Joab’s courage in 2 Samuel 10:12 is rooted in God’s covenant with David just two chapters earlier. This is the kind of courage that I long for…
I think that Joab knew this promise and that it was the real source of his courage. This is the kind of courage we need: not a blind fearlessness that comes from self-confidence, but a boldness that flows from being overcome by the reality of the gospel and the faithfulness of our God.
May it be so by grace.
One of Elizabeth’s favorite places to hang out is my study.
(which is cool, most of the time.)
Whether you wait to build a family after school or during school is a decision that each couple has to make on their own, before and unto God. But if someone is in the “take-in-info-from-both-sides” stage, then consider this to be my endorsement of being a Dad and a student at the same time.
There is something sweet about a two-year old scooting up next to you while you’re trying to read God Crucified, especially after having just read Do You Want A Friend?
I want to take the occasion of my Dad’s birthday to express my gratitude to God for my parents, Phil and Jana Parnell. You are a true gift.
God’s goodness to me in making you my parents will always be towards the top of the list of all the deep and glorious blessings He has lavished upon me.
We love you,
Jonathan, Melissa, Elizabeth, and Hannah
Mark 3:31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
How we understand the covenant community will affect the way that we understand our own families, in particular, how our unregenerate children relate to us in a subordinate bond to that of our spiritual brethren. (I tried to be careful there–most people won’t like that).
Jesus has redefined “family” in Mark 3. “Family” are those who do the will of the Father (v. 35). Jesus is gathering a new community, a new family, that will transcend everything else. There is a bond that I share with a brother or sister in Christ that is superior to the bond that I currently share with my own daughter who does not yet have a new heart.
I am perfectly happy with saying this. The implication is even more glorious…
First, what it is NOT. The implication is not that Jesus has abolished the family. Absolutely not. There is just something sweeter now. And just because this one bond is sweeter does not mean that I choose Church over family. That is the worry, right? The supposed implication that makes us recoil at what I previously said is that we think it means that now I should choose the Church over my children. Superiority in bond does not equal importance, nor does it prioritize my efforts.
Quite the contrary, knowing that this superior bond is lacking between my daughters and I does not bump them down on the list, it puts them on the top! My home is currently a mission field. Do you get that? Giving the gospel to my children is the greatest calling on my life.
Mark 3:31-35 makes me love the Church more, and it makes me pour out my life for the sake of my children.
Numbers 25:1-13. The narrative is short but it is one of my favorites… it starts following the LORD’s determination to bless Israel (despite Balak). The people of Israel apostatize. The men whore with the daughters of Moab. The men who were supposed to be leading their families in the worship of the true God have instead been seduced to go to bed with Baal. The picture in verse 6 seems odd. What that guy did in bringing the Midianite woman along was evil. The text implies that he was flaunting his idolatry.
Then comes Phineas. He rises up to play the man. He chased the couple down and slays them both with a spear. It is a gruesome scene. But Phineas doesn’t waste time. He goes straight for the problem. It is a sober rage. It is a logical fury with the glory of God at stake, and the good of the people (vv. 10-11). The idolatry was putting the previous oracles in jeopardy. They were up to thwarting God’s promise. And where there were no men, Phineas was a man. I want to be like Phineas.
I don’t want a spear and I hate ultimate fighting (it is nonredeemable), but I want to be a man like Phineas. That means, I want to lead my family well in the worship of the triune God. And that means that sometimes you have to slay the inhibitions, you have to put to death those things that contradict the reality of the gospel.
Our situation is not like Numbers 25. But what is it in your camp that is impeding your worship of GOD? What is it in your tribe that is derailing your family from living in light of the gospel? Is it your TV addiction? Is it your disproportionate affection for sports? Is it your preoccupation with Twitter and Facebook? Maybe your lazy? Whatever it is, we all have something in our lives, in the life of our family, that needs to be impelled (metaphorically, of course). We are surrounded by things that aim to knock us off track. Be a man and get rid of those things, for the glory of God and your family’s good.
