What are the duties required in the first commandment?

The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God;[1] and to worship and glorify him accordingly,[2] by thinking,[3] meditating,[4] remembering,[5] highly esteeming,[6] honoring,[7] adoring,[8] choosing,[9] loving,[10] desiring,[11] fearing of him;[12] believing him;[13] trusting,[14] hoping,[15] delighting,[16] rejoicing in him;[17] being zealous for him;[18] calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks,[19] and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man;[20] being careful in all things to please him,[21] and sorrowful when in anything he is offended;[22] and walking humbly with him.[23]

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People Get Ready

Juloyes of The Accidental Pastor’s Wife, who is hosting this month’s Recipe Round Up, has posted the whole scoop—everything  you need to know to participate.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have trouble coming up with creative, healthy (or not so healthy!) side dishes for my meals. How many different ways can I make green beans? Is there anything else I can do with brown rice? I need a new pasta sauce. Broccoli and cauliflower-must it always have cheese sauce?

I’ve decided to stretch you all a bit and make side dishes the March Recipe Round-Up.

So the category is side dishes. The day is next Tuesday, March 18th.

Post the recipe on your blog, then send me the link and on that day I’ll post everyone’s links. It will be just in time for Easter dinner menu planning.

There you go! Please consider promoting this month’s Recipe Round Up on your blog by linking to Julie’s informational post.

And I am still looking for someone to host April’s Recipe Round Up, which will be the one year anniversary of the round up. If you are interested in hosting, but are unsure how to go about it, you should find all you need to know here. I’ve got a little surprise up my sleeve in regards to April’s Recipe Round Up, so if you want in on the secret early, why not volunteer to host?

Theological Term of the Week

theodicy

Vindication of the of the goodness and righteousness of God, given the existence of sin and evil in the world; an attempted solution to what is commonly known as “the problem of evil.”

 

• Habakkuk 1:13 (A short scriptural statement of the problem):
  

  You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
  and cannot look at wrong,
  why do you idly look at traitors
  and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
  the man more righteous than he?
  

• Ephesians 1:7-14 (A scriptural hint—and maybe more—at a solution to the problem.)
  

  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

• From the 1689 London Baptist Confession, Chapter 6:
  

  Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it, and threatened death upon the breach thereof, yet he did not long abide in this honour; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, then by her seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did willfully transgress the law of their creation, and the command given unto them, in eating the forbidden fruit, which God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, page 436:

  The glory of God being the great end of all things, we are not obliged to assume that this is the best possible world for the production of happiness, or even for securing the greatest degree of holiness among rational creatures. It is wisely adapted for the end for which it was designed, namely, the manifestation of the manifold perfections of God.
  

Learn more

1. Trinity Foundation: A Biblical Theodicy
2. John A. Battle, Th.D.: How Can God Be Just and Ordain Evil?
3. Theopedia: The Problem of Evil
4. Steve Hays exposes some of the problems with a “hands-off” theodicy.

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

 

Click on the graphic above to find a list of all the past Theological Terms of the Week in alphabetical order.