The Writing Shepherd

The items in life that bring me joy, besides my wife and dog :), are reading and writing. My wife picked up a book for me. Once I creased the first page, I could not put it down. Rather than being a book on the nuances of grammar, style, composition, etc., this book is very similar to a spiritual disciplines book. Gearing the mind for a life-style of writing, Douglas Wilson, in Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life, was playing the role of Jiminy Cricket to my already attuned soul.

One thing Seminary provided for me was the constant demand to write. Now that I’m in a different program, the demands of writing have subsided for a short while. However, I was still finding the urge to pick up the pen (or keyboard) and start writing.

Writing aids my thinking in a number of ways and has been a means of grace in my life. This was not always the case, but writing has provided much solace to a vexed soul or great joys over a finished product. I’m never viewed myself as the “go-getter” (except for dating my wife, I wanted to marry her and quickly :). However, Wilson stated a few things in his book that have ignited a flame within me.

1. Do what you would love to be able to do someday.

2. Concert pianists can do what they do because they practiced scales for years. Be at peace with being lousy for a while. Nothing worthwhile ever comes without practice.

Why wait until tomorrow for aspirations, desires, dreams, etc. that you feel, yes subjectively feel, God has given you. You can rationalize all you want about the inability or un-“fitness” of your strengths; what you would like to accomplish tomorrow, start today.

Publishing is not the goal. Writing to aid my thinking is the goal. Clarity in writing demands clarity in thinking, which will aid clear communication. Similar to Pastor-to-Pastor, another group of my friends decided to begin a public-forum designed for theological thinking and writing as the pastor-theologian to help each other think through our current development of theological/biblical thinking. It is an attempt to do Theology in Community. The first post will be up tomorrow morning at 8am if you would like to enjoy the musings of another blog! shepherdthesheep.com

The Doctrine of Imputation

I am attempting to teach my students on the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. I have been preaching through Phil. 3:4-11 and I am beginning to see that they don’t understand the concept of imputation. Forgiveness is an easy concept; imputation is easy as well but just not understood. Here is a graph I believe may help teach them on what happens in justification and the difference between forgiveness of sin and imputation of righteousness.

What do you think of it? Is it biblically sound? If forgiveness is the removal or cancelling of sin, we are back to zero, not in the positive. We need to get into the positive for entrance into heaven. Only Christ’s righteousness, his obedience to God’s laws and death on the cross, give us the merit we need for entrance.

How Long Should a Pastor Preach - Graph

Goldilocks Would Approve

As pastors, we love teaching and preaching. We have studied all week, learned a ton, and have a lot of great info to teach our students. Each time we get in front of our students however, we are faced with the question- how long should we teach for?

I must confess that I tend to go on the long side. I am a TMS grad that many times gives TMI. My conscience is afflicted because I kick myself or going too long (sometimes 45 minutes). Am I wrong? I want to find a balance, get convictions, and stick to that.

How long is too long? How long do you men teach your students for?

What do you men think is a duration that would be "just right"?

20min.?

30min.?

More?