Faith and Work on Natural Theology

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Building for Glory and Good

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Scripture

Genesis 1:26–28, Exodus 35:30–35, Proverbs 8:22–31, Matthew 25:14–30, Colossians 3:23–24, Psalm 104:24

I love watching young boys and girls build things with Legos. Their small, creative masterpieces cannot help but reflect their image-bearing nature and remind us we were all made to make things. When ...

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Not All Who Wander are Lost

Author

Travis Dickinson

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Scripture

Exodus 3:1-15, Genesis 12:1-9, Job 1:42, Psalm 139:, Acts 9:1-19

In the novel The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien, there is a poem called the “Riddle of Strider.” One stanza goes like this: All that is gold does not glitter; Not all who wan...

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Gracious and Merciful God—Father, Son

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Romans 5:8-9, Romans 8:1-17, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, John 14:27, James 5:14-15, Philippians 4:6-7

Gracious and Merciful God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: When we wouldn’t love—You did. When we couldn’t do right—you could. When we wouldn’t give—You gave and gave all of yourself. So we come to You w...

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Author

Rudolf Borchardt

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God’s garden, made “in the beginning,” does not lie behind us, but ahead of us, in hope, and, in the meantime, all around us as our place of work. History without gardens would be a wasteland. What th...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

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Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man...

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It is Just so Good it Must be True

Author

Phillip Yancey

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 25:6-9, Daniel 7:13-14, Zechariah 8:4-5, Luke 24:36-43, Revelation 21:1-5, Psalm 16:11

One day when George MacDonald, the great Scottish preacher and writer, was talking with his son, the conversation turned to heaven and the prophets’ version of the end of all things. “It seems too goo...

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Is Christian Faith Antithetical to Reason?

Author

Richard Robinson

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In his book The Allure of Gentleness , Dallas Willard includes a thought-provoking excerpt from Richard Robinson, a prominent atheist thinker from the mid-20th century. In his work An Atheist’...

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The Frustrating Unpredictability of Faith

Author

Don Everts and Doug Schaupp

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:9, John 3:8, Ecclesiastes 11:5, Isaiah 55:10-11, John 6:44

Writing about ministering to postmodern skeptics, Don Everts and Doug Schaupp share a helpful insight into the mystery of God's movement: The first lesson they have taught us about the path to f...

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Reducing God to Manageable Terms

Author

A. W. Tozer

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 32:1-6 , 1 Samuel 4:3-10, Isaiah 40:18-25, Matthew 16:13-20, Acts 5:1-11 , Psalm 115:4-8

A. W. Tozer once wrote, Left to ourselves we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms. We want to get Him where we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need Him. We want a ...

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A Mischief to Religion

Author

Joseph Glanvill

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Anti-Intellectualism has been a problem in the church for some time now. Consider the words of the 17th century English clergyman Joseph Glanvill, who had this to say about the role of reason in faith...

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The Wild Soul

Author

Parker J. Palmer

Keywords

The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, self-sufficient. It knows how to survive in hard places. But it is also shy. Just like a wild animal, it seeks safety in the dense ...

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Author

Ronald Rohlheiser

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We know God not just in our conscious awareness and in prayer, but also in a deep inchoate way, by participating with Him in building this world – by growing things, building things, carving things, c...

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Author

Karl Barth

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 15:6, Habakkuk 2:4, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:1-2, Matthew 17:20, Psalm 62:5-6

Only faith survives; faith which is not a work, not even a negative work; not an achievement, not even the achievement of humility. . . . Faith is the ground, the new order, the light. . . . Faith is ...

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Myths About Faith and Work

Author

Kara Martin

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:12, Genesis 2:15-20, Colossians 3:22-24, John 5:17, 1 Corinthians 7:17

Myths about Faith and Work Faith is to be lived out 24-7-52. For many Christians this involves living out our faith at work. But several myths about faith and work can prevent us from being effecti...

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Topsoil and Christ

Author

Wendell Berry

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The most exemplary nature is that of the topsoil. It is very Christ-like in its passivity and beneficence, and in the penetrating energy that issues out of its peaceableness. It increases by experienc...

