Thanks to all who commented on the previous blog. I find this very cathartic and have come to the place where I truly value, as I think Paul did, being joined in “suffering for the gospel.”
2Ti 1:8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,
I think our joy in him, especially in suffering, glorifies him and displays his worth.
Of course, like others, when feeling the pain, I begin to ask the big eternal and universal questions about suffering and why God has planned such an economy of suffering in his story.
The question is asked, “Why would God allow human free-will, knowing that great suffering would result?” The answer is given, “God desires to be freely loved, just as anyone would and so the choice to love him, or to refuse to love him, had to be granted.”
The second question that should be asked is, “But were not we, who love him, chosen to do so, before the foundation of the world?”
Eph 1:4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Does not our chosen-ness negate our free-will and therefore nullify the previous argument for its necessity?
No. God’s sovereign choice never diminishes the value of our choice to love him or our responsibility when we refuse to trust him, regardless of our inability to comprehend this fact.
I will always have chosen to trust and love God and it will always matter that I did. It matters even now, perhaps most of all when he has allowed circumstances necessary for his plan, his glory, necessary for my eternal good, that can only be seen as negative in and of themselves.
I still have free will. He will not accomplish his will in me apart from mine.
Php 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
He will do this through – in conjunction with - my willingness to see it completed.
Php 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Choosing to trust and love him because I want to, because he proves himself sovereign, wise, loving and good has always mattered and it always will.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Complaining Up
I have seen the rock face of scripture bleed life-giving water until I could not help but overflow with what God was speaking through it. There is no better “high” than being thrilled with all that God is saying, especially for one who begged him to speak as a teen.
It has been weeks since I felt overflowing. I sip trickles here and there. I cling to that rock face and beg for water, but nothing fills my soul to overflowing. I cannot get enough of Him. At least not right now. I said that I would not blog for any other reason than that.
This is depression. Perhaps it is the appropriate emotional response to loss. It is accompanied with doubts concerning the goodness of God, the love of God and the trustworthiness for God, things I could never “preach” from the pulpit, but deep waters we all go through.
We’re tempted to pity the depressed. This of course is poison. Pity is feeling sorry for someone and relating to them on that basis which only feeds the illness rather than raising the expectation that it will pass and it will. No one can live here, at least not for long. No sane person would want to.
For now, I have questions without answers, pain without resolve and a hope that is so hard to maintain it takes all my strength. The one thing I need is faith. Faith to believe the promises and the future that God has in store for his children. Faith that he gives and enables me to live, but in reality, what other choice is there but to believe and to live it despite how we may feel. Feelings are not our God. God is.
Job felt it.
Job 30:21 You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.
Jeremiah felt it.
Lam 3:7 He has walled me in so that I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
David felt it.
Ps 69:2 Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold. I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me.
Paul felt it
2Co 1:8 We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.
Perhaps depression is just an avenue for faith, a time in which the expression of faith sounds different.
Ps 142:2 I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.
I think this is where to go with it. Not to everyone, perhaps a little with a few, but mostly we ought to “complain up” as Tom Hanks said in Saving Private Ryan
This is still prayer, still faith, just the faith and the prayers of the hurting who hope that One will do something about it, show his compassion, express his care by a means that will actually comfort and restore faith, make it easier to believe in a good, loving, trustworthy God until Our faith is sight. And He will.
1Thes 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
It has been weeks since I felt overflowing. I sip trickles here and there. I cling to that rock face and beg for water, but nothing fills my soul to overflowing. I cannot get enough of Him. At least not right now. I said that I would not blog for any other reason than that.
This is depression. Perhaps it is the appropriate emotional response to loss. It is accompanied with doubts concerning the goodness of God, the love of God and the trustworthiness for God, things I could never “preach” from the pulpit, but deep waters we all go through.
We’re tempted to pity the depressed. This of course is poison. Pity is feeling sorry for someone and relating to them on that basis which only feeds the illness rather than raising the expectation that it will pass and it will. No one can live here, at least not for long. No sane person would want to.
