Lately, I have been reading about the origin of evil. Most of my reading has come from Piper sermons and various scriptural references. This is not a topic that consumes me but it has captured my attention as of late. I believe that God is sovereign over all things and the creator of all things and that nothing occurs without His permission and ordination. His relation to the existence of evil, however, is where the lines start getting fuzzy. As I began pondering these things, I stumbled across some Piper sermons sitting in my inbox that I have ignored due to the lack of time. (I just love the way God lays a certain topic on your heart and then brings about the means to learn more about it!) Everything God created was perfect and good (as Genesis chapter 1 declares), but He created some creatures (i.e. angels and humans) with the potential to do and choose evil and even permitted them/us to do so. As Piper points out, the sufferings of Christ was determined before the world began (Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9, 1 Peter 1:20). He also states that God allowed evil to show forth the glory of Christ more brightly (see this sermon for more on that). I don't know if this makes any sense to anyone reading this-the lines are still a little blurry to me-but I take great comfort and peace knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is in control of all things.
Other reading I have been doing:
1. I read Transformation and Glocalization (4 stars). I enjoyed these books and believe the author has a lot of good things to say regarding the church and missions. I do wish he would have provided more concrete examples, though. I also loved his emphasis on the Kingdom. He seemed to have a very God-focused theology which I thoroughly appreciated.
2. I also read Just Walk Across the Room (2 stars). I was pretty disappointed with this book. I did enjoy the stories of changed lives and the concept behind the book (take the initiative to build a relationship with a total stranger in the name of Christ), and I liked his emphasis on depending totally on the Holy Spirit, but I got annoyed with his perspective on a few things. My response is two-fold: first, although we should love and accept people, we cannot lose sight of sin and repentance. In order for people to see the worth of the Savior, they must understand their need for Him. Second, while acts of kindness are good and necessary to open doors and soften hearts, true evangelism does not occur until we speak the Gospel. As one of my professors Dr. Lawless said, "Evangelism is no less than the telling of the Gospel." The thing that bothered me most, however, was that the author kept referring to unbelievers as 'children of God,' a term (as far as I know anyway) that is only used for those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I am being harsh? I feel like I am...
3. I am currently reading The Air I Breathe. It is about worship-what worship is, how we are created to worship, and how everyone is worshiping something. I am halfway through and I really like it so far.
Updates: I began tutoring last week. I think it is going well. Also, Bath & Body Works asked me if I wanted to stay once seasonal employment ends. Yay! Praise the Lord! One more thing: I am having to deal with a couple of things that I would like prayer for...
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