Tag: Truth

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Remembering God

image“What one thing about God in Christ speaks directly into today’s trouble? …

Just as we don’t change all at once, so we don’t swallow all of truth in one gulp.

We are simple people. You can’t remember ten things at once. Invariably, if you could remember just ONE true thing in the moment of trial, you’d be different. Bible “verses” aren’t magic.

But God’s words are revelations of God from God for our redemption. When you actually remember God, you do not sin. The only way we ever sin is by suppressing God, by forgetting, by tuning out his voice, switching channels, and listening to other voices.

When you actually remember, you actually change. In fact, remembering is the first change.”

– David Powlison

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A Fool for Love!

“A fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in airing his own opinions.”  Proverbs 18:2

 

girl-prayerOuch!

When I picked up David Powlison’s book Speaking Truth in Love I of course imagined myself speaking truth with love to people I love!  This Proverb is probably closer to what the book’s theme is intended to communicate concerning truth speaking.

It is loving to bring truth to people’s hearts.  Not as the world does with callous belligerence and a Simon Cowell attitude that is unwilling to weigh the impact of harshly spoken words.  That habitual “truth hurts” speaking style is evidence that love is not his motivator.

Continue reading “A Fool for Love!”

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Do you Sense His Love?

image154 This morning I was revisiting a favorite book by A.W. Tozer The Pursuit of Man.

He used a wonderful illustration to make the important distinction between knowing about Christ and His love andknowing it experientially.

Tozer asked, “What good would it do a starving child to know about bread when his stomach rolled and growled begging for food to be satisfied?”

A person can die of starvation knowing all about the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables but knowing about them will not save him from starving!

“Knowledge by acquaintance is always better than mere knowledge by description.”

With that illustration in mind, I wondered about the love of God.  It is not uncommon to hear people proclaim that God is love, that He is by nature a loving and caring being.

loveofImage10b (Small) Wouldn’t life be more viscerally satisfying if we knew those truths by acquaintance rather than description? 

Maurice Roberts wrote on the subject of sensing the love of God and he suggested:

“The way to get God’s felt blessing on our hearts begins with an act of faith.  That is to say we must believe that there is such a thing to be had in this life. If we do not expect or even believe in such experiences, the probability is that we shall know but little of them.

There is, as we have sought to show, a true and scriptural enjoyment of Christ which is no fanaticism but the subjective fruit of the gospel.

Then, having become convinced that there is a genuine experience of a ‘felt Christ’ to be had on earth, we must go to God in prayer for it.  We come to the throne of grace as suppliants to receive this choice favor of ‘tasting’, or being made subjectively conscious of the love God has to us in Christ.

We do harm to our souls and hinder our own progress in the knowledge of God (remember how that differs from knowing about God) if we treat prayer as an exercise of the mind only and do not expect to emerge from the presence of God with a fresh token of His love born in us. ((Maurice Roberts, The Thought of God, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1993, p.61))

What vitality would be breathed into our living if we stopped existing on the knowledge about God and sunk our teeth into subjective experience of tasting and seeing that God is good! Psalm 34:8

Let’s starve no more!

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New Year’s Resolutions

resolutions I attended Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Asheville, North Carolina last Sunday and was inspired by a challenging sermon from Associate Pastor Mark Whipple. 

He began the sermon by suggesting that for the most part, our resolutions are self-centered, self improvement desires and give evidence of misdirected thinking.

He contrasted our normal resolutions of losing weight, quitting a bad habit, getting more exercise with the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. Here are a couple of his resolutions that make the contrast very clearly and highlight how trivial most of our Christian resolving has become:

The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards (1722-1723)

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.

9. Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

24. Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.

25. Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.

happy-new-year While thinking about more challenging resolutions for 2008, Desiring God Ministries posted "10 Resolutions for Mental Health."

This list was also very helpful in focusing my thoughts and hopefully deepening them  on the subject of resolutions here at the beginning of 2008.

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Facing Our Giants

TissSlng (Small) Out of my distress I called on the LORD;

the LORD answered me and set me in a broad place.

With the LORD on my side I do not fear.
What can mortals do to me?

The LORD is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to put confidence in mortals.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to put confidence in princes.

Psalm 118

Continue reading “Facing Our Giants”

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Family Likeness

I began the day by reading Hebrews 2:10-18.  I lingered over these verses and was captured by the frequency of familial words that the author used and the theme of “family likeness” that he emphasizes.

