Salient Comments from The Book, Part 1
Salient Comments from The Book, Part 1
By Paul M. Gould and Melissa Cain Travis | Bulletin Roundtable
Greetings, friends! In this roundtable, our team discusses Scripture verses that are particularly significant for them, and some spiritual insights we hope you’ll find helpful.
Christopher Reese
Editor-in-Chief
Paul M. Gould
In this month’s roundtable discussion, we were asked to share a Scripture passage that is meaningful to us. That is very hard to do. There are many passages of Scripture that are meaningful to me, and at various times in life, some more than others. Instead, I’d like to share with you what I am planning on memorizing this year and why. The passage begins with the great doxology at the end of Romans 11 and then extends into chapter 12:
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
I’m focusing on this passage this year for three reasons: devotion, discernment, and story.
First, devotion. As I’ve reflected on my spiritual journey this past year, there is much to be thankful for. I’ve seen consistent growth in my walk with Jesus. I very much look forward to my daily time in Scripture reading, journaling, and praying. Still, I’ve been asking myself, How can I incorporate more spiritual disciplines into my life this year? One idea is to incorporate silence and solitude into my daily routine. The idea is at the end of each day, I’ll take 3-5 minutes and just sit quietly with the Lord. No television. No phone. No Netflix. Just God. And me, and my thoughts. During that time, if the silence gets too hard, I plan on reflecting on this passage. I love the phrase in 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” God’s wisdom and knowledge are a deep well, a rich treasure, an endless source of wonder! I want to learn to sit with God and reflect on his goodness, power, and wisdom.
Second, discernment. If this passage is our guide, it is important to see that devotion comes before discernment. Still, discernment is needed in life and in faith. I heard it said that we make over 25,000 decisions each day. That’s a lot. Not all of them require much thought. But some do. And the important ones require me to seek God and his wisdom—that unsearchable, deep, and rich wisdom. As I offer my life as a living sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1), and seek to be transformed by the renewing of my mind (Rom. 12:2), Paul says we will then be able to test and approve what God’s will is. I like that. I need God. And I only want to go where God leads. So, I need discernment. But first, devotion.
Finally, story. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about reality as a kind of story. Created reality has a beginning, a middle, and an end (or at least an end of this story—the afterlife will be an exciting new story or at least a new section or book in this story). Everything begins with God and all things will one day be united and reconciled with God. This familiar pattern of from and to, exitus et reditus, wander and return, is a familiar Christian pattern of the overarching story of reality. And we see this overall pattern of reality beautifully expressed in Rom. 11:36: “For from him and through him and for him are all things.” This is a deep truth, a metaphysical truth, about reality. I want to reflect on this. I want to learn to see God and to see all things in relation to God. And part of learning how to see reality in this way is to see it according to this traditional Christian narrative.
So, join me this year by incorporating a new spiritual discipline into your life. And memorize a meaningful passage of Scripture. Let its truth sink into your bones. In doing so you’ll be giving God the glory due to him forever and ever. Amen.
— Paul M. Gould is an Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Director of the M.A. Philosophy of Religion program at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He is the author or editor of ten scholarly and popular-level books including Cultural Apologetics, Philosophy: A Christian Introduction, and The Story of the Cosmos. He has been a visiting scholar at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School’s Henry Center, working on the intersection of science and faith, and is the founder and president of the Two Tasks Institute. You can find out more about Dr. Gould and his work at Paul Gould.com and the Two Tasks Institute. He is married to Ethel and has four children.
Melissa Cain Travis
For several years now, a small stack of multi-colored index cards has been propped on my desk, just below my computer monitor. Each card bears a hand-written passage of Scripture, verses that prompt me to remember the purpose of my daily work, what that work means in the broader context of my life, and where I should turn for reassurance, peace, and oft-needed redirection. There is one card—neon orange—that I read almost daily, so it sits at the front of the stack. It’s inscribed with Galatians 1:10, which says, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
I’ve often lamented that having a profession that involves activities deeply interwoven with Christian ministry presents unique challenges that I will probably wrestle with for the rest of my life. For one thing, I have to constantly scrutinize my own motives when deciding when and how to speak about my work publicly. If I did “secular” work—engineering, medicine, finance, or whatever—it wouldn’t feel weird to regularly advertise in an effort to increase clientele and earn a better living. But things are far more complicated in this respect when your work is also overt ministry. (I say “overt” because every profession in which a Christian engages is ministry in the fullest sense of the word!) It’s a precarious situation; we don’t want to conform to the standards of the world, but like anyone in any other profession, we need to make a living.
In this culture of platform-building and Christian celebrity fandom, self-promotion is now rampant.[1] On one hand, I totally get it. How else are freelance writers, teachers, and speakers supposed to raise awareness about the kind of work they do and thus get commissioned to do those things? What if your actual livelihood depends upon things like a monetized YouTube channel and Patreon supporters? In such a situation, it’s incredibly easy to become preoccupied with numbers—followers, social media engagements, Substack subscribers, et cetera. After all, these are metrics that even Christian publishers are highly concerned with when deciding whether to extend a contract to a potential author, and it’s published authors who are sought out for other professional activities. On the other hand, Christian freelancers must navigate these waters without getting sucked into the vortex of affirmation addiction (defined here as the false belief that the aforementioned metrics directly reflect the quality and value of one’s work and the dogged pursuit of that affirmation) and—let’s just call it what it is—pride. Yikes, ya’ll.
This is one respect in which meditation on Galatians 1:10 is incredibly helpful for me, but of course its principles apply to all people. Every single day, we should contemplate the Apostle Paul’s questions and remind ourselves that we serve an audience of One in all things. If we pursue wisdom and the Lord’s direction in our vocation, we will flourish. When we commit our work to Him, we can trust that He will use us in the ways that best serve the Kingdom and sanctify our souls. The spiritual disciplines are key here. Immerse yourself in Scripture; pray without ceasing. Serve, serve, serve.
Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe! Just kidding.
Notes
[1] I’ve heard great things about Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church by Katelyn Beaty. I hope to review it this year.
— Melissa Cain Travis, PhD, is an Affiliate Faculty at Colorado Christian University and a Fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. She is the author of Thinking God's Thoughts: Johannes Kepler and the Miracle of Cosmic Comprehensibility (2022) and Science and the Mind of the Maker: What the Conversation Between Faith and Science Reveals About God (2018). She serves on the Executive Committee of the Evangelical Philosophical Society and as President of the Society for Women of Letters.
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There are only a few more open slots for Dr. Travis’s Zoom tutorial and discussion taking place this week on Saturday, February 25th. Current paid subscribers can visit this page to register and receive a discussion guide.
If you’re not a paid subscriber, you can take advantage of our best offer of the year, and then visit the link above to register for the meeting.
In Dr. Travis’s words, “For more than two millennia, great thinkers of the Western Tradition have marveled over the rational order of the cosmos and humankind's ability to discern it. Johannes Kepler, a giant of the scientific revolution, understood the powerful theistic implications of the mathematics-nature-mind resonance that makes the natural sciences possible.”
Dr. Travis will be sharing material from her new book, Thinking God's Thoughts: The Miracle of Cosmic Comprehensibility.
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