The Prayer of Psalm 10 Will Be Answered

“The Lord is King forever and ever;
Nations [unbelieving people-groups] have perished from His land [the place of covenant-communion].

O Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear

To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed,
So that man who is of the earth [unbelieving “tare” among the “wheat”] will no longer cause terror” (Psalm 10:16-18).

Both verses 16 and 18 use the Hebrew word אֶרֶץ, rendered differently in the English (“land” and “earth”). I would suggest that they both be understood as “land” in the theologically-significant sense – the old covenant symbol of the place of God’s fellowship and blessing with His covenant people.

The “nations” (גּוֹי), in the context of “the land” (אֶרֶץ), refers to unbelievers, this idea being an historical echo of the idolatrous people-groups of Canaan as Joshua led the people into the Promised Land.

Psalm 10:1-15 describes the situation to us. Unbelievers are oppressing God’s people, especially the most vulnerable among them.

There are two teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ that, when read together, fit the context of Psalm 10:16-18. I’ve already hinted at the first: “Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” And he said to them, “An enemy has done this!” The slaves said to him, “Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?” But he said, “No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn’”’” (Matthew 13:24-30).

The troubling unbelievers in the communion between God and His believing covenant people will eventually be judged – this is the prayer of Psalm 10 and the promise of Jesus.

The second teaching of Jesus which is applicable to our reading of Psalm 10 speaks of “stumbling blocks” of “these little ones” (the vulnerable of God’s covenant people). Both Church discipline in this world and “eternal fire” in the next are promised (again, the answer to the prayer of Psalm 10): “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost’” (Matthew 18:1-11). Go on to read 18:15-20, where the context for “stumbling blocks” is “the Church” (18:17) – the place of God’s communion and blessing with His covenant people, prefigured by “the land” in the Old Testament (including Psalm 10).

May we be especially sensitive to the vulnerable in the Church, beloved. The Lord of the Church hears their prayers.

Meanwhile, let us faithfully speak the Word in the power of the Spirit (“prophecy”), that the “tares” and “stumbling blocks” in our midst will be “convicted by all…[and be] called to account by all…[and that] the secrets of his heart [will be] disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you” (1 Corinthians 14:24,25). Let us exercise discipline, treating the unrepentant as a "Gentiles and tax collector" (unbelieving objects of evangelism) and the repentant with unceasing forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-35) for the glory of the Lord of this field.

The Apostasy and the Hammer

I had thirty minutes between things this morning, and took the chance to do some background reading in preparation for next Wednesday night’s survey of 2 Thessalonians. In 2:3, the apostle Paul mentions “the apostasy.” This, and other language, echoes some things mentioned in Daniel and 1 Maccabees. In reading about the lead-up to the Maccabean rebellion, I came across the following extended passage and thought it worth sharing. The narrative begins in the midst of the “abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31; cf. Daniel 12:11; Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14) in Jerusalem’s temple by Antiochus IV, “Epiphanes” (215-165 B.C.).

“Then the king [Antiochus IV] wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, and that all should give up their particular customs. All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the Sabbath. And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane Sabbaths and festivals, to defiled the sanctuary and the priests, to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and other unclean animals, and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, so that they would forget the Law and change all the ordinances. He added, ‘And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die.’ In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the towns of Judah to offer sacrifice, town by town. Many of the people, everyone who forsook the Law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had. Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year [167 B.C.], they erected a desolating sacrilege [“abomination of desolation”] on the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah, and offered incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. The books of the Law that they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. Anyone found possessing the Book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the Law, was condemned to death by decree of the king. They kept using violence against Israel, against those who were found month after month in the towns. On the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of the altar of burnt offering. According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants’ from their mothers’ necks. But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Very great wrath came upon Israel. In those days Mattathias son of John son of Simeon, a priest of the family of Joarib, moved from Jerusalem and settled in Modein. He had five sons, John surnamed Gaddi, Simon called Thassi, Judas called Maccabeus [“the Hammer”], Eleazar called Avaran, and Jonathan called Apphus. He saw the blasphemies being committed in Judah and Jerusalem...then Mattathias and his sons tore their clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned greatly. The king’s officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the town of Modein to make them offer sacrifice. Many from Israel came to them; and Mattathias and his sons were assembled. Then the king’s officers spoke to Mattathias as follows: ‘You are a leader, honored and great in this town, and supported by sons and brothers. Now be the first to come and do what the king commands, as all the Gentiles and the people of Judah and those that are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons will be numbered among the Friends of the king, and you and your sons will be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.’ But Mattathias answered and said in a loud voice: ‘Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him, and have chosen to obey his commandments, everyone of them abandoning the religion of their ancestors, I and my sons and my brothers will continue to live by the covenant of our ancestors. Far be it from us to desert the Law and the ordinances. We will not obey the king’s words by turning aside from our religion to the right hand or the left’” (1 Maccabees 1:41-2:6,15-22).

