"to Christ I look, on Christ I call."

The following poem by G.M. Hopkins does a beautiful job of capturing the fact that our hopes must ultimately be placed in Christ alone, for He alone on earth possesses perfection. Hopkins did not name this poem, and so it is simply headed in my collection of his poetry as "16."

"Myself unholy, from myself unholy

To the sweet living of my friends I look –

Eye-greeting doves bright-counter to the rook,

Fresh brooks to salt sand-teasing waters shoaly: --

And they are purer, but alas! not solely

The unquestion’d readings of a blotless book.

And so my trust, confusèd, struck, and shook

Yields to the sultry siege of melancholy.

He has a sin of mine, he its near brother;

Knowing them well I can but see the fall.

This fault in one I found, that in another:

And so, though each have one while I have all,

No better serves me now, save best ; no other

Save Christ: to Christ I look, on Christ I call."

Foundation for Hope and Joy

As part of a Bible Study at my Church we are reading through the end of the New Testament and getting together once a week to discuss it. Currently we are working on 1 Peter. As I was reading it today, a couple sections reminded me of an insight shared in our Pastor's sermon about a month ago. It was (and is) rather challenging to me, so I wanted to share it with you. Oh, and if you are looking for a section of Scripture to camp out in for a while, 1 Peter is excellent! I'll have to devote some time in a future post to cover some of the main ideas which keep jumping out at me while I'm reading...but in the meantime, you ought to dive in yourself!

Back to the challenging idea. Our hope should stem from the Resurrection proof that Christ has won the victory over sin and evil. It should not be based in our circumstances being fixed up the way we want them. Peter touches on this idea at the beginning his first epistle: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:3-7 ESV)


If this is true, if my hope should be based in Christ's victory over evil, then my joy should not flow from my present circumstances. Further, if my life were filled with misery from now to its end, I should still be able to hope and have joy in and through Christ. Right now I know that my hope easily ends up being placed on my present trials ending instead of Christ's Kingdom being fully established. That kind of thinking shows my pride. Me and my happiness are at the center of the universe, not God and His glory. Father, please keep directing my gaze back to You, your Kingdom and Your glory.

The Head of the Trail

Well, I’m taking the plunge here and beginning a blog. It has been on my to do list for a while, but the time to get an initial post out never quite materialized (until now). As we start this path (assuming you’ll travel a little with me) it would probably be helpful if I explain to you where we’re headed.

As you may have guessed from the title of the blog, the posts you will read will be primarily theological in nature. The title is a reference to Dr. Michael Bauman’s book “Pilgrim Theology.” In this book, Dr. Bauman encourages the reader to avoid resting in their current knowledge of God, and instead continue exploring deeper into what the Bible says about Him. In this sense, theology is much like a journey into God’s revelation of who He is. Whether you like it or not, because you are human this is a journey you are already on. The question is whether you will pursue the trail in earnest, or merely play at being a pilgrim. Dr. Charles Ryrie puts it this way:

“Theology is for everyone. Indeed, everyone needs to be a theologian. In reality, everyone is a theologian — of one sort or another. And therein lies the problem. There is nothing wrong with being an amateur theologian or a professional theologian, but there is everything wrong with being an ignorant or sloppy theologian.”

Hopefully this blog will serve as a log book of sorts for my journey. Sometimes the entries will be clear and the thoughts well defined. Other times, they will contain questions for which I have yet to find the answers. In either case though, I hope that these musings will serve to encourage you to press on your pilgrimage and not give up, even when the trail is rough. Who knows, they may even shed some light on your way! Conversely, I’m looking forward to hearing from you, and getting your insight into the Truth as we go!

What are we waiting for? Let’s hit the trail!