By Jared Mellinger

One of the great lessons I have learned from Thomas Adam is the importance of fighting pride and cultivating humility.  Here are some more quotes from his journal, published in Private Thoughts on Religion.  These quotes continue to help me in my own ongoing pursuit of humility. 

Humility adopts the posture and belief that we have our hands full with ourselves:

“My great controversy is with myself, and I am resolved to have none with others till I have put things upon a better footing at home.” (p. 67) 

“One reason the world is not reformed, is, because every man would have others make a beginning, and never thinks of himself.”  (p. 138)

It is possible to pursue humility for the wrong reasons:

“I want humility; for what?  To be admired.  My pride will hardly let me believe this, though I fear it is the truth.” (p. 70)

Humility informs the way we think about receiving correction and criticism from others:

“When I see others astonishingly blind to their failings, I suppose it to be my own case, and should think that man my friend who helps to open my eyes.” (p. 71)

“We can take reproof patiently from a book, but not from a tongue.  The book hurts not our pride, the living reprover does; and we cannot bear to have our faults seen by others.”  (p. 132) 

Humility has implications for how we approach confessing our sins:

“When I return to a better temper, after having been under the impressions of black melancholy; that is, from being morose, sullen, discontented, impatient, quarrelsome; I cannot help saying, what a beast and a devil I was; meaning that I am no longer.  An open confession of this kind, is looked upon as a mark of great ingenuousness, when, in truth, it is nothing but self-deception, counterfeit humility, and a stratagem to reinstate myself in my own good opinion, or in the esteem of others.  The style of the confession should run in the present tense, ‘I am, I am, I am;’ for the nature is the same, though at present it may be smoothed over with a handsome appearance, as a filthy puddle is always the same, though it does not always smell alike.” (p 73) 

“The truly humble man is humble in secret; it is a pain to him to have his humility seen and observed; and whenever he has occasion to confess his defects, it is for no other end but to take shame to himself.” (p. 224) 

Humility transforms relationships and how we view others, especially their faults:

 “Whenever I spy a fault in another, I am determined to look for two in myself, and they will not be far to seek.”  (p. 145) 

“Pride is seeing the defects of others, and overlooking our own.  Humility is seeing, feeling, and lamenting sin in ourselves; not only past, but present sin; not only actual sin, but the root of it in an evil nature, and all sin without disguise or extenuation, in all its guilt and malignity.”  (p. 156) 

And, a few other quotes on pride and humility:

“Man would be intolerable to himself, and look out every way for help, if it was not for his pride.”  (p. 133) 

“If I bring my pride with me to the work of God, it will feed as sweetly upon it as upon any other distinction, and in the end fatally blast it.”  (p. 123) 

“The way to be humble is to look upwards to God.  If we think greatly of his majesty, purity, and infinity of all excellence, it will give us such a striking view of our vileness and absolute unworthiness, that we shall think it hardly possible for any to be lower than ourselves.”  (p. 109) 

“God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is.”  (p. 157)

“Humility is knowing that we are not humble.”  (p. 156)

By Trish Donohue

I'm currently reading the kids "Anne of Green Gables".  It's a stretch for the boys, but I promised they'd like it, despite its lack of explosions and guy stuff.  And they do.  If you haven't read it, Anne is an orphan girl adopted by a pair of elderly siblings who ends up changing the small town through her charming personality.  She gets herself in "scrapes", but always comes out even more lovable than before.  You can't help liking her.

What makes her such a great main character?

• She's passionate about everything:  Nature, learning, friendships.
• She's incredibly imaginative, turning simple life into magical fantasies.
• She's smart as a whip and even her outbursts are insightful.  Her descriptions are stirring, her rhetoric is flawless, her recitations move the town to tears.
• All this, and she remains for the most part a faithful, simple girl.

After reading the book, you want to be like her.  But the fact is, few of us are.  Most of us are, truthfully, not that exceptional.  We're not moving people to tears with our oratory, we're not changing the world with our natural cheer, we're not winning first prize at anything, and we think of good retorts only after the conversation is over.  Some of us are dull, even downright awkward, and pretty un-Anne-like.

Who would bother putting us in their story?

Flip open to 1 Corinthians 1:

For consider your calling, brothers:  not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

Ouch, but true!

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

God chose us.  The Author chose us.  Like Moses, Jacob, David, Peter, Mary Magdalene, and so many others on His leading character list, we're hopelessly flawed.  But He chose our slow tongues, our dull minds, our checkered pasts, and incorporated us into His story.  Not only that, but He adopted us orphans as His own children.  Amazing!

The passage ends like this:

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord".

It doesn't matter if I'm not impressive:  It matters if I'm "in Christ Jesus".  It doesn't matter if my kids aren't winning blue ribbons and charm contests:  God chooses even the weak.

Unlike the books that we enjoy, what matters in this story isn't the quality of the characters, but the quality of the author who, in this case, really is worth boasting about.

By Rob Flood

A recent article came out in LifeScience referencing a study done on human personalities and whether they change over time or not.  The article is titled, “Personality Set for Life by 1st Grade, Study Suggests.” 

The article says flatly:

Our personalities stay pretty much the same throughout our lives, from our early childhood years to after we're over the hill, according to a new study.

The results show personality traits observed in children as young as first graders are a strong predictor of adult behavior.

So, join me on a little journey back to when you were 6 or 7 years old.  What were you like?  What things interested you?  How did you interact with others?  What was your perception of people?  … of work?  …of your teacher? 

Now, join me back in the present.  What are you like?  What things interest you?  How do you interact with others?  What is your perception of people?  …of work?  …of those in authority over you?

Now, consider the following statements from the article and see if you agree:

"We remain recognizably the same person," said study author Christopher Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside. "This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts."

If you agree and see continuity between then and now, then praise God.

• He is the one who knit you together in your mother’s womb and made you in a fearful and wonderful way.
• Even the parts of your personality that you wish had changed, but haven't, serve as platforms for praise.  They keep you close to God and regularly aware of your dependence upon grace...not personality growth.
• God uses the personality He's given you for your good, the good of others, and His glory.

If you disagree and see discontinuity between then and now, then praise God.

• He is the one who orchestrated events to occur that have shaped you into the man or woman that you are now.
• You likely are seeing the impact of the gospel in your life.  Earth shattering truth like the foregiveness of sins and peace with God will change a person...even a personality.
• God uses the personality He's given you for your good, the good of others, and His glory.

The bottom line: God is still God.  I’m glad there are folks that study this stuff and write their findings.  I’m glad because, in all honest work that observes mankind, we can always detect ways to fall on our faces and worship God. 

Your personality…love it or hate it…is a creation from our God intended for his purposes.  Whether it is to draw you close or use you mightily, it is a tool in the hand of our good and gracious Creator…who knew what He was doing when He formed you.

By Rachel Gonzales

I am so very thankful for the wonderful Christian friends the Lord has brought into my life. He has been kind to grow friendships that are an integral part of His work to make me more like Him.

Recently, I used one of my “phone a friends” in a now humorous situation. But at the time it was a bit stressful. My youngest and her hair again…here’s what happened.

