God is immutable. That is to say, that perfection cannot be improved upon.
Malachi 3:6 I the LORD do not change.
James 1:17 …the Father of the heavenly lights …does not change like shifting shadows.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He does not change and therefore cannot be changed. A sovereign God cannot be acted upon and be caused to feel or do anything. That he is sovereign means that he is never out of control of the situation or his response to it. He chooses how he feels and acts as opposed to having his emotions inflicted upon him by circumstances, whether his or ours.
If we were sovereign over our emotions, it is almost certain that we would choose to be happy and content in what was going well and at worst, calm and detached when having to endure that which was unpleasant.
It is easy to imagine one who is sovereign both over his circumstances and his emotions as never having his feathers ruffled. But this is not the case with God. He is anything but removed or disconnected, but rather, he chooses real and rational responses to our pain.
Isa 63:9 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Hosea 12:8 “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. 9 No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy.
I cannot picture God being “distressed” or “torn”, but there it is: An emotionally present God, doing all that he pleases…
Psalms 115:3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
… and yet entering our pain and overflowing with sympathy we do not deserve.
Mark 1:41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"
I cannot accurately, exhaustively picture divine sovereignty or timeless eternality. I must choose to speak to him in my pain as a child in time and know that despite whatever comfort I may take from his control over all things, he always responds as one who is compassionately involved.
Jesus wept. John 11:35
We will become like the God we worship. The God we worship chooses to feel our pain deeply. We must do the same. Then one day, these finely tuned and deepened emotions will know only the pleasure of his unending company.
Psalms 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Stopping Bullets
Ephesians 6:16 Hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
What if occasions for worry, doubt, disbelief and bitterness, things that Satan intends to harm our faith, were actually used by God to increase the power of faith? What if we were like Neo in the closing scene of Matrix and could hold up our hand of faith and stop bullets in their tracks, proving our power over them and causing demons to run and hide.
What if pain and sorrow and grief and loss actually produced joy rather than disillusionment? Not joy that replaces sorrow and grief, but joy that mingles with grief, like fire-retardant foam that mixes with spilled fuel, rendering it inert.
Better yet, what if pain in this world actually caused us to seek after God’s comfort and he gave it to us. 2Co 1:5 The more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.
What if this comfort received, increased our faith in Christ now and amplified our faith in the comfort to come? What if our dreams skipped right past any earthly promises of satisfaction and landed firmly on the hope that cannot disappoint, the dream that cannot be shattered.
Romans 5:2 … we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
What if pain and comfort from God increased hope in God’s promise of perfection to come and so mingled with our sorrow, so that sorrow, rather than eroding faith actually increased it and along with it, joy and strength and confidence.
What if God’s intentions actually won out over Satan’s? What if God really were working all things together for good to them that love God? What if…?
It would disarm the Devil.
What if occasions for worry, doubt, disbelief and bitterness, things that Satan intends to harm our faith, were actually used by God to increase the power of faith? What if we were like Neo in the closing scene of Matrix and could hold up our hand of faith and stop bullets in their tracks, proving our power over them and causing demons to run and hide.
What if pain and sorrow and grief and loss actually produced joy rather than disillusionment? Not joy that replaces sorrow and grief, but joy that mingles with grief, like fire-retardant foam that mixes with spilled fuel, rendering it inert.
Better yet, what if pain in this world actually caused us to seek after God’s comfort and he gave it to us. 2Co 1:5 The more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.
What if this comfort received, increased our faith in Christ now and amplified our faith in the comfort to come? What if our dreams skipped right past any earthly promises of satisfaction and landed firmly on the hope that cannot disappoint, the dream that cannot be shattered.
Romans 5:2 … we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
What if pain and comfort from God increased hope in God’s promise of perfection to come and so mingled with our sorrow, so that sorrow, rather than eroding faith actually increased it and along with it, joy and strength and confidence.
What if God’s intentions actually won out over Satan’s? What if God really were working all things together for good to them that love God? What if…?
It would disarm the Devil.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Cancer Returns
Psalms 139:16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Yesterday, May 11th, 2010 was written in God’s book before it ever came to be. This is great comfort to Theresa and me as we grapple with the news that her ovarian cancer has returned and that a medical cure is no longer held out to us as a viable goal.
It means everything to me that God has a plan and that he values Theresa. He is not unaware or capricious but gentle and loving and kind.
