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Craig L's Blog

Commonplace Holiness

Tag: Blessing

  • A Prosperity Gospel – Psalms 25:13-15

    A Prosperity Gospel – Psalms 25:13-15

    Christian readers need to continually remind themselves: the Old Testament believers had no developed doctrine of the afterlife. In much of Christianity the idea of the afterlife — of rewards and punishments in the world to come — dominates the thinking of believers. In Christianity, this has become such a commonplace idea we must consciously remind ourselves that it is missing (for the most part) from the thinking of the Old Testament writers.

    It’s not just Christians who may be surprised — or even shocked — by the absence of this theme. There are some observers who have theorized that religion exists as a way of addressing the fear of death. If that were the case, it would be impossible to account for the Jewish religion in Old Testament times (or: the religion of the ancient Greeks at the time of Homer, either. Just read The Iliad sometime.).

    Because the believers of Old Testament times had no developed doctrine of the afterlife, they tended to see the issues of right & wrong / rewards & punishments as playing themselves out in this life. For example, you can see this clearly in the book of Proverbs: do right and things will go well for you, do wrong and you will suffer.

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  • A Prayer of Blessing – Psalm 106: 4, 5

    A Prayer of Blessing – Psalm 106: 4, 5

    There was a time when I thought it was selfish and improper to pray for a blessing on myself. I should pray for others. I should put others first. God would bless as it was deemed appropriate.

    I can thank Bruce Wilkerson’s book The Prayer of Jabez for changing my mind about that. Not that I’ve read the (little) book. I never did. I didn’t need to. It was once quite popular — a Christian fad during 2001 and several years after. I used to hear about the book continually. People would quote from it, and summarize it, and refer to it. Other people denounced the book and it’s sudden popularity. Since then the whole phenomenon has been largely forgotten.

    Anyway, back then, I got curious. So, I looked up the actual prayer of Jabez in the Bible. It’s in 1 Chronicles.

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  • The Way of Blessedness – Psalm 1:1-3

    The Way of Blessedness – Psalm 1:1-3

    First, a little recap. If Psalm 1 is the introduction to the whole book of Psalms, then I am here invited into a life of blessedness: the very first word of the whole book is the word “blessed” (אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי) The word signifies: “a heightened state of happiness and joy, implying very favorable circumstances, often resulting from the kind acts of God.”1

    And then this very first Psalm says (verse 1):

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  • The Beatitudes – Matthew 5:1-12

    The Beatitudes – Matthew 5:1-12

    19th Century Campmeeting

    In the summer of 2014 (as I recall) I preached for the evening services at the Family Bible Camp at the Albright Park Camp & Retreat Center in Reed City, Michigan. It was a very natural place for me to be, and I was glad to preach there. I have a fondness for the tradition of the holiness camp meeting (as you may have noticed), and it felt right to be there preaching in that old tabernacle.

    It occurred to me: why not preach on the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew? I remembered the importance of the Sermon on the Mount in the preaching of John Wesley, and I wondered if a series of messages suitable to a camp meeting could be delivered based on it. I think it went very well.

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  • Blessing – Psalm 1:1

    Blessing – Psalm 1:1

    Reflections and a Prayer on Psalm 1

    It is generally agreed among the scholars that Psalm 1 is an introduction to the whole book of Psalms. Some think it was never itself sung. So, reading it is a way of orienting ourselves to the whole book that follows. It shows us how the first compilers of this book understood it.

    Prayer calls us away. It calls us to focus on the ultimate rather than the immediate. It calls us to attentiveness to God. In a sense, we become more aware of our surroundings, not less aware.

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