The Tulip Driven Life

Well I'll just make it plain- you haven't really taken up the duty of sanctification until you've come to the point where knowing God deeply in order to see the beauty and glory of Himself has become your delight. And I would like to submit to you that a non-sovereign God and a non-saving Savior isn't that glorious and frankly, isn't really worth getting that excited about. But a God who is sovereign and a Savior whose sacrifice actually atones, actually saves, actually gives faith for all whom He died... now that's a game-changer. There's no story like that. It is the greatest story ever told: that the Savior would make such wretches His treasure, His bride, His pleasure, and irresistibly so, conquering my rebellious heart and will, turning me from my love affair with self and sin by His grace, making me willing to behold His face and want all that He is and all that I'm not, breaking my heart from what breaks His.  And all by His power, His Spirit, His...

I don’t really know anything about flowers. If you thought this was about flowers, you must be new here. That’s okay. New people are more than welcome. What I can tell you is that if you read the whole of this series, you probably will never look at flowers, or anything for that matter, quite the same way again. This is a series about everything. Or perhaps, this is a series about how to discover everything and find it wonderful. Not that I have discovered everything that can be discovered, but I do believe I have the essential tool with which one can understand everything there is to know and find it most wonderful. If you aren’t interested in something so grandiose, something so big picture, then go read a book on flowers. That book on flowers might tell you a lot about flowers, but it won’t tell you how to look at flowers, and if you aren’t looking at flowers rightly, what’s the point in knowing lots about them? This series will make flowers matter because you will see them, ...

How do we return to that place? Where we gazed out o'er the earth's face? The sun did not burn; it still shined strong, All was just and bright; we knew no wrong, The beasts, they did roam peacefully, The rivers flowed calm as could be, We tilled the garden, there was no thorn, We knew no loss, no reason to mourn, The moment came; we did not trust, Gave in to greed, our foolish lust, The serpent, yes, he told us a lie, Now we toil and sweat, fated to die, How could we be so senseless? We stole the fruit of goodness, As we took we pondered our fate, Eyes opened now, too little, too late. Embarrassed by this naked frame, We sewed leaves, concealing shame, As God came, we hid ourselves away, Though He still knew right where we did lay, He asked, had I eaten of the tree? I blamed the woman, easily, God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “It was the serpent, he was the one,” Eve said, “He deceived and I ate,” Go...

I've written a post before on how the fairy-tale perspective, or even the view that tries to borrow from it and incorporate it into a marriage between Christians, is ruined by the reality of sin. I did this in the form of a story. I would like to write another short story, this time focusing on the spiritual and uplifting side of marriage, when marriage is going as it should from a truly biblical perspective (as in God's purpose/perspective, not man's, for marriage). However, I want to dedicate this entry to explaining its title, and hopefully in a separate post I can illustrate it through a story. A fairy tale view of marriage centers marriage on the physical; by that I do not primarily mean the physical appearance  of the man and woman, or sex, but the physical in general. Going places, doing things, walking, talking, socializing, working, etc. All these things, obviously, are important aspects of marriage, but, I am contending, are not the core. At least, they shou...

I've believed in the TULIP, the doctrines of grace, the five points, the biblical way in which God saves man, for a little over three years now. And I've been reforming everything ever since. Understanding rightly how God saves you for the first time, changes everything. It changes your view of God, of Christ, of man. That's an all-encompassing, paradigm shifting, truth, and all one's theology and all one's life must be conformed to it. Unfortunately, we seem to have something of a melting pot of Calvinism- we take a little charismatic teaching and attach it to a Calvinistic soteriology, or a seeker-oriented church preaches Calvinistic soteriology (which, on all accounts, makes zero sense whatsoever). But I believe that even those who do not add these more extreme admixtures can still fall into the trap of thinking that the five points are enough, that Calvinism is enough, that Calvinism speaks to salvation and nothing else. On the contrary, because Calvinism ...

            The Smintons of Old Daggerly Lane mindlessly sipped their coffee from their glass mugs, which they purchased from the local store. Wal-Mart brand cups were too common-everyone had those. These, while just as cheap, could perhaps be mistaken for finer quality. Besides, the blue lines that formed the little flowers near the brim made them unique. They had bought them seven years ago, not long after they were married. It was supposed to just be temporary you see- a year or two and then they would be dining with fine china, and in much nicer lodging than their small single story home that they had rented from the elderly couple, whose names had long been forgotten. But alas, there they sat, with their cheap cups placed atop their cheap wooden table in the same old, dilapidated house. The only difference from seven years ago to now was the three children, who also huddled around the table that was only meant to seat four. Wel...