clarification and sarcasm from my mom

now playing: gone / switchfoot (stupid catchy bands!)

Okay, this is a quick clarification of yesterday's post. This is (insert big word for caused... can't think of it... argh!) by an email received from my mom, who typically is my biggest fan. She said " Yeah, you see that in the Bible all the time, don't you?

Uh---and where would that be? "
I received this email in the middle of a class (revelation to be specific, but whatever), and I have to say, I was maybe a little offended. And then I thought, "maybe she's right, maybe I need to clarify." So, here we are.

The phrase I used that so offended was "Love God, then do as you please." Now, had i just come up with this on my own, i would almost guarantee that it'd be dumb and misguided. Thankfully, I've never had an original thought in my life. The originator of this thought was none less than one of my favorites amongst the church Fathers, St. Augustine. (An aside for dave hunt (no relation to Caleb), no I don't think that augustine missappropriated Christianity and added greek philosophy to it... he took what was true from Greek philosophy and used it. It was a discerning process. //end tangent). Unfortunately, no matter how hard I looked, I could not find a direct source for the quote (although it is quoted up and down, left and right). That at least beats a "one writes", right? Anyway, Augustine originated the thought. What was his intent? That we do whatever we want? Honestly and sincerely, NO. In fact, not just no, but absolutely not! Paul refutes this idea all through Romans (esp. Rom. 6). What Augustine refers to with this little catchy phrase is the fact that if we order our lives correctly (ie. Love God), then the rest of our priorities will fall into place, hence: do what you please. If loving God is the priority, the central theme in your life, then what pleases you will be that which reflects your love for God. I think it's along the lines of Psalm 37:4. It is inaccurate to twist this passage into "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He'll do whatever you want." That is certainly not true, and is in fact an abhorrent notion. That God would ever submit Himself to doing whatever we wanted on a whim. Rather, as we delight ourselves in the Lord, what He wants becomes what we want. That is, our desires come into line with His will. At that point, the desires of our hearts are fulfilled because they are His will.
anyway, my point in quoting Augustine was not to embrace a pragmatic viewpoint, but rather to point to the fact that if loving God is first priority, then we are being transformed into His image, and the desire of our hearts may at that point very well be an indicator of what His will is.

Anyway, been a long day so far, no doubt it will get longer tho. Big Mac formal coming up. Had to replace a headlight. Got really angry at Peterborough drivers. Other various and sundry events. Keep it real guys, I'll try to do the same.
for now,
yeah... real.