This is powerful truth

This is a powerful message from Paul Tripp entitled "Broken Bones Hymns". I know it's a little longer than the usual "quick read blog post", but it's packed with Biblical insight and powerful truths to mold our thinking.

"I don't understand Election"

Paul Washer very gently and pastorally explains the doctrine of Election to a questioning student.

Do you want enough?

I know I've been doing a lot of "re-posts" lately from other blogs, but I've just been really challenged and encouraged by this stuff. It's great. Someday maybe I'll have some original thoughts again. :-)

This one is from Desiring God again. Here's the link if you just want to read it off of their website.In John 6 a large crowd crosses the Sea of Galilee looking for Jesus. But when they find him, instead of welcoming their “seeking” Jesus says to them,

Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. (John 6:26, 27)

A little later on in the chapter, he purposely offends them with his “hard sayings” so that many turn away and no longer follow him. But weren't the crowds coming to the right source of blessing? Didn’t they believe that he could and would heal them and give them bread to eat?

They did, and he certainly had the power to do it, but the problem was that that was all they wanted. They didn’t join the disciples in saying, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

The Israelites who fell in the wilderness had this same kind of "faith". They believed in God enough to complain to him about their dry tongues, but they lacked a thirst for righteousness.

The sort of faith that pleases God—real faith—is the kind that is created by him through the hearing of the gospel (Ephesians 2:8, 9). It rests in Christ alone and hungers and thirsts for righteousness. It is the kind that, when calamity strikes, results in worship and comfort that our “redeemer lives” (Job 19:25). It is the “peace that passes understanding.” This sort of faith causes us to cry out for mercy knowing we are sinners in need of the righteousness that only One could purchase for us.

By faith we hunger and thirst and are satisfied (Revelation 21:6). By faith we are comforted that all things, no matter how painful or sweet, will work together for our good, reaping eternal benefits that are so wonderful that they can’t even be compared to our grief (1 Peter 1:6, Romans 8:28). True faith believes that God is good and rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

If as Christians we are called to endure difficult trials and yet always receive temporal blessings like health and safety, our peace could not rightly be called the “peace that passes understanding”. It would actually be quite reasonable.

If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are you! (Matthew 5:6)

Trusting in the Sovereign

I read the following article this morning on the Desiring God Blog. I was encouraged. I hope you are too. Author: Paul TrippDo you ever struggle with God's sovereignty? Do you wonder why he has ordained for you to face the things you face? Are you ever tempted to doubt his goodness or question his love? Or do you experience rest of heart even when your relationships are messy and your circumstances are difficult? The following words are about where the rest can be found.

I did it again and again when our children resisted our instruction and correction. I did it again and again when they debated a command or questioned our plans. I did it again and again when they opposed our authority and quested for self-rule. I did it again and again for two good reasons.

To begin with, my wife and I had brought children into this world who thought they didn't need us! Like us, each of them at some point fell into believing they were far more knowledgeable and capable than they really were. Like us, they often assumed that their intentions were noble and their plans were sound. Like us, they tended to think they were capable of determining what was best, even when they lacked important information and experience. Like we often do, they simply felt they were in possession of a better way.

But there was a second reason I did it again and again. Our children were too young to grasp the abstract, strategic, and often theological purposes underlying my instruction. Even if I explained everything in as age-appropriate a way as I could, they would still have no actual understanding. They just did not yet have the categories or the capacity to grasp the parental logic behind the plan or command.

So I did the same thing again and again. I would kneel down in front of them at eye level and say, "Please look at Daddy's face. Do you know how much I love you? Do you know that your Daddy is not a mean, bad man? Do you know that I would never ask you to do anything that would hurt you or make you sick? I am sorry that you can't understand why Daddy is asking you to do this. I wish I could explain it to you, but you are too young to understand. So I am going to ask you to do something—trust Daddy. When you walk down the hallway to do what Daddy has asked you to do, say to yourself, 'My Daddy loves me. My Daddy would never ask me to do something bad. I am going to trust my Daddy and stop trying to be the Daddy of my Daddy.'"

God does the same thing with you, over and over again. He meets you in one of the difficult hallways of your life, kneels down before you in condescending love, and asks you to trust his loving and wise rule, even though you don't have a clue what he is doing.

