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I chose the title of my blog, "Confessions," after the great Church Father, St. Augustine of Hippo. He was an individual who was obsessed with knowledge, learning, and lusts of the flesh. On one day, thanks to the grace and providence of God, he was sitting in a garden and heard a small child say "tolle, lege, tolle, lege," Latin for "take up and read, take up and read." He began reading the scroll at his feet: a copy of Romans 13:13-14:
"Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof."
From there, he converted to Christianity and went on to become one of the greatest theologians in Western Christianity. I think we can all relate to Augustine, in one way or another. In his Confessions, Augustine lays out in part, his life story: How he was bound by the chains of lust and his studies, his move the Carthage, his belief in manichaeism and eventually, his conversion.
"For this was what I was longing to do; but as yet I was bound by the iron chain of my own will. The enemy held fast my will, and had made of it a chain, and had bound me tight with it. For out of the perverse will came lust, and the service of lust ended in habit, and habit, not resisted, became necessity. By these links, as it were, forged together -- which is why I called it "a chain" -- a hard bondage held me in slavery. But that new will which had begun to spring up in me freely to worship thee and to enjoy thee, O my God, the only certain Joy, was not able as yet to overcome my former willfulness, made strong by long indulgence. Thus my two wills -- the old and the new, the carnal and the spiritual -- were in conflict within me; and by their discord they tore my soul apart." St. Augustine, Confessions book VIII Chapter V.
The rest of the book contains his doctrinal positions on various issues, most notably, the trinity (which was a hotly debated issue in the early Church and the Church Fathers dealt with many heresies pertaining to the dual deity and humanity of Christ).
This is what I hope to accomplish here: on the one hand, speak my mind on the challenges and victories of the Christian life in the hope that others will be encouraged, but also to look at doctrinal issues so we may have a solid foundation on why we should live this way. And of course, weekly posts on the "book of the week" as an accountability measure.
As a final encouragement, if I had to pick a "life-verse," it would be 2nd Peter 3:8-13:
"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."
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