Double Imputation

A lot of people assume that the only thing keeping us from heaven is our sin. But we actually have two problems.

1. We have sin....and have no way of getting rid of it.

2. We do not have righteousness....and we have no way of getting it.

So, if we have nothing in us that will earn us favor with God and we have nothing in us that can make right what we’ve made wrong, on what grounds can God call us righteous when we are not?

Under the old covenant (in the Old Testament), a spotless lamb, bull, or goat was sacrificed as a sin offering. Then the high priest would lay his hands on a goat, symbolizing the transfer of sin from the nation of Israel to the goat, and send it out into the wilderness (this was the scapegoat).

That was a shadow of what Jesus would do for us as He dies on the cross. The bible says He willingly took upon Himself the weight of our sin, shame, guilt, and condemnation (Isaiah 53:3-7).

So, now in the sight of God, He looks at Christ and He sees a mass of sinfulness, because on the cross our sin was transferred to Jesus.

Now, if that’s all that happened (that single transfer), we would never be fully justified. We would be innocent in the sight of God, but that is not what gets us into the Kingdom of God. All that would do is keep us out of hell…..for the moment….three minutes later, when we sin again, we would be just as guilty….and Jesus would have died in vain.

         -Jesus didn’t take our sin and die on the cross just to get us back to the Garden of Eden.

         -It’s not just innocence that gets us into the Kingdom of God; it’s righteousness.

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:20)

“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.” (Is. 64:6)

That’s why there has to be another transaction. As sinners we cannot "obtain" righteousness. Even the Pharisees who, in their eyes, followed the law perfectly still fell short, never attaining righteousness. But Jesus' righteousness far exceeded theirs. That's what made Him the perfect sacrifice for our sin to be transferred upon. 

So, if our sin was transferred to Christ, what happens to Christ’s righteousness? This is the second transfer:

Jesus gets our sin and God’s wrath…and we get His righteousness and God’s grace.

“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

So, now in the sight of God, He looks at us, and He sees the righteousness of Christ. This is why Jesus' death on the cross doesn't only change our nature, but it changes our position before God.

This is how Jesus saved us from sin....and to the Kingdom of God. If we don't understand this, even after we're saved we will be tempted to try and earn what Christ has freely given to us. We cannot earn righteousness or a right standing with God. That has to be imputed to us.

“Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which He thinks of our sin as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us and declares us to be righteous in His sight.” 

-Wayne Grudem

God's Wrath Is A Good Thing

If we don’t understand that God’s ultimate purpose is to glorify Himself, we won’t fully understand His holiness, if we don’t understand His holiness, we won’t understand sin, if we don’t understand sin, we won’t understand God’s wrath (it won’t make sense to us), if we don’t understand God’s wrath, we can’t really understand why Jesus died on the cross, which means we won’t fully understand God’s grace, and we’ll totally miss the most beautiful picture of Love there is.

You see how missing even one of these affects the rest? That’s where we get all these silly ideas like: “God is just mean and cruel,” “I’m not as bad as Hitler, so I’m a good person,” and “All God had to do was just forgive us…Jesus didn’t have to die on the cross.”

Most people want to avoid the subject of the wrath of God, but if we skip that part, we will only have part of the recipe, and without that key ingredient, we’ll never experience the full flavor of the character and nature of God. It’s kind of like making a chocolate cake. Sugar, eggs, and chocolate are all good on their own, but, like God’s wrath, no one wants to just eat the flour. But if you toss out the flour, you’ll never be able to make chocolate cake.

I. Wrath of God:

Romans 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in righteousness.”

Romans 2:5-8: “Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”

Romans 12:19: “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath [of God], for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”

Ephesians 2:3: “We were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

Ephesians 5:6: “The wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.”

Colossians 3:5: “Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry … it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come.”

Revelation 6:16: “They will say to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us … from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of … wrath has come; and who is able to stand?’”

Because God is holy, He cannot simply overlook sin. If He did, He would cease to be just and, therefore, cease to be good. It’s because God is good that He has to bring sin to justice. God would be unjust to simply forgive us and say, “I love you so much that I’m just going to forgive you.” In doing so He’d be belittling His own holiness.

Once we understand holiness and the glory of God and that our sin is an enemy against that, then we will get a good picture of why God’s wrath is so severe.

II. The Cup:

Habakkuk 2:16: “The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!”

All throughout the bible, the cup is synonymous with shame and the wrath of God towards man’s rebellion against Him.

So, in Luke 22:42 Jesus says, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”

So, in the end, when we understand our sin and how God’s wrath is His answer to that, then we will say, “I deserve that cup.” But here’s the beautiful thing. When it’s time for that cup to be poured on me, it’s going to be empty. Do you know why it’s empty? Because it was already poured out. It was poured out on Jesus on the cross.

Hebrews 12:3-4, “Consider Him (Jesus) who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”  

…..but Jesus did.

God is so jealous for His glory that He will preserve it at ALL costs, and the cross is the ultimate picture of that. So, in a way we are beneficiaries of God being for God. But at the same time that God is displaying His wrath toward our sin and rebellion, He is also displaying His Love toward us.

Think about it. He could have just wiped us all out, right? He could have said, “That’s it. It’s over,” and He’d have been right to do so. He didn’t have to do all that it says in Philippians 2 that He did:

-Emptied Himself      

-Came to earth as a man         

-Not just as a man but a servant

-Humbled Himself & was obedient to the point of death on a cross.

III. God’s Grace:

“God so loved the world that He sent His only Son.” (John 3:16)

“For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame.” (Hebrews 12:2)

“While we were still sinners Christ died for us,” etc. (Romans 5:8)

The cross is a perfect picture of God’s wrath and God’s love working together to bring Him glory.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Think of it this way:

Justice = getting what you deserve

Mercy = not getting what you deserve

Grace = getting what you do not deserve

In the end, we will ALL be affected by God’s wrath: you will either be the object of His righteous wrath when you die (hell), or you will be a monument of God’s grace through the wrath-absorbing sacrifice of His Son on the cross.

Feasting On God

One of my favorite verses is Job 23:12, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." It's a challenging verse that I rely on when I'm fasting.

One of the surest signs of a mature believer is that he knows what to starve himself of, and he knows what to feast on.

Just in the natural course of living our lives, we create these attachments and dependencies that, while most of them are morally neutral, more often than not rob our passion for the things of God. By nature all of us are too easily satisfied, pouring our affections out on sports, hobbies, careers, etc. Again, these things usually aren't bad, but when it comes to fasting, it's not so much about denying or depriving yourself of food as much as it is about redirecting your affections towards something altogether more satisfying. That's part of the lesson Jesus was trying to teach the woman at the well in John 4:7-15.

