Resolutions. “Jesus does not need your resolutions, your recommitments, or your promises to try harder this year. If your resolve to obey God last year did not help you to be faithful, it will not make you successful this year. Jesus asks for your love.”
Christmas Is Over. Now What Do We Do with Jesus? “Celebrating the birth of that baby with the beautiful story of the stable and the manger is easy. But once the nativity sets are packed away (ok, ALL of my decorations aren’t put away yet), do we still think about Him?”
Leaving Christianity: How an Old Man Helped Save My Faith, HT to Challies. “If He was so good and so kind, why, despite my greatest efforts and consistent faith, was nothing working out? I was the kid who always kept his nose clean, had his act together, and tried to do the right thing. Why wasn’t I prospering?”
Prayer for My Heart This Election Year, HT to Challies. “Whether we’re interested in political science or not, this year with all of its candidates and craziness, will bring with it a raft of temptations. As I consider the year ahead, I know I need to guard my heart against the enemy’s attacks. Will you join with me in preparing your heart for whatever might happen in the months leading up to November 5?”
A Little Story about Worship. Dan Olinger shares a neat story about a worship experience in the Kenyan bush. It didn’t take place during the singing, but the offering time.
Chasity as Worship, HT to Challies. “I heard the message loud and clear: girls don’t struggle like boys do. So when I discovered that I had a sex-drive, I felt nothing but shame. I have carried that shame throughout most of my life and still, to this day, have to wrestle it down sometimes and triple-punch it with the truth of the Imago Dei, the God-created goodness of sexuality, and the full forgiveness in Christ for all our sins. But I want more for my daughter.”
I’m almost caught up after being several weeks behind with blog reading. So I have a longer than usual list of good reads to recommend. Perhaps one or two will pique your interest.
The Boy at the Front Desk. “I think I will always remember those ten minutes—that conversation that I wasn’t even part of—as a shining example both of what pain children are capable of feeling and of what hope and comfort we adults are capable of offering them.”
Tasting Heaven Now, HT to Challies. “‘If you died tonight, where would you spend eternity?’ I once completed an evangelism training course that taught us to initiate spiritual conversations with strangers by asking that question. . . . The promise of eternal life is a powerful motivator for faith and a precious promise of hope and comfort for God’s people. However, I fear that the church has so emphasized ‘going to heaven when you die’ that we sometimes give the impression that’s all faith is good for.” I’ve often thought that might not be the best question to start with, for reasons mentioned here.
20 Benefits of Being in God’s Word According to Psalm 119. “The Word of God is my anchor. It tethers my mind to the truth when the lies of the enemy are readily available. It wraps me with security when my future is uncertain. It pulls me back into the presence of God when I’ve sought the company of lesser pursuits.”
On Being a Heroic Man. “Rather than waiting and pining for an opportunity to display your heroism on a world stage, be willing and eager to display it on a small stage. Be heroic before your wife. Be heroic before your children. Be heroic before the few people God has called you to serve.”
Counseling Troubled Dreams, HT to Challies. “What do we make of these nighttime mini-movies that we can’t really control; are they just random neural impulses, strung together in some semblance of a narrative by our cerebellum, or are they messages from the “other side” to be painstakingly studied and interpreted? Or might there be some middle-of-the-road understanding that has practical importance in our Christian and counseling lives.”
Time Out: Do Clocks Keep Ticking in Eternity? This was so interesting to consider. I’d always heard that time as we know it will cease in eternity. It turns out that’s not the case.
It Is Bible Reading Time! Ways to keep a Bible Reading Journal plus various Bible reading plans.
When We Hurt Those Who Are Hurting, HT to Challies. “Those who hear these words might overlook the offense yet resolve to never again share their hearts with the perpetrators. Others assume that the comments are representative of the culture of God’s people, in which Christians should always be thankful and never complain. Either way, we isolate those who already feel alone, and we misrepresent the kingdom of God.”