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Restoring Love for Scripture

Author

Adam S. McHugh

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 , 1 Kings 19:11-13 , Nehemiah 8:1-12, Luke 24:13-35 , Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 119:9-16

After I graduated from seminary, I stopped reading the Bible. It’s been said that for all the gain that comes from dissecting a frog, all the hands-on knowledge one amasses from cutting out the organs...

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Author

Parker J. Palmer

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Teaching is my native way of being in the world. Make me a cleric or a CEO, a poet or a politico, and teaching is what I will do.

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Reformers' Impact on Modern Spirituality

Author

Tom Nelson

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:15, Exodus 31:1-6, Proverbs 16:3, Matthew 25:14-30, Colossians 3:23-24 , Psalm 127:1

Noteworthy in this regard is the contribution of the Reformers, particularly Martin Luther, though John Calvin’s contribution is also very significant. Both called for a spirituality in the world that...

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Innovation or Heresy

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 7:10, Colossians 2:8, Matthew 9:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Romans 12:2, Mark 7:8-9, Isaiah 43:19

It’s funny how sometimes members of the church can associate anything new with “heresy.” We often make the mistake of confusing technological innovations or scientific discoveries for changes to the g...

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Author

Meister Eckhart

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:9, Genesis 1:11-13, 1 John 3:9, Matthew 13:23, Galatians 6:7-8, John 15:5

The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer, it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordingly its fruits will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear tr...

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The Analogy of Faith

Author

R. C. Sproul

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:26–27, Exodus 3:1–14, Isaiah 53:3–6, Luke 24:25–27 , Romans 3:21–26, Psalm 110:1

When the Reformers broke with Rome and claimed the view that the Bible was to be the supreme authority of the church (sola Scriptura), they were very careful to define basic principles of interpretati...

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Father God, You introduce yourself to

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Father God, You introduce yourself to us in Genesis (1) as the God who works. Who created this beautiful world we are privileged to inhabit. We thank you for your work You created us to till the ...

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Famous Atheist Richard Dawkins Argues that You are an Accident

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:7, Jeremiah 1:5 , Ecclesiastes 3:11, John 1:3-4, Colossians 1:16-17, Psalm 139:13-14

The atheist author Richard Dawkins, who wrote, “The universe, at the bottom, has no design, no purpose, no evil, and no other good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor care...

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Heart & Head?

Author

Nancy Pearcey

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 2:2–6, Romans 12:1–2, Isaiah 1:18, Daniel 1:17–20, Matthew 22:37, Psalm 119:97–100

At a Christian high school, a theology teacher strode to the front of the classroom, where he drew a heart on one side of the blackboard and a brain on the other. The two are as divided as the two sid...

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Author

A. W. Tozer

Keywords

Let us practice the fine art of making every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there."

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Author

N. T. Wright

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We are made for God: for God’s glory, to worship God and reflect his likeness. That is our heart’s deepest desire, the source of our deepest vocation.

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Author

H.H. Farmer

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Scripture

Genesis 4:1-16 , Jonah 1:3, Proverbs 1:20-33, Acts 9:1-19, Romans 1:18-32, Psalm 1:1-6

If you go against the grain of the universe, you get splinters.

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Spiritual Food Belongs in the Heart

Author

Dane C. Ortlund

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 23:25-26, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Colossians 2:6-7, Jeremiah 31:33

Spiritual nourishment cannot be seen purely in our outward behavior. The process of sanctification is a deeply internal process. Outside growth is merely a symptom, and acting better does not mean our...

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Creation Continued

Author

Albert N. Wolters

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 3:9, Romans 8:19, Matthew 5:14, Isaiah 65:21-22, Psalm 8:6, Genesis 2:15, Genesis 1:28

The earth had been completely unformed and empty; in the six-day process of development God had formed it and filled it—but not completely. People must now carry on the work of development: by being f...

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What is Faith? Is it a Way of Knowing?

Author

Travis Dickinson

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 15:1-6, Exodus 14:10-14, Joshua 1:9, Psalm 23:, James 2:14-26

There’s no shortage of the religiously faithless who seem eager to tell us what faith is. Many of these characterizations of faith are reminiscent of Mark Twain’s precocious schoolboy who quipped, “Fa...

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