Since all this was planned by the holy Three in their eternal solidarity of mutual love, and since the Father’s central purpose in it all was and is to glorify and exalt the Son as Savior and Head of a new humanity, smartypants notions like “divine child abuse” as a comment on the cross are supremely silly and as irreverent and wrong as they possibly could be.

In My Place Condemned He Stood (Original article: “Penal Substitution Revisited” by J.I. Packer)

I’ve wanted to sponsor a child for as long as I could remember, and now I’m finally doing it! I am so excited to start sowing into the life of a precious little boy named Yamil from Bolivia, both through finances and through prayer. I think it’s so hard to decide who/what to give to financially outside of the local church; there are countless worthy people and organizations. But for me sponsoring a child was a given.

I’d like to write a little about how I ended up choosing sponsorship through Compassion International, in case any of you are in the process of choosing an organization. Or perhaps this can be helpful if you go through this process in the future. When I initially started researching sponsorship organizations, I did not immediately default to the two popular behemoths o child sponsorship in Christendom, World Vision and Compassion International. But as I tried to find information from charity watch organizations, I soon found that 1) there seemed to be more information concerning these two, including more transparency; and 2) they are ranked highest by charity watch organizations. So I soon did narrow my choices down to WV & CI. However, from them on the decision was really hard.

Ironically, that which ultimately caused me to choose CI actually happens to be the reason why WV is more effective at eradicating poverty. You see, World Vision approaches this at a systemic level. They partner with local governments and focus on community development. Child sponsorship funds in each area are pooled together so as to work toward raising the entire community to a higher standard of living. WV seems to be working to eradicate systemic poverty community by community. This, to me, is incredibly effective. However, the downside is that often, a sponsor’s child rarely sees any of the money that the sponsor gives. And I read a few testimonies where WV sponsors found out after years and years of sponsoring a child that the child was not even aware that he had a sponsor, and had never personally received anything from the funds of the sponsor. Needless to say, communication between child and sponsor also seems much more rare and sporadic through WV.

CI, on the other hand, focuses on each individual child. All your sponsorship dollars (minus what’s spent on admin) goes directly toward the child you sponsor and sometimes their family, so you truly radically impact a life and build a relationship with your child. The other major difference is that CI partners with local churches (whereas WV partners with local governments, as mentioned above).

So initially, it was really hard for me to choose between these two, as each seems to be strong where the other is weak and vice versa. But I soon realized that for me, CI  is the better and more fitting choice. Through CI, you’re truly sponsoring a child. However, if you sponsor a child through WV, you’re not really sponsoring a child; it’s basically the same as if you’re giving regularly to WV in general, or to any other organization focusing on community development and alleviating systemic poverty. This is why I feel that CI is a better choice for child sponsorship, especially if you’re giving through other means to social action and community development.

And the beautiful thing is, although the return was hard and took some time, the moment I resolved to return to my first love and started trudging back to my Father, I saw Him in the distance, looking for me. He had been there for days, weeks, months, awaiting my return. And when He saw me, He unashamedly and unreservedly made a sprint for me and embraced me and kissed me. His prodigal grace toward such a prodigal sinner as me utterly astounds me.

And so, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13-14). So many of the disciplines and pursuits that I cherish dearly fell by the wayside in 2011 as I became consumed by school, work, and the cares and worries of this world. But by the grace of God, I will once again delight in the Word of God and meditate on it day and night. I will once again have a song in my heart and praise on my lips all the day long, for He is so good, and His mercy endures forever, and He is matchless in beauty and glory. And I will once again be a light in the darkness, an abassador of Christ, God making His appeal through me. I am confident of these things because He who began a good work in this sinner will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).

At the center of all these desires will be a renewed zeal for the Word of God. By the Word of God I get to know better the God who made me and then died for me; by the Word of God I fall more deeply in love with this lover of my soul who loved me so much that He sacrificed Himself for me; by the Word of God I am sanctified and made to be more like the perfect God of the universe; by the Word of God more of His passions become my passions and I become more His hands and feet in this fallen world.

This year, I am endeavoring to read through the Bible with the M’Cheyne Plan. I chose this plan for two reasons: 1) It takes you through the NT and Psalms twice, and the rest of the OT once; and 2) Carson has a devotional that follows this plan, and it’s available for free online in daily blog form and pdf book form (Volume 1, Volume 2). If you haven’t chosen a plan yet but you want to read through the Bible in a year, it is BY NO MEANS too late! By doubling up on readings for a few days, you can catch up. Or, don’t try to catch up and just finish on your own time – a year from when you start. One year plans do not have to go from January 1 – December 31! Not too long ago Justin Taylor posted a blog with a slew of reading plans. Choose whatever plan suits you, and endeavor to know God more, love Him more, and become more like Him this year! Please comment if you’re also trying to read through the Bible this year – let’s encourage each other and keep each other accountable

Actually, I am very thankful that a friend of mine has rounded up a group of his friends from near and far to read through the Bible together this year. We’re communicating via a Google Group, and I am excited about the fellowship and accountability that the group will provide. I don’t really have community right now, so virtual community will be good. That’s actually why I decided to start blogging again; and I am committing to blogging every day for the rest of this year. This will keep me accountable, because I will soon run out of things to blog about if I am not diligent in reading, studying, and meditating on the Word. And speaking of study and meditation, the first book that I will study and meditate on in depth and memorize is Romans. Two years ago I started, but I stopped at the end of chapter 4. I didn’t want to keep memorizing because I felt like I hadn’t given nearly enough time to study and meditation. It’s not good for me when I store up too much in my head without allowing it to drip very much into my heart. But this year I’m picking it back up, and I’m really excited because I love Romans. It’s definitely in my top five favorite books of the Bible.

2012 is going to be a good year