Plan to Grow, HT to Challies. “In no area of my life have I ‘arrived’. I am being sanctified more and more, but there is a long way to Christlikeness. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hopeless. God has given me His great and precious promises that He has predestined to conform me to the image of Jesus (Rom 8:29). But even still, I’ve learned that if I don’t plan to grow, I’ll be less like Jesus than I could be.”
7 Practical Areas of Christian Stewardship. “The topic that’s been on my mind is a big one: stewardship. Now if you’ve grown up in the church, you may be tempted to roll your eyes, groan, and/or be filled with a general sense of dread. You probably associate this word with a request to open your already tight wallet, since many churches devote one or two months a year to what they call “stewardship” where the main topic is giving to the local church. But there is more to stewardship than money. Yes, it’s part of it, but there is so much more. As Christians, we are stewards of all that God has given us.”
Not Neurotypical: A Love Story, HT to Challies. “With my firstborn, I learned that my child was not a problem to be solved or fixed, but a person to be loved and understood as God made him. I came to believe in my heart that this child was given to us for a reason—because God knew that we were exactly the parents and the family that he needed.”
This Is a Gift You Can Give, HT to Challies. On a family visiting a nursing home at Christmas, but true not just at Christmas: “I want you to know how much kindness and presence means to people. It may be awkward to sing carols or visit with people you don’t know, but this is a gift we can give . . .Our time, our love, our kindness, ourselves. Jesus gave us everything, His very life. His life for ours.”
Face the New Year with the Old Book. Face the new needs with the old promises. Face the new problems with the old Gospel. – Author Unknown
We usually put the wise men with the Nativity scene, representing their part of the Christmas story. But the wise men didn’t arrive to visit Jesus and His family until some time later.
After the wise men gave Jesus their gifts, they were warned in a dream not to go back the way they had come, the way to king Herod. He had said he wanted to know where the new king was, so he could pay Him homage, too. But he actually wanted to destroy what he saw as his rival.
Joseph, meanwhile, had been warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt until the danger was past. So, thankfully, Jesus was safe.
When the wise men did not return and Herod realized he’d been tricked, he was so furious that he had all the male babies under the age of two in the region of Bethlehem killed.
How jarring, after all the talk about peace on earth and good will toward men, to have this horrible, senseless thing happen.
Satan is a defeated foe: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).
Satan is something like a general who gets word that the war is over; the army has been defeated. But until the authorities come for him, he’s going to wreak as much havoc and destruction as he can.
Or he’s like a snake that a neighbor in my childhood killed after getting it out of our house. Though she chopped off its head, its body still writhed and its mouth still opened and closed. It was not a poisonous snake, thankfully. But if it had been, it would have still been dangerous for a while even after death.
Satan’s targets are anything belonging to God. Revelation 12 gives us an allegorical picture:
When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male child. . . . So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus (Revelation 12: 13,17, CSB) (p. 146).
So what about peace on earth? Does that not come until Jesus returns? Does mankind just hold on until then, trying not to drown in violence, injustice, and oppression?
No. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” He carried the weight of all sin on Himself, paying its penalty in our stead.
He gives us peace with Him when we believe on Him as our Lord and Savior.
Then He gives us peace in the midst of life’s storms and trials because He is with us.
He gives us peace because He is our peace: “Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:13-14a).
Ultimately, the day will come when Satan will be done away with completely. Violence and oppression will cease. Someday, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6).
Until then, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
We may have faced sorrows and troubles even at Christmas time. We don’t know what the year ahead might hold. But we can face whatever comes with God’s peace.
We moved when I was in junior high, and my new school was the most clique-ish place I have ever seen. Very distinct groups rarely interacted with each other except when required to for class. I spent weeks, maybe months, eating alone and walking around the grounds in tears during lunch break until finally I found a friend.