My two daughters and I were getting ready to leave for an appointment. We were at the “need to leave in 20 minutes” mark when my youngest, in an attempt to be helpful, came into my room and said, “Mommy, something happened.” She then turned around and revealed her matted, mangled mess of hair…with a brush handle sticking out of it. The round brush she decided to use to brush her hair was so stuck that it did not even move when she turned around. I tried to stay calm as I quickly checked my watch and evaluated the situation. I began working on the mess and realized that scissors could be in our near future. I worked on her hair for a few minutes and then realized that freedom for this brush was going to require a bold move…the bathtub.

My frustration was rising. I knew this was just a mistake, made because she wanted to be helpful. I was trying to figure out how late we would be to our activity. I was trying to imagine her with a cute, short bob as I worked to keep my voice in check. And then God nudged me to use a “phone a friend”. So I called my sweet friend and asked for prayer, knowing that just making the call was God offering me accountability for this situation.

Well, after the tub and half a bottle of conditioner later, my littlest still had most of her hair. I did find some amusement in the size of the tangle I was working on in light of another time God had used my daughter’s tangled hair to get my attention. Read about it here: 

http://www.covfel.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=52015&articleId=9285

But it was the “phone a friend” that God kept bringing me back to. The most immediate need at the time was for me to keep my cool and not to lose my patience over a mistake, over her attempt at being a helpful “big girl”. Obviously I didn’t want to have to cut her hair, but the length of her hair is not really a huge deal in the big picture of life. My reaction to life, however, is a big deal, especially to my girls. My reactions will teach them how to react. My actions do speak very boldly about what I believe about our Lord. It’s hard for the gospel to be on display when I react sinfully to life’s circumstances.

God used my “phone a friend” to help keep me in check. He used it to offer me help in exhibiting the fruit of the spirit to my daughters. I needed the accountability He offered to demonstrate patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. That day, accountability came through a friendship of His growing. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of friendship.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works…” 
                                                                                                                   Hebrews 10:24 

By Jared Mellinger

I have a friend I’m eager to introduce.  A man by the name of Thomas Adam.    

 Thomas Adam was a pastor in northern England in the 18^th Century.  He was born in 1701, lived to be 84 years old, and was a man whose life was marked by a deep awareness of his own sin and a deep love for Jesus Christ.  He was a godly man who spent his life walking in close fellowship with his Savior.

 Several years after Adam died; a volume called Posthumous Works was published.  Included in these works were entries from his private journal.  He had no idea these entries would one day be seen by others, and his journal entries frequently include confession and grieving over his sin. 

 But as the publisher points out, Adam would have had no objections to a broader audience benefiting from these thoughts and confessions.  The publisher believed he had the freedom to circulate these private thoughts based on one of the entries in the journal.  Adam wrote:

 "If proclaiming my life before men and angels will be proclaiming the glory of saving grace, let it be done.  I do not desire to have one sinful act, word, or thought concealed.  Forgiveness through the blood of Christ will be to myself an endless spring of admiration, love, and thanksgiving; and the blessed company of heaven will join with me in praising God and the Lamb for it, to all eternity.”  (Private Thoughts on Religion, p. 99)       

 The journal entries were later published on their own with the title Private Thoughts on Religion.  The book is a treasure chest of insights and reflections.  I read through it in my morning devotions sometime in 2008. 

 Over the next couple of Mondays, I want to share some of my favorite quotes from the private journal of Thomas Adam.  

 I will give you one quote to hold you over:

 “He who, with a consciousness and acknowledgment of great imperfection, trusts in the righteousness of Christ, is a better Christian than a more perfect man who trusts his own.”  (p. 181)

 That, my friends, is brilliant and worth rereading!  And there is more to come.

By Andy Farmer

Here’s a great quote for the days of battle from Herman Bavinck, a theologian of the 19th Century who deserves to be known by 21st Century folks. It is courtesy of http://www.firstimportance.org.

“Christ is our holiness in the same sense in which he is our righteousness. He is a complete and all-sufficient Savior. He does not accomplish his work halfway but saves us really and completely. He does not rest until, after pronouncing his acquittal in our conscience, he has also imparted full holiness and glory to us.  By his righteousness, accordingly, he does not just restore us to the state of the just who will go scot-free in the judgment of God, in order then to leave us to ourselves to reform ourselves after God’s image and to merit eternal life. But Christ has accomplished everything. He bore for us the guilt and punishment of sin, placed himself under the law to secure eternal life for us, and then arose from the grave to communicate himself to us in all his fullness for both our righteousness and sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30). The holiness that must completely become ours therefore fully awaits us in Christ.”

—Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Baker Academic, 2008), 4:248

By Ramona Doyle

Remember that poem that starts, “I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth, I knew not where…”? I made a startling realization recently while reevaluating some of my priorities. Without intentional effort, I can easily live much of my life just like the archer in Longfellow’s poem, blindly shooting my energy and efforts in many directions, yet failing to hit any mark. To get to the point…when I aim at nothing, it’s easy to hit it.

But that is not how the Lord calls us to live our lives. He beckons a measure of intentionality when, in Ephesians 5:15-16, he cautions us, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” The Lord kindly reminds us how important it is to focus our efforts in the various areas of our lives so that we can make wise choices and maximize our fruitfulness.

This point was driven home for me recently while taking the FPU course. We set some financial goals to guide our spending and saving. With measurable goals in mind for things like food and household items, I began to realize how much money I had previously been wasting for lack of a target. Meeting our goals required a greater measure of planning, which changed my haphazard spending habits and rekindled my excitement for cooking and serving creative meals to my family. My family is enjoying my cooking much more, and it seems we are eating better for less—much better for much less. We saw many dividends for an ounce of intentionality in the area of finances.

There are many areas of our lives where setting measurable goals and living with intentionality can pay abundant dividends: our devotional lives, our marriages, our parenting, our homemaking, our use of time, our service to the church, our care for our bodies. I find it helpful to seek the Lord, evaluate, talk with my husband, and set goals in these areas at least once a year. And the Lord, in his kindness, seems to multiply his grace so that the dividends from one area spill over into every area of my life.

Where are you aiming your energy and efforts? Perhaps it is time to target some measurable goals.

By Rob Flood

 

When we are the center of someone else’s fun, it can cause us to hearken back to junior high school or our freshmen year of high school.  We are trained to dislike when others laugh at us.  But what if the “mockers” genuinely love us?  What if the fun they have with us is because of how much they love us?

 

We have to face it…there are funny things about us.  We are quirky.  And we are quirky in varying ways.  One of the healthiest things we can do is develop the skill of laughing at ourselves.  To deny that we are quirky and have eccentricities that others find funny is really to deny what is plainly obvious to everyone else.

 

Just think about those people around you.  If given the opportunity, you could celebrate their quirkiness with much laughter.  If they all have quirks, then you do, too.

 

In many ways, CJ Mahaney models what a life lived for God ought to look like.  And this area is one of his finest.  When those who love him celebrate his quirkiness, no one laughs harder at CJ than CJ.  At a recent Resolved conference, Jonathan Rourke did an extended and outstanding impression of CJ.  If you know CJ at all, you know that this guy is good.

 

While you are enjoying the impression, be sure to note who is laughing the hardest in the video.  Let’s follow in his example. (Thanks for the Girl Talk blog for bringing this to our attention.)

