Again, I have been reading the Desiring God blog and I just read this post by Piper. It consists of part of a letter from Adoniram Judson to prospective missionaries. Like Piper, I think it has tremendous value for us ordinary missionaries here at home. Here is the letter:


Fourthly. It may be profitable to bear in mind, that a large proportion of those who come out on a mission to the East die within five years after leaving their native land. Walk softly, therefore; death is narrowly watching your steps...

Sixthly. Beware of the greater reaction which will take place after you have acquired the language, and become fatigued and worn out with preaching the gospel to a disobedient and gainsaying people. You will sometimes long for a quiet retreat, where you can find a respite from the tug of toiling at native work—the incessant, intolerable friction of the missionary grindstone. And Satan will sympathize with you in this matter; and he will present some chapel of ease, in which to officiate in your native tongue, some government situation, some professorship or editorship, some literary or scientific pursuit, some supernumerary translation, or, at least, some system of schools; anything, in a word, that will help you, without much surrender of character, to slip out of real missionary work. Such a temptation will form the crisis of your disease. If your spiritual constitution can sustain it, you recover; if not, you die...

Eighthly. Never lay up money for yourselves or your families. Trust in God from day to day, and verily you shall be fed.

Ninthly. Beware of that indolence which leads to a neglect of bodily exercise. The poor health and premature death of most Europeans in the East must be eminently ascribed to the most wanton neglect of bodily exercise.

Tenthly. Beware of genteel living. Maintain as little intercourse as possible with fashionable European society. The mode of living adopted by many missionaries in the East is quite inconsistent with that familiar intercourse with the natives which is essential to a missionary.
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I think I need to hear each and every one of those. May we all take these into account as we go about being missionaries to our friends, families, neighbors, and co-workers. May God grant us grace.

Piper on the cyclone

This is a really good post about how we should react to the tragic events taking place in Southeast Asia.

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1215_6_ways_to_react_to_the_cyclone/

I really like #6 because it wasn't what I was thinking at all. I think it's a great way to show how much we truly care.

Myspace, Facebook, Blogs, et al.

I had a thought tonight about myspace, facebook, blogs, and all the other things out there that people do to create a social network and display their thoughts, pictures, videos, etc. I realized that the reason they are so popular is that they allow people to create their own little world in which they are the center. If I create a myspace, facebook, or blog (and ironically I have all three) I am enabling myself to put people or thoughts or anything else that all revolves around me. What music do I like? What movies to I go to see or want to see? What books am I reading? What happened to me today? What are my thoughts on a given subject? Everything revolves around me. These websites allow us to put ourselves in God's position with a freedom and to a degree that formerly wasn't possible. And then, after we set ourselves up as God of our own little world and universe, we invite other people to worship us in our world, and, if they do, we'll go and worship them in their world. "I'll make you a god in your own eyes if you'll make me a god in mine." So is this the last post I'll ever have? In light of this thought, will I swear off blogging? No. This is just another aspect of humanity that needs to be redeemed and brought under the headship of Christ in order to glorify him. In fact, I would argue that not only can myspace, etc. be brought to glorify God, as Christians we should seek to go out into these avenues and redeem them. We should see them as an aspect of our mission field and seek to save the lost souls seeking for satisfaction in their own glorification. Far too often, I have failed at this. This blog has far too often been about me and centered on me, as has my facebook and myspace. However, I also know that God has used this blog and the others as a means to glorify him more and show his awesome wonder to others, if in only a small way. So, fellow bloggers, let us take this opportunity to make a covenant with God and seek his glory in our blogging and social networking. This doesn't mean that everything has to be post on systematic theology, but let us seek to always keep God at the center of what we are doing. And I welcome any corrective criticism when I go astray.

Until the next time, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.