So that’s one option when we feel unwanted: cry. 🙂
Another option might be to become a pathetic sycophant, doing anything to be accepted into the group. Kids get drawn into gangs this way.
A third option could be embracing the opportunity to be a maverick, with a “Who needs them, anyway” attitude.
Unfortunately, some people seek revenge on the group for making them feel like an outsider.
One of the saddest Bible verses to me is John 1:11: “(Jesus) came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
The world was inhospitable to Him since He was in the womb.
There was no room for Him to be born (Luke 2:1-7).
Herod tried to kill Jesus by having all the male babies under two years of age in Bethlehem killed (Matthew 2:13-23).
Satan tried to tempt Jesus to do away with Himself (Matthew 4:1-11).
During His public ministry, Jesus had “nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:19-21).
His own half-brothers did not believe in Him (John 7:3-5).
People listened while He healed and gave them food. But when He started to say “hard things,” they left (John 6:60-71).
Some tried to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:28-30).
His disciples often didn’t understand or argued over which of them would be the greatest.
The scribes and Pharisees publicly debated and baited Him and eventually called for Him to be crucified.
He was the Messiah they had been promised and were expecting for centuries. But He wasn’t quite the kind of Messiah they were looking for. They didn’t just ignore Him or overlook Him: they rejected Him. Some went even further than rejection: they sought to do away with Him.
Jesus, thankfully, did not choose any of our listed options when people ignored, rejected, despised, or threatened Him.
He loved.
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
He didn’t wait to die for us until we had cleaned up our act. He knew when He came that people would reject Him. But He loved them anyway. He took the initiative and sought to turn their hearts to Himself.
John 1 goes on to say that, though His own people did not receive Him, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10).
He goes beyond acknowledging and saving us. He makes His home with us. “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him'” (John 14:23). He rejoices over us with joy, prepares a place for us.
Even once we come to know Him, we can sometimes let the cares of this life crowd Him out. We celebrate His coming with such frenzied activity that we neglect the very One whose birth we’re celebrating.
Room for pleasure, room for business, But for Christ the Crucified, Not a place that He can enter, In the heart for which He died? – D. W. Whittle, “Have You Any Room for Jesus?”
His love is perfect and perseveres despite all obstacles.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room, and heav’n and nature sing. – Isaac Watts
May our hearts be hospitable to our Savior. May we not only make room for Him in our minds, affections, and time: may we give Him first place. And may we let His initiating, persevering love flow through us to others.
I’m not sure where or when or how the phrase originated, but the last few years I’ve seen many women fretting over not being “enough.”
My first thought on hearing this was “Enough for what?” Enough for their responsibilities? For the demands on their time? Enough spiritually? Enough in their relationships?
My second thought was “Of course we’re not ‘enough.'”
In speaking of his ministry to the Corinthians, Paul states, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us” (2 Corinthians 3:5). In place of “sufficient,” some other translations use “competent,” “qualified,” “adequate”—all synonyms for “enough.” The dictionary definition for “sufficient” uses the word “enough.”
One commentary said this verse hearkened back to a question Paul asked in chapter 2, verse 16. After speaking about spreading the “fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere,” Paul asks, “Who is sufficient for these things?”
The answer is given in the second part of verse 5 in chapter 3: “But our sufficiency is from God.”
Other passages bring out these same truths.
In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Paul agrees in Romans 7:18: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
But, he says in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
And he said God told him, in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
And you know what’s even more amazing? God doesn’t do just what’s enough.
In 2 Corinthians 9:8, Paul says, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
In Jeremiah 31:25, God says, “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul” (KJV and NKJV). Other versions say God satisfied the weary soul. The idea is being saturated, drinking one’s fill.
When Jesus fed 5,000 people in Matthew 14, there were twelve baskets of leftovers above and beyond what the crowd ate.
In Luke 6:38, Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.”
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (KJV and NKJV).