Just like food, all of this stuff will only satisfy you temporarily. Sex, money, sports, family, food...are all great, but we'll never experience the fullness of those things apart from God. Apart from God these things will betray you over and over again. Sex will turn to lust, the pursuit of money will turn to greed, food will lead to gluttony, our hobbies and even our family can make us slip into idolatry and pride.

So, in the end, we fast from food, gadgets, TV, etc. so we can free ourselves up to feast on God. I want to empty myself so that I can be filled with His peace, strength, love, grace. I want to detach from those things I am used to running to for peace, approval, and comfort and come to God empty-handed.

Figuratively, I am emptying myself of food and telling God that I am relying on Him to be my spiritual sustenance. Fasting forces you to loosen your hands up on the things of this world and become dependent on God alone. It puts you in a position to where you are dependent on God as your source and sustenance, and you learn to seek God first instead of fleeing to temporary substitutes.

Matthew 6:16 -*33

Reborn & Set Free

(This is an add-on to the last post, "What Is Free Will?")

If we have been "set free" in Christ, the manner in which we experience that freedom is in the new birth. But it isn't like Jesus simply opens the door to a new life, and "Voila!" you are "set free." The picture of our freedom is more profound than that.

God's plan for our freedom is not as simple as changing our environment (i.e. our perspective, circumstances, behavior, etc.). I think that's where the Christian "self-help" movement has gone dangerously wrong.

Unlike a man walking out of the prison doors to a new life of freedom, the picture is more like the man, himself, being changed within the prison walls, then living out that freedom in spite of his environment and in front of the other prisoners.

That's why we often don't feel like we are free when the bible says that we are. Have you ever read verses like, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God," (Romans 6:22) and thought, "I certainly don't feel like I've been 'set free' from sin?"

In my life, I relate more to what Paul says in Romans 7:15-19, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 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. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."

The bible makes a clear distinction between being led by the "flesh" and being led by the "Spirit," and as believers, while we live, we can actually be led by both. Thank God He's the source of my righteousness, because on my own, I have no chance for freedom from sin.

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules." (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

Notice that it is God who sprinkles clean water on us to cleanse our unrighteousness, it's God who removes our heart of stone and gives us a new heart of flesh, it's God who puts His Spirit within us, and it's that Spirit who causes us to walk and obey. It's God who rebirths us...it's God who sets us free.

So, there is no room to receive credit and glory for our own salvation. That belongs to God alone. In fact, if freedom were somehow possible without God, wouldn't that merely be considered a prison break? We aren't simply fugitives from unrighteousness. We have been set free and given a new life under grace.

What Is Free Will?

The biggest problem that comes up when people argue about election and predestination is they end up pitting man's "free will" up against God's sovereignty. The assumption is that man chooses God by an act of his own free will.

The problem with this assumption is that on his own, man can do nothing but sin:

"For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. 8:7-8)

"The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14)

"All...are under sin, as it is written: 'No one understands; no one seeks after God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless, no one is good, not even one.'" (Rom. 3:9-12)

So, do we have free will? Of course, but on our own all we will choose is sin, and we certainly will not choose Christ. In other words, free will means I am free to do whatever I want to do, & what I want to do is sin. This is our nature. (Psalm 51:5; Eph. 2:3)

John Calvin put it this way, "[Like Satan, Man], by his fall, was so estranged from goodness (God) that he can do nothing but evil." (Institues II, 3.5)

Without some kind of power to overcome our free will, it will only damn us. It's only when the truth of the Gospel, by way of the Holy Spirit, overcomes our resistance, we will be irresistibly drawn to Him and be saved. (John 3:8; John 6:44, 65; Eph. 2:5, 8-9; 2 Tim. 2:25-26, Rom. 9:15-16; Acts 13:48)

"It is not of man who wills or runs, but of God who shows mercy." (Rom. 9:16)


"For God is the one who is at work both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)

But don't we choose God by faith? Yes, but if "none is righteous" and "no one seeks after God," where does that ability to respond in faith come from?

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast." (Eph. 2:8)

So, the correct picture of our salvation is not simply, "I chose Christ by walking down the aisle and saying a prayer." 

Instead, it's a picture of a dramatic rescue mission, where we were on the precipice of death, unable to save ourselves, when Christ came, and said, "It will be OK. I've got you." And He snatched us up and saved us.

In the end, if I am going to be damned by my free will, then I need to be rescued and "set free" from the bondage of my will in order to see and savor Christ for who His is (my Savior).

"For freedom Christ has set you free; stand firm therefore; and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Gal. 5:1)

Satisfied In God Alone

God, help me to be more reliant on Your Spirit and less reliant on my flesh. I am far too easily satisfied in it.

I feel like I am wasting myself on things that simply do not satisfy (Isaiah 55:2).

I want to find satisfaction and joy in the things of God alone.

I feel like James 4 is playing out within me and within my life constantly.

Why should I be blessed by the good things of God when I will most likely just squander it all?

I feel more like vs. 1-4:

"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

But my heart is definitely in vs. 7-10:

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."

I know You are jealous for me (vs. 5). And I want more than anything to be satisfied in You, but my flesh is so weak (Matthew 26:41).

Thank You, God, that You have more grace (James 4:6) than my flesh has strength.

God, please help me to remove cherished sin from my heart (Psalm 66:18).

Thank You for hearing me.

New Relationships

Our relationship with God is very unique. I was thinking about it recently, and it struck me as unusual that, on one hand, we are called "sons and daughters of God" (John 1:12-13), and on the other hand, we are the future "Bride of Christ" (Rev. 19:7-8). That means that He has not only adopted us as sons and daughters, but He also has given us as His Son's Bride.

The reason why that is so important is that means that we are not merely "in-lawed" to God the Father, but we are legally adopted as His very own, AND legally united with Christ as His very own. That is huge!

 I love this picture, because it gives us a clearer understanding of what Jesus really did for us. As the perfect Groom, Jesus rescued and cleansed us by making the ultimate sacrifice and taking upon Himself our sin and wretchedness, absorbing the righteous wrath of God that was piled up against us (propitiation - Eph. 2:13-14).

 Not only that, but He went even further by then purifying His Bride by imputing to us His righteousness (expiation - Eph. 2:4-6). In other words, He loved us so much that He not only gave Himself for us in death (first gift), thereby taking on our sin, which means that He emptied Himself of His righteousness (Phil. 2:5-8), but He then gave us a second gift of grace by filling us with His righteousness (Rom. 3:21-26). We are a part of the greatest love story in history!