For now, I have questions without answers, pain without resolve and a hope that is so hard to maintain it takes all my strength. The one thing I need is faith. Faith to believe the promises and the future that God has in store for his children. Faith that he gives and enables me to live, but in reality, what other choice is there but to believe and to live it despite how we may feel. Feelings are not our God. God is.
Job felt it.
Job 30:21 You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.
Jeremiah felt it.
Lam 3:7 He has walled me in so that I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
David felt it.
Ps 69:2 Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold. I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me.
Paul felt it
2Co 1:8 We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.
Perhaps depression is just an avenue for faith, a time in which the expression of faith sounds different.
Ps 142:2 I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.
I think this is where to go with it. Not to everyone, perhaps a little with a few, but mostly we ought to “complain up” as Tom Hanks said in Saving Private Ryan
This is still prayer, still faith, just the faith and the prayers of the hurting who hope that One will do something about it, show his compassion, express his care by a means that will actually comfort and restore faith, make it easier to believe in a good, loving, trustworthy God until Our faith is sight. And He will.
1Thes 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Leadership is Influence.
Regardless of structures and restrictions, regardless of culture or perceived or real gender differences, regardless of how our faith and understanding of Scripture limits us, God uses whom he desires, how he desires, to lead, influence, persuade and transform others. So do we all.
Acts 13:50 Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.
No godly person desires to exalt himself or herself to position or title, but all the godly wish to be used by God to glorify God, even if it means letting go of the demand to be perceived in all things as equal.
Philippians 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
Like Jesus, our chief agenda is not that all equality be perceived and immediately honoured, but rather that God be exalted even at the expense of our humility.
How will God use you to lead others, influence others, persuade others, to a place where they recognize his glory and give him praise? By means of your humble, joyful, resourceful, responsible, risk-taking service to God.
1 Peter 3:1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives,
Are we all equal? Absolutely! Is proving that and proclaiming that the Christian agenda? No. Does God challenge our pride in a gender-distinct fashion? Why wouldn’t he? Why wouldn’t he meet us at our point of weakness, exactly where Satan attacks. Why wouldn’t he challenge a weakness until it became a strength? He wants to use you. Excuses won’t do. We are equal in our ability to be used to influence others, even if we differ in our suitability to a particular, gender-specific office.
Acts 13:50 Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.
No godly person desires to exalt himself or herself to position or title, but all the godly wish to be used by God to glorify God, even if it means letting go of the demand to be perceived in all things as equal.
Philippians 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
Like Jesus, our chief agenda is not that all equality be perceived and immediately honoured, but rather that God be exalted even at the expense of our humility.
How will God use you to lead others, influence others, persuade others, to a place where they recognize his glory and give him praise? By means of your humble, joyful, resourceful, responsible, risk-taking service to God.
1 Peter 3:1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives,
Are we all equal? Absolutely! Is proving that and proclaiming that the Christian agenda? No. Does God challenge our pride in a gender-distinct fashion? Why wouldn’t he? Why wouldn’t he meet us at our point of weakness, exactly where Satan attacks. Why wouldn’t he challenge a weakness until it became a strength? He wants to use you. Excuses won’t do. We are equal in our ability to be used to influence others, even if we differ in our suitability to a particular, gender-specific office.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Hebrews 12:7a Into Discipline... Endure
In preparation for this Sunday, I am recommending that you read through Hebrews 11 and 12 and consider the following outline. We always get more out of something when we have put more into it.
See you Sunday :)
Holding On to Holy Ground II
Interpreting suffering as schooling employs it as a means to holiness
1. View Difficult Circumstances As God’s Correction and Training in the Fight For Holiness
Hebrews 12:7a Endure hardship as discipline
2. Recognize That The Alternative is to Gaining Discipline is to Suffer Defeat
Hebrews 12:5 Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart
3. Know that God is Grooming You for Eternal Sonship
Hebrews 12:7b God is treating you as sons
"The authority of parents has been so eroded that discipline rarely if ever comes into play. It has generally ceased to be a part of sonship. It is small wonder that those brought up in such an atmosphere find genuine difficulty in understanding the discipline of God."