  

By Rob Flood

As creatures, we don’t get to determine the moments we face…just how we face them.  And so often, how we face them is not a decision we make in the moment but a response to how we’ve sown into our lives ahead of those moments.  These “divine appointments” become a stage for the training ground we’ve been on.

As men, we are called to face each moment that comes as godly men.  Some of us will be called to heroism: bravery in warfare, saving others from violence.  Some of us will be called to godliness in our manhood in far less spectacular ways: offering our umbrella during a storm or a coat in the cold weather.  Remember, we don’t get to determine the moments we face…just how we face them.

One member of our church, Adam Sacks, was presented with one of those moments recently in the airport.  While waiting on standby with many other passengers, he discovered a mother with two young children also waiting on standby.  It was quite late in the evening, yet her day began on the west coast at 6 a.m.  Needless to say, she was fatigued and those poor kids were wiped out.  Adam took some action.  The following is from an account written by his wife, Bethany:

After pleading her case with gate agents and pilots, Adam got the fuel of the Holy Spirit and thwarted the boarding process.  He boldly asked for the attention of every passenger in the area waiting to board.  He said with reckless abandon, "Norfolk passengers, may I please get your attention, this woman has been traveling since this morning and if she doesn't get on this flight she will spend the night with her children in the airport--will someone please join me and give up their seat so that she can go home and prove chivalry is not dead?!”  

Now, let’s keep some perspective.  Adam wasn’t going to change the world nor was he on some battlefield in warfare.  He wasn’t running the risk of being the main character in any Marvel comic books.  It was just a moment.  One that he decided to face with godly character.

While many men were inspired by his call to action…none stepped forward.  He was offering his seat but she needed two seats, not just one.  Making one more appeal, he proclaimed:

"Someone has to be more flexible then a woman with two small children.  Please help her!”

A voice came from the back of the crowd saying, “I will do it.”  It was a Christian woman.  Adam’s call for the men to prove chivalry was not dead was answered by a woman who had sown to her own character so she could face whatever moments Providence presented to her.

These two saints watched the other passengers board the plane while they stayed in the terminal.  But they also got to see the mother with her two children board the plane and enjoyed the sweetness of the Lord’s smile at their sacrificial, but ever so small, act of godliness.

Is there a moral to this story?  A couple.  First, no one is looking to put a cape around Adam’s neck.  What he did was admirable but what he did was small.  It was a passing moment that he decided to face with the love of Christ.  Second, and more importantly, whether we are called to the excitement of heroism or the dullness of the ordinary, we are called to face it like godly men.  Perhaps you get rear-ended in your neighborhood or you get overcharged at the mechanic.  Perhaps you get the wrong topping on your pizza or the Wawa deli counter put onions on your Italian hoagie.  Or maybe you find yourself in a devastatingly serious situation that requires real, abiding faith in Christ.  In any and all of these cases, we are called to be godly men.

We don’t get to determine the moments we face…just how we face them.  May we be men in this church that increasingly sow to our godly manhood.  Then, whatever Providence may present…we’ll be prepared to face it as men.  Men who love God.  And men who love others more than we love ourselves.  Then, for each of us, every moment can be a moment of godly masculinity.

By Ramona Doyle

When I turned on my vacuum cleaner recently I noticed a strange phenomenon… the more I vacuumed, the worse the visibility in the room I was trying to clean.  Dust clouds were rising, feeding the growing suspicion that the bag just might be full.  I found more dust packed around the bag than inside the stuffed overflowing bag itself.  It literally filled a tall kitchen bag!  An hour later after I finished cleaning my cleaning equipment…

Ok, you ask…how does a veteran homemaker miss it by that much?  Well, I didn’t.  My kids (now we’re all smiling) had been doing the household cleaning for me following a surgical procedure requiring me to take it easy for several weeks and this was the first time I had vacuumed in two months.  Look at the bright side (at least it got bright once the dust settled :-) …my children faithfully cleaned my home for 8 weeks!

Lesson learned…when you involve your kids, things can get messy really fast!  Of course, I say that tongue in cheek.  But if you are like me, there can be the ongoing temptation to just “do it yourself” with regard to the home.  It’s much easier and more effective to cook, clean, do laundry and manage keeping the house running ourselves.  Our sense of accomplishment can be easily tied to what we can check off our lists, and incorporating our children into the mix just isn’t very efficient.  BUT (you knew that was coming, didn’t you!), as I’ve watched my kids grow (now 27, 21, 17, 13, and 10), I’ve learned that what is momentarily expedient may not serve long-term in light of the Lord’s ongoing call for me to train up my children.  And, I don’t want to be ruled by my desires for order and control in my home; rather, how wonderful to know the joy of fulfilling the Lord’s call for me to care for my home in a way that truly expresses the heart of God for my entire family.

As we involve our children with us in the ongoing stuff of our lives we not only create opportunity to build, deepen, and strengthen our relationships with them, but also create new contexts for the Gospel…opportunities through relationship to look the awe inspiring love of our Savior gave himself that we might be freed from our selfishness, sinful hearts to love and serve Him forever!  Our children grow in their appreciation for what it takes to keep our homes running and learn to sacrificially serve others even as our Savior took the form of a servant to care for us.  And they learn valuable skills that will serve them throughout their adult lives.

Dishes may get broken, the lawn-mower may spend time in the shop, dust storms may occasionally invade the tranquility of your day, but the kingdom of God begins to invade our family life and reap long-term fruit in the lives of our children.  “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox” (Proverbs 14:4).

By Doug Hayes

After 130-or-so years of history and only 18 perfect games ever pitched, Major League Baseball has recently witnessed two – and very nearly a third – all in the space of a month.  A perfect game is when a pitcher retires every single batter he faces in a full 9-inning game.  If anyone reaches base for any reason at all (even a fielding error by one of the pitcher’s teammates), the standard of perfection is violated.  It may be a stellar performance, but it’s not a perfect game. 

Amazingly, in the recent near-miss, it wasn’t a hit or a walk or even a teammate’s error that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galaragga his place in baseball immortality.  After facing 26 batters and getting 26 outs, the 27^th batter topped a weak grounder to the right side.  It was a close play at first, but the call from the umpire was “Safe!” and just like that, the dream of perfection was lost. 

On the replay, however, it was clear from every angle that the runner should have been called out.  It’s a play that umpires will see correctly 999 times out of 1,000, but this blown call came at the worst possible moment.  After the game, the umpire broke baseball protocol and went to the Tigers locker room to apologize – through tears – for his error.  

But this is where the story turns beautiful, as Galaragga’s attitude was even more astounding than his pitching performance.  Those of us who are accustomed to seeing players throw temper tantrums on the field probably would have excused one in this instance.  We certainly would have understood a bit of righteous indignation after seeing the replays that clearly showed the umpire’s call to be wrong.  “Nobody’s perfect,” Galaragga said, when asked for his response to the blown call.  He gave the tearful umpire a hug to make him feel better.  His reaction was remarkably gracious, and it has won him more favor than a perfect game ever could have achieved. 

I don’t know whether Armando Galaragga is a Christian, but he appears to understand something about the relationship between justice and mercy.  James said, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.  Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13).  For Armando Galaragga, justice would demand a perfect game.  If this rightful outcome has been rendered impossible by an umpire’s bad call, then some sort of condemnation should be in order… at least a sneering comment indicating that mere apologies can’t undo the damage.  There’s no going back now to restore the perfection that should have been. 