 Random thought: Where does the Holy Spirit fit into this picture? Could it be that the Holy Spirit acts as our "pre-marital counselor?" Think about it, as the betrothed to Christ, we have been justified (sanctified) by Him, but as we wait, the bible says we are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit and His word so that we look more and more like Christ (Rom. 15:15-16; Eph. 5:25-27; Heb. 10:13-18).

 I love how these relationships (especially the triune relationship - Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) work together for the good of the Church and the glory of God. It puts a new light on our relationship with God, His love and passionate pursuit of us, and the very nature of our salvation. We are the beneficiaries of God's elaborate plan to glorify Himself. In the end, our salvation is the blood-bought gift of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ. The saving love of God is the gift of Himself.

The True Purpose of Ministry

The following are my thoughts after watching an interview between John Piper and David Platt:

If our ultimate goal as the Church is to see lives transformed by the Gospel among all the nations, how does local ministry (marriage, children's, men's, women's, single parent, homeless, etc.) accomplish that?

In other words, how does doing ministry within a church that is so focused on it's own flock accomplish the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations? Do we have to choose? Does it have to be either/or?
       
          -Either a church focuses on local ministry
       
          -Or a church focuses on bringing the Gospel to the "utmost parts of the earth."

The ultimate goal should be that the Great Commission in Matthew 28 dictates to us how and why we pastor and shepherd our congregation locally.

So, for example, we want to teach and guide couples into a Christ-centered, fulfilling marriage but not just for the sake of having a happy, fulfilling marriage. We lead them to an understanding that marriage, according to Ephesians 5:22-32, is a mirror of the Gospel. Therefore, the goal should be to get couples to see that in light of that, they are to move on and be about something bigger than themselves.

We will shepherd our people and build strong marriages so that the Gospel would be spread among all the nations. A bible-saturated, God-glorifying marriage will then have the resources to be able to care about something bigger than themselves and enter into as a family the work of the Great Commission.

In the end, God's glory among every people group is the reason why we teach everything.

          -We don't teach freedom from sin for the sake of being freed from sin. They will only learn how to manage their behavior.

          -We don't teach tithing and financial stewardship for the sake of mere obedience or to have a "blessed life." They will only learn that God can be please by simple duty or that God's blessing can be bought for price.

          -We don't simply teach our kids to obey their parents or not cuss. They will only learn how to play the game, and we will only make "good little Christian boys and girls."

We teach our people in everything how to look at themselves and others through Gospel lenses so that they can be world changers. What good is our teaching and our ministry if it simply terminates on us?

The Blessing of Giving

Acts 20:35

"And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

When you were a kid, you had no concept of the joy of giving. In fact, one of the biggest battles we face with our own kids is simply getting them to understand the concept of sharing. But as you grow up, you start learning that there is actually a joy in giving to others Eventually, we find out that it really is more of a blessing to give than it is to receive.

Wouldn’t be awesome if we learned to be generous with everything that God has given to us. Jesus said, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38). If you’ve ever heard someone say, “You can't outgive God,” that’s where that comes from.

But we’re not just talking about money. Let's learn the joy of giving of our time, our resources, our talents and abilities—whatever God has given us. Some people hoard what God has given them, not understanding that as you give out, more is given to you: "The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself" (Proverbs 11:25).

Forgiveness

Colossians 3:13
"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (NKJV)

Forgiveness:  "God’s gift to allow you to be who He made you to be in the face of real evil and real pain." -Bob Hamp 

The great thing about forgiveness is that it has the power to open the door to your freedom and ultimately connect you to the work that God already performed through Jesus on the cross, but you must choose it. That means you choose to live with the consequences of other’s sin and not charge it to their account.  This is never an easy choice, and in some cases, it may be the most difficult choice a human can make.  In the Garden of Gesthemane, Jesus made this choice the night before His crucifixion.  This choice required such intense prayer that the Son of God sweat drops of blood as He chose to take our sins upon Himself....and not charge them to our account.

Forgiveness is giving whomever offended you back to God, and when you release them, you give them over to God for Him to work justice in their lives. That means you choose to live with the consequences of other’s sin and not charge it to their account This also allows God to work out healing in your life.

We need to learn that we cannot heal ourselves. When you give up the role of being your own healer, you make room for God to do what He does best. I am convinced that the healing and restoration of our souls is the real goal of forgiveness.  This allows us to be who we are created to be even when we have faced real evil or real pain.

Master or Servant?

Matthew 6:24-25
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.” (ESV)

I recently had a friend confess to me how broken, inferior, and weak he felt. He said the heaviness of that brings so much fear and anxiety that it even affects his relationships. When you’re in that place it’s easy to feel alone and isolated. It makes you feel as if you are the only person who feels that way.

In reality, we're all "broken." Think about it. None of us make it out of here alive, and just that in itself is enough to keep us on edge & filled with anxiety. There's nothing wrong or unusual about feeling fear every once in a while or feeling inadequate at times. I personally feel that way a lot. Sometimes a feeling of failure and weakness just rushes over me out of nowhere. It’s scary, and it often feels like the sky is falling. Where are you going to hide from that?

But when you think about it, isn’t that a blessing in a way? Fear, worry, doubt, etc. reminds us that we don't have all the answers, that we aren't all-powerful, and we aren't as mentally tough as we sometimes convince ourselves to be. Imagine going through life without experiencing the weight of your weakness and sin. Why would we ever trust God? What would we repent of?

If when things go bad, and we don't worry (or even worry about the idea of things going bad), then we'd go through life getting clobbered all the time, wouldn’t we? So, in a way, our weakness and doubts protect us and force us to look outside of ourselves for strength, encouragement...faith. Our weaknesses and the knowledge that we really are broken point us to God.

But here is the turning point. Just like money; insecurity & fear is a horrible master…but it can be a wonderful servant. The question is: Is it directing our hearts toward God and stirring up raised hands of praise to Him, or is it dragging our hearts further away from Him and causing us to raise our fist toward Him? Who or what is the master? Who or what is the servant?

True Repentance

Hebrews 12:15-17
“See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God….that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” (ESV)

This has always been one of those really puzzling and heavy verses for me. Think about it. Why did Esau find no place of repentance for simply selling his birthright "though he sought it with tears," while someone like David found repentance for adultery and murder?

In the end, Esau’s life was marked by a refusal to follow God’s ways. He was always only concerned about what was in it for him in the moment. In fact, Genesis 25 says that he despised his birthright, because he thought a meal was more important in the moment. After he got what he wanted, he stood up from the table and went on about his business. It wasn’t until after he lost the blessings of his birthright to his brother, Jacob, that he finally repented. And even then he was only repenting to get back what he had lost.

