Byrnesys Blabberings

Today I will have my last ever exam for the Masters degree I’ve been working on for the last 4 years at Aberdeen University, it’s, unsurprisingly for many of you, on the Theology of Karl Barth.

It seems to have been a very long time since I came here to Aberdeen and a lot of things have changed, and almost nothing happened or progressed how I expected it to, but I am grateful for the time Ive had in Scotland, for the ways in which God has proved his faithfulness through blessing and correction.

I thought this was an very apt prayer to pray today, it was posted at the Kingdompeople blog the other day:

Savior and King,
I find it so easy to revel in knowledge for knowledge’s sake,
avoiding the goal of instruction: to learn love.
A puffed-up mind may be able to hide an impure heart,
an aching conscience
or insincere motives from others,
but before you, all is laid bare.
The purpose of my training is to grow in love and faithfulness,
purity and authenticity.
Help me, O Lord, to keep in mind your purposes
for the instruction I receive.
I pray that when I leave here,
my love will have grown,
many sinful habits will have been left behind,
and any insincere motivations or spiritual facade will have been shattered.
May you work in my heart to draw me closer to yourself.
Help me to love, O Lord.
Give me a heart that breaks
for those held in the chains of sin.
Clear my conscience
and authenticate my faith. 
May the knowledge I obtain be for your glory
and for the growth of your love in my all-too-hardened heart.
And help conform me to the image of Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.

- Trevin Wax