He Preserves Through Hearing in the Gathering

“When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge delighteth thy soul, then shall counsel preserve thee, and understanding shall keep thee...and it shall deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. Surely her house tendeth to death, and her paths unto the dead. All they that go unto her, return not again, neither take they hold of the ways of life. Therefore walk thou in the way of good men, and keep the ways of the righteous” (Proverbs 2:10,11,16-20, Geneva Bible).

The connection between hearing (2:10,11) and doing (2:20) is found in the assembly of the saints in Christ: Wisdom, knowledge, counsel, and understanding are to be found in fellowship with “good men” and “the righteous.” Gather with the Church today, friends, and hear of Him Who alone saves you from the one(s) who will only lead you away from Him (2:16-19). He preserves and keeps you through hearing in the gathering.

* * * * * * *

“My son, if thou wilt...cause thine ears to hearken unto wisdom...then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:1,2,5,6).

Discipline yourself to hear the Word of the Lord as it is proclaimed in the gathering of the saints. He speaks His wisdom in Christ through the Scriptures by the teachers He gives His Church: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words...” (2:1; cf. Acts 13:1; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 2:2,24). This is the only means of His grace by which we “understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

* * * * * * *

“...He preserveth the way of His Saints” (Proverbs 2:8). Notice that though there are many “Saints,” there is only one “way.” Walk together.

Don't Blame Love

• "...put on love, which is the bond of perfectness" (Colossians 3:14, Geneva Bible).
• "...let us which are of the day...[be] putting on...love" (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

True love is an act of the will, and is not to be blamed for the self-will that breaks covenant.We do not helplessly fall in or out, but either put it on in covenant commitment or unrepentantly masquerade for temporary convenience.

I recognize that all humans (even Christians and especially myself) sin, but there is no biblical justification for an appeal to God's mercy, forgiveness, and love apart from a repentant confession of sin (as defined by the Scripture). The entry-point for the eternal enjoyment and consolation of the benefits of Christ is humbly and freely confessing that sin is sin as defined by the Scripture.

So, breaking covenant in the name of love and then - either in open or tacit unrepentant rebellion - appealing to the fact that "God is love," "forgiving," or "merciful" is further evidence from your own lips that you want the benefits of ideas like love, forgiveness, or mercy without committing to the covenant in which they are solely found.

Don't blame love.

Find the Fount of Love

“For Thy lovingkindness [חסד, or covenantal love] is before mine eyes: therefore have I walked in Thy truth” (Psalm 26:3, Geneva Bible). His motivating power for walking in the truth of God’s Word is a blood-bound relationship secure in the unbreakable promise of God’s love. The love is expressed in its cost and oath, not primarily in momentary moods – as Rich Mullins once said, “there’s a loyalty that’s deeper than mere sentiment.” Loyal-love, covenant-love, love of the unbreakable promise...that’s what motivates the Psalmist to walk in the truth of God’s Word, a love alien to our commitment-allergic age. “Herein was that love of God made manifest amongst us, because God sent that His only begotten Son into this world, that we might live through Him. Herein is that love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a reconciliation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10). If that covenant-love doesn’t move you to a continual desire to walk in the truth of His Word, return to the gathering where that place of love – the Cross – is the theme of the songs, the promise of the Table, and the only thing the man in the pulpit knows (1 Corinthians 2:2). It’s love that strips you down to the soul to reveal every sin and then covers you in blood-bought perfect white, fills you with the very Presence of love (Romans 5:5), and never lets you go. It’s love that sets you on the Way – not the cheap imitation passed off as love from the feelings and flesh of self-centered humanity. Find the Fount.

