Jared Longshore's Blog, page 4

The Sheeted Face Unveiled

In 2 Corinthians 3:18, God’s word says, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory.” Your growth in glory, then, is fueled by seeing the glory of another, an outter glory, a glory set apart from you. And, conversely, your growth in glory will be stunted by following yourself around with a mirror. It has been said that one of the liberating things about becoming a Christian is the liberty from keeping one of those wretched diaries where the author ruminates on the course of his own thoughts and emotions. Reading one of those entries is like watching a cat chase its tail, amuzing for a moment, then insufferable. 

The veiled man can think over his own thoughts, ponder what could be, and he can reason about why he feels so happy, or sad, or dead to the world. But he cannot see the bright morning star in the east, or the harvest moon in autumn. He cannot suck the marrow out of creation through his sheeted face. The torn veil means it is time to live as Lewis once suggested, “Open your eyes and ears. Take in what is there and give no thought to what might have been there or what is somewhere else.”

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In the Presence of Your Enemies

God’s pattern is to feed His people in the presence of their enemies. And this is simply something that we must get comfortable with. There is something in every saint that longs for the day when we will be able to sit down at table with no enemies lurking out there on the edge of the woods. But that final feast of the Lord is still out in front of us. For now, we live by faith, and as we do so we can rejoice in real peace and gladness, not put out of sorts by the presence of our enemies. 

It should not surprise us that God deals with us in this way. At this table, He teaches us to trust Him by the presence of those enemies and it has always been this way. So it was for Israel when they first ate the passover in the land of Egypt, surrounded by Pharaoh’s army. And so it was with our Lord Himself who instituted this meal in a city that killed the prophets and would soon kill Him. So as you come, resist the impulse that insists every single problem must be set right in order for you to come with gladness of heart. Faith sings at this table so those enemies can hear. Faith raises a glass at this feast so they can see just what a good time we are having. Faith proclaims the Lord’s death within ear shot of the world and all of its troubles. So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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Temperance and Patience

Christians generally know that they should exercise temperance and patience. However, we can often forget what these virtues are for. This forgetfulness really is a problem because knowing what they are for makes all of the difference. Peter lists temperance and patience side by side in a list of virtues that should be added to our faith and he concludes the list by saying “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful” (2 Peter 1:8). The fruit is guaranteed if you patiently endure the lack of fruit and don’t lose your mind and emotional stability when weeds pop up.

Temperance then is not ultimately about having less than you could but the pathway to abundance. And patience is not simply enduring uncomfortable circumstances but bearing the cross so that you can wear the crown. Believing this promise is essential to exercising temperance and patience in the moment. These things are to be added to your faith and there is no way to add them to unbelief.

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The One Principle of Hell

The one principle of hell is — ‘I am my own.’

George Macdonald

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Wine on the Lees

Isaiah 25:6 says, “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” You have come to that mountain, to Mount Zion, the city of our God. Assembled here before you is the fulfillment of that prophet who spoke so many centuries ago. Here is a feast of fat things full of marrow and here is wine on the lees well refined. 

This bread is the body of Christ broken for you and this cup is the blood of Christ shed for you. And this sacrament belongs to all of those who have taken God’s triune name upon their heads in baptism. From the greatest of you down to the little ones to whom belongs the kingdom of God, your Father calls you to come, eat, and drink and remember the Lord Jesus Christ. 

As you do so, know that you come to commune with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His flesh is meat indeed and His blood is drink indeed. Your soul must nourish itself on the life found in Him or else it will shrivel up like a crusty raisin in the sun. But to those of you who come in faith, you will find here the feast of the Lord designed to meet your hunger with sustenance and your weariness with gladness of heart. 

As you come to our one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, come as His one body. Scripture says that we who are many are one bread, so come as one bread to the true bread of life who has come down from heaven to feed hungry men. Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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When the Kingdom of God Takes Root

[Exhortation from first service of Christ Church DC – Sunday July 13, 2025]

When the kingdom of God takes root in a particular region, it is always disruptive. This was the case when Joshua marched the people of God into Canaan’s land and giant’s blood seasoned the soil. This was the case in Babylon where Nebudchadnezzar went insane. Herod trembled when our Lord appeared in Bethlehem. In Jerusalem, Pilate’s wife lost sleep. In Ephesus, Aretemis railed. In Rome, Nero sharpened his sword against angel armies. Our Lord said that His kingdom was not of this world. But don’t mistake the genetive case. Christ’s kingdom does not run on the same steam as the kingdoms of this earth but it does run in the same place, on earth. In Daniel’s vision, the kingdom of God did not come as a rock to cozy up to the Roman Empire. It came to grind all pagan empires to gravel.