But mercy recognizes that we are all flawed.  In my interactions with my fellow man, mercy must triumph over judgment because I am also in need of mercy (sometimes by the boatload).  The moment I begin requiring perfection of others is the moment I have lost touch with how merciful God has been toward me. 

There can be a temptation, when attempting to care for people who are suffering because of their own sin or poor decisions, to limit mercy based on judgment.  This often masquerades as an alleged love for justice, but it forgets what Armando Galaragga remembered… none of us is perfect.  None of us have received what we truly deserve.  I shudder to think of what my life would be if not for innumerable expressions of God’s grace, giving me good where I have not merited it with my actions.  I surely would have made a shipwreck of my life by now, if not for the restraining mercy of God.  I wouldn’t even be around to write this blog post.  Mercy has most definitely triumphed over judgment for me!  How could I possibly demand perfection of others?  

 

Armando Galaragga may never have another chance to complete the perfect game he justly deserves, but he has done us a far greater service through his attitude than anything he’ll ever do with his million dollar right arm.  Blessed indeed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 

By Al Everett

Editor’s Note:  This post by Al is longer than we usually blog, but in the way he unpacks the way God has dealt with him over the years I thought it would speak to a lot of guys.  For those of you who are confused in your present situation, let Al’s repeated discoveries of grace in God’s dealing encourage your faith!

I’ll never cease to be amazed at the countless ways my flesh finds to sidestep or overthrow the gospel in my life.  At least it tries to.  The Lord is faithful to regularly reveal these pockets of rebellion and has always given me grace to reorient my heart to the gospel.

I think I was probably saved when I was a child, maybe in middle school.  I’m still not actually sure; partly because since then, I’ve had several spiritual breakthroughs so life changing that they left me wondering if I was ever really a Christian before. 

One came as a young adult.  The young woman whom I was to marry suddenly called off the wedding and the relationship and gave no clear reason.  Turned out the reason married her himself just a few months later.  Devastated and bitterly angry, I spent three years in spiritual depression wondering who I was and how God could have allowed this.  It was a momentous struggle but God was faithful, not letting me go.  When the smoke had cleared the Lord had shaken me deeply, torn down strengths and assumptions and reoriented my life to serve him more single-mindedly.  Though I had been saved for ten years or so, for the first time, I began living my life to serve God alone.

Years later a less painful, yet no less reorienting revelation took control of my life.  By now I was married and raising three boys.  I was an active member and deacon of a local church and diligently serving God in as many activities as I could.  When two of my closest friends (and fellow leaders) took opposing sides of a doctrinal issue related to Christian obedience to the Old Testament law, my life would change again.  One felt it necessary to publically advocate his position in the church.  This led others, including my other friend, to publicly oppose him.  Coached by both of my more scholarly friends to adopt their position and oppose the other friend, I became confused and desperate to come down on the right side of this issue on my own.  I took to careful study of the Word and particularly, the purpose and place of the Law in the life a Christian.  Months later I emerged, convinced that everything I had been taught and believed about the Law and Gospel was upside down.  My study had revealed that my life was bound up, not in trusting Christ’s blood, but in keeping God’s Law, so much so that I found myself asking the question, “If I’m not meant to please God by keeping His law, than how am I to please God?”  The Lord answered me with Romans 7:6, “…we serve in the new way of the Spirit not in the old way of the written code.”  Though I had been saved for over twenty years, for the very first time, I came to understand the basic teachings of the Gospel and how the Holy Spirit of God worked on my behalf to produce obedience from the heart.

Recently I had another such reorientation.  It would bring many of my failures of faith into clear perspective.  After many months of very difficult trial, I found myself worn down and finding it difficult to maintain patience with people.  I was given a book, The Prodigal God, by Tim Keller.  The book is about the Prodigal Son’s elder brother, that brother’s rebellion against the grace his father extended to the Prodigal and, in more subtle ways, that elder brother’s rebellion against the father’s grace in his own life.  I read the book with little awareness of any need in my heart.  I actually got most of the way through it with no effect at all in my heart.  My wife picked up the book as well.  Not deceived in the least by my flesh, she immediately saw me throughout its pages.  She began to urge me to consider how much like this elder brother I have been.  I dismissed her.  After all, I had studied the Prodigal Son story.  I knew better than anyone this story was about the older son not the younger.  I knew it applied directly to the self-righteous Pharisees not the “sinners” they so despised.  I knew about Romans 7:6 and had studied the Gospel and how to apply it for years.  I had taught it to my family and friends and knew very well the trap of religiosity.  I knew how to preach the Gospel to myself and did so regularly, everyday.  No.  The “elder brother” was a religious person who depended on his religion, not the gospel, for his sense of right standing before God.  That was not me.

Wisely, my wife continued to pursue the issue.  As I said earlier, God does work in my life and since he often uses my wife, I decided drawing her out might be best.  However, another conversation brought no further conviction on the issue, but desiring to remain humble, I told my wife I would seek the Lord on the issue.

The Lord was quick to give many examples in my day-to-day life.  I was angry when people didn’t do what I wanted them to do, or when they didn’t seem to respond to my advice our counsel.  Angry outbursts and the quiet sins of impatience, intolerance, bitterness, rage, and gossip began to emerge in my life.  All of this against basically good people, people I loved yet people who failed to meet expectations – sometimes God’s but usually my own.  I realized this anger permeated my life.  It was the reason I woke up angry every morning, why I struggled to find joy in loving friends and family, and why I could always find the cloud in every silver lining.  

And worst, in spite of seeing all this, there remained a stubborn refusal to see myself as needing grace.  I was special after all, a chosen one, somehow seeing myself as being of a class set apart.  I had always found obedience to God’s laws and ways easy.  I did right because I loved doing right.  I lived by the rules.  I remained faithful to him.  “All these years I have slaved for you but did you ever have a party for me?”  

Suddenly it was clear.  I was the elder brother.  I was a rebel against grace.  But even when I sought to confess these things to my wife and friends, and to the Lord Himself, my flesh screamed in rebellion, “No, this is not you!”  And – as if I needed further evidence – when I grew disillusioned with myself and introspective and despondent because of these realizations, I could not bring myself to seek grace.  My inner Gollum screamed in defiance, “No grace hates us!  It wants to destroy us!”  I found a roadblock in my way.  Though I knew I desperately needed God, I returned again and again to seek evidence of my own faithfulness.

Finally, as I was listening to the worship song, The Prodigal, the Lord clearly revealed who I really am.  

"You held out your arms, I turned away.
Insolent, I spurned your face. 
Squandering the gifts you gave to me and holding close forbidden things. 
Destitute, a rebel still, a fool in all my pride. 
The world I once enjoyed is death to me, no joy, no hope, no life. 
Mercy’s robe, a ring of grace, such favor undeserved.  You sing over me and celebrate the rebel, now your child.”

I am no one special; just another sinner, recipient of His mercy, saved by His grace.  Though I had been saved for over thirty years, I suddenly knew deep inside that I too was a reckless rebel against God’s grace, just like all the prodigals around me.  And with that came the opportunity to begin to know what it really meant to receive undeserved mercy.  Praise God for it.  Praise him for his patience.  Praise God that once again he took me to the end of myself to show me the vastness of his love for me.