David, on the other hand, was a man whose life was marked by a passionate love and pursuit of God. He knew that his sins had separated him from God, so when he finally repented (in Psalm 51), that broken relationship was restored. This is true repentance.

In the same way, Jesus, whose life (and death) was marked by a passionate love and pursuit of us, came to restore our relationship with God, which was broken by our sin. And if our repentance is based on anything other than that, we are missing the true meaning of repentance. And we will never find it...even though we seek it through tears. (2 Corinthians 7:10)

Repentance

Matthew 4:17
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (ESV)

I was just thinking that we don’t talk about repentance very much, do we? Why is that? Do we think it’s too offensive to tell someone that they need to repent? Do we not understand it?

The word repent literally means “to think differently.” So, it’s not just something we ‘do.’ It’s a whole new way of thinking. It means we think differently about sin, God, and how we should respond to both.

When Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son, He says that after a long stint of reckless living, the son finally “came to himself,” and then he came to his father and said, “I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” In other words, he realized that his lifestyle wasn’t just harmful to him, but it was an assault on God, Himself. Isn’t that really what sin is?

The prodigal son didn’t just feel sorry for his actions and their consequences, he completely changed his mind about them. Change - isn’t this what Jesus died for? I’m not talking about changing the way we feel or even what we do. Repentance is a change that goes much deeper than that.

Again, repentance isn’t just something we ‘do’ nor is it even feeling sorry for what we did. It’s a new way of thinking, which causes us to respond to God in a new way.

How To Get Out of A Pit

Psalm 40:1-2
“I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”

It’s inevitable--sooner or later we all end up in a pit at some point in our lives. So, what do you do when you look around and all you see is dirt?

The first step in getting out of the pit of despair is to cry out to God.  Far too often when people get depressed, it is because they are in need of something, but they seek it in the wrong place, which only adds to their problems. Chasing after the wrong thing will always leave you disappointed, and disappointment opens the door to depression.

This is a heart issue, and God is the only one who has the power to heal your heart. So, cry out to Him, and He will hear your cry and bring you up and out.

The second step is to wait. Notice David said, “I waited patiently for the Lord.”  That means that the answer to his cry wasn’t apparent for a while.  Most of the pits that we end up in have taken us a long time to get into, so it may take some time for you to be delivered.

Take a few minutes and read Psalm 143, then pray that God would begin to heal your heart:

Incarnational Ministry

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
(2 Corinthians 5:20)

My passion is to see people get saved and grow in their walk with God. That’s not really too surprising to hear someone in the ministry say. But I don’t want to do it as a “pastor.” At least not if by “pastor” you’re thinking about the guy who puts off this vibe as if to say, “I’ve got it all together. And you want to know what I know.”

I’m talking about ministry that everyone should be doing. Ministry that invites people to be real, open, and honest by BEING real, open, and honest. I desperately want to position myself in others’ lives to where, like Paul, it’s “as though God were making His appeal through me.” (2 Corinthians 5:20) I have come to call it “incarnational ministry.” In other words, just like Jesus, you come along side someone and do life with them. And, just like Jesus, at times even enter into their suffering with them. Is there really any higher platform from which to preach the love and grace of God?

Lord, I pray that You will help me to minister to and love others the same way that You do. Help me to see others as better than myself. Thank You for entrusting me with others’ lives. I pray that I never take for granted the weight of that privilege.

The Gift of Grace

John 14:6
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.”

Jesus isn’t being intolerant, arrogant, or closed minded when He says, “No one comes to the Father but by Me.” He’s offering the greatest gift He can give, Himself. He’s offering grace and forgiveness. And He’s giving us the answer to the question that (on some level) every person who ever lived has asked, “What must I do to be saved?”

There are a lot of well-meaning people out there who sincerely struggle with the simplicity of the grace of God. They say, “Surely it can’t be that easy. There has to be more to it,” or “How could God exclude everyone who has lived a good, moral life like Muslims, Jews, etc. just because they don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to God?”

For every religion on earth, their only hope for salvation rests on their ability to follow certain rules and traditions, and in the end, they are banking it all in hopes that it will be enough to save them.

Where religion says, “I’ll do it.” The gospel says, “God did it.” You see, there is nothing in us that gives us the ability to save ourselves. But the Good News is that Christ did what we could not. Christ took our sin and in return gave us His righteousness (Romans 3:21-26).

As well-meaning as it may sound, to trust in our own ability to save ourselves is by default rejecting the gift of salvation that Christ sacrificed so much to purchase for us. When we try to fix ourselves, it's as if we hear Jesus saying on the cross, "It is finished," and we answer back, "Not quite." In Hebrews 10, the bible compares that to “trampling the Son of God underfoot, counting the blood of the covenant by which we were sanctified a common thing, and insulting the Spirit of grace.”

How amazing is it that God offers us a gift as great as salvation?! And He is pleading with you to receive it.

Where Does Your Hope Lie?

Isaiah 55:2
“Why spend your money on something that is not real food? Why work for something that doesn’t really satisfy you? Listen closely to Me, and you will eat what is good; your soul will enjoy the rich food that satisfies.”

We all experience hurt when someone lets us down. We feel dissatisfied when a situation doesn’t turn out like we’d hoped.

In those moments, ask yourself this question, “Is what I’m feeling right now the result (the fruit) of a heart whose hope is placed in God?”

If not, could it be that the reason why we hurt is because we are placing our hope in the wrong thing? We are relying on that person, even spouses, to satisfy us, complete us, and to meet our needs. We are trusting in our situation to change so that we will finally have peace of mind.

Could it be that we are demanding from that person or situation something that they were never created to provide for us?

So, what does it look like to place our hope in God alone? Does it mean that people will never hurt us again? No, but it means that we can now be free to love them and forgive them, knowing that only God alone can satisfy us and meet our deepest needs. Does it mean that nothing bad will ever happen to us? No, but it means that in spite of our circumstances, no matter how bad, we can have peace, because we know that God is our provider.

In all honesty, what are those things that we are placing our hope in, and why? Why are we trusting sinners to satisfy us in a way that only God can? Why are we allowing circumstances, which can and do constantly change, to hold the fate of our very happiness?

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. And it’s only when we learn to fully place our hope in God, who can change sinners and make all circumstances work together for our good, that we will finally find true joy.

Psalm 63: “God, You are my God. I search for You. I thirst for You like someone in a dry, empty land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and have seen Your strength and glory. Because Your love is better than life, I will praise You.”

Jesus Prays for You

"I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Your’s."  John 17:9

How would you feel right now if you knew that Jesus was in the next room praying for you? Would you have more peace? Would you have more confidence?