“I will...compass Thine altar, that I may declare with the voice of thanksgiving, and set forth all Thy wondrous works...I will praise Thee, O Lord, in the Congregations” (26:6,7,12).

The Dividing Line: Unending Covenant Love

“Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The lovingkindness [חסד, covenant love] of God endures all day long. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking what is right...you love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, and uproot you from the land of the living” (Psalm 52:1-5). What stands against tyranny of wicked, twisted, lying words both whispered and shouted? The unwavering eternal covenant-love of God for His people. Because of His love they will forever endure in the place of covenant, “the land of the living.” Those boasters outside the covenant will not.


“The righteous will see and fear...as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, and I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones” (Psalm 52:6,8,9). Judgment of those outside the covenant grows those inside in their “fear” of the LORD, their trust in the unending love of His covenant with His people, their thankfulness, and their waiting on His good name. The “land of the living,” the place of the covenant, is seen in greater beauty as the “house of God” and “the presence of [His] godly ones.”

The covenant love of God. In it is all. Outside of it is death. Boast not in yourself for your salvation this day, but “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and...be saved” (Romans 10:9). Church, consider His love and judgment and draw nearer to Him (and each other) in your meditation on both.

The Command of the Covenant: Give Thanks

“The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken, and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. May our God come and not keep silence; fire devours before Him, and it is very tempestuous around Him. He summons the heavens above, and the earth, to judge His people: ‘Gather My godly ones to Me, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.’ And the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is judge” (Psalm 50:1-6). Our God, brighter than the sun and much closer (feel His purifying fire in the air), summons His people. Who are His people? “Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” His people by relationship, yes, but a relationship with contract – boundaries, blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience. Sealed with blood, the blood of the sacrifice. He summons His people to judge them. Yes, judge them.

“‘Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are continually before Me. I shall take no young bull out of your house nor male goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High; call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me’” (50:7-15). The blood of symbols has been poured out, but this isn’t enough for the righteous Judge of His people. Where are their “sacrifices of thanksgiving”? Where are your sacrifices of thanksgiving, dear Church, purchased with the blood of the covenant – the blood of God Himself (Acts 20:28; Revelation 5:9)? You proclaim the words of this blood-sealed relationship at the Table: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). How can we take the cup of the blood-bought covenant and not then offer “sacrifices of thanksgiving”?

“But to the wicked God says, ‘What right have you to tell of My statutes and to take My covenant in your mouth? For you hate discipline, and you cast My words behind you. When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you associate with adulterers. You let your mouth loose in evil and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God’” (50:16-23). What a people we can sometimes be! We teach His commands and rest in covenant security but refuse to be corrected or actually live by the commands we ourselves teach! We are kinder to unbelievers than we are to those purchased with the blood of the Son of God! Grace, acceptance, unconditional love to those who refuse to confess and believe in Jesus, but judgment, anger, slander, disassociation with those with whom we have been bound eternally?! To do such things is to think God is just like us; to do such things is to “forget God” and enrage the Lion. Instead, repent, “order [your] way aright,” and offer the “sacrifice of thanksgiving”!

• “...be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-21).
• “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).
• “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:15-17). In unity, teaching, and action, give thanks. This verse is the "holy, holy, holy" of thankfulness with its triple repetition of the command.
• “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
• “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:12-15). Even homeless pilgrims who are exiles from the City of Man gives thanks!

Revisit the blood of the covenant at the Table of the Lord, dear Church. There remember the boundaries of your relationship with the Father through the Son by the power of the Spirit: teach and obey His commandments, live in actual love with those who share your confession and faith, and offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving to Him Who alone is worthy!

“And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.’ And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him Who sits on the throne, to Him Who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him Who sits on the throne, and will worship Him Who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created’” (Revelation 4:8-11).

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘My lord, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He Who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes’” (Revelation 7:9-17).

Thanksgiving is commanded (not invited or suggested) from God’s people, is deserved by God alone, is the creed and lifeblood of our fellowship as the Church, and is the joyous cry of eternity. Lift up your fallen faces, silence the complaints of your idolatrous self-centered hearts (the “sacrifice of thanksgiving” is a sign that you are actually in covenant – ungratefulness is a sign to the opposite), and train your lips to speak grace and thanks in the great Congregation! The righteous Judge has summoned you there and is present. So prepare for Meeting now and every moment this day by giving thanks, letting it build in your heart and mind and words until the Gathering of God’s blood-bought thankful ones in Christ!