So, dear friend, don’t worry about your not-enoughness. Let it turn you to His all-sufficiency. Abide in Him like the branch abides in the vine, letting His Spirit work in and through you. Rest in His grace, His strength, His provision for every need, physical, spiritual, mental, emotional. He is enough. He is more than enough.
In my early Christian life, whenever something went wrong, I would doubt God’s love for me. When preachers said God did things for His glory and our good, I would think, “His glory maybe, but my good? How is this good for me?”
There may be many reasons for that reaction, too many to explore here. But surely one was being spiritually immature and not knowing my Bible well enough. Another was the mistaken (and also immature) notion that if God loved me, I wouldn’t have problems. A popular book at the time was If God Loves Me, Why Can’t I Get My Locker Open? I never read the book, but I identified with the feeling.
Satan has capitalized on those feelings since the beginning. When he came to tempt Adam and Eve, he questioned what God said, contradicted it, and insinuated that God didn’t really have their best in mind.
Perhaps that’s one reason Paul prays in Ephesians 3 that God would “grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” It’s interesting that the next well-known verse in that passage comes in this context: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
God wants us to know and rest in His love.
Why?
Well, anyone who loves wants the other person to know it.
But also, when we’re secure in God’s love, we’ll be less inclined to believe Satan’s lies. We can go forward through whatever trial is ahead knowing God is with us and has allowed it for some good purpose. We can obey Him because we know He is good, righteous, kind, and loving. We can love others out of the overflow of God’s love to us.
So how can we remind ourselves of God’s love when we might not feel it?
Remember what He did to save you. God would not have put up with all He did throughout humanity’s history, and Jesus would not have come to earth to live and die for us, if they did not love us. John 3:16, probably the most famous Bible passage in the world, tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God’s law convicted me of my sin and showed me my need for a Savior. But it was His love that drew me, that convinced me He would receive me. He loved me when I was still in sin, His enemy, and uninterested. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Chas. H. Gabriel expressed this beautifully in his hymn “He Lifted Me”:
He called me long before I heard, Before my sinful heart was stirred, But when I took Him at His word, Forgiven, He lifted me.
From sinking sand He lifted me, With tender hand He lifted me, From shades of night to plains of light, O praise His name, He lifted me!
In Hosea, God says He drew Ephraim with “gentle cords, bands of love.” James Grindlay Small captures this in “I’ve Found a Friend”:
I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend! He loved me ere I knew Him; He drew me with the cords of love, And thus He bound me to Him. And round my heart still closely twine Those ties which naught can sever, For I am His, and He is mine, Forever and forever.
Get to know God better. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life begins with knowing God. But we come to know Him increasingly more through our lives. We learn about Him from nature and other people, but the primary way of knowing Him better is through His Word. The more we know Him, the more we rest in His character and love.
Remember how He has blessed you. I’ve mentioned before “Ebenezers,” those times in your life when you especially saw God move and work in your behalf.
Meditate on His Word. I’ve referred to a few verses about God’s love. Here are a few more:
The LORD delights in you (Isaiah 62:4).
Can a woman forget her nursing child,that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?Even these may forget,yet I will not forget you.Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;your walls are continually before me.(Isaiah 49:15-16).
The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love (Psalm 147:11).
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness;he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17).
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Psalm 86:15).
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love (John 15:9).
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are (1 John 3:1).
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37-39).
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5).
Listen to Scripture-based songs about God’s love, or read the lyrics. I’ve mentioned a few already. Here are some more:
Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made; Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.
Here is love, vast as the ocean, Loving-kindness as the flood, When the Prince of Life, our Ransom, Shed for us His precious blood. Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise? He can never be forgotten, Throughout heav’n’s eternal days.
“How Deep the Father’s Love For Us” by Stuart Townend (This is still under copyright, so I won’t post its lyrics, but you can find them here).
“O Wondrous Love” by Steve and Vikki Cook is also still under copyright: the lyrics are here.
