by: John Park, March 21st, 2011
Quote from King’s Cross by Tim Keller
Available here at Amazon.com.
This man asks Jesus, “Would you heal my son?” And Jesus say, “Everything is possible for him who believes.” That is, “I can do it if you can believe.” The father responds, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” – that is, “I’m trying but I’m full of doubts.”
Then Jesus heals the mans’s son. This is very good news. Through Jesus we don’t need perfect righteousness, just repentant helplessness, to access the presence of God.
Jesus could have told the man, “I am the glory of God in human form. Purify your heart, confess all your sins, get rid of all your doubts and your double-mindedness. Once you have surrendered to me totally and can come before me with a pure heart, then you can ask for the healing you need.”
But Jesus doesn’t say that – not at all.
The boy’s father says, “I’m not faithful, I am riddled with doubts, and I cannot muster the strength necessary to meet my moral and spiritual challenges. But help me.” That’s saving faith – faith in Jesus instead of in oneself. Perfect righteousness is impossible for us, and if you wait for that, you will never come into the presence of God. You must admit that you are not righteous, and that you need help. When you can say that, you are approaching God to worship.”
No Comments »
by: John Park, March 16th, 2011
Quote from The King’s Cross by Tim Keller. 
Available here at Amazon.com.
You see, it wasn’t our deepest wish itself that was the problem, just as it wasn’t wrong for the paralytic to want to walk or for the celebrity to want to succeed or for Eustace to want to be loved and respected. The fact that we thought getting our deepest wish would heal us, would save us – that was the problem. We had to let Jesus be our Savior.
1 Comment »
by: John Park, February 10th, 2011
Recently, I was reading Jonathan Edwards’s essay, “Thoughts on the Revival” and came across this quote. He was commenting on the First Great Awakening and some peoples’ objections to it because of the “violent” physical convulsions some people were experiencing as a result of the revival:
“Let us rationally consider what we profess to believe of the infinite greatness of divine wrath; divine glory, the divine infinite love and grace in Jesus Christ, and the infinite importance of eternal things; and then how reasonable it is to suppose, that if God a little withdraw the veil, to let light into the soul – and give a view of the great things of another world in their transcendent and infinite greatness – that human nature, which is as the grass, a shaking leaf, a weak withering flower, should totter under such a discovery!” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 1)
Reading this piece makes me desire to be a part of another great awakening.
No Comments »
by: John Park, January 19th, 2011
Quote from God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt. 
Available here at Amazon.com.
… a conviction is nothing if it is not our own. Other things play their part in helping us to understand, but nothing can take its place. Unless each of us wrestles with the truth for ourselves, we will end up with opinions rather than convictions. Pascal warned that “hearsay is so far from being a criterion of belief that you should not belief anything until you have put yourself into the same state as if you had never heard it.” No conviction is truly our own unless we are prepared to hold it even if the rest of the world is against it. Athanasius contra mundum (against the world) is a stance we would not wish for ourselves but a stance that is implied in faith (p. 103).
No Comments »
by: John Park, December 15th, 2010
In this scene from the 1989 movie Glory, Robert Shaw (played by Matthew Broderick) is talking to his alcoholic friend Cabot Forbes (played by Cary Elwes) about his recent promotion to the position of Colonel of the first “colored regiment” during the Civil War. I thought that this was a beautiful picture of the Gospel.
Forbes: “Hey, Robert, what’s wrong?”
Shaw: “I’m gonna do it.”
Forbes: “You’re not serious.”
Shaw: “Yeah… and I want you to come with me.”
Forbes [clearly taken aback at the request]: “Me? Can you picture me in charge of a regiment. I don’t picture me in charge of anything.”
Shaw: “I would be honored to have you.”
Forbes [accepting the offer]: “Then you’re an idiot…”
No Comments »