By Rob Flood

We can sometimes feel like we have the world standing against us.  Like we are the only ones who feel the way we feel, believe the way we believe, or follow God the way we follow God.  The rip current of the world can be so strong that we tire of standing our ground.  In our fatigue and discouragement, we reason why giving in is not so bad.  We deaden the convictions we once had and we surrender to the pull of the world.  Indeed, what can be accomplished with just one person standing strong?

Enter Martin Luther.

When standing before the Holy Roman Emperor and a council gathered to assure his silence…when standing against the whole world…one man took a stand. He was asked to retract all of his writings…writings that revealed the gospel to thousands for the first time.  His response was not complicated, but should have caused his death.

I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.  I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.  I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.

“Here I stand.”  Entrusting his next breath to the very God, Luther stood on the very gospel that saved him.  “Here I stand.”  No pressure from earthly powers…no threat of torture or hell…will move me from the God who saved me.  “I cannot do otherwise, here I stand.”  The courage of 1,000 men contained in the childlike devotion of a redeemed sinner.

What can be accomplished with just one person standing strong?  Covenant Fellowship Church stands in the confidence of the gospel because one man, compelled by faith, had the courage to pull the gospel out of the wreckage of tradition and shrouds of religion.  He put his life on the line to make the good news of Christ known.  One man, standing strong on the gospel, lit a fire that burns 500 years later.

Luther was just one man.  He was just one man in a chain of saints…each standing strong on the gospel…each compelled by their conscience before God to do no other than to stand.

There are stories of such men and women in this church.  At the threat of great cost and with nothing but the promises of God to stand on…still they stand.  Our church is stronger because of them.  Our faith is bolstered because others stood on the gospel.

Sometimes, we feel like we have the world against us.  Perhaps it’s at work, or at home, or in our extended families, or even in the shadows of our own hearts.  What can be accomplished with just one person standing strong?  A revolution.  A revival.  A reformation.

Where will you stand?

A Truly Good, Successful Day

By Deb Demi

Editor’s Note:  I came across a blog that Deb Demi did awhile back that we’ve never run so I thought it would be a great to share it this week. 

I have a tendency to be a very task-driven person.  So to me a good day is one in which I get a lot of stuff done and have a lot to show for my effort.  And unfortunately I can measure the success of my day by physical productivity, not necessarily by doing what God values most.

A few months ago while I was shopping in one of my favorite department stores I became aware of an employee in the section that I was shopping in.  She was working very diligently hanging up clothes, rushing here and there to return misplaced items, being very intent on making sure that her department was in tiptop condition.  As she was in the midst of her tasks, a customer approached her to ask a question.  Instead of responding politely, she was very curt and answered in a snarl.  Another customer met a rebuke as she inadvertently returned an item to the wrong spot.  Immediately my judgmental heart began to say, "Doesn't she know that she's here to serve us?  If it weren't for us customers she wouldn't have a job.  Would her employer appreciate her diligent work if they knew how she was treating the customers?"

But almost as quickly as those thoughts entered my head, conviction came rushing in.  Suddenly I saw myself in that woman.  I saw myself at home diligently working at completing my endless lists of tasks.  I was reminded of the way that I snarled at one of my kids who asked me to help them get a drink… how I responded when I walked into a room that was a mess.  The way that I impatiently brushed off my husband's affection because I was in the middle of slicing bread…  How I saw cleaning the refrigerator as more valuable than playing a game with my kids…  Yes, I can be very much like that woman.

There is nothing wrong with me completing tasks and making my home a comfortable environment for my family.  But, when I forget why I am doing these things, I end up doing them for my own satisfaction rather than for my family.  My family becomes an interruption rather than the objects of my affection and I forget the calling that I have received… to love my husband and to love my children. 

Yes, when we put being loving towards our family ahead of checking off everything on our to-do list, we may not get everything done.  But as we trust God by doing what He has called us to do, He will be glorified and our family will feel loved.  And when those things happen, it will be a truly good, successful day.

By Trish Donohue

 

You know how there are some topics that are a little untouchable?  We don’t usually chat about these over coffee or call a friend for a quick conversation about them.  It’s a little like my daughter’s reaction when I tried to get a splinter out tonight: “Nooo!  Get away!”

 

Well, I think the big green topic of envy is one of them.  If I’m thinking of things I’m willing to confess to others or even admit to myself, envy is probably on the short list of topics to avoid.   Yet if we are honest, we all battle it in some way at some time.  We can envy others’ appearance, children, intellect, personality, homes, style, talents, even spiritual maturity.  The list of envy temptations is exactly as long as the list of things we want in life. 

 

Fortunately our friends on the Girltalk blog have guts!  They are jumping right into a forthright, gracious, helpful discussion on a topic that gets to the heart of the envy challenge.    

 

They recently asked us this question:

 

Envy (like all sin) robs us of peace.  Think about it: have you ever met an envious person who was content, at ease, and happy?  Have you ever envied and been at peace at the same time?  I doubt it. 

 

No!  I haven’t!  You got me.

 

But how about you?  Do you need a more specific description?  Here’s one from Jonathan Edwards that will dig a little deeper:

 

“[A]n envious disposition is…most uncomfortable and uneasy to its possessor….It is like a powerful eating cancer, preying on the vitals, offensive and full of corruption.  And it is the most foolish kind of self-injury; for the envious make themselves trouble most needlessly, being uncomfortable only because of others’ prosperity, when that prosperity does not injure themselves, or diminish their enjoyments or blessings.  But they are not willing to enjoy what they have, because others are enjoying also.”

 

Those are the symptoms.  If you want the prescription, I encourage you to check out the blog (http://www.girltalkhome.com/) and benefit from the wisdom of God’s Word and others who are walking the genuine Christian walk. 

By Ramona Doyle

I recently had surgery to remove a small mass from a salivary gland and was overjoyed at the news it was benign.  After fasting for surgery, my greatest anticipation during recovery was my return to “real” food.  I quickly found, however, that because of a severe inflammation in the gland I could not eat solid food without excruciating pain radiating on the side of my face.  Yup…ouch!

Shortly after my discharge while in the middle of a bland puréed meal, I found myself crying out to God, “All I want is one simple slice of bread, and I can’t even eat that”.  Not really expecting an answer, I was surprised by that still small voice in my heart as I felt Lord gently respond, “I am the Bread of Life.”  Ever have one of those moments with the Lord where he seems to invade the mundane in a way unmistakably God—this was one of them.  In that moment I realized how much I take certain things for granted: the ability to eat, to comfortably sleep, to come and go as I please.  In the limitations imposed on me by my surgery and the absence of earthly bread (literally!)  I began to realize how very dependent I am on the heavenly bread that comes only from the Lord.  He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35), but in the midst of the distractions of daily life, how easily the need to draw life-giving sustenance from him can be dwarfed by the savory extras of our lives.  The Lord offers us a feast, yet we are often content with leftovers…so easily satisfied with so little.

I have seen how I can relegate my dependence on the Lord to areas where “I” recognize a need and fail to see that I am hopelessly dependent upon him for every breath that I take.  So I pray about problems in parenting, or health issues, of for grace to tackle a difficult relationship, but neglect asking the Lord to invade and provide for every moment of my day.  I am distracted by earthly pursuits—often good things—and because they seem to be a given I walk in self-sufficiency instead of drawing deeply from his abundant storehouse.