Loved with everlasting love, Led by grace that love to know; Spirit, breathing from above, Thou hast taught me it is so. Oh, this full and perfect peace! Oh, this transport all divine! In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.
In heavenly love abiding, No change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, For nothing changes here: The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid; But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed?
Remember God’s love and truth work hand in hand. Some people emphasize God’s love to the exclusion of His righteousness and holiness. They see God as a doddering old grandfather who overlooks any wrongdoing and slips them sweets when their mother isn’t looking. They don’t understand that God is a God of truth as well as love, that it wouldn’t be loving of Him to let us go on in our sin without chastening.
A loving parent has to say no sometimes, or require hard things. A child might feel the parent would show more love by giving everything the child wants or making life easy. But that kind of behavior is selfish rather than loving, wanting the child’s approval (or wanting to avoid a tantrum) instead of doing what would build the child’s character.
Remember God’s love is based on His character, not ours. When we’re doing what we’re supposed to, we “feel” loved by God. But when we fall and fail, we feel maybe His love has dimmed a little, if not evaporated.
But the Bible tells us that “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:13-14). Verse 17 goes on to say, “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.”
He chastens us like a father because He loves us (Hebrew 12:5-11).
Though John 3:16 says God loves the world, that doesn’t mean the whole world has automatically become His. Some reject or ignore God’s love and gifts.
“God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12).
If you do know God, rest in His love, remind yourself of it often.
May you “come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16).
I didn’t think I’d have a Laudable Linkage this morning. It’s been a busy week, and I am way behind on blog reading. But I had a little free time yesterday afternoon and found these good reads.
Picture Perfect Christmas. “Every time I look awful, I run into my most together friend. HER. That altogether all together friend. I try not to let it, but it surely can make me cranky. And angsty. Crangsty.”
Victim Blaming and the Rich Young Ruler, HT to Challies. “The way that Jesus responded to the rich young ruler is so different from what comes naturally to me. When I see someone suffering, my mind often seeks to figure out how they are at fault for their own suffering. And that response is wrong for two main reasons.”
Grace in Afflictions. “I have been meditating for several weeks on 2 Cor. 4:15-18. The expression “light affliction” has been returning to my mind as I deal with daily, nagging physical conditions that are burdensome and uncomfortable. I’m seeking relief, improvement, and help from any source available. Even though I’m plagued by real challenges and wearing out, I’m still striving for healing and personal progress in my body and my soul. To respond I’m fleeing regularly to my study of God’s grace as revealed in scripture.” I especially love the last paragraph here.
Repeat Forever. “Can we linger just a little longer on thanksgiving before we move onto Christmas? ‘I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.‘ (Psalm 34:1, NASB). One of the definitions of ‘continually’ is ‘without an intermission’ (dictionary.com). In other words, ongoing.”
Though we are keenly aware of the abuses that have grown up around the holiday season, we are still not willing to surrender this ancient and loved Christmas Day to the enemy. – A. W. Tozer
How to Prevent a Spiritually Dry December. “Busy days mean our schedules get squeezed. Work and school hours don’t change, so this means there’s a competition for our time at the margins. And, if you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you know that devotional time is often a casualty in this battle.”
I’m Adopted, HT to Challies.. “For me, those heavy questions needed to be asked, then answered, before I would be able to see my adoption for the gift it is.”
Am I a Good Mom? HT to Challies. “Every day, I am faced with opportunities to fail or succeed but there is no one other than my three kids under three to see. For the last three years, I have constantly strived to be the best and most God-honoring mother I can be. In my striving, I have never, ever felt more like a failure.”
Before You Go On the Attack. “A classic strategy in times of warfare is to dehumanize the enemy. No sooner has a conflict broken out than the two sides begin to refer to one another as animals rather than men, as mere creatures rather than human beings.” I had been thinking of writing a post along these lines: now I don’t have to.
