I spent some quiet time tonight preparing for this post. As I thought about this chapter in War of Words, I realized that I really want to accurately reflect what Paul David Tripp has written, as well as reference scripture correctly. If any of you are Bible scholars and could provide insight into the scriptural references, PLEASE, I beg you, do so. I want to learn and grow through this. I want to be challenged and stretched.
As I was preparing and thinking, I realized that I haven't given you much of an overview of this book. Being the good teacher that I am, I used the resources available to me: the Table of Contents. Tripp has a clear and concise plan for his delivery of this book. I'd like to share that with you now.
Part One: Talk is Not Cheap
God Speaks
Satan Speaks
The Word in the Flesh
Idol Words
Part Two: A new Agenda for Our Talk
He is King!
Following the King for All the Wrong Reasons
Speaking for the King
Getting to the Destination
Citizens in Need of Help
On the King's Mission
Part Three: Winning the War of Words
First Things First
Winning the War of Words
Choosing Your Words
I hope you can see where we are and where we are going. It was helpful for me to look over that. There are definitely some chapters that have piqued my interest.
Back to Satan Speaks.
I knew at the beginning of this chapter it would make me emotional. I tend to cry easily. My feelings are plastered all over my sleeves.
Imagine a perfect world. God with His people. His people in perfect fellowship with each other. No sin.
Enter Serpent stage left.
Loud sobbing from the second row, isle seat. That's me. I wanted to cry (and sometimes did) each time I read this chapter (which is three times now). I yearn to live in that perfect communion with God. To understand perfectly and to be understood perfectly.
It was not to be.
In Genesis 3, several things happened.
God has instructed Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden or they will die. Eve has an encounter with Satan himself, present in the form of a serpent. Satan convinces Eve that she will not die, but will become LIKE God and know good and evil. Eve believes the lie, eats of the fruit, convinces Adam to eat of the fruit.
IN THAT MOMENT, all things change. At that bite, the world is altered for the rest of history.
This is life changing for me--what is to come. I was taught the story of Adam and Eve as a young child. In my mind it went something like this: There was a man and a woman. They lived in a garden. God told them not to eat apples. A snake told the woman to eat one of the forbidden apples. Now we have sin.
Oh, boy, do we ever!!! This is so much bigger than "now we have sin."
Tripp points out all the "firsts" that come with this passage of scripture.
For the first time:
1.) the authority of God is challenged. (pg. 20)
2.) an interpretation of life differs from God's. (pg. 21)
3.) a lie is spoken. (pg. 22)
4.) people spoke against each other. (pg. 23)
These four "firsts" plague our communication today. They are the war of words.
"Many of the problems we experience when talking with one another emerge from the fact that we have usurped the authority of God: We say what we want to say, when and how we want to say it." (pg. 20)
Prior to the serpent encouraging Eve to sample the forbidden fruit, claiming that what God had said was untrue, Adam and Eve lived in perfect submission to God. The world was forever altered when God's authority was challenged.
One of my favorite lines from this chapter is "Word problems are often interpretation problems." I can not begin to tell you how many arguments my husband and I have had where we are arguing the same exact point, but so differently and so passionately that we don't realize we actually want the same thing. Our interpretations are so vastly different that we don't understand what the other person is saying.
Until the moment the serpent spoke, not a lie had been spoken between Adam and Eve, or between God and his creation. Every conversation has been perfectly truthful. Then a lie was spoken. Tripp says, "Every word we speak is rooted either in the truth or in a lie." There is no gray area.
One of the portions of this lesson in Genesis 3 that I've never considered before is when Adam accuses Eve. Instead of being an advocate for Eve, he throws her under the bus. That had never happened before. After eating the fruit, it is not only their relationship with God that changes, but their relationship with one another.
"Talk is not longer easy or safe." (pg. 25)
I'm going to stop here. Tripp has some fabulous scripture references that I want to reflect on tomorrow.
I am praying for you. I saw that 27 visitors have come to this site. I spent time praying for each of you today. I don't know your specific prayer needs. Feel free to leave a comment. I'm eager to have a dialog with you. Let's talk about what you think about this. Did it make you think about communication? Are you struggling to communicate clearly and effectively with someone? Can we pray together?
In Him,
Natalie
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Chapter Two
I had all intentions of beginning my posts for Chapter Two today.
I'm going to wait until Monday. I've got lots of thoughts and reactions to Chapter Two of War of Words--I want to take my time to work through Tripp's ideas and the scripture he uses. It might take me all week to reflect on the second chapter. Trust me...it's that GOOD!