He knows there are many times when your life doesn't look like there is anyone ruling it, let alone someone wise and good. He knows there will be times when you will wish you could be the author of your own story. He knows that at times you will be overwhelmed by what is on your plate. He knows that his plan will confuse and confound you. And he knows that real rest cannot be found in understanding, because, like my children, there are things, as a limited human being, you simply do not have the capacity to understand.

Real rest is found in trusting the Person who is in control of the things you don't understand.

He is willing to have the conversation with you again and again, and he has made sure that his Word assures you of his rule again and again. (For just a few examples, see 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Psalm 103:19, Psalm 115:3, Proverbs 21:1, Isaiah 46:9-10, Daniel 4:35, and Ephesians 1:11.)

Encouraging reflections

I was encouraged this morning by the following:A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE.

source

Patience

This is the daily devotional from Grace to You. I thought it was both timely and potent."Love is patient" (1 Cor. 13:4).

We usually think of patience as the ability to wait or endure without complaint--whether it's with people or circumstances. But the Greek word translated "patience" in 1 Corinthians 13:4 refers specifically to patience with people. It literally means "to be long tempered," and speaks of one who could easily retaliate when wronged but chooses not to.

That kind of patience is a spiritual virtue reflective of God Himself (cf. Gal 5:22). It can't be duplicated on a purely human level. But for Christians, it's to be a way of life. Paul said, "I . . . entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love" (Eph. 4:1-2).

God Himself is the supreme example of patience. Peter said, "[He] is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9). Those who reject His grace are despising "the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience" (Rom. 2:4).

In the Greco-Roman world of Paul's day, retaliating for a personal insult or injury was considered a virtue. Non- retaliation was interpreted as a sign of weakness. Our society is much the same. Our heroes tend to be those who fight back with physical strength or litigation. But that isn't God's perspective, nor was it Christ's in praying for His killers, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

As you consider your own patience, remember that retaliation isn't always blatant and forceful. It's often subtle--like withholding affection from your spouse when he or she has wronged you, or withdrawing from a friend who has hurt you. But godly love never retaliates. It cares more for the feelings of others than for its own.

Remember the Lord's patience toward you, and allow His Spirit to produce similar patience in you.

Great article on Grace!

Here's an excerpt to entice you to click the link and read the whole thing. :-)Grace is the most transformational word in the Bible. The entire content of the Bible is a narrative of God's grace, a story of undeserved redemption. By the transformational power of his grace, God unilaterally reaches his hands into the muck of this fallen world, through the presence of his Son, and radically transforms his children from what we are (sinners) into what we are becoming by his power (Christ-like). The famous Newton hymn uses the best word possible, maybe the only word big enough, for that grace—amazing.Read the rest here.

Relationships

I've been thinking a lot about relationships lately, specifically in a Christian context. Personal relationships are one of the most difficult, and at the same time, the most rewarding aspects of life.

This post isn't going to be well thought out and cohesive, because my thoughts are not that way right now.

Here are a couple of questions I've been asking myself.

1. Why are we so quick to assume we can correctly gauge others' motives and intents? When in reality we can barely get a firm grasp on our own personal motives and intentions.Jeremiah asks this question in Chapter 17 vs 9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

He then answers his own question in vs 10: "I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins..."

I know I need to fall on my face before the Lord and pray as David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked [NASB says hurtful] way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.2. Why does it hurt so bad when people make wrong assumptions about my motivations and intentions?When I'm doing something I feel right doing, and someone criticizes me for it, why do I want to lash out in defense? Why is my natural flesh reaction to immediately assume I know their heart and their motives behind their criticism of me?

Isn't the best way (maybe the only way) to get to know someone's motives and intentions to establish relationship with that person. The deeper the relationship goes, usually, the more clearly we can see their hearts.I'm not sure if this is Biblical here, but I really make an effort to assume people's motives are good until I have strong reason to believe otherwise. It's proven very beneficial in my relationships to remember how diverse our experiences are as Christians. Our Sovereign God has taken all of us down very unique paths. We exist in the body of Christ to share those experiences with each other and to refine each other in the journey.

That process is a painful one sometimes, and sometimes it's a beautiful one.

My call here is for us to recognize that process as it's happening and not neglect to be thankful for it in all it's difficulty and beauty. We are called to Love one another, but let's remember that Love is not exclusively about good feelings. It's about making choices that are for the good of others, not necessarily ourselves. God loves us enough to discipline us, not just hold us when we cry.

Peace & Love