Grace

I have been reading Jerry Bridges' book called Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love.  It is a great read and something I would recommend reading and reminding myself of on a regular basis.  I came across a passage and I wanted to share it.  In his 1991 publication, he writes on page 169 at the bottom of the page:

"This is the amazing story of God's grace.  God saves us by His grace and transforms us more and more into the likeness of His Son by His grace.  In all our trials and afflictions, He sustains and strengthens us by His grace.  He calls us by grace to perform our own unique function within the Body of Christ.  Then again by grace, He gives to each of us spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill our calling. As we serve Him, He makes that service acceptable to Himself by grace, and then rewards us a hundredfold by grace."  

How very true and what a good reminder to myself that not only am I saved by grace, but that I live empowered by grace to do the good works that Christ has enabled me to do.  (Ephesians 2:10)  How very true that grace is never done with me!  How very true that I am ALWAYS in need of grace and to be in touch with the enormous grace of God!

Jesus washed the feet of Judas

 I have always been amazed at how the gospels make it abundantly clear that Jesus knew that someone was going to betray him and that He continued to minister with Judas on his team anyway.  Most of us if we are honest are not willing to look past the knowledge that someone has betrayed us and I think if we could predict it with accuracy we would cut ties with any individual whom we knew was going to bring us harm.  And yet Jesus continued to minister alongside Judas.  He taught and Judas could hear.  He walked and Judas could follow.  And even moments before the betrayal, Jesus washes the feet of the one He knew would betray Him.  What mercy!  

I wonder if we can learn from this submission to the plan of God.  Jesus, knowing what God was accomplishing, understood that the betrayal from one close to Him was a part of what God was doing in His life to accomplish salvation for all.  To avoid or dodge this goal would have been to disallow one part of the bigger plan of God.

That is the secret to finding our way through pain - to acknowledge that in a way we may not be able to understand that the pain is a means by which God will accomplish His purposes in our lives.  If we are to avoid it or dodge it because of our own desires we may miss that which God has allowed for our good.   This is not to say that there does not come a time to part ways with those who are hurting us - Jesus does not hide or deny the truth - He in fact points it out on more than one occasion.  But He still served in love the one he knew would betray Him - for the glory of God.  And we can do the same.

What I Have Been Reading

I make it a goal each year to read at least 20 books.  Compared to some, this is probably a small number and to some it seems unattainable.  I have only failed this once since I have been making the goal (I read 19 books in 2019).  But this is not just about my reading history.  It is about what I have been reading.  I think that reading is important.  And so I keep track of what I read through reading journal. But the more I read, the more I want to read.  I want to read biographies.  I want to read theological books.  I want to read books that are fictional.  I want to read good books.  I want to read.  But the more I read the more I stand amazed at the beauty and glory of the written Word of God.  The more that I appreciate that God spoke to us through Christ and spoke to us through the Bible so that we read and learn from what has been said.  The more I read the more I want to read the Bible.

Think about all of the things we read.  We read a newspaper for news.  We read online articles to learn about what we are interested in.  We read books.  And none of the things we read guarantee themselves to be true.  The newspaper lies all the time.  They have a column dedicated to corrections in most major newspapers.  Online articles are not bound to any standard of truth.  Books can be totally fictional even if they claim to be otherwise.  These mediums are all one sided presentations by the authors or editors.  None of them would be bold enough to claim absolute truth.  And yet God says, "My Word is Truth".  (see John 17).  Only God claims to be He who does not lie.  And so we can trust His Word to be totally true.  

God's Word gives us the promise that it will not return void.  Only His book promises that it will be useful for correction and training in righteousness among other things.  

And so the more I read the more I want to read the Bible. The more that I appreciate the Bible.  So, what are you reading?  What do you want to read?

Going back to school with uncertainty

 This year has been a really odd year.  There is so much uncertainty, and in particular a lot of uncertainty surrounding how schools are going to respond this fall to the presence of a virus.  If we choose as adult to focus on this all it is very unnerving and I cannot even imagine the children adjusting to all of the changes and unknowns of what school will look like this fall.  

This is a great time to talk with your kids about the uncertain nature of the world in which we live and the very certain nature and character of God.  Our God is a God who does not change.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  And therefore we can have confidence and hope in Him for all time.  Our world however changes.  Our own lives are described in very temporary terms - we are a vapor, a mist that is here in one moment and gone the next.  And yet our unchanging God cares about what is happening in the midst of our uncertain lives.

