Weekend in Hillsboro

Over the weekend, I finally took a mini-getaway with Gloria to Hillsboro, TX after a quick pit-stop at Lake Whitney where we saw a bunch of nice Asian people. The trip started off with a few rough patches; heavy traffic on 75, a nice surprise Gloria kept for the road, and killer seasonal allergies. On the bright side, I achieved what I had so sought for in these last few months -- to explain all the details would take much more than a post but put it more simply, I wanted to know Him more. The real difficulty coming back is summarizing and shortening everything so to maintain this as a post and not a book. But in (super) short, here are 2 things I learned --

1. Understanding the Trinity
I don’t think I really ever had a firm understanding of the Trinity. But the highest revelation God has made of Himself literally blew me away when I flipped the page of my book too excitedly, rolled over a bit, and almost fell off the bed. After really struggling through this though, I see now how significant this is not only to know but also to be able to explain and defend. It is a truth that takes great humility to even begin to grasp its richness. There’s much beauty to be found in John’s prologue. Coming back, I think this is one of the most precious truths to be well grounded in; i regret not having pursued this earlier. But as with any revelation of God’s truth, I’m reminded it comes from His grace and His grace alone. Seeing more clearly how one being in three persons, coequal and coeternal and the role of each opens up much of what I never saw before. First passage I immediately went to read over: John 6:44

2. Holiness of God
I may have mentioned this before, but I feel like this book is for someone who feels like getting destroyed...in a good way. What I most appreciated from Sproul’s Holiness of God is him giving the reader a glimpse of the lives of those who understood His Holiness; from Isaiah to Martin Luther and to himself. I think the real highlight of what I took away came when RC Sproul reminded how Luther, an anxiety-stricken but legal genius, came to understand the great transgression and then the great dilemma -- how can a unjust person survive in the presence of a just, Holy God?

At the heart of the dilemma I was facing in my life and perhaps still an ongoing struggle now is going deeper into understanding the gospel and what it is we proclaim to those whom we love. What I’m most in awe by and thankful for is Him honoring what it was I so sought to pursue in these last few days; simply to go deeper into understanding man’s depravity, the dilemma, and God’s grace.

Not to dismiss all the other amazing truths I was reminded and learned of through Waterhouse’s Not by Bread Alone doctrine outline and the sermons/debates I listened through, but in the end all of this weekend pointed back to the very message of the cross. That Christ died and became sin on our behalf. That the sin that rightfully condemns us to eternal damnation and separation from the Father was atoned for by His son. And that the beauty of grace was made known when the work of the cross was finished. Grace that comes not from obligation but from something called love.

In sharing just briefly about my weekend, I would also like to end this post with this. It is my prayer and has always been my prayer for friends and family who may be reading this and who do not know of this Savior we speak of to pursue this truth. For the skeptics who demand reason, I pray you see reason and all of our innate understanding points to saving faith; it is suppression of truth and pride that prohibits truth to be known. For those who believe in any name other than Christ, truth as we know demands consistency. I pray you will seek to know what it is you believe and hold your faith to. I pray you will struggle with truth relentlessly so that you may know who the one true God is. And for those who simply don’t know even if you grew up in church, I pray you will truly come to know Him and not be deceived into a false profession of faith.

Many nights my prayers do turn to tears for you; for this is eternity we speak of. Repent and believe. Surrender your life to Him, run to Him... He who offers His mercy and grace. Though the journey may be tough, never has He turned away one who sought to know Him.

“That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3)