On Loving God

The following is, I think, a lengthy, but remarkable excerpt from On Loving God by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153).  Due to its longevity, I have italicized some parts for those who may want to breeze through it (i.e., Patrick Schreiner).  Nevertheless, careful reading will be greatly rewarded in this encouraging, refreshing, and illuminating excerpt of Bernard.  It is a beautifully and intelligently written 1800 words, with several thought-provoking insights into the human soul – for the unbeliever and believer alike:

And now let us consider what profit we shall have from loving God. Even though our knowledge of this is imperfect, still that is better than to ignore it altogether. I have already said (when it was a question of wherefore and in what manner God should be loved) that there was a double reason constraining us: His right and our advantage. Having written as best I can, though unworthily, of God’s right to be loved. I have still to treat of the recompense which that love brings. For although God would be loved without respect of reward, yet He wills not to leave love unrewarded. True charity cannot be left destitute, even though she is unselfish and seeketh not her own (I Cor. 13.5). Love is an affection of the soul, not a contract: it cannot rise from a mere agreement, nor is it so to be gained. It is spontaneous in its origin and impulse; and true love is its own satisfaction. It has its reward; but that reward is the object beloved. For whatever you seem to love, if it is on account of something else, what you do really love is that something else, not the apparent object of desire. St. Paul did not preach the Gospel that he might earn his bread; he ate that he might be strengthened for his ministry. What he loved was not bread, but the Gospel. True love does not demand a reward, but it deserves one. Surely no one offers to pay for love; yet some recompense is due to one who loves, and if his love endures he will doubtless receive it.

On a lower plane of action, it is the reluctant, not the eager, whom we urge by promises of reward. Who would think of paying a man to do what he was yearning to do already? For instance no one would hire a hungry man to eat, or a thirsty man to drink, or a mother to nurse her own child. Who would think of bribing a farmer to dress his own vineyard, or to dig about his orchard, or to rebuild his house? So, all the more, one who loves God truly asks no other recompense than God Himself; for if he should demand anything else it would be the prize that he loved and not God.

It is natural for a man to desire what he reckons better than that which he has already, and be satisfied with nothing which lacks that special quality which he misses. Thus, if it is for her beauty that he loves his wife, he will cast longing eyes after a fairer woman. If he is clad in a rich garment, he will covet a costlier one; and no matter how rich he may be he will envy a man richer than himself. Do we not see people every day, endowed with vast estates, who keep on joining field to field, dreaming of wider boundaries for their lands? Those who dwell in palaces are ever adding house to house, continually building up and tearing down, remodeling and changing. Men in high places are driven by insatiable ambition to clutch at still greater prizes. And nowhere is there any final satisfaction, because nothing there can be defined as absolutely the best or highest. But it is natural that nothing should content a man’s desires but the very best, as he reckons it. Is it not, then, mad folly always to be craving for things which can never quiet our longings, much less satisfy them? No matter how many such things one has, he is always lusting after what he has not; never at peace, he sighs for new possessions. Discontented, he spends himself in fruitless toil, and finds only weariness in the evanescent and unreal pleasures of the world. In his greediness, he counts all that he has clutched as nothing in comparison with what is beyond his grasp, and loses all pleasure in his actual possessions by longing after what he has not, yet covets. No man can ever hope to own all things. Even the little one does possess is got only with toil and is held in fear; since each is certain to lose what he hath when God’s day, appointed though unrevealed, shall come. But the perverted will struggles towards the ultimate good by devious ways, yearning after satisfaction, yet led astray by vanity and deceived by wickedness. Ah, if you wish to attain to the consummation of all desire, so that nothing unfulfilled will be left, why weary yourself with fruitless efforts, running hither and thither, only to die long before the goal is reached?

It is so that these impious ones wander in a circle, longing after something to gratify their yearnings, yet madly rejecting that which alone can bring them to their desired end, not by exhaustion but by attainment. They wear themselves out in vain travail, without reaching their blessed consummation, because they delight in creatures, not in the Creator. They want to traverse creation, trying all things one by one, rather than think of coming to Him who is Lord of all. And if their utmost longing were realized, so that they should have all the world for their own, yet without possessing Him who is the Author of all being, then the same law of their desires would make them contemn what they had and restlessly seek Him whom they still lacked, that is, God Himself. Rest is in Him alone. Man knows no peace in the world; but he has no disturbance when he is with God. And so the soul says with confidence, ‘Whom have I in heaven but Thee; and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. It is good for me to hold me fast by God, to put my trust in the Lord God’ (Ps. 73.25ff). Even by this way one would eventually come to God, if only he might have time to test all lesser goods in turn.