Donald Guthrie
See you Sunday :)
Holding On to Holy Ground II
Interpreting suffering as schooling employs it as a means to holiness
1. View Difficult Circumstances As God’s Correction and Training in the Fight For Holiness
Hebrews 12:7a Endure hardship as discipline
2. Recognize That The Alternative is to Gaining Discipline is to Suffer Defeat
Hebrews 12:5 Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart
3. Know that God is Grooming You for Eternal Sonship
Hebrews 12:7b God is treating you as sons
"The authority of parents has been so eroded that discipline rarely if ever comes into play. It has generally ceased to be a part of sonship. It is small wonder that those brought up in such an atmosphere find genuine difficulty in understanding the discipline of God."
Donald Guthrie
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Truth Worth Searching For
Ps 25:14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.
The Original NLT has it this way…
Friendship with the lord is reserved for those who fear him. With them he shares the secrets of his covenant.
Properly fearing the lord, which means trusting him and clinging to him just as much as we fear him... and pursuing friendship with him on that basis, points to an increased intimacy and knowledge, both experientially and cognitively.
If someone really matters to you, you will spend time with them and that time will deliver pleasure and benefit no matter how it is spent. Does God divulge secrets? Does he share some things with those closest to him while allowing others to merely scratch the surface? Do some, as Piper puts it, “Rake leaves while others mine gold”?
Though some mornings I feel dull and my mind wanders, there are other mornings where I feel I could burst. I write, I rejoice, I find what I am looking for: food for my soul that makes my heart glad.
This Sunday morning, I will get up at 5:30 as I always do, but before I enjoy devotions, I will hide Easter eggs for the kids. At 7 They will hunt for them and the hunt will be half the fun. They would be disappointed if I just handed them to them. Working for them, looking for them, makes them so much more valuable when found.
Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
The Original NLT has it this way…
Friendship with the lord is reserved for those who fear him. With them he shares the secrets of his covenant.
Properly fearing the lord, which means trusting him and clinging to him just as much as we fear him... and pursuing friendship with him on that basis, points to an increased intimacy and knowledge, both experientially and cognitively.
If someone really matters to you, you will spend time with them and that time will deliver pleasure and benefit no matter how it is spent. Does God divulge secrets? Does he share some things with those closest to him while allowing others to merely scratch the surface? Do some, as Piper puts it, “Rake leaves while others mine gold”?
Though some mornings I feel dull and my mind wanders, there are other mornings where I feel I could burst. I write, I rejoice, I find what I am looking for: food for my soul that makes my heart glad.
This Sunday morning, I will get up at 5:30 as I always do, but before I enjoy devotions, I will hide Easter eggs for the kids. At 7 They will hunt for them and the hunt will be half the fun. They would be disappointed if I just handed them to them. Working for them, looking for them, makes them so much more valuable when found.
Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Why Then Do We Still Fail?
Anonymous said...
Satan is defeated, in that we no longer fear death, but why, Andy, do we still fail due to Satan's lies and deceit while we are still living in this world? Is it because we do not fully understand or take hold of the fact that he is defeated, or does he still have some real power here in this world? Since he "[fell] from heaven like a lightning bolt", has he been here trying to trip us up? And what is our best defense against that?
April 18, 2011 12:33 PM
It is worse than that we “don’t understand”. We sin because we love it, because we prefer it and choose it over pleasing God in the moment. Until we cut through our pride and admit that our sinful desires demand instant gratification and we love to satisfy them, we will never defeat the actions that spring from them.
