Thoughts on Courage from The Seven Cardinal Virtues

–Originally published on FWB21 May 30, 2011– My husband found a gem of a used book for $0.99 at a local bookstore. Its title: The Seven Cardinal Virtues, by James Stalker, D.D. (1902, reprinted 1961). It’s a tiny book and lends itself to reading short excerpts here and there. This morning I just happened to read the section on courage, and I thought the following excerpts are profoundly fitting today’s celebration of those who gave their lives for the freedom of our country: What, then, is the connection between wisdom and courage? Wisdom, as we saw in the last chapter, is chiefly concerned with the object of existence; it fixes on the supreme good which we decide to pursue. And […]

Be a Reader

–Originally published on FWB21 May 27, 2011– Christians should be readers. After all, the God we serve chose to reveal himself articulately, and He has preserved His Word for us. Since God has revealed Himself through Word, our faith then behooves us to be readers. We, of all peoples, have no excuse for being illiterate. Our nation has one of the highest literacy rates in all of history, and libraries are readily available in most areas. Add to that the wealth of information available at our fingertips (including a host of full-length books available for free in digital form), and we are really left with no excuse. “Well, I’m really not a reader,” you say. Let me repeat here a […]

Why Honor?

–Originally published on FWB21 May 6, 2011– Does it ever seem strange to those of you who are parents that we are the ones who have to teach our kids to honor us? There have been times that I feel quite uncomfortable demanding that my son honor and obey me, for I am keenly aware of my own shortcomings and inconsistencies. It is those times that I have to remind myself that it is not I who demand honor and obedience, but God: Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving […]

C.S. Lewis on Faith: Part 2

–Originally published on FWB21 May 2, 2011– My previous post covered Lewis’ take on Faith in the first sense: Belief. His comments concerning the second, higher sense are even more compelling, for I have personally experienced that of which he speaks: No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. … Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. … That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. … The main thing we learn from a serious attempt to practice the Christian virtues is that we fail. … Then comes another discovery. Every faculty you have… is given you by God. If you devoted […]

C.S. Lewis on Faith: Part 1

–Originally published on FWB21 May 2, 2011– As I said before, lately I have been devouring Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I just finished the chapters on Faith, and I felt that I must share some thoughts on the subject as I feel they must have some implication for parenting. Lewis talks about Faith in two senses: 1) Belief, and 2) a higher sense. For space, I’ll share these two treatments of Faith in two different posts. First: Belief. Faith [in the first sense] is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. … This rebellion of your moods against your real self […]

C.S. Lewis on the Virtue of Temperance

–Originally published on FWB21 April 25, 2011– This morning I read the following passage from Lewis’ Mere Christianity, which was first given as a series of radio talks in the 1940s. The chapter deals with the Cardinal virtues, and his comments on temperance were of particular interest to me: In the days when the second Cardinal virtue was christened ‘Temperance,’ it meant… going to the right length and no further. One great piece of mischief has been done by the modern restriction of the word Temperance to the question of drink. It helps people to forget that you can be just as intemperate about lots of other things. A man who makes his golf or his motor-bicycle the center of […]

A New Perspective on Patience

–Originally published on FWB21 April 22, 2011– Yesterday morning the first two verses I read for the day were Judges 3:1-2. Now these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. For two days now the thought has not left me that God must be awfully patient to have to teach each new generation the same things over and over. As I read once again of the history of Israel’s downward spiral of following God, […]

What if…?

–Originally published on FWB21 April 19, 2012– The Holy Spirit has been teaching me so many things lately, I hardly have time to process them all. Right now, it’s 3:00 in the morning and my mind is racing with questions. Here they are, with some of the scriptures that prompted them. What if we really took God at His Word, face value? What if we lived every waking moment conscious of the fact that we live and move on this earth as God’s ambassadors to the people around us–a kingdom of priests sent to minister for Him? As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like […]

The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer

One of the common sentiments among readers of Tozer’s Pursuit of God is that, even though this book was first published in the 40’s, it could easily have been written today (save some of the heavy wording peppered throughout the book). To take such a classic work and read it as fresh and pertinent to the church today is in itself an amazing thing. To see its contents apply so acutely to our own situation is another. And to see that churches in our culture have not much changed in nearly a century… Well, it’s humbling. Consider the following excerpts: The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without a jar […]

Just DO it!

–Originally posted on FWB21 April 7, 2011– Part 2 on obedience: Having seen numerous biblical accounts of great faith leading to giant steps of obedience in spite of serious risk, I am challenged to examine my own faith and see if it really measures up: Will I begin moving, even if I don’t know yet which way to go? Am I willing to let go of the ones I love, painful though that may be? Can I lay aside the comforts and securities of my nationality? Do I act upon the Spirit’s leading as He guides me into truth, even though my actions may be misunderstood or criticized by those around me? Could I walk boldly to a painful death […]