But life is too short, strength too feeble, and competitors too many, for that course to be practicable. One could never reach the end, though he were to weary himself with the long effort and fruitless toil of testing everything that might seem desirable. It would be far easier and better to make the assay in imagination rather than in experiment. For the mind is swifter in operation and keener in discrimination than the bodily senses, to this very purpose that it may go before the sensuous affections so that they may cleave to nothing which the mind has found worthless. And so it is written, ‘Prove all things: hold fast that which is good’ (I Thess. 5.21). Which is to say that right judgment should prepare the way for the heart. Otherwise we may not ascend into the hill of the Lord nor rise up in His holy place (Ps. 24.3). We should have no profit in possessing a rational mind if we were to follow the impulse of the senses, like brute beasts, with no regard at all to reason. Those whom reason does not guide in their course may indeed run, but not in the appointed race-track, neglecting the apostolic counsel, ‘So run that ye may obtain’. For how could they obtain the prize who put that last of all in their endeavor and run round after everything else first?

But as for the righteous man, it is not so with him. He remembers the condemnation pronounced on the multitude who wander after vanity, who travel the broad way that leads to death (Matt. 7.13); and he chooses the King’s highway, turning aside neither to the right hand nor to the left (Num. 20.17), even as the prophet saith, ‘The way of the just is uprightness (Isa. 26.7). Warned by wholesome counsel he shuns the perilous road, and heeds the direction that shortens the search, forbidding covetousness and commanding that he sell all that he hath and give to the poor (Matt. 19.21). Blessed, truly, are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 5.3). They which run in a race, run all, but distinction is made among the racers. ‘The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: and the way of the ungodly shall perish’ (Ps. 1.6). ‘A small thing that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly’ (Ps. 37.16). Even as the Preacher saith, and the fool discovereth, ‘He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver’ (Eccles. 5.10). But Christ saith, ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled’ (Matt. 5.6). Righteousness is the natural and essential food of the soul, which can no more be satisfied by earthly treasures than the hunger of the body can be satisfied by air. If you should see a starving man standing with mouth open to the wind, inhaling draughts of air as if in hope of gratifying his hunger, you would think him lunatic. But it is no less foolish to imagine that the soul can be satisfied with worldly things which only inflate it without feeding it. What have spiritual gifts to do with carnal appetites, or carnal with spiritual? Praise the Lord, O my soul: who satisfieth thy mouth with good things (Ps. 103.1ff). He bestows bounty immeasurable; He provokes thee to good, He preserves thee in goodness; He prevents, He sustains, He fills thee. He moves thee to longing, and it is He for whom thou longest.

I have said already that the motive for loving God is God Himself. And I spoke truly, for He is as well the efficient cause as the final object of our love. He gives the occasion for love, He creates the affection, He brings the desire to good effect. He is such that love to Him is a natural due; and so hope in Him is natural, since our present love would be vain did we not hope to love Him perfectly some day. Our love is prepared and rewarded by His. He loves us first, out of His great tenderness; then we are bound to repay Him with love; and we are permitted to cherish exultant hopes in Him. ‘He is rich unto all that call upon Him’ (Rom. 10.12), yet He has no gift for them better than Himself. He gives Himself as prize and reward: He is the refreshment of holy soul, the ransom of those in captivity. ‘The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him’ (Lam. 3.25). What will He be then to those who gain His presence? But here is a paradox, that no one can seek the Lord who has not already found Him. It is Thy will, O God, to be found that Thou mayest be sought, to be sought that Thou mayest the more truly be found. But though Thou canst be sought and found, Thou canst not be forestalled. For if we say, ‘Early shall my prayer come before Thee’ (Ps. 88.13), yet doubtless all prayer would be lukewarm unless it was animated by Thine inspiration.

Samurai Letters Commenced

I have no need to explain this here (as it is explained on its page), but the new tab above entitled “Samurai Letters” has become operative – indeed, there is a letter awaiting!  For all who know of these two beloved people, you may begin – as I am certain you have  already begun – to pray for, encourage, exhort, and love on them in accordance with the gracious command of Christ.  You may enter the tab to read more.  You may email me to respond.  May God bless this endeavor – as He is so gracious and, thus, worthy to be praised for His certain knowledge of and help in this simplest of labors (if it can even be called a labor, no, let it be named a delight)!  And may God bless these two laborers in God’s harvest field, as always, for the conversion of souls and the glory of God.