Seek, as a plain duty, to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life. – Alexander Maclaren
In the Middle of the Greatest Story, HT to Challies. “Veterans Day has me thinking of a time I stood in the middle of a story and felt like an imposter there, an imposter in someone else’s story.”
Widows: The Untapped Resource in Your Church, HT to Challies. “Widows aren’t delicate knick-knacks to put on a shelf and dust every now and then; they’re vital ministers to be deployed in the life of the church. They can teach the church a great deal about faith, devotion, service, and prayer.”
The Church: A Family of Redemption, HT to Challies. “The local church paints a picture of a greater reality: God takes broken people and makes them whole through the family of God. He has sent his son Jesus Christ to redeem a people—his people—to himself that they might enjoy him forever. This is an eternal and unfading family, but it’s also a family for the not-yet season that we live in.”
From Shadow to Substance: Aaronic Priesthood’s Transformation, HT to Challies. Some OT practices were declared to be “perpetual.” But we don’t practice them today. Why not? Randy Alcorn deals with some specific OT practices to show that we don’t just pick and choose what OT passages to follow and demonstrates how they are fulfilled in Christ. This is an excellent demonstration in interpreting the OT in the light of the NT.
Will We Know Everything in Heaven, or Will We Learn, also from Randy Alcorn, HT to Challies. “Paul, in Ephesians 2:6-7, writes, ‘God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace.’ The word translated show means ‘to reveal.’ The phrase in the coming ages clearly indicates that this will be a progressive, ongoing revelation, in which we learn more and more about God’s grace.”
The purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven but to get God’s will done on earth. Warren W. Wiersbe
Here are some of the posts that resonated with me this week:
Don’t Forget the Gospel During Bible Study. “We tend to hear this exhortation about remembering the gospel and think immediately of our moral behaviors—our successes or failures in the realms of pride, anger, lust, jealousy, and the like. But we need reminders about God’s love, Jesus’s work, and our new identities throughout our lives, and we need to connect these truths to our every endeavor, including studying the Bible.”
The Unexpected Blessing of a Rural Church, HT to Challies. “Though the preaching of the Word changed my heart, the people drew me in to hear it. The love of these Christians made this outcast feel welcome and enabled me to let my guard down and Christ in.”
Scripture Over Systems. “While these various systems can be helpful, I would suggest that adherents to them should not be so anchored to their system that they ignore or misrepresent Scripture that seems to challenge or contradict their systematic understanding. They must be wrestled with and humbly acknowledged.”
Avoiding Quick Repairs in Counseling, HT to Challies. “We all wrestle with the challenge of wanting to fix anything and everything. That’s true not just in terms of our broken ‘stuff’ but also in our broken lives and relationships. If we are honest with ourselves, we can probably admit to times when we have crudely applied spiritual duct tape to situations that needed more skill, love, patience, and grace.” Though this was written to professional counselors, we can all benefit from it.
Merciless in the Name of Mercy, HT to Challies. “It’s a mark of the church to embody a fierce commitment to welcoming sinners and exalting the Father who lavishes grace on the prodigal. But what form should mercy take? What does mercy look like? What does it require?”
Dare to Be a Daniel, HT to Challies. “Maybe you’ve been exposed to the kind of teaching from the Old Testament that uses its stories to highlight moral examples. Is that kind of teaching bad? Should we do such a thing? Should it be avoided for the sake of christological interpretation?”
Ambitious for the Quiet Life. “I find myself thinking a lot about 1 Thessalonians 4:11, ‘make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you.’ I love the juxtaposition of ‘ambition’ with ‘quiet life’ in how the NIV renders it. It almost feels oxymoronic. How can you be ambitious for a quiet life? But notice that it doesn’t say to be ambitious for a lazy life, though; just a quiet one.”
When You Feel Cast Aside. I love this account of Gideon’s army from the viewpoint of a rejected soldier.
Holiness is not the way to Christ; Christ is the way to holiness. – C. H. Spurgeon
Stray Thoughts 