Miscellanies | CJ's View from the Cheap Seats

What Not To Say To Sufferers

October 7, 2015

This past Sunday at Sovereign Grace Church we continued our series in Job, Walking With God When Life Goes Sideways by looking at Job 4:1–5:7. So what can we learn from Job’s friends? Many things actually. It might surprise you how much we can learn. There is a reason we get to overhear these guys pontificate for so many chapters in Scripture. From these guys we learn what not to say to a Christian who is suffering. Yep, Job accurately describes his orthodox friends…

Time. Redeemed.

October 5, 2015

Two or three times each year I retrieve a collection of articles in a folder labeled “Time Management.” Among the articles I review is one titled “Time Well Spent: Right Now Counts Forever,” written by one of my heroes in the faith, Dr. R.C. Sproul. The article first appeared in Tabletalk magazine several years ago (September 1997, pp. 4–7). And if you could see my copy of the article, you would notice that it’s peppered with years of highlights, underlines, and…

Job’s Darkness and Maybe Your Darkness As Well

September 30, 2015

Job chapter 3 is a dark chapter. It is the darkest chapter in the book of Job and it’s on the short list of the darkest chapters in all of Scripture. “So, why read this chapter?” you are most likely thinking. I get it. I’m not drawn to chapters that are dark and depressing. I go to Scripture to avoid dark and depressing things not to be reminded of them. But I came across this chapter recently when I had the privilege to preach a sermon…

The Sluggard

September 28, 2015

There is a certain folder with stuff in it that I force myself to read and review each year. It’s stuff about time management, goal setting, productivity. It’s not stuff I’m excited about reading and reviewing but I need to review this material each year because, well, because I tend to be lazy. If you followed me around you might think I’m diligent and productive but all too often I’m busy doing things that aren’t most important, just urgent or…

In All Thy Ways

September 21, 2015

My tendency is to charge into the day intent on getting stuff done, attacking my to‐do list motivated by self-sufficiency rather than by humble dependence upon the grace of God revealed in the gospel. And given the active presence of pride and self‐sufficiency in my life, it is imperative for me at the outset of each day to devote time to humbling myself before the Lord and acknowledging my dependence upon him for all that awaits me. As I devote…