Piper on Addressing Justification By Faith Alone in Christ Alone with Your Children

“And to make it more pointed, mothers – and all those charged with training up the younger ones in the family and the church – are we teaching the Old Testament and the New Testament to make our children wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? The emphasis is on “faith in Jesus Christ”! Or are we turning the Scriptures into a collection of little morality plays? Do the stories of the Bible point again and again to the need for a Savior or do they point only to the need for you to get your moral act together? Are children getting the impression that Christianity is mainly a list of do’s and don’ts or mainly the story of how God justifies the ungodly through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Are they getting the impression that the foundation of their acceptance with God is their good behavior or the perfect behavior and death and resurrection of Jesus received by faith alone? Are they learning to win God’s favor by a righteousness they perform, or by a righteousness that Christ performed for their sake?

Or to make the question more complete, and draw in the larger issue of how the obedience of believers – their sanctification – relates to their justification, we ask: Are the children learning from us that the practical, personal obedience God requires of believers is the way to become a justified person or the way a justified person becomes? When you tell a child to do something, and insist on his obedience – which you should – are you leading the child to think that his good behavior is the root that grows into justification, or a fruit that flows from justification by faith alone? Are we helping the children see saving faith both as the way we have Christ’s righteousness as the basis of our acceptance with God, and as the way we have Christ’s power to become like him in daily life? Are we keeping both those things together but in the right order: faith in Christ as the link first to his perfection and pardon, and second as to his purifying power – the one for justification (his perfection and pardon), and the other for sanctification (his purifying power)? The same faith linking us to Christ for both.”

Props for Journaling

Dr. Shawn Wright, commenting on Augustine’s prolific writing, and somewhat paraphrasing Augustine himself, says, “he learned as he wrote.”  The implication is that writing (or typing) causes us to think, to codify, to systematize, to formulate arguments, to determine answers, in a word, to learn.  I would also say, speaking personally, that it internalizes what is aimed at; the thing meditated upon in such a manner is not only scribed upon the page, but often, by God’s help, upon the heart.  Here, then, is an exhortation to think about and write down what one gleans from God’s Word.

In Honor of Reformation Sunday

Martin Luther’s account of his conversion:

I had already during that year returned to interpret the Psalter anew. I had confidence in the fact that I was more skillful, after I had lectured in the university on St. Paul’s epistles to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the one to the Hebrews. I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word in Chapter 1, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed,” that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they call it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner. Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience.

Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted.  At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.

And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith (implied by Luther is then that that faith, which is a gift, trusts the justifying work of God in Christ as it was accomplished on His cross, wherein, we see most clearly God’s righteousness: as it is poured out on Christ against sin, as it is displayed in the vindication of His name, as it is that Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to us, and as God is proven to be both just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus), as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scripture from memory. I also found in other terms an analogy, as, the work of God, that is what God does in us, the power of God, with which he makes us wise, the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God. And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word “righteousness of God.” Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise. Later I read Augustine’s The Spirit and the Letter, where contrary to hope I found that he, too, interpreted God’s righteousness in a similar way, as the righteousness with which God clothes us when he justifies us. Although this was heretofore said imperfectly and he did not explain all things concerning imputation clearly, it nevertheless was pleasing that God’s righteousness with which we are justified was taught.

An Amazing Promise

In Luke 11:13, Jesus teaches His disciples that God the Father will give the Holy Spirit to His children when they ask Him.  This is an amazing promise!  It has been burned upon my heart for the last couple of weeks.  The Father loves to give the third member of the Trinity to us when we ask for Him!  Now granted, He already indwells believers on account of God’s grace displayed in the person and work of Jesus Christ; so this is a promise that assures more of Him on a practical level to the children of God, who believing Christ’s words, and the faithfulness of their sovereign Father, act upon it and ask for Him.  How incredible is this promise?

The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ in our hearts and lives; He shows Christ to be irresistibly beautiful – the greatest Treasure, altogether lovely!

The Holy Spirit leads us into truth; He illumines the Bible for God’s children.

The Holy Spirit produces fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.

The Holy Spirit drives the Christian conscience; He beckons us to holiness.

The Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus – He sanctifies us.

The Holy Spirit empowers and emboldens Gospel proclamation.

The Holy Spirit grants us assurance that we are children of God.

And much more.  And in this text, our Lord Jesus flatly states that our Father gives Him to us – freely upon our inquiry!  What remains to be asked is “Do you believe this?”  If so, should this not be a major part of our daily conversations with God?  That our Father would lavish us with His Spirit, for in so asking, we are assuredly asking for the benefits that accompany Him!  Oh, then, He should be our utmost desire!  Let us ask God for Him, not once, not twice – a million times would be too few!  And, oh, let us praise the Father who grants Him, and our Lord through Whom He is given.  Arise, Christians, and pray and ask for God’s Spirit; and let us observe our Father’s perfect faithfulness.

