# 300

The "teaching" last night was great. We had thirteen men there, most of them twenty-somethings, but with two or three "old guys" like me sprinkled in. But all of them HUNGRY. I spoke to them a little about Bonhoeffer, and talked about the difficulty we often have in loving each other. Isn't that the fundamental predicament of the human condition. How to love one another. As followers of Jesus we know we should, but in the midst of life we often fail. Failure to love is, it seems, woven into us. This makes forgiveness a matter of supreme importance.

Sometimes I think believers have a tendency to define themselves in relation to "the world" (i.e. the found v. the lost, the sighted v. the blind) rather than defining themselves in relation to God's holy standard. Jesus spoke of this in his sermon on the Mount. "Hypocrite, look to the plank in your own eye."

We need to remember that we are all sinners. But the sins of others, rather then provoking judgementalism in us, should provoke us to examine our own hearts all the more keenly, for the other's speck may well be a whole plank in us.

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I've mentioned the M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan a couple of times, and now I've place a link on the sidebar. I've only been at it a week, of course, and I do have a history of drifting away from these reading plans after a while, but all I can say is that it's really blessing me. BTW, hat-tip to Jollyblogger, where I found the link to the online M'Cheyne.

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Finally, this is the 300th post to Mr. Standfast, and I've wondered about what I would say, if anything, to mark the milestone. Well, I know what I want to say. I want to give thanks to God for the faithful bloggers I have come to know, and especially those who have prayed for me at various times, and who so obviously have befriended and comforted me. I think particularly of Paul at Hill Country Thoughts, Susan at What a Beautiful Day, Rebecca at Rebecca Writes, Lucy at Being a Disciple, Donna at Rustling Leaves, not to mention frequent commenters like Elizabeth. And I just thank God for providing the Internet as a means for believers to build each other up, as these have built me up. So, to mark the occasion of my 300th post, I just want to pray that God would use the Internet in even mightier ways for the sake of his glory and honor. I lift up the Jesus-bloggers and pray that the Father would gift them for exhortation, encouragement, and most of all for the building up of the body of Christ even in cyberspace. All this I pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior, Amen.