Though the institutional arrangements of theology in modernity have often made it hard for us to see this point, theology is not a transcendent moment, some activity of the mind standing above the merely domestic life of the Christian community and submitting it to an ironic, critical gaze. Holy reason is ecclesiastical science–a knowing and inquiring which takes place within ‘the commonwealth gathered, founded, and ordered by the Word of God’, and participating in the calling and promise which God issues to that commonwealth.
John Webster, Holiness, 26
Yesterday we celebrated Elizabeth turning two-years old on December 26th.
I had the deep joy of praying a birthday blessing over Elizabeth…
In Jesus’ name by grace-
May the LORD bless you, my daughter, to shout and sing for joy as an inhabitant of Zion.
May He bless you to give thanks, to seek, to declare, to ascribe, and to worship:
that is, may the LORD bless you to
give Him thanks for His steadfast love,
to seek His presence continually,
to declare His name among all peoples,
to ascribe to Him glory and strength,
to worship Him in the splendor of holiness, through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.
May the LORD bless you, my daughter, to say of Him:
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.”In Jesus’ name, amen.
Both of my hands are gently gripped on the shoulders of my toddler. As I try to square up our eyes, she squirms and looks away. I say with a Spirit-granted firm tenderness, “Elizabeth, obey your daddy.”
She doesn’t get this yet, but I am really calling her to faith in Jesus.
It goes this way: I tell her to not grab cups and drink out of them because I want to protect her from pouring hot coffee over her face. When she grabs any cup then I discipline her. It is a necessity. My spanking her is protecting her from burning her face. I want to protect her because I love her. Moreover, I want to protect her because Jesus gave her to me as my daughter; and me to her as her Daddy.
Daddys are supposed to protect their children and when I protect her then I know I am doing what Jesus called me to do. I am not only expressing my love for her, I am expressing Jesus’ love for her, too. My command for her to obey rests on that. “Elizabeth, obey your daddy because Jesus loves you and gave me to you to protect you.”
The fundamental issue here is not her obedience, but her faith. If she would believe in Jesus then listening to her daddy would make more sense.
If your marriage is struggling, do not have children in attempt to fix it. That is not what I am suggesting. Let me explain…
It’s my senior year of college during the last semester. Melissa and I have been married right over a month or so and we’re still floating up in honeymoon clouds. We haven’t had a real taste of marriage yet (I was still pinching myself from time to time). Wedding music is still in the background. We are just starting to go through our pictures from the big day. I come home from work and she gives me a present. I thought it was an I-Pod for an early graduation gift (catch the irony– again, I thought it was an I-Pod). Instead it was a bib that said “I Love Daddy.”
Hmm. I didn’t really get it until I looked at Melissa’s glossy eyes (which is affecting me the same way just remembering it). I exclaimed something (I can’t remember exactly) and we hugged and prayed. We were really excited. It was amazing.
Nearly two years later, Elizabeth Grace is now the big sister to our newborn girl, Hannah Katherine. These are daughters of grace. I could never deserve them, nor could I deserve their Mom. These girls have saved my marriage. What I mean is that I don’t know anything much about marriage apart from fatherhood. I was/am learning about both at the same time. Being a dad makes me a better husband, and being a husband makes me a better dad.
Having kids saved my marriage because being a dad saved me from the type of husband I might be if I had not received the blow that this thing is bigger than me and my wants. The fantasy that the world revolves around you is interrupted enough when you get married, throw a baby into that mix and you have the demise of self-centeredness (or at least a ferocious assault against it). It is a double-dose of sanctifying grace and it is what I needed, when I needed it. Even now.
It has become an instant tradition, I think (or at least this semester). Wednesday mornings: Momma sleeps in and Daddy has breakfast with the girls.
With a late class on Tuesday night and my work schedule beginning in the afternoon on Wednesday, for a while I contemplated the best use of the AM time.
I think this nails it:)