  • bringing many children to glory (vs. 10)
  • Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. (vs. 11)
  • Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters (vs. 11)
  • I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters (vs. 12)
  • Here am I and the children whom God has given me (vs. 13)
  • the children share flesh and blood (vs. 14)
  • he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect (vs. 17)

post-68-1179042653I got a Christmas card with a family photo in it yesterday.  Casey’s first words when she saw the picture were, “Boy, Levi sure looks like his Dad!”

She was exactly right!  The little boy bore a striking resemblance to his father.  In fact, the word “likeness” means the quality of resembling, or corresponding to another. 

I was once again struck by the wonder of Jesus becoming like us in order to make a way for us to become like Him!  These verses even delineate what that means:

  • It means pursuing holiness–a life set apart for God’s exclusive use. (vs. 11)
  • It means being caught up in a life of worship. (vs. 12)
    • How cool to see that we sing because Jesus sings praises!
    • We proclaim God’s glory because our brother Jesus showed us that was what gives our life significance.
  • It means living by faith not sight.  (vs. 13)
  • It means making ourselves available to serve. (vs. 13)
  • It means sharing the suffering of others — identifying ourselves with them in order to help overcome freedom robbing bondage. (vs. 14-15)
  • It means helping those who cannot help themselves–not from a place of superiority but from a place of identity (vs. 18)

Amazing that Jesus was not ashamed to become like us. 

The word “like” means to be “suitable or agreeable to, to feel attraction toward or pleasure in, to wish to have.” 

Am I ashamed for others to see me agreeable to, taking pleasure in or wishing to have more of Jesus? 

If my “like” does not result in “like-ness” to brother Jesus…whose likeness will I bear?

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  (John 8:44)

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Living Hope

Yesterday, I heard a sermon from 1 Peter entitled “A Living Hope”.  Last night, I talked with a friend who shared her excitement that she may be able to adopt a little 1 year old boy after the first of the year.

my-life-gods-story

She knew that was the hook I needed to keep me on the phone when the Survivor China finale was on!

She and her husband have two other adopted children and they have been praying for a few months about this particular little boy and how all the finances and other considerations might be worked out.

Well, the “God story” piece of this call was that the little boy has an inheritance!  His college education will be paid for as well as all the adoption costs!  When my friend protested that this was not necessary…the response she got was, “You don’t understand, you cannot say ‘no’, it is an inheritance!’

That conversation must have been meant to seal the sermon on 1 Peter deeper in my heart because I have pondered it all morning.

This letter written to exiles whose lives were anything but hope filled was built around the idea of the sure hope that one can have in an inheritance.

Peter’s heart was as full as my friend’s when he spoke the truth to suffering saints as deep encouragement and powerful help to persevere.

He wanted them to see with the eyes of faith to the other side of the persecution and alienation that they were enduring.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:3-9

I was struck by the interweaving of hope and faith in Peter’s words.

Hope has come to us as part of the new birth–we do not have to work it up–it is a grace gift!

  • it rests not on a vague feeling or wishful positive thoughts–it rests on the sure evidence that death was not the last word for Jesus–He was resurrected victoriously over death!
  • since He lives eternally–we have a living hope–one that knows no end.
  • since the inheritance is being guarded by the power of omnipotent and eternal God, we need not fear loss or that we will come to the end of our days and face bankruptcy.
  • he describes the inheritance as imperishable, unspoiled, and gloriously and permanently brilliant — life eternal.
  • Peter assures the readers that their hope is as secure as an inheritance–and gives them perspective on the present by reminding them that an inheritance is something you wait to receive.

However: The life he was promising as an inheritance contrasted with the reality they were living in the moment–their eyes saw people perishing, beauty and goodness spoiled by evil and light fading into suffocating darkness.

  • Faith is introduced as the instrument that would give these suffering saints the “eyes” to  “see” a greater reality than the one before their physical eyes.
  • Faith would be the instrument through which they would receive God’s sustaining grace as they suffered and anticipated their secure inheritance that was being shielded and protected by the power of God.

Why?  Peter’s answer is that what we cannot see is more precious to God than what we can!

  • We don’t have eyes to see the dross of unbelief mixed in with faith–God does–faith is precious to Him so He refines it with the fires of suffering.
  • We don’t have eyes to see the praiseworthiness of the Living One–Jesus —God does and He uses persevering faith through suffering to gain praise and glory for His precious Son!

How grateful I am for my friend’s phone call!

God used her words to reorient my vision…there was a real Survivor finale that took place over 2000 years ago and His victory–having survived death– secured my inheritance—I have a Living Hope!

Though I have not seen Him — I love Him and the unbeckoned joy that wells up and generates inexpressible delight as I ponder Peter’s words is evidence that I am receiving in the present an installment on my future inheritance.

I can’t say “No” it is an inheritance!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!