The Lord often uses seasons of weakness and need to highlight our deepest need for him— to make us more aware of our Savior than the savory extras of our lives…to make us more aware of our Savior than even our suffering.  We come face to face with our inability to live, have joy, and do anything on our own and in the midst rediscover our true hunger and thirst for him.  Are you desperate for heavenly bread?  Let us seek to be persistent, relentless, and yes, even desperate in our daily pursuit of his presence and sustaining provision for our hearts, souls, and lives.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

By Jared Mellinger

 

On Friday I spoke to the wives of the pastors of Covenant Fellowship on the ‘excellent wife’ of Proverbs 31.  In addition to commending their example and thanking God for Meghan in particular, I read to them my version of “the Anti-Proverbs 31 Woman”. 

 

A substandard wife, who can find?

Her husband must micro-manage her,

And he hesitates to delegate anything to her.

She does him harm, not good,

All the days of her life.

She takes no delight in working,

And she labors with unwilling hands.

She finds a large number of tasks objectionable,

And carries them out with a languid footstep.

She looks first to her own interests in everything,

And avoids being inconvenienced at all costs.

Her household receives no attention,

And her children are neglected.

Her life orbits around herself,

She is lost in her own world.

She often sleeps in,

Her mouth feasts on the bread of idleness.   

She is indecisive in decision making,

And her husband is a crutch in all things.

She rarely plans ahead,

And it brings chaos to her home.

She lives in the grip of fear,

Her closest companion is anxiety for the future. 

Her husband is floundering in the gates,

Where he sits among the elders of the land.

She occasionally fears the Lord,

But cares far more about physical beauty. 

She receives the fruit of her hands

When no one praises her in the gates.

 

Aren’t we glad that God’s grace and mercy overcomes our Anti-Proverbs 31, or Anti-Sermon on the Mount, or Anti-First Corinthians 13 tendencies so that we increasingly live conforming to God’s will and obedient to His word. 

By Ramona Doyle

One of my sons recently completed a construction project for a school class: a soda straw and paper clip structure that would compete with those of other students to see which one could hold the most weight.  Before he even started the project I had already pointed out almost every potential mistake he might make, including his tendency to become distracted and procrastinate.  He finished his project on time.  He won.  He came home beaming with a $5 prize and I realized I had missed a huge opportunity.  Rather than encouraging his efforts and cheering him on to do his best, I became the prophet of doom.  Well not exactly, but I’m sure my admonitions weren’t very encouraging.

I am becoming increasingly aware of a subtle tendency to root my expectations for my children in things other than the Lord and his all-sufficient Word and work.  How easy it is to do this… we spend each and every day with them.  If we have large families, we’re surrounded!  We can be so acutely aware of past experiences, disappointments and hurts, and their sinful tendencies, as well as limits to our own strength and ability to parent well, and we can allow these things to inform our expectations of them.  When we do this it affects the way we view them, and as a result the way we interact with them.  We can make assumptions, have sinful judgments, self-sufficiently try to do what only God can do in them, and fail to recognize the Lord’s work in their lives and encourage them in it.  This can lead to discouragement on both sides.  And this doesn’t just apply to our children…we can do this with others around us—our husbands, our coworkers, and our close friends.

When we allow our experiences to inform our view of others we are ignoring some wonderful, hope-filled truth from the word of God.  Ephesians 2 reminds us,

“But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

The grace that pursued me in the midst of my sin is the same grace that is at work in my children as the Lord pursues them in the midst of their sin.  The grace I know as a child of God is the same grace the Lord lavishes on my children as they come to know him and learn to walk in his ways.  That is real Gospel hope, and clinging to it affects the way I live and the way I encourage.

Let’s daily fix our eyes on the source of our hope that we might live with great expectations.

By Rob Flood

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
(Matthew 11:29-30)

In Part 1, Identifying the Star, we realized that our goal of attaining star status is flawed at its core.  In Part 2, Helping Yesterday's Star Fall, we took a closer look at the burden of life on the shoulders of self-appointed star makers. 

In the Scripture above, somehow putting on Christ’s yoke leads to rest for our souls.  Rest is what we desire and need more than anything else.  The means is found in wearing his yoke.  Let’s dig a bit so we can understand and embrace his offer to come to him for rest.

What Is a Yoke?

A yoke was a device used to control oxen pulling a plow.  It was made of wood and was quite heavy, even for oxen.  Often, as the animals pulled the plow, the yoke would chafe their necks and cause damage to their shoulders.  It was a symbol used by the Old Testament prophets for slavery and domination. 

When Christ mentions it, however, there is something inherently positive about it.  He asks us to take his yoke upon us.  He promises that it is easy.  In farming, the yoke was useful.  In humanity, the yoke was disastrous.  Is it possible that Christ was about to change that?

The Reality of the Yoke

Perhaps prior to reading Parts 1 & 2, we might have enjoyed believing in the myth of independence.  However, after some self-examination, we understand that independence from God is dependence on the world.  We are always yoked to something.  It is the nature of the human race.  Paul said it well when he said:

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.  (Romans 6:16-18)

So, we must accept that we are not the director and embrace the reality of the yoke.  It is the nature and design of things.  Now, in that reality, Paul points out that there is more than one yoke to choose from:  the yoke of sin or the yoke of righteousness.

Once we are willing to admit we are dependent, then we get to choose to our yoke.  Will we choose an unloving, limited master called Sin or will we choose the loving, omnipotent Master, Jesus?  The answer seems self-evident once the reality is accepted.

Taking Your Yoke Off

If we are going to put on the light yoke of Christ, we must take on the heavy yoke currently around our necks.  So, what is our yoke and how do we take it off? There are two that we’ll read about here. 

Yoke #1
 
The first is the yoke that enslaves a person to his natural state.  With this yoke, there is no room for a divine Master…only for the star and director of self.  Try as we might, we cannot get all of our life’s ducks in a row.  In this case, with self at the helm, the yoke we are wearing is the burden of sin. 

Jesus calls out to us and beckons us to come to Him.  He sees our slavery to sin and wants to deliver us.  He knows how much we need him.  He knows we will never be good enough to order our lives perfectly, to be able to spend eternity with him.  He desires eternity with us and says, “Come.”

 Yoke #2

There’s another yoke that awaits to entrap us once we’ve given our lives to Christ.  Sure, we give Jesus the controls to eternity, but we want him to slide over to the copilot seat for the rest of it.  In this case, our yoke is not the burden of sin, but the weight of our lack of surrender. 

Jesus calls to this person as well, “Come to Me.”  Our knowledge of him is repeated in our heads and hearts.  We know that something is standing between us.  If it wasn’t, we would run to him for his yoke.  Instead, we have lived and answered from our pride – from our self-centeredness.

Putting His Yoke On

The yokes we’re wearing are chafing our necks and breaking our backs.  Then we hear Christ:  “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  We cannot, and we should not, go another step. 

By his death, Christ did all the work necessary for us to shed the first yoke.  By believing on him, we need not carry it any longer.  By his perfect life, we are freed from having to figure life out on our own…according to our own efforts.  His righteousness is more than sufficient to direct our lives.  It is our surrender to this power that liberates us from having to take another step with the second yoke.