Well, according to scripture, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and He is praying for you right now.

Romans 8:34 says, “Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” 

Just before that, 8:26-27 says, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (I love that) And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

When Peter started arrogantly boasting about how great he was, Jesus told him, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail…." (Luke 22:31-32).

Even though Peter denied Christ three times, his faith never failed. Ultimately, he found grace and restoration in Jesus and became the leader of the early Church.

Isn't it awesome to know that if Satan is out to get you, Jesus is praying for you?

That should give you tremendous peace and confidence in Him, knowing that He's mentioning your name in prayer before the Father at this very moment.

God Is Love - Part 2

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angles nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NKJV) 

“I love you, but I’m not in love with you.” That’s probably the worst thing a teenage boy could could hear from his crush. That’s right up there with, “Let’s just be friends.” Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t operate in that kind of love? For Him, that kind of love doesn’t even make sense. 

God does not love like we love. Think about it. If God could “fall in love” with us, doesn’t that mean He could also fall out of love with us? God cannot operate in our way of loving, because love isn’t just something God has, feels, or does….it’s something He is (1 John 4:8).

God is also infinite, which means that He has no limits, no boundaries, and no end. That means His love has no limits, no boundaries, and no end. That’s great news! If God’s love is limitless, that means that no person, no matter how wicked; no matter how sinful, is ever so far gone as to be exempt from the love of God! Absolutely nothing can separate us from it.

Spirit-filled Life

Acts 1:8

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Have you ever felt like you're missing out on something? When you look around it seems like others live and move in this anointing in their lives that is just out of your reach. They have an effective, growing ministry, and they are just thriving.

Think about this: what if instead of focusing on what we don’t have, we pursued what God has to give? Remember, on our own we are not fit to serve the Lord. On their own the disciples were uneducated, undertrained, and ineffective. But something happened once they submitted to God that transformed their lives. Just as Jesus had promised, He sent them the Holy Spirit… the gift of the Father… His own Spirit in their lives… the Helper.

And what happened next was supernatural. They were filled with fire, and the Gospel exploded into the first century. That fire ended up turning their world upside down! (Acts 17:6)

Think about it, what would it be like to have that kind of power in your life? What would you be doing with your life that’s different than what you’re doing now? Whatever your answer is, step out and do it! Ask the Holy Spirit to take control of your life, and yield to Him every step of the way. The Word says “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). That’s the Spirit-filled life!

Change Your Focus

Psalm 105:1-3

"Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds. Exult in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord." (NLT)

Sometimes it seems like everywhere you look all you see are problems, strife, turmoil, hurt--all around the world, in our own country, in our community, in our homes...in us.

Why is it that our focus is naturally drawn to all these negative things? We start by worrying, then we get angry, frustrated, and if we leave our focus there, we end up losing hope.

I think we need to change our focus. We have a God who loves us unconditionally and cares about everything that concerns us. Jesus gave His life that we might have the hope of eternity with Him. And the Holy Spirit was given to comfort, guide, and teach us about God’s plan and His love towards us in every circumstance we face.

The bottom line--God is greater than any problem or circumstance.

That's exactly what we need to focus on every day but even more when we are overwhelmed or depressed. We need to change our focus. We need to thank the Lord and tell of His greatness. We need to let the whole world know what He has done. To sing praises to Him. To worship Him and rejoice. When you do this, your circumstances might not change...but you will.

Rhythm

This post is based on notes from a sermon by Matt Chandler:

Genesis 1 was written in Hebrew to read like a poem. It has rhythm to it:

“God created this, then He created this, and it was good….”

“God created this, then He created this, and it was good….”

“God created this, then He created this, and it was good….”

I believe it was written that way because it's describing how God has woven within the fabric of the universe this rhythm, this beat, this grove that is behind everything. It flows through everything. It is the rhythm that all of the universe operates in and under:

-every day turns into night
-every night turns into morning
-fall turns into winter
-the lifecycle of a plant
-the rotation of the earth
-it’s trip around the sun, etc.

So, there’s this rhythm (beat, grove, flow) going on all the time. In other words, God designed the universe and everything in it to work a certain way - including us.

Most people think that God is this cosmic killjoy who hates fun and wants to keep us from enjoying ourselves. But it’s the complete opposite! God created everything and said it was good, but He created it to work a certain way. And He created us to operate and live within it a certain way.

We’ve got to understand this, because all throughout the bible God is begging us to enter into this rhythm and design. In the book of Proverbs it's personified as wisdom in the form of a woman screaming in the streets saying something like, "How long are you going to keep trying to do this contrary to how this was designed to function. If you would just listen to me, I would show you how this is supposed to work in such a way that the joy that you are seeking would be found in it." (Proverbs 8; 16:25).

God is in no way glorified by our begrudging submission to Him. He doesn't want to snuff out our joy by forcing us to follow a bunch of rules. He wants to maximize our joy by leading us back in line with the way He created things to be.

Hunger for the Word of God

"I rejoice at Your Word." Psalm 119:162

Years ago I came across a passage of scripture that severely convicted me about reading the bible. Job 23:12 says, "I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” What do you do with a passage like that? I read that verse over and over and realized that no matter how I tried to spin it, it was one of those verses that I couldn’t claim. It just wasn’t true about me, but I wanted it to be more than anything. Think about it. What would your life look like when God's Word is as important to you as your physical food?

I knew what it felt like to be hungry from missing a meal or two, and I thought, “Oh, that I would hunger for the Word of God the same way!” If it’s been a while since you’ve felt physical hunger, I challenge you to do this: fast from one meal today. Get a glimpse of the hunger our hearts should have for the Word of God.

One of the hardest things about fasting is denying yourself of nourishment when it is so readily available right in front of you. And you can’t help but think about how crazy it is that we do the same thing spiritually every day! Even though God’s Word is free and easily accessible to us, we will starve ourselves daily without a second thought. Then, we wonder where God is in our life and why we don’t feel His presence like we used to.

Let’s set aside some time each day to nourish and rejuvenate our souls by reading God’s Word and praying. God wants to speak to us, and that’s the primary way He’s chosen to do so. Why wouldn’t we make that time as important as breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Complete Confidence

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

If we really want to walk the path that we know God has planned out for us, there must be complete confidence in the Lord to take care of us. We need to remember that we are merely passengers on the journey that God has mapped out. Imagine hailing a cab and then insisting that you drive because you know a better way.

Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us that we are to trust God with all our heart (not just part of it), and we're to acknowledge Him in all our ways (not just some of our ways).

One of the most powerful things that anyone has ever said to me is, “You can’t say, ‘No, Lord,’ and mean both words.” He’s either Lord, or He’s not. He’s either directing my paths, or I have once again taken up the reigns of my own life.