“The Importance of Hell,” an article by Tim Keller

A frequently and (often) intentionally left behind doctrine is the doctrine of hell.  And while it shouldn’t be our favorite discussion piece, it may be one of the most crucial to resurface.  Where it lands upon hearts, there you will often discover the line between authentic Christianity and truly born again people, and, by contrast, those who belong to the cultural Christian movement, who bear the name so long as everything is nice and the content of their lives remains unchallenged by biblical authority.  Keller discusses the “importance of hell” here.

Gleaning #8: Humility, Humility, Humility

This is the most important lesson of the Christian life, a lesson that will never know cessation.  For it is true in some sense, that at the point one thinks that he is humble, and asserts as much, he ceases to be humble; and yet, there is a Moses, there is our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Bible absolutely affirms, from the mouths of Moses, and again, from the word of Christ, as humble; and thus there is also a sense in which it would be prideful to assert that one is not humble contrary to the truth that one may actually be.

I do not intend for this to be much more than a word or two, but in God’s providence, through the normal activities of the day, through the precious opportunities to pray, and read the bible, to teach and/or preach, to be a Christian husband, a Christian father, a Christian brother, and friend, He humbles me.  And He often does this by, first, revealing to me my pride, and/or the central gravity of my life and thoughts and words – whether I am pulled and tugged by the desire to please man or God; and upon learning of it, I am humbled – with great thanksgiving, I am humbled.

And this must be cultivated by God-centered view of all things, prayer, and the intense contrast between God’s infinite greatness, His love, mercy, grace, justice and wrath – these He holds perfectly together – and our inherent weakness.  From where does our sufficiency or adequacy, ability or talent, the energy for precious Gospel works of faith in love – where does this come from, but from God who is gracious.  Let us consider these things.  And allow me to encourage you – pursue humility, ask God for it.  Brothers and sisters, strive for humility in all things.  God is gracious!

Gleaning #7: A Foretaste of our Joyful Employment Forever

Psalm 145:3 – Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

It is easy to see that the Psalmist desires to communicate the greatness of God.  He does this by stating three certifiable facts: one pertains to the Lord, the other to the proper response of all creation, and the last to the depth of His greatness, and by implication of all three, there arises the eternality of our heavenly occupation.

First, “Great is the Lord.”  We need to be careful what we call “great.”  We are inclined to use words very loosely in this day and age.  Coffee is “great”.  Football is “great”.  Stuffed crust pizza is “great”.  The Coliseum is “great”.  America is “great”.  The Psalmist, however, reserves this word for the Lord.  It is the same idea that can be drawn from those words of Jesus to the rich young ruler, “Only God is good.”  This would exclude everything else from properly fitting this term “good” or, in our text, “great”.  And for ancient Israel, God was displayed as truly great.  He is the Creator, the Redeemer, the Warrior, the Rock, the self-existent and infinitely free God, perfect in justice and mercy, transcendent and immanent.  And has not proven Himself so to His church, blessed in the Beloved Christ.  Our God is great: a great Father, a great King, a great Lord, a great Savior, a great Treasure, the Delight of the Christian soul.  Great is the Lord.  Veneration is the correct response!

Thus, “and greatly to be praised.”  The overflow of beholding our great God is great praise, that is, as God is great, and our hearts behold some degree of His greatness, our response is a degree of praise that equals and arises to that which we have beheld.  There is a balance in the statement, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.”  In truth, the statement is remarkably unbalanced, and for this reason, God has granted His children eternity for the same occupation.  Simply put, the Lord is infinite in all of His attributes, and thus it is quite impossible, though good and right and spontaneously essential, to equally praise Him on account of His greatness.  If we were to greatly praise God every second of every minute of every hour of every day for the rest of our lives, we would not come close to the praise that ought to be and will be ascribed to His name in heaven forever.  And so it is a remarkable grace that God requires, grants, and loves what praise we give to Him – and for this He should be greatly praised!