I will give you a little nibble of the scripture:
"Better to live on a corner of the roof
than share a house with a quarrelsome wife." Proverbs 21:9
Poor, poor H!
I want to make one disclaimer about this blog. I will most likely abuse every single form of APA or ALA or whatever other forms of notation are out there. I want everyone to know that I am reflecting on a text (War of Words) written by Paul David Tripp. When I am directly quoting something from his book, I will use quotation marks. If you choose to purchase a copy of his book, you will probably find that most things I write are his ideas. This is a place for my reflections to his work. I want to honor him as the author of a book that is causing me to closely evaluate myself. I will constantly remind the readers of this blog that these are not my original ideas, only my reflections on them and my journal of my Christian walk. If you have questions or I am unclear about one of Tripp's points, PLEASE ask me. I want to clearly and accurately represent his ideas.
I look forward to meeting you here Monday. I would be very honored to pray for you. Please feel free to leave any prayer requests in your comments or just leave a comment and know that I will be praying for you. I'm praying for this space--that it will glorify God and that all who come here will sense His presence.
In Christ,
Natalie
I'm going to wait until Monday. I've got lots of thoughts and reactions to Chapter Two of War of Words--I want to take my time to work through Tripp's ideas and the scripture he uses. It might take me all week to reflect on the second chapter. Trust me...it's that GOOD!
I will give you a little nibble of the scripture:
"Better to live on a corner of the roof
than share a house with a quarrelsome wife." Proverbs 21:9
Poor, poor H!
I want to make one disclaimer about this blog. I will most likely abuse every single form of APA or ALA or whatever other forms of notation are out there. I want everyone to know that I am reflecting on a text (War of Words) written by Paul David Tripp. When I am directly quoting something from his book, I will use quotation marks. If you choose to purchase a copy of his book, you will probably find that most things I write are his ideas. This is a place for my reflections to his work. I want to honor him as the author of a book that is causing me to closely evaluate myself. I will constantly remind the readers of this blog that these are not my original ideas, only my reflections on them and my journal of my Christian walk. If you have questions or I am unclear about one of Tripp's points, PLEASE ask me. I want to clearly and accurately represent his ideas.
I look forward to meeting you here Monday. I would be very honored to pray for you. Please feel free to leave any prayer requests in your comments or just leave a comment and know that I will be praying for you. I'm praying for this space--that it will glorify God and that all who come here will sense His presence.
In Christ,
Natalie
Friday, June 27, 2008
God Speaks
As we all know, words are powerful, important, significant.
As an adult who was raised in the church by Christian parents, I tend to take Christianity for granted. I don't have a big conversion story. There is no great before I was a Christian, now I am a Christian defining moment in my life. As a young teenager, I realized I needed Christ and I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. My walk with Christ has not been straight. There are times in my life when I was far, far, far, far, probably as far away from the Lord as one can be. In the past 5 years or so as I've been drawn closer and closer, I'm realizing just how significant "Christianity" is. It is not something that fits in a box. It is not something that applies to only one aspect of my life. It's not something I can only do on Sundays, or when I'm at church, or when it comes up in conversation, or whenever I feel like.
"The fall" is bigger than the first sin. Sin is HUGE.
Faith is more than believing that God exists. Faith is enormous.
These things are too big to be shoved around, manipulated to serve my purpose. The image that comes to mind is a tiny ant pushing a mountain. My entire life, I've tried to use Christianity to my advantage. I've been that ant trying to boss around the mountain.
Oh, how I am humbled. Oh, how the Lord is teaching me.
In War of Words, the first chapter is God Speaks. I'm not sure that I have enough time to begin discussing the significance of this chapter, so I'm going to be brief. As brief as possible for me, which probably means not very brief.
Tripp has a gift for making me say:
"Wow!"
"Really?"
"I never thought of that!"
"Oh, Lord, this is way bigger than I ever thought."
The first time I had a reactive thought was to this sentence: "You do not really understand the significance of words until you realize that the first words humans heard were not the words of another human being, but the words of God!"
Before the fall, God, Adam and Eve, were in perfect communication with each other. He created Adam and Eve, then He spoke openly and freely WITH them. Perhaps that doesn't amaze you the way it amazed me. God, the Creator of the Universe, spoke plainly enough in words that Adam and Eve could understand! He was not hiding in silence, letting Adam and Eve figure things out on their own. He was explaining Himself to them, explaining their world to them. He was communing with them.