Giving Up Our Children to a Chocolate-Chip Cookie Ethic

I won't keep you long this time.

I was out on a dirt road jogging yesterday (my new tool of self-torture), praying for individuals within my little ministry sphere. While praying for two particular individuals and measuring my life by the distance between soaptree yucca plants, the words "Christian dating" came into my head.

Can I ask a question? Where is this thing in the Bible? When I read household codes like the one found in Ephesians 5:22-6:9 (though, since Paul is writing to believers, this is not a "household" code, but an ethic for Christian covenant members - a "home mission church" ethic, if you will), I find two things:

• An ethic for Christian covenant members who are married to one another: "Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord [yes, I know the verb here builds off of the mutual submission COMMAND for the ENTIRE CHURCH in 5:21, which in turn is the inevitable outworking of the COMMAND to be "filled with the Spirit" in 5:18]. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is also the head of the Church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the Church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the Church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the Church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh [a quote from Genesis 2:24]. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband" (Ephesians 5:22-33). The foundational unit - a Creation ordinance, according to Jesus (Matthew 19:4-6) - of the Church (not society, for that's not what Paul is addressing here) is the married couple (one man and one woman covenanted as one in a Spirit-filled relationship with the God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ). This is the starting point.
• Secondly, we see an ethic for the fruit of this physical and spiritual union: the children of the household of Christian covenant members (being Baptist I am refraining from calling them "covenant children," all due respect given to my sincerely beloved Reformed brothers and sisters). "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth [a quote from Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16]" (6:1-3). I believe Paul purposefully quotes from the Law of Moses at this point in reference to how we raise our children in a home parented by married members of the covenant in Christ: "...the Law [becomes] our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24). Until in the marriage relationship, children are to be regarded as part of the household of the parent. This is to be done with a wisdom beyond this desert rat (hence the need for the filling of the Spirit commanded in 5:18): "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (6:4). When there are two believing, married parents involved, the child should obey their wisdom - particularly in matters of relationship.

Back to my original question: where is the room for "Christian dating"? Is there an implied parenthesis between 5:22-33 and 6:1-4 where the parents release the bodies and spirits of their children to others their age, hoping that eventually - after much trial, error, and "experience" - the children stumble from 6:1-4 into 5:22-33? Or does Paul give us only these two categories, back-to-back, all under the command to be "filled with the Spirit," on purpose?

"The Bible doesn't mention chocolate-chip cookies, either, but you'll eat them, won't you?" I've heard the question before. The Bible does mention chocolate-chip cookies: "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:4,5 - in context Paul is referring to both marriage and chocolate-chip cookies). Despite that, do want your chocolate-chip cookie ethic to create a category wedged in-between 5:22-33 and 6:1-4? Really? If you see a lot between the lines of your Bible and readily admit that, then I suppose that's up to your conscience.

Then there's the argument that my experience as a father doesn't really permit me to make such statements. "Just wait, rat, until we see how your tween daughter is doing in 10 years." This reasoning, in which I almost hear challengers cursing my daughter with wishes for her failure (imagine a red-eyed, sharp-fanged ugly desert rat snarling at this point), reminds me of an illustration (since we're basing our child-rearing on a chocolate-chip cookie ethic, I'm sure there won't be too many objections).

When teaching our children to drive, we don't send them off in a recently-new beat-up car driven by a careless 16-year-old who's only had his license for a year (during most of which he was grounded from the car because of tickets, wrecks, other irresponsible behavior). No. Responsible parents make their children study the drivers' manual and take the potential driver's education upon themselves. Parents hopefully model preferred driving habits, remind the young driver of the rules, and guide them through teaching in a wide-open parking lot.

And that's just driving. How much more important is the command of Scripture for how we relate to one another in Christ in the most basic units of the Church?

All that jogging yesterday and all this typing this morning is making me hungry. Luckily there aren't any chocolate-chip cookies in reach. They're good for a moment, but mess up my blood sugar and add more pounds to this short frame...and I don't want anything to slow me down as I go down the road later.