Some Rules of Thumb That I Cherish for this Blog

I love including blog readers’ comments on my blog as part of including them in my writing endeavors in my walk by grace with the Lord.  This is rooted in the Gospel being a good word for sinners’ hearts: “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” (Prov. 12:25).  In knowing this Gospel as a foundation of good grace for my heart and my tongue, and in bridling my tongue to speaking the new language of the Gospel in my walk with the Lord, there are several guidelines that I will set down for this blog.

I should first note here that I am a lay communing member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), but in no way does my blog reflect the views of my denomination whatsoever.  Instead, I want my blog to uphold the integrity of the visible church in the PCA, and among other confessing Christian congregations and denominations worldwide.  I say these things deliberately and out in the open on this blog for a couple of reasons.  One, the blogosphere can be a very divisive atmosphere among church folks wanting to stir up a little controversy about the church.  This is not because of any inherent badness in the blogosphere itself; it is a good communication outlet under the creation of natural things of the earth from God.  The problem is rather the people using this communication outlet; we are sinners, and we want to brag ourselves against God and against each other on the Internet, and in the blogosphere.

But the second reason for my statement about my blog not representing the PCA but supporting the PCA and the broader confessing visible church at large is that there are actually very few edifying Christian writings on the blogosphere – writings that aim to build up and encourage the church of Christ and prod this church away from idolatrous struggles and point this church to evangelism among unbelievers.  I don’t say these things as if to suggest that I myself will provide the solution; I will not.  Rather, I say these things in terms of putting the Gospel to practice on my own tongue and my own life, in using my creating writing skills to edify the church of Christ through my blogging with the Lord.

Knowing the Gospel as a good word for the tongue and for telecommunications and networks with the Lord involves bridling the tongue to the grace of the foundation of Christ crucified, the foundation of justifying grace for faith, and remolding the tongue to expression of new language of the Gospel for handling telecommunications and networks in a new way, in new relationship, with the Lord.  ” . . . See how great a forest a little fire kindles!” (James 3:5).  Again, I wish to emphasize: In no way does my blog represent the views of the PCA.  Instead, I want my blog to support the pastors’ direction of worship in the PCA, in supporting the pastors’ discipline for the church to the best of my ability, to borrow from the Westminster Standards and PCA pastors’ membership questions for prospective new members of the church.  And I want my blog to support the spiritual growth and health and evangelical witness of the confessing Christian church at large.

As for blog readers’ comments, my guideline for Christians who read my blog and want to post comments is that I want to moderate comments from Christians and non-Christians alike before posting those comments on my blog.  This is a deliberate intention on my part.  Part of walking by the Gospel of grace with the Lord involves guarding my mouth and bridling my tongue against fleshly words and wayward words, in putting these words to death to the cross of Christ and remolding the tongue to new life and new language of the Gospel in my walk with the Lord.  “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction” (Prov. 13:3).  I don’t assume that Christians will be automatically more innocent with their comments simply because they are Christians.  Justifying faith is a faith that involves putting personal presumptive ideas and words about oneself to death to the cross of Christ.

I will let non-Christians provide their comments on my blog, in terms of wanting non-Christians to examine my life for my own putting away of sins to the cross of Christ and my upholding of the Gospel as a good word of grace to secular culture, and my upholding of the church to good reputation to secular culture, with the Lord.  “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips” (Prov. 27:2).  I want to receive compliments from fellow Christians and tests of life from non-Christians for my abiding by the Gospel with the Lord, and my presentation of the Gospel by my words and my blog onto secular culture with the Lord.

And I want Christians to post their comments with the mindset of providing Gospel witness among non-Christians reading my blog, and with the mindset of edifying the church of Christ for future generations of Christians, all as part of my grasp of satisfaction in Christ alone with the Lord.

“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies at the gate.”  (Psalm 127:4-5)

If a Christian writes a comment that is not edifying to the church of Christ, or is very fleshly and very divisive and does not present the Gospel, I won’t post the comment.  I will write by e-mail to these Christians with suggestions on improving their comments for my blog.  If they will not listen, I will delete their comments from the “pending” section of my dashboard.

Often times, I will be very hypocritical and inconsistent with my words and my actions.  That’s the reality of being a sinner with a sinful tongue, a stumbling tongue.  I have to trust the Lord’s sanctification of my tongue, the Lord’s perfect drawing grace for a very imperfect and self-centered sinner, for my abiding by the new language of the Gospel with the Lord.

“But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of poison.  With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing . . .”  (James 3:8-10)

I have to trust the Holy Spirit’s power to set me apart to holiness in the divine and incarnate Son Jesus, even as I often seek to be unholy in my ways.  And I have to trust the Lord’s guidance by the orthodox doctrines of the Gospel for my bridling of my tongue, and my guarding of my mouth, over blog readers’ comments with the Lord.

And in trusting the Lord’s sanctification over my tongue, I have to say to blog readers with the Lord: Rejoice!  Speak new words of praise to the Lord as your Father, because of the Lord’s gift of idol-shattering grace and death-conquering grace in the atonement of His Son Jesus.  Learning the new language of the Gospel and applying this new language onto the lips with the Lord involves laughing at self-seriousness and self-worship with the Lord, in putting these false words to death to the cross of Christ and His perfect substitutionary obedience with the Lord.  God spoke His Son into being.  God spoke His Son into virgin birth as the Word born from above and the Word born in flesh.  And God has spoken His Son Jesus as a better word for believers, in God’s speaking of the Gospel message into being before sinners, for their coming to new faith in Jesus.

And God speaks a new beginning of the Gospel into His people’s lives, in God’s speaking of new birth into His people and setting them apart to new faith in Jesus, all for Christians’ new expression of new laughter and new praise to the glory of God.

 “And Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’  And she said, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children?  Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’ “  (Gen. 21:6-7)

God speaks His Gospel as an expert foundation of new laughter for His believers’ lives, so that they would count themselves as more than conquerors in Christ, beyond the power of false words.  And God wants His people to express the new language and new laughter of the Gospel onto unbelievers and their self-seriousness, in winning new converts to Christ.  My own upholding of justifying faith and new laughter of the Gospel with the Lord means laughing at my own self-seriousness and self-worship in mortifying these false words to the cross of Christ with the Lord, and laughing at non-Christians’ self-righteousness and self-worship in pointing them to the new language of the cross with the Lord.  And I have to laugh at fellow Christians’ self-righteousness and self-seriousness in pointing them to justification by faith alone in Christ alone with the Lord.

And so I say to blog readers with the Lord: Your own words reflect your own flesh.  You worship yourselves by your own expression of words, and you stand spiritually dead before the Lord.  Rejoice!  Come and see what God has done for you through His atonement in Jesus.  God speaks a better word for you through His Son.  And in knowing the expert foundation of Jesus crucified for your words and your heart with the Lord, you will learn to speak new words and speak new laughter with the Lord, and point self-serious non-Christians to the new foundation of justification by faith alone in Christ alone with the Lord.