When Adam and Eve spoke to each other, it glorified God. There was no miscommunication. They understood perfectly what the other person meant. Their words were kind, thoughtful, and loving. Their words were perfect because they were designed by the Lord to glorify Himself and each other.
Tripp makes another point that takes my breath away. I had never considered the fact that Adam and Eve were LIKE God because they had the ability to talk. No other animal in creation has the ability to communicate through words--God set Adam and Eve apart by giving them the skills to communicate perfectly.
All this changed at the bite of the apple.
Words do three things: define, explain, and interpret.
I must copy two paragraphs directly from Tripp at the end of Chapter 1. They are too powerful to ignore.
". . .Our words belong to the Lord. He is the Great Speaker. The wonder, the signifcance, the glory of human communication has its roots in his glory and in his decision to talk with us and allow us to talk with him and others. God has unlocked the doors of truth to us, using words as his key. The only reason we understand anything is that he has spoken. Words belong to God, but he has lent them to us so that we might know him and be used by him.
This means that words do not belong to us. Every word we speak must be up to God's standard and according to his design. They should echo the Great Speaker and reflect his glory. When we lose sight of this, our words lose their only shelter from difficulty. Talk was created by God for his purpse. Our words belong to him." (Tripp, pg. 15)
I can't begin to tell you how short I've fallen today of glorifying God by speaking words that are up to His standard.
Tripp provides some questions for his readers to consider. I'm just going to leave you with a few.
--Does your talk with others lead to biblical problem solving?
--Does you talk have a "stand together" or a "me against him/her/them" posture?
--Do your words encourage others to be open and honest about their thoughts and feelings?
--Are you approachable and teachable or defensive and self-protective when talking with others?
--Does your talk encourage faith and personal spiritual growth in those around you?
In Him,
Natalie
As an adult who was raised in the church by Christian parents, I tend to take Christianity for granted. I don't have a big conversion story. There is no great before I was a Christian, now I am a Christian defining moment in my life. As a young teenager, I realized I needed Christ and I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. My walk with Christ has not been straight. There are times in my life when I was far, far, far, far, probably as far away from the Lord as one can be. In the past 5 years or so as I've been drawn closer and closer, I'm realizing just how significant "Christianity" is. It is not something that fits in a box. It is not something that applies to only one aspect of my life. It's not something I can only do on Sundays, or when I'm at church, or when it comes up in conversation, or whenever I feel like.
"The fall" is bigger than the first sin. Sin is HUGE.
Faith is more than believing that God exists. Faith is enormous.
These things are too big to be shoved around, manipulated to serve my purpose. The image that comes to mind is a tiny ant pushing a mountain. My entire life, I've tried to use Christianity to my advantage. I've been that ant trying to boss around the mountain.
Oh, how I am humbled. Oh, how the Lord is teaching me.
In War of Words, the first chapter is God Speaks. I'm not sure that I have enough time to begin discussing the significance of this chapter, so I'm going to be brief. As brief as possible for me, which probably means not very brief.
Tripp has a gift for making me say:
"Wow!"
"Really?"
"I never thought of that!"
"Oh, Lord, this is way bigger than I ever thought."
The first time I had a reactive thought was to this sentence: "You do not really understand the significance of words until you realize that the first words humans heard were not the words of another human being, but the words of God!"
Before the fall, God, Adam and Eve, were in perfect communication with each other. He created Adam and Eve, then He spoke openly and freely WITH them. Perhaps that doesn't amaze you the way it amazed me. God, the Creator of the Universe, spoke plainly enough in words that Adam and Eve could understand! He was not hiding in silence, letting Adam and Eve figure things out on their own. He was explaining Himself to them, explaining their world to them. He was communing with them.
When Adam and Eve spoke to each other, it glorified God. There was no miscommunication. They understood perfectly what the other person meant. Their words were kind, thoughtful, and loving. Their words were perfect because they were designed by the Lord to glorify Himself and each other.
Tripp makes another point that takes my breath away. I had never considered the fact that Adam and Eve were LIKE God because they had the ability to talk. No other animal in creation has the ability to communicate through words--God set Adam and Eve apart by giving them the skills to communicate perfectly.
All this changed at the bite of the apple.
Words do three things: define, explain, and interpret.
I must copy two paragraphs directly from Tripp at the end of Chapter 1. They are too powerful to ignore.