You can't say, "Lord, I want Your will in my social life, but I don't want Your will in my business life." Or, "I want Your will in my church life, but I don't want Your will in my relationships." God doesn’t want just part of your life. If He's worth part of it, isn’t He worth all of it?

What are you holding onto today? Why not give it all to Christ? Lay it all down, and you will find that instant obedience will bring incredible blessing.

Lord, whatever the question is, I say “Yes” to You today. Help me to lean on You only and not my own understanding. Help me to get myself out of the way so that You can work out Your perfect plan for my life. I give it all to You today.

Transformed Heart

Colossians 1:13-14

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

How is it that we have fooled ourselves into believing that if we make promises and behave a certain way, that we are living out God’s best for our lives? Usually it plays itself out with church attendance and comparing ourselves to others. “If I go to church all the time and I act better than I did a couple years ago, or if I’m better than other people who attend my church, then I must be good.” We love to compare our strengths to other’s weaknesses, and then we naturally grow confident in our goodness.

Others try to behave and modify their behavior because they’re afraid of hell and God’s wrath. They believe that if they are good enough, they can earn their way out of hell. The problem is that heaven isn’t a place for those who fear hell; it’s a place for those who love God.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t war against sin in our lives. I’m simply saying that the weapons we have are inadequate to overcome it. Without God transforming our heart and moving us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, we will simply pit sin against sin.

How many times have you seen people battling their fears and anxieties with control or manipulation; their lust with self-righteousness or apathy…no matter which one wins, sin still reigns.

Christ didn’t die to put us on a behavioral modification program, He died to transform us from the inside out. What if instead of focusing on changing our behavior, we focused on transforming our hearts? What if instead of trying to be better than someone else or better than we used to be, we tried to be like Jesus?

God, help us to trust in You alone to do in us what we cannot. Transform us from the inside out so that we can live the life that You created and redeemed us to live.

Seasons of Waiting

2 Peter 3:8-9

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness.” (ESV)

Do you ever feel like things aren’t happening within your timeframe? There have been certain times in my own life where I thought, “Shouldn’t I be further along than I am now? What are you waiting on, God?” There were many in the bible who might have asked those exact same questions.

-How many years from God’s promise to Abraham until the birth of Isaac?


-How many years from Joseph’s dream until he became second in command of all of Egypt?


-How many years did Moses spend tending sheep before delivering God’s people out of bondage?

-How many years between when David was anointed King of Israel and the moment he actually became King of Israel?

-How many years between the time Jesus first said “I must be about My Father’s business” and the beginning of His ministry?

-How many years from Paul’s conversion until he was sent out from Antioch?

I first responded to God’s call on my life at 13 years old. Now, 16 years later, I feel like I am just now stepping into some of what God spoke to me way back then. During that time I was often frustrated, anxious, and in a big hurry to get to what I knew God had planned for me...as if there were some kind of finish line I was racing toward.

Just like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Paul, and even Jesus, if you’re in a long season of waiting, a season of prisons, caves, wilderness, pits, and carpenter shops, just know that you’re in good company. And God is always on time.

Lord, help us to keep our eyes on You during the long, hot seasons in the desert. We know that You have great things planned for each and everyone of us, and You are working out that plan in us even now. Thank You for never leaving us without hope in any situation we face.

Forgiveness Is Healing

Colossians 3:13

“Forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven you.”

C.S. Lewis once said, “Forgiving does not mean excusing…if that were so, there would be nothing to forgive.” I think the reason why we have a hard time with forgiveness is because we tend to want to take the path of least resistance, especially in relationships. That may not make any sense at first. In fact, most people would say, “Isn’t forgiving someone the path of least resistance?”

No way. It’s the hardest thing to do, because it’s the only selfless option. Forgiveness is you giving up the right to hurt someone for hurting you. Besides being obedient, you get no satisfaction from forgiving someone...because it’s not about you. You are forfeiting the right for it to be about you.

Even if you’re goal isn’t to hurt the other person, when you refuse to forgive them, it’s still detrimental. I once heard someone call it the “battery acid in the soul.” It leads to anger, resentment, isolation, and even health problems. The funny thing is, more often than not, the other person usually doesn’t have a clue that they’ve hurt you. In the end, people who hang on to bitterness cause more pain to themselves than the person who hurt them.

We are broken people complaining about the fact that other people are broken. Isn’t that really what it boils down to? How silly is that? We need to change our perspective. Just like love, forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. I’m not saying there is not pain and very real hurt involved. When someone hurts us, we may not be able to control how we feel, but we can choose how we act and what we do with our pain. When you choose forgiveness, you are choosing to fix what is broken, you are choosing healing, and ultimately you are choosing freedom.

Lord, thank You for showing us how to forgive. Help us to choose forgiveness, even when we don’t feel like it. We trust in You to bring healing in our feelings, our memories, and our view of those who have hurt us. Make us more like You every day.

Strength Injection

Isaiah 40:29

“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.”

Today our culture is enamored with the powerful, the famous, and the accomplished. We call them celebrities. There are people out there who are willing to pay any price just to see some of them play their sport. Others wait in long lines to watch their movies or get their autograph. Most of us don’t know them personally or have even met them, but there is something that draws us to them. There is something that makes us want to connect with those who are well-known, talented, or beautiful.

While everyone else is clamoring for the powerful, God is pursuing the faint and the powerless. He gives strength to the exhausted. He seeks out the broken-hearted and the overlooked and gives them the greatest honor imaginable — His attention and His love.

It’s never been God’s method of operation to find those who are powerful and skilled and recruit them on to His team. All throughout the Bible God chooses those who have no merit, who are weak, and who would have ended up being a no body, and He empowers them to do something extraordinary.

It is God's grace, not our value, that draws Him to hurting, helpless people. He is constantly positioning us in such a way to where we receive the greatest amount of joy and He receives the greatest amount of glory. More often than not that means injecting His strength into those who are the weakest so that His power and His goodness can be displayed the loudest.

This is SO freeing because it means that we can let all of our failures and weaknesses (and good works and strength) fall around our feet and reach out to a God, who is the most powerful, famous, and beautiful of them all.

Lord, I realize that You are the only one who can mend the broken-hearted and give strength to the powerless. So, that is how I come before You now. I ask that You do in me what I cannot. Give me an infusion of Your strength, and position me in such a way to make Your name famous.

More Than Just Remembering

Luke 22:16-20

"'For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He said, 'Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' And He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.' And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.'"

This is a beautiful scene of Jesus having supper with His closest friends on the night before His death. It’s the first “Lord’s Supper,” which we still celebrate to this day. But it’s more than just a ceremonial event. It’s about remembering what Christ did for us.