What is not defeated is our will. We still want to sin. Sin provides some pleasure, some relief, some status or benefit and we want it and refuse to consider the consequences to our consciences. Every time I knowingly sin, it is because I want to. That is the truth of 1Cor 10:13
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
I ought to be able to kid myself. When I want to gaze at something, think something, say something, eat something that I shouldn’t, I ought to recognize my sinful desire that says, “I want…” and say to that desire, “of course you do. You’re a sinful desire that hasn’t been put to death yet. Here let me help you with that…” and smother the bastard desire before he grows into a fully developed sinful action.
If you do not, your own sinful nature, in cahoots with the devil and his world full of attractions will steal your joy in the lord which is your strength. Learn this lesson every time you sin and know…
James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Satan is defeated, in that we no longer fear death, but why, Andy, do we still fail due to Satan's lies and deceit while we are still living in this world? Is it because we do not fully understand or take hold of the fact that he is defeated, or does he still have some real power here in this world? Since he "[fell] from heaven like a lightning bolt", has he been here trying to trip us up? And what is our best defense against that?
April 18, 2011 12:33 PM
It is worse than that we “don’t understand”. We sin because we love it, because we prefer it and choose it over pleasing God in the moment. Until we cut through our pride and admit that our sinful desires demand instant gratification and we love to satisfy them, we will never defeat the actions that spring from them.
What is not defeated is our will. We still want to sin. Sin provides some pleasure, some relief, some status or benefit and we want it and refuse to consider the consequences to our consciences. Every time I knowingly sin, it is because I want to. That is the truth of 1Cor 10:13
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
I ought to be able to kid myself. When I want to gaze at something, think something, say something, eat something that I shouldn’t, I ought to recognize my sinful desire that says, “I want…” and say to that desire, “of course you do. You’re a sinful desire that hasn’t been put to death yet. Here let me help you with that…” and smother the bastard desire before he grows into a fully developed sinful action.
If you do not, your own sinful nature, in cahoots with the devil and his world full of attractions will steal your joy in the lord which is your strength. Learn this lesson every time you sin and know…
James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Defeat of Satan
Psalms 76:5 Our boldest enemies have been plundered.
Seen from one angle, The defeat of Satan pictures people as mere possessions to be carted off according to the will of whomever is stronger. There is no mention of our will. The only focus is on the supremacy of Christ in the work of redemption.
Luke 11:21 For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.
Every person who comes to trust and treasure Christ is another display of his superior strength. Satan is defeated. He can no longer cause the believer to be controlled by a fear of death and thus be given over to living for the purpose of being distracted from death.
Hebrews 2:14b …only by dying could [Jesus] break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying
Referring to his impending death, Jesus states… John 12:31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
The judgment for the sin of the world fell upon the scourged and crucified Christ. The whole world is invited to take part in the benefits of that payment. Satan is stripped, disarmed, despite the fact that many don’t know it or choose not to believe it.
You could be free. You could have victory over Satan and the fear of death. And you could rejoice not only in that victory, but in the spoils of victory, the community of the redeemed amongst their redeemer for all eternity.
Luke 10 17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” 18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”
Seen from one angle, The defeat of Satan pictures people as mere possessions to be carted off according to the will of whomever is stronger. There is no mention of our will. The only focus is on the supremacy of Christ in the work of redemption.
Luke 11:21 For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.
Every person who comes to trust and treasure Christ is another display of his superior strength. Satan is defeated. He can no longer cause the believer to be controlled by a fear of death and thus be given over to living for the purpose of being distracted from death.
Hebrews 2:14b …only by dying could [Jesus] break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying
Referring to his impending death, Jesus states… John 12:31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
The judgment for the sin of the world fell upon the scourged and crucified Christ. The whole world is invited to take part in the benefits of that payment. Satan is stripped, disarmed, despite the fact that many don’t know it or choose not to believe it.
You could be free. You could have victory over Satan and the fear of death. And you could rejoice not only in that victory, but in the spoils of victory, the community of the redeemed amongst their redeemer for all eternity.
Luke 10 17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” 18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”
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