BibleScribbler

Coffee, a Bible, and a Napkin to Scribble On

Screwtape in Danger

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I’m reading the Screwtape Letters, which has to be, by far, my favorite book of all. Screwtape is writing to his nephew, a junior demon that has just begun the job of tempting a human and leading him (hopefully for Wormwood) to Hell.

Screwtape is talking in this section about how ‘The Enemy’ (which of course is the Lord) will allow suffering into a person’s life so that they will follow the Lord more deeply and truly.

“Do not be decieved, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys. “

“Our cause is never more in danger” he says. He is, of course, talking about Jesus dying on the cross, which was the ultimate show of obedience to God.

Christ's Deposit and Suffering

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“Somewhere deep down within you, everything that Christ has ever gone through is already deposited in you. Some of that which is His experience He desires that you also experience. He has a yoke to place around your neck. It is an easy yoke; that is a guarantee, for He has already gained the strength to bear that yoke.”

Gene Edwards, The Inward Journey, p. 68

This book goes deep fast, and it taking me on a pretty good path. It is out of print, so I’m including a link to Amazon.

"You're not carrying it right!"

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This week we took the final pieces of the old Evansville Rescue Mission down and prepared for our grand opening of our new building at 500 E. Walnut st. One of the last things to do was to take down the cross in our old chapel and bring it over to the new chapel. Who would have thought such a thing would happen in the process.

Billy is one of our maintenance men. He couldn’t get at the bolts that held the cross on the wall, so he cut off the brackets with a hack saw and began to carry the old cross out of the building. I’m not sure how he was carrying it, but there began some commentary from the other guys that were around. They told him he was carrying it wrong. The way he was carrying it wasn’t the right way to carry a cross, the peanut gallery protested.

“Isn’t that the point?” Billy asked. “Not a one of us could carry it right! It’s not my cross anyway. He carried it right and now it’s done!”

And with that, he brought it to the new building and hung it up.

Being a Witness to the Truth

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John 18:33-38
Pilate refers to Jesus’ own nation and chief priests. Jesus is just like, “Pilate, this isn’t my nation. These aren’t my priests.“
Not only are His weapons not the weapons of the world, but He doesn’t even gain a kingdom or rule it the way the world does. Jesus just takes all notions of authority and power and flips them on their ear.

“So you are a king?” Pilate says this because Jesus just commented about His kingdom. If He has a kingdom, He must be SOME KIND of King?!
But then to Pilate Jesus says: “You say that I am a king. Here is why I came: to bear witness to the truth.”

If you put that with John 12:27 (for this purpose I came to this hour) then the KEY is that Jesus came to testify to the truth IN LIGHT of the CROSS. It’s not just that Jesus came to tell us about God, but to show that the truth is so true that He would even stay true and believe to the things He said to death (and beyone). Anybody could spout out wise things about God (though Jesus was wiser than any teacher before Him-John 7:46) but to keep to those teachings and still live them out while going through the crucifixion and beyond is the whole job that was required of Him. [out of time]