In this passage, Jesus is saying, “What I want you to remember; the banner I want you to wave; the central focus of what you are to be about is My death.”

It’s an unpopular subject today, but the cross of Christ stands central to everything we believe as Christians and all we hope for. It’s a symbol of the price that was paid so that we can have freedom. But freedom and salvation isn’t just something we have, it’s who we are. We are free. We are saved.

Acts 17:28 says, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” So when Jesus says, “Take; eat. This is My body which was broken for you. Drink. This is My blood which is shed for you.” What He’s saying is, “Find your sustenance in Me.” He is a part of us.

It’s more than just remembering.

Next weekend millions of people across America will celebrate the freedom that was purchased for us by millions more who have died to secure it. We will honor and remember them by singing songs, pledging allegiance, and vowing that we too will fight to the death to defend that freedom.

I am very proud to be an American. It is my country, but it is not my kingdom. “God shed His grace on it. And crowned it’s good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea,” but this weekend let’s also remember that we belong to a greater kingdom.

God, The Artist

Ephesians 2:8-10

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (ESV)

The word “workmanship” here is the same word used when describing art. You see, the artist sees what nobody else can. He can take a blank canvas and start applying stroke after stroke of paint onto it, and before anything even begins to take shape, he is already in love with that canvas, because he can already see the final product.

But the artist doesn’t just get joy out of the final product. He gets joy out of the process. While we may just see some red and some blue on a blank background, the artist is passionately consumed in applying the framework for his masterpiece.

You are not a disappointment to God. Okay, so you blew it this week. That's going to be part of the process. There may be a dark broad stroke across your life that might represent the most embarrassing and horrific thing that's ever occurred, and it might just be the one thing that finally heals you. It’s the process, and God is in control.

Be encouraged that God is not just pleased with the final product, He is pleased with the process. It is not a future version of you that God is pleased with. It is you, now--struggling, stumbling, confused, trying to figure it all out.

Lord, work out your masterpiece in my life. I come to You blank, empty, and open-handed. Help me to keep my eyes on You during the most difficult seasons of my life, knowing that You are in control. Make me an example of Your goodness and grace.

Designed for a Purpose

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (ESV)

Any tool that is used for something other than what it was created for will not be effective, and it will most likely get damaged. One time I needed a hammer to pound in a nail, but I was too lazy to go out in the garage to get one. So, I ended up using whatever I had handy, like a flashlight. (you know you’ve done it too!)

You can guess what happened. It wasn’t very effective. I was able to get the nail in for the most part, but in the end, it was all bent and misshaped. The wall and the flashlight didn’t look much different.

Too many Christians today are not functioning or flowing in the thing they were created for, and consequently, they are not effective. And sometimes they get hurt and damaged...often taking others down with them.

You do have a purpose. In fact, the word “workmanship” in this verse translated literally means you are handcrafted by God. It’s also the same word we derive our English word “poem” from.

In other words, just like any great piece of art or poetry, your life is not without order and symmetry; rhyme or reason. God has some specific things mapped out for your life. You are not an accident. You have a purpose.

“God, I pray that today You would show me the purpose that You designed into my life. Help me to develop the gifts that You have given me in order to fulfill that purpose.”

Freedom from Sin Management

John 8:32

"Then you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." (ESV)

Freedom is the ability to respond to God fully out of who He made you and redeemed you to be. Freedom does not mean that you will stop getting angry, or lying, or overeating, etc. The pharisees stopped doing all of that, and yet they were still in more bondage than most people during New Testament times. When we believe that freedom is when we stop doing all of the bad stuff that seems to own us right now, then all of our energy, strength, and vitality will be spent trying to "manage our sin." Jesus didn't come and die so that you would behave better. He didn't suffer on the cross and raise to life again in order to put us on a sin management program.

Freedom is an act of God, not an act of man. It wasn't until the woman with the issue of blood finally stopped trying to heal herself and allowed Jesus to act on her behalf that she was truly healed. She had managed it for years, but she was not "set free" from the affliction until she "knew the Truth." When we make God and seeing His glory displayed on the earth ultimate in our lives, sin and it's power begins to diminish.

Freedom is not when I stop doing something, it's when I become someone. That's what Paul meant when he said, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." Paul's energy and strength was not spent on trying to be perfect but living out who God had made and redeemed him to be. And in doing so, he found out that he did not have to be a slave to sin any longer but he could truly be set free.

Shaped By God (Part 2)

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Psalm 139 says that we have been wonderfully made and skillfully wrought by God. It goes on to say that He fashioned our days before we were even born. In other words, we have been shaped by God to be a unique creation; a vessel that He has crafted for a specific purpose.

I think even as Christians we believe this, yet we live our lives as if God did not know what He was doing. Sometimes I imagine myself as plate that God has made for a specific purpose, maybe to be used to serve others with, or maybe to carry the "Bread of Life" to those who are starving and on the verge of death. But then imagine that God has created me to be a plate, but I spend all of my life trying to re-form myself into a bowl or a vase. The obvious question is how can someone try to reshape a plate into a vase without breaking it into a hundred pieces? You can't, but sadly that's is exactly what happens when we take things into our own hands.

Lord, my desire is to be molded into Your image. Help me to submit to Your will daily, and give me the strength to live well within in the framework that You have fashioned for my life. Thank You for Your perfect will!

Shaped By God

"The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!" (Jeremiah 18:1-6)

About 2,600 years ago, during Jeremiah's time, every village had a potter's house. It was a staple in ever community. So when God came to Jeremiah one day and told him to go down to the potter's house, it would have been like God coming to us and saying, "Go down to the corner gas station."

Jeremiah would have already been to the potter's house many times before. He was already very familiar with what happened there. So, what God was saying was, "Go down to the potter's house, Jeremiah; I want to show you some ordinary things."

When Jeremiah got there, God showed him a very ordinary thing, a pot being made, but what God revealed to him was something extraordinary. He was showing him His power to change lives.

Like a painter with a blank canvas, God sees something beautiful in us even before a single brushstroke is applied. Even more, God sees our beauty, though we are marred and broken in His hands. He is intimately at work in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).

God wants to do something extraordinary in our ordinary, broken lives. He still pleads with us today saying, "Come to me, marred and broken, and let me mold you into the beautiful vessel that I have in mind for you to be."

"God help me to be moldable today. Like clay in Your hands, my desire is to be formed into a vessel, both beautiful and useable to You."