Point your kids to God.  Point your grand kids to God.  Point yourself to God and realize that in the midst of all of the change, there is certainty in Him.  Take hold of that certainty and find hope!

A War Fought with God Needs No Human Weapons

"Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.'"  

                                                                                                1 Sam. 17:45 (NASB)

It is fascinating to me the things that I think I need in order to fight my battles.  Ideally, I would want all of my tools and weapons to be significantly better than those of my adversaries.  I want the odds stacked in my favor, and I want a pre-existing knowledge of the inevitability of my victory.  I am a calculator.  And if something does not appear to be in my favor, I usually do not engage the battle.  

This is true for me in everything from tackling a plumbing problem myself to trying something out of my comfort zone (like flying).  I am not going to likely do it unless I can gather the proper tools that give me the feeling of certain victory.  

I think that sometimes this is how we engage our spiritual warfare as well.  We think we can only fight those battles that we know we will win.  We only witness when we know there is a nearly certain positive result.  We only pursue the will of God when we know it aligns with what we want and are good at.  We hate the feeling of weakness and trust and reliance.   This is truly a sad place to be.  God wants to use us in our weakness and to demonstrate that He is strong and that we are dependent and reliant upon Him!  As David enters this battle against Goliath he acknowledges that Goliath has all of the advantages.  He has the height, he has the weapons, he has the upper hand from the human side and yet David is equally assured of his own victory, not because of his tools, but because of the God who stands for him to fight his battles.  

This is our hope as well.  It is not in the talents, abilities or gifts that we have, but in the God who stands with us, ready to fight for us.  Which is why when Paul talks about the armor of God in Ephesians 6 he puts it in the context of our job - to stand firm and allow God to work! So stand firm.  And let God fight for you.  He will do better than you would have anyway!

Celebrating Our Freedom

Every time we get close to a national holiday celebrating all that we have I want to remind myself that God is not the God of the United States of America, He is God of the nations.  While it is wonderful to think about all of the freedoms that we have - none of them are guaranteed to continue and I wonder sometimes if they go away how the church will change.  If we lose our right to assembly, will we still gather?   If we lose our right to speech, will we still proclaim the death of the Lord until His return?  If we lose the freedom of religion, will we stop serving our Savior?

Far too often the nation in which we live becomes confused with the promised land.  Because of all of our freedoms and because of our nations history we sometimes wrongly believe that the USA has a special place in the heart of God.  This is not a biblical thought.  Nations rise and fall.  Nations plot and scheme.  And yet God sits on his throne and laughs.  (see Psalm 2).  We also know the end of the story and what is to come and it is not pretty for those who believe until Jesus returns.  

So by all means we can celebrate the freedom we have in America, but would it not be better to focus on the freedom that we have because of the sacrifice of Christ?  This is permanent, the former may well be temporary.  

A Tribute to Graduates

It is around this time of year that normally we would be thinking about all of the accomplishments of a group of young people who have completed 12 years of schooling.  They started with the basics - ABC's, colors, numbers.  After 12 years hopefully they have a combined book knowledge and can tell you about history and math and science combined with some practical knowledge on how to get along on their own as they move on to the next phase of their lives.  I want to honor the work that these students have put in, and I think that we all should.  

It has been hard this year because they have gotten an early introduction into the world of adulthood.  And for many of them I think they would be wise to remember and learn from the lessons that this spring has taught.  I want to articulate a few of those now:

1. Life does not hand you success.  You have had to endure not getting the accolades that people last year did and next years may get.  That does not mean your accomplishments are diminished.  We do not work for the accolades that people give us.  "Whatever you do in word or do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."  (Colossians 3:17, NASB)  We do not do what we do for our own sake, but for the glory of God and life, nor the Scriptures demand that you will receive the success you desire - you do it for Jesus.

2. Life has disappointment.  I fear in the younger generation a belief that life is supposed to just give a series of wins and victories. Life has disappointment.  Life is hard.  Life is not fair.  This side of sin life will continue to be hard until Jesus returns which leads me to point 3.

3. Only Jesus can offer true satisfaction.  There is only one source for true joy and hope and peace and all of the blessing you seek. His name is Jesus.  This is not to say that in Jesus you will find your own success or your life free from disappointment.  But He and He alone has the power and might to make your life into something worthwhile.  But this requires sacrifice.  You must give yourself wholly to Him!  My prayer for you is that you will seek the Scriptures and do just that!  Give your life to Jesus.