Jared Longshore's Blog, page 3

More Food Than You Could Ever Eat

As God has said to His people in ages gone by, so He says to you today, “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10). This promise pertains to all of God’s blessings and one of those blessings is that we would be filled with His Spirit. So as you come to partake of the Lord Jesus Christ, remember that you also partake of His Spirit and He invites you to open your mouth as wide as possible. 

One of the reasons Christians grow stagnant in faith and obedience is because they forget just how powerful and active the Spirit is. God has far more food than you can ever eat. This meal is far more potent than those among us with the greatest faith can comprehend. This being true, why not expect great things from God and attempt great things for Him? Do you really think that His Spirit is constrained by your bad habits? Ah, you think far too highly of your habits. Send them into the ring against this bread and wine and watch. Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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The Flesh Is No Help at All

One of the things that is so impressive about the Spirit of God, one of the things that makes us love Him and marvel at Him, is His freedom. The Spirit blows where He wills. And He cannot be contained. He will not be put into a box. And He will not be bossed around. 

As you consider your noble aspirations, blessed children, delightful marriages, a Christian town, successful vocations, you must grow in hard work that relies upon the Holy Spirit. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63). 

Consider this closely. Whatever gains you have, and whatever gains you see in others, are a direct result of the Spirit’s quickening, His moving and His filling. 

Some hear this and think that they are not supposed to move. They are not supposed to plan or work. But that is to miss the point entirely. You have to move, plan, think, sweat, cook, clean, and all the rest. And you must do all of that trusting in the third person of the Trinity. You have to fight the giants either way. But there is only one way for you to win. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Appearances Are Deceiving . . . Sometimes

A clergyman may be apparently as useless as a cat, but he is also as fascinating, for there must be some strange reason for his existence.

GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy.

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Chew With the Soul

If the ascension of Christ has anything to teach us at this table it is that you’re going to have to chew with more than your mouth. He really has ascended bodily so if you are going to eat His flesh and drink His blood, you’re going to have to use more than your teeth. But strangely enough not less than your teeth. This table teaches us that Christ has joined all things together, things in heaven and things on earth. And so as your mouth eats this bread and drinks this cup so your soul eats the body of Christ and drinks His blood. 

This makes the modern mind explode. And makes the Christian heart say, “Wow.” Nothing could be more mysterious and more plain at the same time. If the spirit of Christ gives life to your mortal body (Romans 8:11) why is it any surprise that the body of Christ gives life to your thirsty soul (Psalm 42:2)? So do you need courage? Eat it. Do you need fortitude? Drink it. Do you need peace? Eat His flesh. Do you need gladness of heart? Drink His blood. Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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Calvinism Under Jove

Reformation Calvinism was born under Jove. It flourishes under Jove and is spiritually healthy there. But for the last several centuries (at least) it has come under the baneful influence of Saturn . . . Just as Lucy and Susan wouldn’t feel safe around Bacchus unless Aslan was around, I don’t feel safe around Calvinists under Saturn. When these precious doctrines of ours are used to perpetuate gloom, severity, introspection, accusation, slander, gnat-strangling, and more, the soul is not safe.

Doug Wilson, Chestertonian Calvinism

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The Sides of the North in Your Sneakers

You might be tempted to think that the ascension of Jesus Christ darkened this world, that the ascension of Christ means you cannot enjoy the things of earth. But these would be temptations indeed. The truth runs in the opposite direction. Our Lord’s ascension presses you further into earth. Like a ski boat that takes a hard left to whip the tube rider behind to the right, so Christ’s ascension has sent you into a life of meaningful barbeques, bike rides, and summer camps. 

Yes, indeed, you have acended with Christ and sit in heavenly places. But the thing that makes your worldly neighbors understandably uncomfortable is that you walk around in heavenly places right next door to them. You walk where angels trod in your sneakers. You’re dancing on the sides of the north in your living room. And that is the only way to play on the sides of the north anyway. If you try to ascend them, you will be in trouble like Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-13). 