Because of our many and twisted conceits, man attempts to evade Christ’s kingdom. His first approach is to imagine the kingdom of God as a carnal one, assuming the Spirit of God needs a fundraising team. Worshipping at the vain and pitiful altar of the demos, this approach would tell Jesus that He has his throne by the will of the people. When that folly fails them, man tries to vaporize the kingdom of God, as if the living stones of God’s temple were the mist wafting forth from a humidifier. 

Our answer to the first error is that Christ funds His own kingdom, and that by His own blood. And our answer to the second is that Christendom is harder than the many marble pillars that mark our nation’s capitol. The option before you is quite plain. It is Christ or chaos. Christ or destruction. Build your life, family, vocation, laws, your all, on the rock that is Christ. Or be crushed by that Rock. 

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Stable Citizens

Seeing that you have all been brought into the kingdom of God, one of your aims is to become a stable citizen, to fulfill the commands given by the apostle Paul, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). In the early church, the Judaizers taught that the way to this stablity was back to the old covenant, circumcision, the Levitical priesthood, and the Old Testament Passover. They were horribly mistaken because that old order was vanishing with its priests, sacrifices, and sacraments. 

The temptation for Christians often runs in the opposite direction. We would be steadfast, we would know a peaceful resolution if only we knew what was coming over the horizon, the future economy, the future of our children, the threats, and trails of coming days. But those who look for such knowledge are not steadfast and they wouldn’t be even if they obtained such secret knowledge. The source of our settled assurance is the once for all sacrifice of Christ. Eat your steadfastness here. Drink your peaceful resolve at this table. Two thousand years ago He said, “It is finished.” And it really is. So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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Why You Defend Your Mother

The misguided scholars who say America is merely an idea would say the same thing of the Christian religion. They assume that our religion is a set of beliefs to be set forth to the rational mind of man, then adopted or rejected as the free and independent human will determines. Far too many Christians have adopted this same manner of thinking. They assume the apologetics course is complete after they have supplied students with all of the necessary syllogisms to refute propositions levelled against Christian truth. Nothing aginst logic, of course. But you don’t defend your mother because the logic checks out. You defend your mother because she is your mother.

Sin is to miss the mark. But modern Christians can think their misses are the misses of a man shooting targets alone at the range. When in truth our misses come amid battle as we fight for the glory and honor of our king and the preservation of our families and kingdom. Your duty, then, is grow a chest full of loyalty, allegiance, and devotion to the man, your King, Jesus Christ. That swelling love in the chest is the central thing that must be in you and your children. Train yourself and them to that end. Worship today to that end.

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The Basis of Civil Society

We know, and what is better we feel inwardly, that religion is the basis of civil society, and the source of all good and of all comfort . . .we prefer the Protestant; not because we think it has less of the Christian religion in it, but because, in our judgment, it has more. We are protestants, not from indifference but from zeal.

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

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Not Surprising at All

It shouldn’t shock anyone that this table strikes terror into the heart of our enemies. Imagine being up against an organization that meets at the same time and place every week to partake of one sacrament that binds them together in unity. There are many people, ideologies, and movements that have raised themselves up against Christendom, only to fracture themselves against this bread and wine. Then, they look on to see the Church come yet again to table fellowship, partaking of one bread as one bread.

So as you come to partake of Christ as one body, ensure that the sacrament does its work in you. Ensure that this one bread makes you truly and indeed one bread. Put away strife, enmity, backbiting, gossip, and grudges. Those are the things that dissolve our opponents and leave them weak, unfruitful, and uneffective. Come with a clear conscience that you really do love all of the saints, and are prepared to show them the same kindness that has been shown you by the Lord of this table. This is a new covenant meal and with it Christ has given us a new commandment: “Love one another, as I have loved you. By this all men will know that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35). Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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