Affection Addiction

I've been doing a lot of searching lately. Over the last two days I must have listened to at least a dozen sermons. I've been searching, but I really don't know exactly what I'm looking for. The best way to put it, I guess, is I've just been searching for...more. I want to go to a deeper, more self-shattering level with God. And lately I've encountered Truth in a surprisingly fresh way. I've been thinking a lot about things I've never given much thought to in the past; things like true beauty and what it means to live out God's dream for His bride.

This all started when I recently prayed that God would give me an injection of wisdom. I'm talking the kind of wisdom that's deep and fierce. The kind that when it hits you, it knocks you off your spiritual feet. I've prayed for this several times over the last 15 years or so, and each time it's like God gets me outright addicted to His word. I'm like a crackhead trying to get a fix. Every injection both satisfies me, yet leaves me wanting more.

God has stirred my affection for Him, and I am addicted to it. When I am addicted to knowing and loving Christ well, my life is richer, my relationships are deeper, and I have a vitality that is altogether uncommon. I want to hold on to it and never let go. Now, I am jealous for the things that stir my affections for God. My hope is that I can flood my life with Christ-exalting, worship-creating things and avoid anything that would rob me of the joy and vitality that I have when God is at the center of my affections.

Heavy Grace

I don’t think people really get the grace of God. Mostly because we all accept it as one of those subjects that we can’t fully grasp this side of heaven, so we don’t put a whole lot of thought into it. It’s one of those subjects, though, that I knew if I really understood, it would shake my entire faith and perception of God.

I believe the impact of ignoring God’s grace is seen most clearly in the testimony of people who have either walked away from God or are convinced that God cannot change them. My testimony fits more into the “I can just not get it right, so why would God ever want to use me” category.

The reason why I’ve thought this way is the same reason why people end up walking away from God; they have lost their understanding of the “heaviness” of the grace of God. I use the word “heaviness,” because when you think about it, it makes you feel like you’ve pulled a mental muscle or something. It’s almost as if you think about it long enough, you have to stop, take a break, and regain your mental bearings before proceeding. It reminds me of Psalm 139 where David says, “You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.”

To understand grace, we need to step outside of ourselves and see things from God’s perspective. A clear understanding of God’s grace demands an understanding of the price He paid on our behalf. We need to understand first and foremost that God is the offended party when it comes to this whole sin-forgiveness-reconciliation thing, not us. Keep in mind that we are the ones who have broken our end of the deal over and over, and God has every right to employ the full fury of His wrath against us....but He doesn’t.

God’s love is so deep, and He desires us so much that He recognized Man’s inability to do our part to restore our relationship with Him, and He took it upon Himself to become a man and do what’s necessary to restore it for us.

Imagine that a man brutally murders your family. All the evidence is stacked against him, and a grand jury finds him guilty of first degree murder. Now, imagine taking justice in your own hands - not by vengeance - but by fully satisfying the demands of justice by offering the only son you have left to be executed in that man’s place.

I know it doesn’t fit perfectly in every way with what God did for us (or our current legal system), but if you are just looking at it in terms of satisfying the demands of justice, there is absolutely no difference. Especially from the perspective of the innocent son who knows he’s about to die for crimes that he did not commit - crimes against his own family. I think about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane begging His Father for another way, knowing full well that this is the only way to make things right. That’s heavy grace.

The Extra Mile

Everyone has heard the phrase , "Go the extra mile," but there is an interesting history behind that phrase that most people don't know. 

Because of the Roman rule in Palestine at the time of the gospels, there was a strong Roman military presence in Jerusalem. Since 63 B.C. Rome exercised ultimate authority over all of Palestine, and as a result there were many laws that were suppressive to the Jews. One law stated that if a Roman soldier were to ask a Jewish citizen to carry his gear, the Jew was obligated to carry it without question. But the law stated that that the solider could only hold the Jew to one mile of service and no more.

Throughout His ministry Jesus used situations like this that were common knowledge to the people at that time to help them better understand His teachings. In Matthew 5:41 Jesus says, "And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two." It seems that He is referring to a solider, because He uses the word "compel." Obviously He means anyone who asks.

One thing that no one present at that Sermon on the Mount could have guessed was that this teaching would eventually play a part in His death. Although unlikely, it's interesting to think that Simon of Cyrene could have been there to hear Jesus talk about going the extra mile. (Mark 15:21)

How far are you willing to go with Jesus? And what are you willing to bear? (Luke 9:23; Matt. 10:38) 

Someone to Think for Me

I have come to believe that you are in life exactly where you want to be. Contrary to popular belief, a person who chooses to live a mediocre life for the most part did not come to that decision as a reaction to something terrible that happened to him. It's a mindset that was developed out of a series of failures. When the going got tough, he wasn’t, so he quit.

"Besides, that’s what everyone else is doing. "

Why is everyone else doing it? Because it’s much easier to maintain than it is to excel. Unfortunately, because of this, the picture of the American Dream has faded into earning a “good salary” at a “good job” for 40 years, have a couple of hobbies, and keep your nose clean (whatever that means). This thought process is the same kind of thought process it takes to hang someone….let me explain.

Hardly anyone would have the guts to take a person out by themselves and hang them from a tree, but put a mob together, (someplace you can lose your identity; a community where no one points the finger at anyone else, because there is no one to blame), and you’ll hang people all day simply because:

“That’s just the way it is around here.”

“Everybody’s doing it.”

And by the way:
“You can’t judge me. I’m no different that anyone else here.”

or:
“I’m just here watching. I don’t have anything to do with this, so it’s not my fault.”

By the way, how do you get away with doing something you know is wrong without feeling guilty? Get around enough people who want to do the same thing. Herein lies the answer to the age-old questions, “Why do bad things happen?” & "What went wrong with the world?" It’s not because bad people are doing too many bad things, it’s because good people aren’t doing enough good things, therefore the consensus has become whatever was bad (but everyone secretly wanted to do. They just didn’t have enough guts to do it until everyone else did) has now become acceptable.

How could we have let it get that way? Because it’s easier to do nothing. If you don’t think about it, it’s like it never happened, right? And because so many good people had turned their minds off, the mob became the brain, therefore, the one’s with all of the answers, therefore, the final authority on all truth and morality.

Now we’ve come full circle. It all comes back to the fact that people do not know how to think. So, what do they do? They let other people think for them: the media, their family, their teachers and professors, the government, scientists, etc.

“I’m not the expert on anything. That’s what those guys are for. If they say that’s the way it is, who am I to argue with them?”

Most people don't choose to think this way, they just eventually come to the conclusion that it's easier than "open[ing your]...mouth [to] speak boldly, as [you] ought to speak, " (Eph. 6:20) or taking one more risk, which in their mind is destined to fail...again.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Cor. 5:17)