Tag: training

Knowledge is not enough.

Consider for a second the greeting that Simon Peter gives in this letter: a general letter, to all those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours . The faith we have in Christ is not graded by class or virtue: for in the eyes of God we have neither.

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Consider the works of men: we make wonderful things (and yes, a pile of driftwood is not the biggest or greatest thing we make) but the land we live in is greater and more beautiful.

Our equality in Christ is an equality of mercy. We have all erred. We all need to reform. We all need to do better each day, strive for self-control. I was shamed yesterday at a party by the Photographer who managed to stay within dietary restrictions she needs despite the food that arrived (including food she could eat) because she has a goal and will stick to it. We can and should use the examples of others to stir us along.

For we are commanded to strive more and more to have control of our lives, and to love each other. If we do not do this, we are blind.


Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so near-sighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

(2 Peter 1:1-11 ESV)

Knowledge of Christ and the gospel is needed. We need to be looking into the scriptures, and we need to be reflecting on them, particularly if we do not like the conclusions. But knowledge, something that I am attracted to, is not enough.

If we do not control ourselves, remain steadfast in the faith, seek virtue, have affection for each other and love the kirk, which is the people, then we will be ineffective. And this requires training.

And training requires either a father or a mentor. (Mentor was the king Telemanchus sought out for guidance because his father, Odyessus, had not returned from the Trojan War).

Here our sisters are given clear teaching. Older women are to teach younger women how to love their husbands and children: Mothercraft and Wifedom. Neither are instinctual: both require training. But our young men are not being told how to live: and this requires men to show them: by word and example. Part of the reason that the manosphere has taken off is that the correct teaching they have (Get fit. Don’t spend your time on porn. Find your mission and do it. Don’t be a doormat: get a spine) is not being taought in the church.

For the fathers have been divorced, and the young man have absented themselves: even those of us who admire feminine skills don’t want to be around when they are being done, for risk of losing our man card.

We all need to be in training. There is no retirement. And our bodies, our minds, our hands, our words, and our actions have to be more and more like those of Christ. For our salvation is equal to that of the Apostles and fathers of our faith.

My fear is that we have forgotten this.

The masculine in Christian life.

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One of the problems with the effete ideas we have around Christian life is that we deny masculinity in many ways. We don’t want to think about training. We do not want to think about risk, about conflict and we sure don’t want to think about training.

We deny the role of fathers while exalting motherhood. This may be a reaction to the liberals, who chose to make abortion free, and prefer to have only one or two “red diaper” babies, because the revolution is more important. That should not be so among us. We need to raise our children, and the way to do that is within the family. And the role of the father is one of training: of discipline, balancing love with accountability. The tendency we have as men to be hard and uncompromising is balanced by our love and concern: without it we become harsh.

And the tendency to protect — which most mothers have — and to care, which most mothers have — means that they are less likely to let men and women take risks, get hurt, and learn. It is far better for this to happen before hormones and stupidity (also known as adolescence) occurs. But training is the task of both parents, and it often takes both of them to do it well.

But this will be opposed. The armor we put on is to deal with spiritual issues: but that is what it is: Paul is talking about the components of the equipment of the Roman army, but the same issues apply now.
And anyone who denies that we are in a war is foolish. It is far better to train hard and have a chance of winning than be unfit at the time of trial.

For we are not called to be cowards, but courageous.

Ephesians 6:1-24

1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother” – this is the first commandment with a promise: 3“so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

4And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; 6not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, 8knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free.

9And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

21So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus will tell you everything. He is a dear brother and a faithful minister in the Lord. 22I am sending him to you for this very purpose, to let you know how we are, and to encourage your hearts.

23Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, we are called to pray, using the grace of the Holy Spirit, as we do these things. But that requires that we stand. That requires that we are equipped. And this is what the church used to do. I’m one of the few people who does look at the cathecism but I have not memorized it: in older times children learned this before they started their apprenticeship.

And here lies half the problem in the church. We think that we can just automatically be good and it will not require training. That is not so. If I do not go to the gym I will become injured again (because strength is required when you are as hyperflexible as I am to prevent twisted and bruised joints) and in the same way if we do not practice and teach how to deal with temptation, how to pray, and how to fill ourselves with the word of God we will not have the skills when we need them.

As a church we need to rediscover these things. If that means we talk to the traditionalists who are so rigid and crunchy, so be it. Because the mainstream prefers the couch to the weight room. And we need the weight room, the trails, and the practice of spiritual and physical fitness.

We are all called to obedience. We are all called to live righteously in the roles we find ourselves in — even in slavery. And we all need to have the discipline of a soldier: for no soldier is allowed to neglect his training.

The days that matter.

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It’s Tuesday, and the daily grind is upon one. I woke up quite sore from circuit training yesterday. One son has just left: the other one is studying for a test, and the “to do” list in the academic office has eight projects on it.
Some days you just grind away. Work is unpleasant and exhausting. Your are facing dealing with eyestrain by the end of the day. And you just want to not do it today.

But these are the days that matter. These are the days where you reinforce habits, good and bad.

________________

Psalm 123

1   To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
2   As the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
until he has mercy upon us.
3   Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4   Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.

 1 John 2:1-11

1My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

3Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. 4Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; 5but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.

7Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. 11But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.

________________

I have been watching too much TV: the winter Olympiad is on, and the fact that it is in Russia and the precious petals are upset has led to me reverse boycotting the event. In this, a large number of athletes train, prepare for a race lasting no more than a minute, or a programme of moves that lasts but five.

For a medal of bronze, plated with silver or gold.

It’s Saturday morning and I’m writing this from the cold bleachers at the Arctic Edge ice arena while watching one of my daughters at her ice skating lessons.  This rink is notable because not one but two pairs of skaters competing in Sochi train here – Meryl Davis and Charlie White, competing for the U.S. and the Vancouver gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, competing for Canada.  Naturally all the little girls are gaga over the ice skaters in the Sochi Olympics.

We have chosen to be a television-free household, but we really wanted to watch the opening ceremonies yesterday, so we packed up the kids and headed over to my mother-in-law’s house.  And here is one little observation from watching that: for being such a small part of the population, homosexuals sure are the belle of the ball in the American coverage of the Olympic games.

Well, those two couples won gold and silver respectively, which is will make SSM’s kids happy. I am sure that these skaters have been training diligently.

For we all know that the only way to improve in sport, in fitness, is to keep on doing it. To set goals. to train, to not give up. The only way to raise a child is to be around the child: you have to feed the infant and change nappies consistently, love consistently, even if the little one is a complete troll today.

Some days you just grind. Some days there is no reward. Some days you wonder what you are doing… now.

But later, the recollection of that time will be bittersweet. For those are the days that made your life: on those days you kept your word, and without that integrity, we are not in the light, and our self-righteousness curdles in to hate as we slide into the darkness.

Do not go there. Accept the grind. For not all win a medal: except in the infant school, and there the teachers lie.