This whole matter leaves outsiders beffudlled at how you seem to be a bit of a stranger and an alien, while at the same time more human than anyone they have ever met, reminding them of what they once were in their father Adam and their mother Eve. 

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Chiseled on the Jawbone (Logos School)

[Graduation Address, Logos School, 2025]

It is with covenantal gratitude that I address these covenant graduates about both their covenant faithfulness over many years as well as their covenant future which rolls out before them to a thousand generations of covenant children. Now you’ll have to forgive me for that horrible opening sentence. But one senior told me that they have an over under on how many times I would use the word covenant in my address. I was told to land it north of 5 or 6 to secure the over. And I said I could make that happen if I got a kickback. So, I won’t share any names, but I’ll see you after the ceremony in the back parking lot for my cut.

What can I say about these seniors? It has been a ball teaching them apologetics and worldview this year. It has been a year of God throwing us curveballs. There are 30 seniors that I had the privilege of teaching, and 22 of them are male. Poor ladies. Yes, for Valentine’s Day the boys did make a flip calendar of themselves for the girls. Yes, the last page did have a picture of them as little boys with the Bible verse, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” Well done, ladies. Long suffering awards for you all. Kidding aside, these graduates, male and female, are an impressive lot, well adjusted saints with a bright future. I was warned about them by last year’s seniors though. They told me the rising juniors I would soon teach were male heavy and jock heavy. And I remember thinking then, “Well, I’ll fit right in.” God tells the best jokes, so for a classroom, He gave this very athletic bunch along with their formerly athletic apologetics teacher a gym.

The gym that we enjoyed saw many remarkable things over the year. It saw this graduating class turn the Grand March into a wind sprint at the Logos Balls. It saw the occassional senior taking a snoozer in the bleachers during my lectures (that’s OK though, I took pictures and I still have them). It saw the girls spiking volley balls and the boys draining three pointers. It saw your wins, your losses, and tables of your parents and your parents’ friends paying $500 dollars for a carrot cake at the Logos Auction. No one knows why these crazy adults would do such a thing. Apparently they have a thing for sweets.

I have already said many things to this graduating class of 2025 over the year. But I do have a final word for you. Like the Apostle Paul once said of another topic, it is both an old and a new commandment. I want to speak to you about a word you all have no doubt chanted in our beloved Logos gym more times than you can count. It is a word that you have been heralding, like a kingdom of priests, on football fields and tracks across the Palouse and no doubt all the way down to Boise where you stomped the competition and won state. That word is gratitude. Gratitude has been a word on your tongue, a word in your mouth, that has routinely led the way for sacrifice and excellence. Gratitude is an old word to any Logos graduate, but as you have come to a great moment of transition from the old to the new, ask the Lord for something new and bigger here: As He chiseled the law into hearts in the new covenant (I think that’s seven btw), ask Him to chisel gratitude into your jawbone so that you can’t chew anything or speak a word without it.

Look around today, with the gratitude that naturally comes on such an occassion, and remember that it is all a gift. The whole thing is one big gift, and every particular is a gift, too. Look back at your life, K through 12, look back at how many times your mom dropped you off and picked you up in the early years. Look back at how many tennis shoes have been purchased for you; how many teachers actually read your 6th grade ramblings and pointed out that you still needed a prepositional opener. Look at your friendships, the worship you have offered to the LORD, look around at your family and friends gathered here to celebrate with you today, and remember it is all a gift.

Now it is one thing to walk through a moment of gratitude like this one and it is another to walk in a spirit of gratitude continually. I am challenging you to the latter and commending to you that gratitude is the fuel that will take you to new levels of sacrifice and new arenas of excellence. I am challenging you to consider the taste of that thankfulness in your mouth right now, consider how rich it is, and commit to eating the gifts of God every day. Chesterton once said, “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”

That gratefulness before all things, all gifts, is what will keep you walking with your head held high, your shoulders back, and your arms swinging like the free men and women you are. 