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
And
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Our hope for healing, we now leave in the hands of Jesus, who according to Matthew 8:3 is willing and able …
Matthew 8:3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
We recognize that this may not be God’s intention and so look to his sufficient grace, should he choose to bring Theresa home.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord… But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you.”
When you pray for us, please pray that God would continue to grant faith, a day at a time that we might trust him, for there is no safer, surer place.
Yesterday, May 11th, 2010 was written in God’s book before it ever came to be. This is great comfort to Theresa and me as we grapple with the news that her ovarian cancer has returned and that a medical cure is no longer held out to us as a viable goal.
It means everything to me that God has a plan and that he values Theresa. He is not unaware or capricious but gentle and loving and kind.
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
And
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Our hope for healing, we now leave in the hands of Jesus, who according to Matthew 8:3 is willing and able …
Matthew 8:3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
We recognize that this may not be God’s intention and so look to his sufficient grace, should he choose to bring Theresa home.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord… But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you.”
When you pray for us, please pray that God would continue to grant faith, a day at a time that we might trust him, for there is no safer, surer place.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
What James Cannot Mean
James 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Whether this passage is speaking of physical ailments and or spiritual despondency, medicinal or ceremonial application of oil, this passage cannot mean that every time the elders gather and pray, that an individual will escape a life-threatening predicament by miraculous or even gradual healing.
Not only would this understanding of the passage fly in the face of every biblical condition that is placed on answered prayer, such as James 4:15 "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live…"
It would also mean that the world would be jam-packed with very old Christians and God’s appointment book would be filled with erasure marks where there had been memos regarding joyful encounters that he had planned. In our grief, I think we may even miss the emphasis that should be placed on a passage like…
Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no-one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. 2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
God does our loved ones a favor, does what is best for them, when he takes them home, despite the fact that we are left in this place known as “the land of the shadow of death.” Isaiah 9:2
Neither can James mean that the faith of the elders was insufficient to bring about healing or else Paul would have assumed responsibility here:
2 Timothy 4:20 …I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.
Philippians 2:27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
What do we do if it is God’s will that we suffer loss, we fight to endure and continue…
1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God‘s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
1 Peter 3:17 It is better, if it is God‘s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
We are responsible to believe and endure and persevere with the grace God provides that comes in the form of emotional and spiritual joy which is our strength. God provides daily as we wait on him. May he increase our faith and may we remain faithful.
Whether this passage is speaking of physical ailments and or spiritual despondency, medicinal or ceremonial application of oil, this passage cannot mean that every time the elders gather and pray, that an individual will escape a life-threatening predicament by miraculous or even gradual healing.
Not only would this understanding of the passage fly in the face of every biblical condition that is placed on answered prayer, such as James 4:15 "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live…"
It would also mean that the world would be jam-packed with very old Christians and God’s appointment book would be filled with erasure marks where there had been memos regarding joyful encounters that he had planned. In our grief, I think we may even miss the emphasis that should be placed on a passage like…
Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no-one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. 2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
God does our loved ones a favor, does what is best for them, when he takes them home, despite the fact that we are left in this place known as “the land of the shadow of death.” Isaiah 9:2
Neither can James mean that the faith of the elders was insufficient to bring about healing or else Paul would have assumed responsibility here:
2 Timothy 4:20 …I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.
Philippians 2:27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
What do we do if it is God’s will that we suffer loss, we fight to endure and continue…
1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God‘s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
1 Peter 3:17 It is better, if it is God‘s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
We are responsible to believe and endure and persevere with the grace God provides that comes in the form of emotional and spiritual joy which is our strength. God provides daily as we wait on him. May he increase our faith and may we remain faithful.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
God’s Wrath May Seem Ugly, However;
Behind the hatred of sin stands the beauty of holiness. Behind the wrath and retribution that condemns sin and destroys sinners is a pure beauty so precious, enthralling, gripping, alluring, that it elicits worship as awe and admiration and acclaim and fascination and submission. Behind the wrath of God stands God worthy of our praise.
Psalms 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Exodus 15:11 "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Psalms 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Psalms 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
Isaiah 33:17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
Psalms 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Exodus 15:11 "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Psalms 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Psalms 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
Isaiah 33:17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
Worrying vs. Believing
Worrying is the decision to anticipate suffering and then to voluntarily enter into the experience of that suffering without the grace God provides when we suffer according to his will. It is sinful disobedience and gains nothing.