". . .Our words belong to the Lord. He is the Great Speaker. The wonder, the signifcance, the glory of human communication has its roots in his glory and in his decision to talk with us and allow us to talk with him and others. God has unlocked the doors of truth to us, using words as his key. The only reason we understand anything is that he has spoken. Words belong to God, but he has lent them to us so that we might know him and be used by him.
This means that words do not belong to us. Every word we speak must be up to God's standard and according to his design. They should echo the Great Speaker and reflect his glory. When we lose sight of this, our words lose their only shelter from difficulty. Talk was created by God for his purpse. Our words belong to him." (Tripp, pg. 15)
I can't begin to tell you how short I've fallen today of glorifying God by speaking words that are up to His standard.
Tripp provides some questions for his readers to consider. I'm just going to leave you with a few.
--Does your talk with others lead to biblical problem solving?
--Does you talk have a "stand together" or a "me against him/her/them" posture?
--Do your words encourage others to be open and honest about their thoughts and feelings?
--Are you approachable and teachable or defensive and self-protective when talking with others?
--Does your talk encourage faith and personal spiritual growth in those around you?
In Him,
Natalie
How this came to be
Recently I've felt called to study more, learn more, read more. As a teacher, I've realized for a while how little I really know about so many things.
As a Christian, I find the Bible, God's infallible word, completely overwhelming. Yet I am yearning for more knowledge right now. This summer, I am participating in a young mother's Bible Study with some dear friends of mine. This is barely touching the thirst I have for more knowledge. This week I'm teaching VBS and I realize how little I really know God's word. Yet, I struggle to find (make) time to read and ultimately understand scripture.
However, when I read a commentary or a teacher's manual, I'm astounded by the depth of God's love for us, my own inability to met the standard of perfection and my intense, complete need for the "rescue that only Jesus, the living Word and our Redeemer, can provide." (Tripp, pg. 41)
I'm reading a book entitled "War of Words" by Paul David Tripp. I was enthralled by the end of the first page. So, this space came to be so that I have a place to reflect on my reading, a sacred place to record my journey as I learn more. After I finish reading War of Words, I'll move on to another text. I'll continue to use this space for reflection.
I'd love some dialog. If you'd like read War of Words, feel free to pick up a copy from your local book store or on-line. If you'd just like to respond to my reflection, I'd certainly enjoy that, too. I'm not afraid of some hot debate, although I won't tolerate bashing. If this isn't a forum that you enjoy or want to participate in, I ask you to respectfully honor this as my sacred place to learn and grow in God's grace. This will most definitely be a space that is prayed for and about and that contains Christian content. I will be honored to pray for you and with you--just leave me a comment.
Because it is already 12:30 and tomorrow is my last day teaching the four and five year olds at Vacation Bible School, I will begin posting my reflections of War of Words tomorrow.
In Christ,
Natalie
As a Christian, I find the Bible, God's infallible word, completely overwhelming. Yet I am yearning for more knowledge right now. This summer, I am participating in a young mother's Bible Study with some dear friends of mine. This is barely touching the thirst I have for more knowledge. This week I'm teaching VBS and I realize how little I really know God's word. Yet, I struggle to find (make) time to read and ultimately understand scripture.
However, when I read a commentary or a teacher's manual, I'm astounded by the depth of God's love for us, my own inability to met the standard of perfection and my intense, complete need for the "rescue that only Jesus, the living Word and our Redeemer, can provide." (Tripp, pg. 41)
I'm reading a book entitled "War of Words" by Paul David Tripp. I was enthralled by the end of the first page. So, this space came to be so that I have a place to reflect on my reading, a sacred place to record my journey as I learn more. After I finish reading War of Words, I'll move on to another text. I'll continue to use this space for reflection.
I'd love some dialog. If you'd like read War of Words, feel free to pick up a copy from your local book store or on-line. If you'd just like to respond to my reflection, I'd certainly enjoy that, too. I'm not afraid of some hot debate, although I won't tolerate bashing. If this isn't a forum that you enjoy or want to participate in, I ask you to respectfully honor this as my sacred place to learn and grow in God's grace. This will most definitely be a space that is prayed for and about and that contains Christian content. I will be honored to pray for you and with you--just leave me a comment.
Because it is already 12:30 and tomorrow is my last day teaching the four and five year olds at Vacation Bible School, I will begin posting my reflections of War of Words tomorrow.
In Christ,
Natalie
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