Consider the reverse. Murmuring is for losers. Grumblers are remarkably unimpressive people. And you can roll around in that goo pie for a long time. Upon hearing that murmuring is for losers, you will find people who agree with you, only to murmur about what a loser they are for murmuring. You say, “Come away from it, man! Come away from that bottomless pit, that hole you are sinking in but in which you will never go thwack. And welcome to the good world God made. A world of solids and gods with Christ ruling over it all, serving you your daily dose of gifts.”

My exhortation to you is to chew on them. Say grace and eat the gifts. If you “do everything without murmuring, [you will not only get through life alright] you will shine like lights in the world” (that’s Philippians 2). But the only way not to murmur is to chew.

Some of the gifts the Lord will serve you might not be your favorite. These include ACL tears, surgeries, grueling long nights of study, rising early in the morning for work outs or, eventually, good old fashioned work itself to provide for your family, false acusations, slander and the like. But, God is like mom, wiser than us, saying, “Say grace and eat your vegetables.” But, keep chewing and you will be amazed at how many steak dinners He will set before you with sweet wine rolling on your tongue. He is a good Father who furnishes your table liberally.

Whatever He serves up, our calling is to give thanks always and for everything (Ephesians 5:20). That is a high bar, indeed. But you guys have a knack for breaking records.

Congratulations, you’ve graduated. Which means you’re back at the bottom of the totem pole. You’re newbies. You’re rookies. You’ve chewed and swallowed a big gift from the Lord. And it has been the kind of meal that sticks to the ribs. But seeing that you have taken in that feast and there are now tables spread for you in every direction, how wide can you open your mouth?

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Swallow the Hammer

Scripture tells us the Word of God is a fire and a hammer (Jeremiah 23:29). It is a fire to melt cold hearts and a hammer to break hard hearts. The voice of the Lord cracks the cedars of Lebanon in two, says the psalmist. Likewise, this table is a Word, a Word on your tongue. It is God’s sign to us, in which He declares that Christ has been broken for our sins and poured out like a drink offering on our behalf. 

Your reponse to this table should be one of eager expectation that it will work. Whatever is knotted, expect Him to unknot it. Whatever is bent, expect Him to straighten it. You are about to swallow a hammer so don’t be surprised when it starts hammering away in your soul. You will now drink a fire-word so expect it to burn up what needs burning and heat up what needs warming. Trust Him for this grace in yourself, and then look at the saints around you and trust He will do the same for them. For He has said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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Not an Amazon Delivery

Christ came that we might have life abundant. And it is your Christian duty to walk around every day in that abundant life, filled to the brim and overflowing. Strangely enough, this abundant life is not your own life. It is the life of another that you are living. After all, Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). But Christ did not come with life in a box like some Amazon delivery man to hand you the package and return to heaven. He came as Life Himself, never to leave us or forsake us.

So we are not here to maintain the life we have been given as much as we are here to have that Life maintain us. Which is to say the life we live we live by grace beginning, middle, and end. It is not started by the Spirit and enlarged by the flesh. But it is enlarged forever and aye. So ask the Lord to give you life, more life, and life abundantly. And remember as you ask, to ask in Jesus’ name.

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More Wodehouse

“I breathed rather in the manner copyrighted by the hart which pants for cooling streams when heated in the chase.”

“He assured me he would butter me over the front lawn and dance on the remains with hobnailed boots.”

“She had a beaky nose, tight thin lips, and her eye could have been used for splitting logs in the teak forests of Borneo.”

“It caused her to bedew her pillow with many a salty tear.”

“She was the sort of girl who might, as far as looks were concerned, have been the star unity of the harem of one of the better-class Sultans.”

P. G. Wodehouse, Much Obliged, Jeeves

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