Faith is hope in future grace, it is to anticipate more grace based on God’s track-record and promises that he will supply sufficient grace for whatever he calls us to actually suffer for him and then to begin to experience that grace in his provision and presence in obedience to his command to believe.
2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Faith is hope in future grace, it is to anticipate more grace based on God’s track-record and promises that he will supply sufficient grace for whatever he calls us to actually suffer for him and then to begin to experience that grace in his provision and presence in obedience to his command to believe.
2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Fireproof Joy
I sometimes wish I could preach an easy, happy message and tell everybody that everything is going to be ok, but the truth is far more exciting and devastating, compelling and challenging and life–giving. My constant companion this past week has been Philippians 1:29 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”
Two things are granted: faith and suffering. Neither is easy to communicate.
It is difficult to tell people that faith itself is a granted commodity, though not granted to all, and to those it is granted – not in equal amounts. Romans 12:3 NASV …God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Our notions of equity do not square with God’s concept of justice which is fair and grace, that is even better than fair. As R.C. Sproul says in “The Holiness of God”, “God is not obligated to treat all people equally” pg. 128
Along with granting us faith, he has planned opportunities for us to engage that measure of faith in suffering. This will expand the borders of our souls, break us and cause us to cast our anxiety on him, rely on him, hope in him, be the blessed ones as we mourn, because we trust that we will be comforted.
Saying this, choosing to believe this, preparing for this, will not be easy, but somehow we must activate our faith and forge a theology of faith that thrives in the midst of pain and then live it. That is what is granted to us. A hope – a faith in grace God hasn’t given yet, that will sustain us through suffering.
Paul said - 1 Corinthians 15:19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. And in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you.”
If you are merely trusting that Christ is going to give you a nice life here, you are not continuing in the teaching of Christ and that is our goal. 2 John 1:9 "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son".
It was Christ who taught us we would suffer for him John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
And
Acts 9:16 "And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
Forward looking faith, Jesus focused faith, faith that produces joy that thrives in pain is fireproof Joy. Joy that flourishes in everything going well can always be taken away, but joy that draws from a source that expects pain, sees past pain, cannot be vanquished. There is something worth investing in, developing, acquiring, honing.
It is on this treasure we must set our sights. If we could grow a happiness that thrives because it expects and is prepared for suffering and sees past suffering to eternal prosperity, then we have accomplished something of great value that brings great honor to God.
Pray that God would grant all of us an increasing measure of faith that looks like this.
Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
Two things are granted: faith and suffering. Neither is easy to communicate.
It is difficult to tell people that faith itself is a granted commodity, though not granted to all, and to those it is granted – not in equal amounts. Romans 12:3 NASV …God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Our notions of equity do not square with God’s concept of justice which is fair and grace, that is even better than fair. As R.C. Sproul says in “The Holiness of God”, “God is not obligated to treat all people equally” pg. 128
Along with granting us faith, he has planned opportunities for us to engage that measure of faith in suffering. This will expand the borders of our souls, break us and cause us to cast our anxiety on him, rely on him, hope in him, be the blessed ones as we mourn, because we trust that we will be comforted.
Saying this, choosing to believe this, preparing for this, will not be easy, but somehow we must activate our faith and forge a theology of faith that thrives in the midst of pain and then live it. That is what is granted to us. A hope – a faith in grace God hasn’t given yet, that will sustain us through suffering.
Paul said - 1 Corinthians 15:19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. And in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you.”
If you are merely trusting that Christ is going to give you a nice life here, you are not continuing in the teaching of Christ and that is our goal. 2 John 1:9 "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son".
It was Christ who taught us we would suffer for him John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
And
Acts 9:16 "And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
Forward looking faith, Jesus focused faith, faith that produces joy that thrives in pain is fireproof Joy. Joy that flourishes in everything going well can always be taken away, but joy that draws from a source that expects pain, sees past pain, cannot be vanquished. There is something worth investing in, developing, acquiring, honing.
It is on this treasure we must set our sights. If we could grow a happiness that thrives because it expects and is prepared for suffering and sees past suffering to eternal prosperity, then we have accomplished something of great value that brings great honor to God.
Pray that God would grant all of us an increasing measure of faith that looks like this.
Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
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