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

A Passion for the Supremacy of God!

Over the last couple of days, I've listened to the following two sermons entitled "A Passion for the Supremacy of God".

I've found them to be paradigm shifting, challenging, and worshipful. I really hope you'll take the time to sit down in a quiet place, listen to them, meditate on them, and be as encouraged by them as I was/am.

God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him!

Passion for the Supremacy of God Part 1
Passion for the Supremacy of God Part 2

In part one he lays the groundwork for the main message. In part two he defends the thesis against common arguments using contextual scripture.

I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on it after you've listened to them both. Are there any other objections to his thesis you can think of that he hasn't already addressed?

God Bless!

A Healing Miracle!

Jordan Schroeder is breathing deeply, singing praises, and casting his jewel filled crown at our Sovereign's feet! We prayed for a miracle of healing and the Lord delivered. It was not delivered in a pretty package with a warm fuzzy card, but it was delivered exactly in the way God intended and it brought praise, honor, and glory to His awesomely deserving name! Praise Him!

Jesus took Jordan home around 9:30ish Saturday night. Let's put a hedge of prayer around Katelyn, her girls, and her family. Pray that Satan will not be allowed to whisper lies in their ears, but rather that Jesus will declare truth, peace, and love. May they feel the warm embrace of our Savior.

We weep for the occasion...Jordan will be missed. We will miss him at our young couples Bible Study. We will miss his passion for Christ. But one thing is certain. He would not choose to come back to this sin infested and broken world.

May we all be called to remember that this world is not our home. Christ went to prepare mansions for us, and He will call us there one day! Oh for that glorious day. May our eyes be turned to the fields that are white for harvest.

God Bless.

Why Should Preaching Include Systematic Theology?

I thought this was a great condensed defense of why Systematic Theology is important.1. Systematic theology is necessary in order to understand the text. When a text refers to God, or man, or sin, or Christ, or the church, or faith, you are in grave danger of distorting the meaning of those concepts unless you know what the whole Bible teaches about them—unless you know the Bible’s systematic theology. Also, without systematic theology you lack a crucial tool for defending against false interpretations of texts. In order to rightly interpret a verse in light of all of Scripture and defend a true interpretation against false ones you need systematic theology. Does Matthew 16 declare Peter to be the first pope? Well, that chapter does not say exactly. How you put together the rest of Scripture will affect how you then read Matthew 16 and answer that question.

2. Systematic theology is necessary in order to preach the gospel. Every expositional sermon should include the gospel because no text has been fully expounded unless it has been related to the gospel (through “biblical theology”). Yet in order to preach the full gospel you must preach what the Bible teaches about God’s holiness, our sin, Christ’s atoning death and resurrection, and our need to repent of sin and trust in Christ. Apart from a biblical summary of each of those things—that is, apart from systematic theology—none of those things make sense. Systematic theology is necessary in order to preach the gospel.

3. Systematic theology is necessary for spiritual growth. In order to grow in trusting God, a Christian needs to know what God is like. In order to grow in holiness, a Christian needs to understand the nature and offense of sin, as well as what God has done to save us from sin by sending Christ to die. This doesn’t mean that every Christian has to pore over thousand-page books, or even that every Christian has to understand the technical vocabulary of systematic theology. But it does mean that in order to grow spiritually every Christian needs to grow in his understanding of what the Bible teaches about God, sin, Christ, faith, and the duties of the Christian life. This comes through reading Scripture, synthesizing it, and applying it to our lives.For a definition of "systematic theology", click here.

Miracle of Thinking

Copied and pasted from this blog.

It is amazing how consistently the New Testament refers to the depravity of the individual by mentioning the debasement of the mind. In Ephesians 4 Paul describes those who are outside of Christ in a string of clauses that regard the intellectual faculty of a person– “in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Eph. 4:17-18, italics mine).

Outside of Christ, something is messed up in how we think. This grave condition of our minds is countered by the transformation that occurs in God’s salvation of sinners. Paul calls it the “renewal of the mind” and he prays for its effect (Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10; cf. Eph. 5:10; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:9; Phlm 6).

The implications are glorious. I think that what it means at the most basic level is that thinking is a matter of the life transformed by the gospel. Thinking rightly is not about intellectual giftedness. A person’s main problem with messed up thinking is not their IQ, but alienation from their Creator.

Thinking and theology–thinking about God–is utterly miraculous. In order for it to happen Jesus Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree. The smallest reception in our heads of God’s truth is miraculous enough to leave us bewildered and intoxicated by grace until we’re speechless. What do you have that has not been given? What do you know that has not been purchased for you by the blood of Christ?

It is for this reason alone that a kid who bombed his SAT’s can still look forward to a conference on the subject of thinking. Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God is not a conference for academicians, but for those who have been radically transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.