What is Christ’s yoke?  Faith and trust.  As we live in belief, we are liberated from the worries of this world.  We are able to trust the direction he gives for our lives.  As the cycle of faith and trust repeats throughout our lives, we have opportunity to believe and experience the grace of the light yoke of Christ.

The End of the Matter

Self-centeredness is not merely sinful; it is destructive.  It not only devalues the people around you; it harms you.  Christ sees the heart you want to hide from everyone.  He knows your intentions more intimately than you ever could. 

Christ calls us to come…so come!  Allow him to remove the yoke that has enslaved you all these years.  Allow him to place his easy yoke upon your neck and allow him alone to hold the position of Star.

We know the star complex is not all it’s cracked up to be.  Hollywood knows it too.  Let’s not end up with masks of joy hiding our bitterness, discord, brokenness, and heartache.  Bring into light what is now in the darkness.  Surrender you life, your desires, your pride to Christ.  Follow him and allow today’s Star to shine.

By Cindy Campbell

If you know me, you know I am an avid fan of the blog "Girltalk" by Carolyn Mahaney and her daughters.  I love the fact that I can be encouraged, challenged and affected by the Lord in my house while I am working throughout my day.

A while back the girls at Girltalk were talking about the different seasons that we experience as women.  They began with teens and how as teenage women we can use that season of our lives for the glory of the Lord and honoring him.  (You can read those posts by clicking http://girltalk.blogs.com/)  They then turned to the single season that we all experience as ladies.  It was a wonderful reminder of that season of my life 29+ years ago.  In a post dated 2.26.09 Carolyn wrote about single women nurturing children.  I have pondered and thought about her words a lot since then.  Here is a snippet of what she posted:

So, how does a single woman enter into the meaning of motherhood if she doesn’t have children of her own?  How does she express her femininity as life-bearer, as nurturer?  Elisabeth Elliot answered this question: 

“A single woman can have children!  She may be a spiritual mother, as was Amy Carmichael [missionary to orphans in India], by the very offering of her singleness, transformed for the good of far more children than a natural mother may produce.”

Single women, you can express your femininity in this season of your life by nurturing other people’s children.

When you babysit, you are giving expression to your femininity.  When you take an interest and reach out to children in your sphere of relationships, you are displaying your God-given gift of femininity. 

And may I say “thank you” on behalf of all of us mothers!  Thank you for the way you nurture our children.  Thank you for the countless times you have served us through babysitting.  Thank you for the way you have loved our children as if they were your very own.  It means so much to us!

However, you are doing more than just blessing us; you are honoring God by giving expression to the nurturing aspect of your femininity

As I ponder this I thought it would be fitting that as the moms of CFC that we thank all the single women (and men!) in our midst who have served us, and nurtured our children.  Thank you for the Godly example that you set before our little ones.  Thank you for living a life that honors the Savior and that we can point you out to our children as some one to follow as you follow the Lord.  Thank you for the creative ways you bring life and laughter into our children’s lives.  Thank you more than we could EVER express for loving our children and for allowing us to attend meetings or go on dates!!  Truly you are some of the greatest servants we know and you are great in our hearts and in the eyes of the Lord.  It is a privilege to be a part of the “Family of God “along side of you!

By Rob Flood

 

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden,

and I will give you rest.  (Matthew 11:28)

 

Why are we so interested in the scandals of the stars?  We know that much of what Hollywood supports is contrary to what we claim to believe. So, why does it have so much power over us?

 

There are many reasons, I’m sure, for Hollywood’s power.  One, however, is very relevant as we look at our star complex.  We spend so much of our time and effort trying to attain what those in Hollywood already have - stardom.  So we watch and study seeing divorce, bitterness, brokenness, addiction, and heartache.  Weaved throughout it all we see rampant promiscuity.  How can those with so much struggle so profoundly?

 

The   Effort

I hearken back to images of Olympic weight lifters.  With every ounce of their enormous frames, they strain as they raise the weighted bar.  After just seconds, even for them, all their strength is spent and the bar crashes to the ground.  What a perfect image of the typical Hollywood star.

 

They have everything man could want:  beauty, fame, and fortune.  How many are truly thriving and satisfied with their lives?  They are busy trying either to keep that heavy bar in the air or to hide the fact that they have already dropped it.  Because their energy is limited, their stardom falls and falls hard.

 

You see, man was never intended to bear the weight of stardom.  It’s simply too heavy to lift.  If we are ever to have rest in this life, we must be willing to stop the constant effort of lifting weight we were never intended to bear.  Our desire for self-dependence is our downfall.  We have an enemy that knows this about us.  He softly whispers lies in our ear: “Try just a little harder.  It’s worth the effort.”  In our pride, we go for the bait.

 

The   Image

The star-complex has two edges.  The first edge is the weight one must bear to attain and maintain star status, but the second surprises people.  There is an assumption that rest and luxury come with stardom.  We learned above that this is not true, which increases the burden to keeping the weight of stardom up in the air.  We must give the appearance of rest and luxury.  The Hollywood star wants people to be liked. It is difficult to sell tickets to the public when the star is depressed and broken.  So they must never allow others to see reality. 

 

The same is true in our movies…in our lives.  We do not often have the opportunity to be before cameras or paparazzi.  Our stage is more subtle:  church, home, work.  Along with our Sunday best, we put on our Sunday masks.  The Body of Christ seems so “problem-free” on Sundays.  Everyone is thriving in their walks with the Lord and enjoying God’s blessings…or at least that’s how it seems.

 

This image keeping is doubly destructive.  Not only does the act take incredible effort, but it also misleads everyone else.  We know the troubles we have in our lives: the burden, the hardship, the disappointment.  The difficulty comes when we see everyone happy and fulfilled.  We are left with the impression that we alone are struggling.  We cannot see past their Sunday into their Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

Image is a dangerous thing, especially when we try to portray one that is false.  We think if we can manage to make people think that we’re happy, then we’re actually happy.  We invest ourselves in perception management – trying to shape and control what others think about us by the “us” we present to them.  All the while, we are losing ourselves and any chance we have for help.

 

The   Cost

There are two who will never be fooled.  First is Christ.  We know from the pages of Scripture that man looks at the outward appearance (the image) but God looks at the heart.  No matter which self we present to others, God knows the real self.  We cannot fool him.

 

The second is us.  We may be the life of the party outside, but we must eventually return to reality.  No matter the mask we wear, it is always our real face staring back at us in the mirror.  Perhaps the only thing worse than struggling with life is struggling without a single person knowing about it. 

 

Consequently, we end up weary and heavy-laden.  The weight of life has been too heavy and the life we’ve led has harmed us.  And, to make it worse, tomorrow holds the same fate for us.  It holds more deception and weight for us to bear.  Is it any wonder that depression runs rampant in our society?  All these people pretending to be someone else, yet knowing they’re not…believing rest and comfort are “over there” and never “right here.”

 

The   Promise

Hear along with me Christ’s words:  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”  Friend, we are falling stars.  Our fall is certain for Christ will allow no other star but him. 

 

Our efforts and our image have proven powerless.  We cannot star in our own movie.  We cannot wear the mask without harming the person beneath it.  We are weary of this life…weary of the effort.  The weight we must bear makes us laden with heaviness. 