Third, to bring more clarity to the issue, “and his greatness is unsearchable.”  This expresses what I have said.  And here, our eternal occupation is implied.  The logic of God’s Spirit is sweet at this point.  (1) The Lord is great.  (2) He is to be greatly praised.  (3)  But the greatness of the Lord, for which we are to greatly praise Him, is itself “unsearchable.”  Herein, the eternality of our eternal occupation is laid bare.  For God will forever be great.  And His greatness is unsearchable.  This life is certainly not long enough to search out what is unsearchable (though, in His grace, we can praise Him for what He has revealed of Himself).  And with that in mind, only eternity will grant us the time to search out what is of such greatness, such infinite glory and depth, that it is dubbed “unsearchable.”  And so, as we behold ever new vistas of God’s greatness forever, so our employment will forever be the exercise of greatly praising our God.  And thus, our employment now is, by God’s grace, a foretaste of our joyful employment forever.  Let us then be about beholding our God in the face of Jesus Christ, in all of Scripture, and in our lives; let us be marked by a passion for biblical praise.

Gleaning #6: Read Biblical Introductions Well

Mark introduces his gospel in this way: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet . . .”

I think there is a tendency to overlook the introductions to the books of the Bible.  I am beginning to understand that that is unwise, like seeking to build a building without its hermeneutical (interpretive) foundation.  If at any point in the gospel you become stuck as to the meaning of the passage, or perhaps, you begin to wonder what in the world is being communicated, you can always come back to the introduction and see exactly what the author (Mark) intends to communicate as a gloss over everything else that follows.

I would also encourage you to spend time meditating on each verse – yes, even the introductory verses.  By meditation I do not intend the worldwide infatuation with emptying the mind – what possible sense does that make?  Being mindless is generally frowned upon (though ironically, again, most seem to adore the idea when it is attached to “spirituality” of some sort – anyway!).  These first few words of the Gospel of Mark have been extremely sweet to my soul in recent days for at least two reasons:

First, that any man would call Jesus the Christ is absolutely astonishing, and should serve as impetus to the praise of God’s glorious grace.  Having read and studied the Gospel of Luke for the majority of this year, I have noticed a simple framework in the first nine chapters that centers on Jesus as the Christ of God.  At least three times (possibly four), the narrative begs the question through its characters, “Who is this guy?  Who is this Jesus?”  And there is a tremendous build up that peaks at Peter’s confession.  Jesus asks the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”  And Peter, speaking as representative, replies, “You are the Christ of God!”  And we are meant to explode with joy at that confession!  Why?  Not only because God has given a Christ in Jesus for sinners, but that no human being, that is, flesh and blood, is able to come up or derive or produce or self-reveal that confession.  The parallel text in Matthew 16:17 states as much and presses upon us the reality that only the Father in heaven, the God who sovereignly reveals divine truth, reveals to sinful man that Jesus is in fact the Christ!  If you confess today that Jesus is the God-man, Prophet, Priest, and King, that is, the Christ, the One who reconciles sinners to God by way of His perfect Person and Work, that is the grace of God and your heart ought to soar at the prospect of such mercy!  And here, in Mark 1:1, what is Mark’s confession?  ”The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  Thus, in a word, “Christ”, as it is joined to “Jesus”, is highlighted the revealing, and saving grace of God in the life of Mark.

And secondly, that the gospel which Mark espouses is admirably simple, and in a sense, remarkably ancient and radically new at the same time.  For the sake of brevity, I mean to say that Mark is hardly innovative.  How indeed does he begin the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  With an introduction to an ancient text of the Old Testament!  He literally writes 12 words (The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God), and then goes immediately to: “As it is written!”  Mark is no philosophy major.  He is not interested in starting a new religion, beginning a new cult or sect.  He is not moved to display what intelligence he had at his disposal.  He is not all that creative.  Plainly and simply, Mark is concerned with communicating the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and thus, he turns immediately without hesitation to the Word of God.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is ancient!  His beginnings are from of old.  He is the Ancient of Days!  In one sense, the Son of God has been emanating forward from all eternity, to put on flesh, live sinlessly for sinners, die in the place of sinners, be raised and ascended, to accomplish and apply the salvation of God.  Mark makes this plain when he writes, “As it is written.”  And there is a sense in which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is new.  This Mark simultaneously accomplishes by “As it is written,” for what then follows are quotes from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3, which without the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, would be somewhat ambiguous.  That is, they find their fulfillment and truest meaning in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the work of God so near to Mark’s own day – and in light of eternity, very near to our own!  In this sense, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is radically new – the escalation and fullness of God’s promises, now dispensed through Him to those who repent and believe in Him.  Is this not a word to us in our day?  That amidst American pragmatism, Mark is inclined to go no further than twelve of his own words before he runs immediately to the text of God.  May we be so inclined!  May the Lord grant us to be men and women of the text, to communicate the old (and glorious) Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; so long innovation, hello Bible.

Summarily, read your introductions well – pray through them, meditate and memorize them, and let them set the aroma of Christ all about your heart.