At least once a year, I rummage back through J.I. Packer's Knowing God.
It will always be one of the great books of my life. Besides C.S. Lewis like any Christian who reads, Packer and Frances Schaeffer have been my prime shapers in my early years. The cool thing about Packer is how he always leads you on deeper into the Bible and deeper into the Puritans.
In the second chapter of Knowing God entitled "The People who Know their God", Packer gives two cautions and what he calls "four propositions".
The Two Cautions:
1. One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of Him.
2. One can know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God.
Four Propositions:
1. Those who know God have great energy for God.
2. Those who know God have great thoughts of God.
3. Those who know God have great boldness for God.
4. Those who know God have great contentment in God.
Energy for, thoughts of, boldness for, and contentment in.
The absence of or the motives for these things have always been good for me to ponder.
I have spent way too much of my life since being brought to Christ wanting the benefits of God rather than the beauty that He is ... I mean way too much.
Gary Yagel, a gospelman and co-helper of our conferences, wrote a paper on "Grace Based Men's Ministry" for his D.Min. It's worth taking the time to read: Download (in PDF).
And on a personal note... I been out of town watching my son's basketball team which he coaches and witnessing the birth of our grandson on Tuesday morning. His name is Silas.
"Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole
church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with
Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers," (Acts 15:22)
May Silas be by the grace of God a man who knows God.
Have a blessed Sabbath.
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