The Four Loves and Where the Light Shines Through

I've been a little slow in getting a new post out as I have entered an exciting new chapter in my life, which nevertheless has made things a little bit hectic the last several weeks. However, there are two things that I am eager to talk about because they have been fairly impactful during these same weeks.

C.S. Lewis's Four Loves is a short read but it's been thoroughly engaging in the way that Clives Staples is always engaging. He breaks down the book into the eponymous loves: Affection, Friendship, Eros and Charity. And although he says a great deal that is eye-opening on it all, I will try and collect a few morsels that stood out in my mind.

The first things have to do with friendship. If you've listened to Tim Keller before he used Lewis's example about his friends Ronald and Christopher to illustrate a key point. When Christopher died, far from having more of Ronald, Lewis received less of him because it's in try fellowship with numerous people that we see more and more of others revealed. Different sides or aspects to them that we would have never been able to bring out on our own. And that's the beauty of the body of Christ and living in community with a great multitude of believers. It enriches our relationships.

Another thing Lewis brought my attention to is the fact that all great movements, religions, and what have you got started because at a most basic level people would actually sit together across from each other and talk. They would have deep conversations and actually get to know each other on a far deeper level. Apart from just being a theory, Lewis enacted this in his own life as the Inklings, the group of writers who came together for discourse and closer still, friendship.

I think Lewis has a point and unfortunately it seems like our modern generation, our modern culture has lost some of that tendency. We have Facebook friends and Twitter feeds that hardly foster deep conversation. They either give us surface level sensory overload or lead to raging spats that serve no obvious purpose but to tear people apart from one another. The art of honest to goodness conversation is slowly being lost and much of that is often sucked away by our technology averting our attention.

One final point that Lewis made that was especially enlightening suggests that friendships do not reflect how great we are because of the people that happen to be in our lives, but they are only a further reflection of how great God is.  It shows how faithful he is in our lives to give us friendships that we do not deserve. Friendships that would otherwise be a shambles or not exist altogether without his good graces. In other words, our Friendships add yet another crown to his glory. Imagine that. That's pretty cool....

More recently, with all the unrest shaking the world at home and abroad, I've been deeply comforted by the latest album by Switchfoot. It's aptly titled, "Where the Light Shines Through" and it perfectly encapsulates how many people feel right now or want to feel. It's joyful but underlying that joy is an honesty about the confusion and brokenness that still overtakes our world. Here are a couple tracks I recommend. I'll leave it at that.

All the glory to Him,

Refined by Fire and Culture

Last night and this morning I had the opportunity to listen to two very poignant sermons that really resonated with me.

The first was given by the joyously enthusiastic James White who spoke in particularly on Daniel Chapter 3 and the narrative of how God delivered Radshack, Meshach, and Abendego from Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace. There were a number of things that stood out including the fact that these three men were not cocky in defying the Babylonian king but they knew the truth, the reality that there God was the one true God and they were not going to be compromised in their faith.

Pastor White also looked in depth at this imagery of fire, suggesting how often God reveals himself in the flame and we can use this metaphor in our own lives. We are constantly being assaulted by trial and tribulations, going through the fire in a sense, but it's in precisely these moments that God continues to refine us more and more in his image. We are supposed to become more and more like him and how is that possible without adversity that forces us to trust completely in Him.

These past weeks, these past four years and really for much of my life, I'm always wrestling with difficulties and those prayers that seemingly went unanswered. I'm happy now that my prayers have progressed a little bit. In my baby steps, I've moved from simply saying "Why God?" to "How are you going to reveal yourself in these circumstances, God?" And wouldn't you know, God always does show up. But its in those interim periods, those "meanwhile" moments that are paramount to my own growth.

We live in a society that believes that the point of life is to be continually happy, avoiding all types of difficulty and hardship so we can live a life of perfect tranquility. First of all, no life is like that and secondly, is that really the best type of existence that we can have? The moments that I often remember the most are the difficult ones because it was in the wake of such struggles like tragedy, sickness, death and failure that I saw God more clearly. He also uses those circumstances to reveal the character of those around. We can more fully appreciate the gifts that he has given them because they can bless us just as we can, in turn, bless them in their moments of struggle. That's awesome...


As I enter a new stage in life and a new job it's was equally pertinent to listen to Tim Keller's Sermon on Culture and the picture we are given in Isaiah of a thriving Jerusalem that in many ways seems like a picture of what eternity will look like. The beauty of this image is the implication that our vocations will almost have eternal significance because from the beginning our God was a creator a cultivator and a worker.

That means that those same principles apply to us and when we are doing work, in a way, that is glorifying him, we are reflecting his character for others to see. We are, in a sense, more in his likeness. That's why it is misguided to say that only a certain vocation or passion is doing the work of God because that is simply not the case. But also, it seems to make it clear that eternity will be even more fulfilling than are present lives. They'll still be a need for workers, creators, and culture-makers but the difference is that we will have our fully glorified bodies and also be in perfect community with our Lord and savior. As I get ready to go into my first real job that is an exciting perspective for me to take on in light of eternity.