NOT my natural tendency!

But, I’m guessing that if you’ve read this far, it is your desire to have the mind of Christ and to be found as a faithful, humble servant by your Father. The good news is - no matter how prideful, self-focused and self-loving we are, we can bring this matter to the Father in prayer, and Has promised to be faithful to complete the work He has begun in each of us. (Philippians 1:6) And Mahaney writes:

“The Lord has begun a work in our lives to weaken pride and strengthen humility! And we want to apply all the means of grace to accelerate this sanctifying process in our hearts and lives so that we might be the ones to whom He looks, so that we might please Him.

Ultimately, there can be no effective expansion of your life’s mission and ministry, no fulfillment of the specific purpose He’s called you to, apart from the cultivation of humility in your heart and the weakening of pride in your life.

So ask for His protection, so that from this moment you’ll give more attention, not less, to the presence of pride and the promise of humility, so that whatever maturity is yours will not leave you more vulnerable to pride or to the assumption that your spiritual growth and ministry have somehow been accomplished by your own effort or gifting… Transfer all the glory to Him - and experience the promise and the pleasures of humility.”

C.J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness, Multnomah Publishers, Sisters, OR, 2005, pp. 169-170.

Click here for Mahaney’s list of practical suggestions to weaken pride and cultivate humility. May we all, in greater measure, serve one another with a spirit of Christ-like humility as we move toward true greatness in the Biblical sense.

Few people in the history of our faith have exhibited such devotion and passion for God and His purposes as Jim Elliot. I have been encouraged (and convicted) by many of his journal entries and was deeply inspired by Elisabeth Elliot’s story of Jim’s life in Shadow of the Almighty. The following is a selection from Jim’s diary that comes at the end of another classic Through Gates of Splendor:

“I walked out to the hill just now. It is exalting, delicious, to stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart, to gaze and glory and give oneself again to God–what more could a man ask? Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth! I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Mayhap in mercy He shall give me a host of children that I may lead them through the vast star fields to explore His delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, touch His garments, and smile into His eyes–ah then, not stars nor children shall matter, only Himself.

“O Jesus, Master and Center and End of all, how long before that Glory is thine which has so long waited Thee? Now there is no thought of Thee among men; then there shall be thought for nothing else. Now other men are praised; then none shall care for any other’s merits. Hasten, hasten, Glory of Heaven, take Thy crown, subdue Thy Kingdom, enthrall Thy creatures.” [Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor, New York: Harper, 1957, pp. 255-56].

O God, may you give me the perspective on You and on life You saw fit to give Your servant, Jim Elliot. I want the passion and devotion for Your glory that he had, that would lead him to disregard the value of his own life for the sake of Your kingdom and the Gospel. That the taste of Your glory and the promise of my future reward in heaven would be alone what I seek to live for on this earth. Change my heart and do this in my life for the sake of Your great name and Your renown. “Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing You on earth!”

Speaking of mentoring, the man with whom I’ve spent the most time over the last almost three years is not even alive anymore. Francois de Salignac de La Mothe-Fenelon was a 17th century French Archbishop in the Catholic Church (born 1651) and was a mentor to a number of younger men on the court of Louis IVX. In fact, he was given the responsibility of raising the young man who would proceed Louis IVX to the throne of France (the King’s grandson). Many of Fenelon’s writings are actually letters he wrote to some of these young leaders as they sought to walk the life of faith in the face of opposition and adversity. Fenelon’s teachings were met with resistance within the Catholic Church because they aligned more with Reformation teachings than with Catholic dogma at times, and his hope was that once his student became the King of France, he would be instrumental in the reformation of the Catholic Church and bring a real witness of Jesus Christ to France. Those hopes were dashed in 1712 with the premature death of the King’s grandson. Fenelon died not long after that in 1715 at the age of 63, but his teachings live on and continue to influence 300 years after he lived. He has radically transformed my life.

I read a little bit of Fenelon every morning as I get into the Word.

Here’s an exerpt from Fenelon I recently read concerning ‘absolute surrender.’

Inward peace comes with absolute surrender to the will of God. You need to come to a simple calmness of spirit which comes from giving up everything to God and having patience with your neighbor… The reason you feel so agitated is that you do not accept everything that happens to you with complete trust in God. Put everything in His hand, and offer yourself to Him as a sacrifice. The moment you stop wanting things to be your way, you will be free from so much worry and concern… Until you reach this point of surrender, your life will be full of trouble and aggravation… So, give your heart wholly to God and you will find peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Francois de Salignac de La Mothe-Fenelon, The Seeking Heart, p. 175

I think everyone should read a little Fenelon each day…