Book Review - Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

I have decided that I need to focus on finishing a book I started reading a couple months ago. In attempts to encourage this endeavor I will attempt to write a brief and rather un-thorough summary of each chapter as I finish it. Just for fun I may even totally miss writing about the main the point of the chapter. But I will try to include some personal thoughts that the author so ingeniously inspired.

The book: Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change
Author: Paul David Tripp

I am going to start my summary at chapter three. Why? I read chapters 1 & 2 a couple months ago and since my readership is really low I don’t feel the need to review for your benefit. If this offends you, feel free to leave a comment. But remember that I have the power of deletion.

Chapter 3: Do We Really Need Help?
The main point of this chapter (already I am going against my desire to totally miss the point of the chapter – stick with me and I'm sure I will accomplish this in a future post.) is that we do need help. He brings the reader back to the beginning of mankind. In Genesis 1 God creates Adam and Eve and then tells them what their life’s work is to be. This is unusual for the creation pattern: God created and then said what he had just created was good. After creating the first man and woman, rather than saying that the pinnacle of his creation was good, God spoke to them and told them what they were to do. God did this before sin came into the picture. This shows that we were created to be dependent on God. We were created to receive revelation and interpret that revelation. “We not only interpret situations and relationships, we interpret ourselves. We assign ourselves an identity and we live it out” (pp. 43). Our interpretations in turn shape our emotions, personal identity, views of others and the solution to our problems. It even impacts our ability to receive counsel.

In walks Satan. He knows that we need to and are created to listen to others for direction. He tells the truth to Eve, but twists the truth. He tempted Eve into attempting to find truth from a source outside of Christ. This wrong interpretation of Satan’s influenced Eve to redefine wisdom. This is something that we all do. We all affect other’s views of God, self and others. We influence others just by having a relationship with them; even if it isn’t one of great depth. “This is what sin does to us. It reduces us to fools who live in ways that deny both God and our own nature. We may not profess to be atheists, but in practice we live purely horizontal, godless lives” (pp. 49).

The author then brings Hebrews 3:12-13 to the reader’s attention. “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” These two verses identify believers as a source of correction and instruction as a means of protection from the effects of sin. Sin leads to disbelief which leads to turning away from God which leads to a hardened heart. “The Hebrews passage clearly teaches that personal insight is the product of community. I need you in order to really see and know myself. Otherwise, I will listen to my own arguments, believe my own lies, and buy into my own delusions (pp 54).

This is the basic gist of the third chapter. I left out a ton of good insight, but if you are that interested in knowing the full story you can buy and read the book for yourself.

Greek and the Olympics

About a month and a half ago I and six other members of my church’s college/singles group, Journey, started learning Biblical Greek. We are being taught by the Journey's two teachers. It’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. My goal is to be able to read the New Testament in Greek and actually understand what I am reading. I’m behind in learning the vocab thanks to the Olympics being so addicting this year.

I know I shouldn’t blame the Olympics for my continued ignorance of Greek, but seriously, who could resist watching all the incredible volleyball or Michael Phelps or the gymnastics? I was disappointed that the USA women’s indoor volleyball team lost today in the gold medal match, but they still walked away with silver. That’s way better than anything I could do. I’m looking forward to watching the men’s US team play Brazil tomorrow evening. I was able to watch them win two of the games that are allowing them to play for the gold. It’s exciting.

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe it is appropriate that I am learning Greek and watching the Olympics at the same time. The Greeks were responsible for starting the Olympics in the first place.

Right now I am watching a niece and two of my nephews while my sister and brother-in-law go out for the evening. I’m giving them oral warnings counting down to bedtime. I learned to do this after a couple years of babysitting them. They deal with having to brush their teeth and getting on pjs much better when it comes upon them gradually.

School Started

School started yesterday. I almost miss being a school kid. Life was easier back then. But I guess that I still prefer being a “grown-up”. Life now is more complicated, but a lot better.

Somehow I got myself into a situation of cleaning at the school/church six days a week. Call me a softie, but I didn’t like the thought of the head maintenance guy having to clean the JH hallway everyday when he is already working more than enough hours. So I volunteered myself for Mondays and Thursdays. I wanted Mondays to be a really light work day since I am working six days a week even without the extra cleaning. Oh well. It isn’t the end of the world even though it will help me be more consistent in praying for the rapture.

I planned to go jogging this morning. When my alarm went off my brain decided to overthrow its earlier decision and stay in bed for an extra hour. The sleep was nice, but I really need to get back into the routine of jogging. It also would have been nice to have been awake for more than fifteen minutes before I needed to be at job number one for today.

Hours later and I’m still not fully awake.

Difficulties

Sometimes I think I make things a lot harder than they should be. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to remove my blog's previous site meter and add a new one. Yep. I’m smart, I know.

The blog for my sister-in-law is up to date. I think it looks nice. I added a link to Designs by Jodi to my sidebar. Check it out. It's buried under my Recent Reading. Can it really be considered recent if I read it over a year ago? Probably not. If you have a suggestion for a title change leave a comment and I will consider it. Hey, if I choose your idea I may even mention your name in my blog and you will be famous. Well, as famous as you can get from being mentioned in a blog with a readership of approximately two people.

I had been planning on going to the pool today since this is the last week that it is open on weekdays for the year. But since I am in Iowa and it is Tuesday it is rainy. Cancel those plans. Instead I am doing laundry…again. Someday I will get my own washer and dryer. Someday I will get internet at home so I won’t have to cart my computer everywhere to get an internet connection. You should see the loads I often carry to my parent’s house and back. Yes, there is a person under that moving pile of stuff.

Recently I was able to get in touch with an old friend from my days of Word of Life in good old SUNNY and WARM FL. Jen, my friend, was actually a student from the NY campus who came to FL to counsel at the summer camp there. We ended up counseling together a couple times and realized that we had a lot in common. We stayed in touch for a few years after graduation, but as it tends to happen, we got busy and sort of forgot about each other until I found her on Facebook. It has been nice to get to know her again. We still have a lot in common. It’s amazing that the lives of two people in Iowa and Virginia could parallel so closely.

I should probably get that laundry folded before it wrinkles.