Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Hello world!

Grace and peace to you.

I suppose I should say a few words as to why I write.

Who am I? I am a young man, mid-20s; a citizen of the United States in this world, but eternally a citizen of heaven. I am a layman, called to glorify the Lord by pursuing Him, living out Biblical manhood, and working hard in secular work. As far as I can ascertain, the Lord saved me during my grade-school years. I grew up in a mainstream American church studying the Word of God regularly but applying it in a sort of "cool" cultural Christianity. By God's grace, I remained in the faith and did not rebel, unlike some of my friends who have since become Christians in name only or left the faith, showing that they never truly had the faith. The Lord has used sermon podcasts, hymns, and Christian hip hop to teach me more about true historic Christianity and sound doctrine and to give me a greater desire for Him. For that, I am forever grateful to Him.

What is my objective for writing? I write primarily as an act of worship to the Lord. If I write for any other reason, I should not write. Much attention has been given to writing blogs specifically to defend the faith; those have been a great benefit to me, and I continue to read some of them. Yet, I do not consider apologetics my main subject matter for A Love Unspeakable. Rather, I want to give special attention here to the pursuit of God and seeking to glorify Him in every area of life. Consider this writing a 21st-century layman's quest to pursue God hard, imitating the Apostle Paul and many other Christian men down through the ages that have loved the Lord and praised Him because He is worthy of that.

Why do I write anonymously? I have several reasons. You may consider none of them good, but they will have to do. First, I do not want to be famous. There is a tendency, even in the Reformed Baptist camp, to exalt our teachers rather than the God to whom they point us. I myself have been guilty of name-dropping John Piper and Alistair Begg and Eric Mason and all my other favorite pastors in order to impress people or win arguments. And that, many times, does not edify. And it brings glory to the teachers and writers, many of whom are rightly telling us to give praise to God instead of them! Therefore, I do not want you to know my name on this site because I want to guard against pride. Second, I try to maintain some level of anonymity in my forum participation on the internet. I do have brothers in the faith who know the real-life me and help me to stay consistent in my walk with Christ.

Why "A Love Unspeakable"? I love to read many of the saints of old - not "saints" in the Roman Catholic sense, but saints in that they knew the Lord Jesus Christ, loved Him, and showed that love to others through their deeds and their writing. They practiced a radically God-centered Christianity and sought to make much of Him in all things. This God-centered view allows us to gain a better appreciation for verses such as, "You are loved with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). A God-centered view shows us this love of God that is perfectly pure and unconditional, far greater than any love that a man can have for a lady or any love that a father can have for a child. This love is infinite; you cannot describe it fully with any amount of words. Yet believers through the ages have, by God's grace, used their words to at least climb the foothills of this mountain and show each other and unbelievers something of its indescribable beauty. These other saints and I are weak and broken. Brother Paul Washer says it well: "There are no great men of God", only weak men used by a great, powerful, and merciful God. And being used of Him is a blessing, but simply knowing Him and being able to commune with Him daily is a blessing much, much greater.

I will be writing periodically as time allows and as new material comes to mind. I already have a great deal of new writing available on several topics. May the words on this site magnify the name of Him who is most wonderful.

"3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."
- Ephesians 1:3-10 (NIV)

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O God, my Rock and my Redeemer."
- Psalm 19:14 (NIV)

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