 

Jesus knows.  Remember, he looks at the heart, not the mask.  In the remaining words from this passage, Christ makes available a wonderful place to fall.  He himself lays out a plan for what to do when we get there.  Read next week and discover along with me just how Christ provides rest and comfort for the weary and heavy-laden…for the fallen star us all.

By Ramona Doyle

Did you know that the Lord wants us to have joy?  In fact, he specifically addressed his disciples on this very topic!  OK…cool.  But how does that relate to my Monday mornings and my sleepless nights, or the stacks of unfolded laundry in the hall?  How does Sunday morning translate into my busy week?  How do I find joy in the trenches of my life?

In the Gospel of John, shortly before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus gathers his disciples and spends some significant time teaching them on a variety of topics.  It is as if he wants to make sure they really get the important stuff before he goes to the cross.  He’s preparing them to stand strong and draw from him in the midst of a chaotic world that opposes everything they hold dear.  And joy is one of his themes!  “These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).  Jesus not only wanted them to have joy, but to have it in fullness!  And he wasn’t just talking about that wonderful day when we will rest in his arms free from sin and suffering; he was talking about the trenches—the everyday stuff of their lives.

So this begs the question, what things did he speak to the disciples that they might find joy?  I love to ask these kinds of questions when I dig into God’s word.  Notice that his comment follows that well-known passage from John 15 on abiding in the vine—walking in close relationship with the Lord by responding to his lavish love with trust and obedience to his commandments.  Jesus promises this is the key to knowing joy in the every day.

Abiding.  I don’t know about you, but I can be pretty good at abiding in myself.  Think about it…you get up in the morning and walk to the bathroom mirror, and what do you see?  OK, don’t answer that.  Then you go downstairs and what is the first thing you see?  If you’re like me, it’s often everything you didn’t get done the day before.  Everything screams for your attention.  Your kids need you.  You get wrapped up in the duties of the day and by the end of the day you’re treading water waiting for a life-preserver to float by.

Yes, we need a devotional time each day to draw strength from the Lord’s abundant grace.  But abiding is also about the nitty-gritty of the day.  I find that I am helped in the trenches by small minute by minute choices look past what my physical eyes see and remember some priceless truths about my day…things like: this day has already been recorded in the Lord’s book (Psalm 139:16), that God is with me and acquainted with this circumstance (Psalm 139:1-3), that he will be strength in my weakness (2 Corinthians 4:7), and guide me in the midst (Psalm 73:23-24).  Then I choose to trust him over my temptation to pout, react, or operate in self-sufficiency.

We won’t always get it right, but as we seek to abide in those little minutes, he promises joy.  May the Lord help us to say with the psalmist, “For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for Joy” (Psalm 92:4).

By Al Everett

 

I have never really liked winter.  As a young man I suffered from what doctors might call Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD for short.  Basically it meant I would be SAD in the winter because of the decreased amount of daylight.  Each year, as Day Light Savings Time ended, the dread would begin to build and soon become debilitating depression that would last until the first real harbinger of spring – the Phillies’ spring training games.

 

Over time I began to wonder if what the doctors diagnosed as a disorder might not actually be ordinary bitterness – a simple anger at God for allowing me to suffer the cold.  The proof of this theory came along when I decided confession was a better treatment for my bitter spirit than the doctor-recommended light treatments.  As a result, the Lord led me into what would truly be my first winter without being SAD for as long as I could remember.

 

Don’t get me wrong though.  In spite of that grace, I still hate being cold.  So when I get out there like most guys and start chipping away at the ice on my driveway on those below freezing days, you can bet I am struggling to find joy.  The old bitterness may be gone but man, I still do not like the cold. 

 

One winter’s day, as I was chipping away at said ice on my driveway, feeling a little joy-challenged, I began to daydream about my garden.  (Yes, real men do garden, but that is a post for another day.)  As I struggled with that ice, I started looking around and seeing a plant here and another there.  I felt joy building as I thought,

 

"Yes...that plant will soon be green again, and that one there, it’ll soon be covered with pink and purple fragrant buds, and that row of sticks, those skinny, dead twigs, they will be filled with flowers that will bring the hummingbirds and the butterflies." 

 

I remembered the warmth of summer and the joy of splashing with my daughter in our pool.  For a few minutes the ice and gloom were gone and I was in my swim trunks, smelling burgers on the grill and hearing the crack of a baseball against a bat.

 

C.S. Lewis wrote that Narnia was a place where it was "always winter but never Christmas," a sad metaphor for a world separated from God.  You know, our present struggles in this world are winters of a sort, but because of the cross, with every winter comes a spring, with every death comes a resurrection.  If we look only at the cold and darkness of this present winter, we will be joy-challenged.  But if we can focus our sluggish souls on the spring to come, as God works all our trials together for our good, imagine the joy that His Spring will bring.  Believing is seeing and you can see it and rejoice in it now, even while living in the throws of today's cold and ice.  God's grace brings the hope of spring into our present day reality.  Though we now endure circumstances of winter, we have hope for the spring as the power of Christ's resurrection builds in the darkness of our lives, anticipating the day it will explode in joyous, glorious, fragrant spring. 

By Ramona Doyle

 

Ever notice how easily the definition of “Mom, we’re out of food!” can change from person to person in your family?  Seemingly for each one, if a certain grocery item is absent then the pantry must be bare and starvation must be just around the corner.  For one child it’s OJ (it’s just not breakfast without OJ!) and for another it’s E. L. Fudge cookies.  I’ve even got one for which it is fresh broccoli—a rare breed, but don’t you love it!  My husband and I often chuckle at the comments we get over the “food thing” in our home, and balancing the wants, desires, needs, and grocery budget for our family can pose some interesting challenges.

 

But differences in personal grocery lists point to something more significant.  All of our children are different.  Their personalities differ.  Their strengths and weaknesses differ.  Their hopes and aspirations differ.  They each attach differing meanings to the situations of their lives.  Parenting in the midst of these differences can be daunting.  Competing desires and interests in our children can easily tempt us to parent on the fly—to satisfy the urgent needs of the moment and forget about the important.

 

Bill and I have seen the need for great caution as we seek to guide and direct our children’s hearts.  We want their lives—every part of them—to be informed and transformed by the power of the Gospel.  And so we need to visit and revisit our parenting standards often.  Without guiding principles in our parenting, we could easily miss instilling some of the most important and basic lessons and values our children need.

 

These are some of the considerations my husband and I hold foremost.  No matter what differing goals we have for each child in a given season, these standards inform them all:

 

1. Keep the Gospel first:  Every day affords new opportunities to highlight the wonder of God’s saving love for us in Christ.  Only in the Gospel will our children find salvation and power for true change.  Our kids need to hear it daily if they are to grow to define their lives by it.

 

2. Emphasize character:  Our children can easily be distracted by the latest cultural fads—things like clothing styles, music preferences, past-times, and patterns of communication.  They must know that character is ALWAYS more important than being cool.  And Godly character will inform and define their choices in this area as they grow in their love for the Lord and knowledge of his word.

 

3. Never let them doubt our love:  How easily we can be tempted to anger when dealing with our children’s hearts.  We want our children to be more aware of our love for them than our dissatisfaction over the state of their hearts.  Their first introduction to the Lord’s extravagant love for us is through our expression of love for them.  If our children are not aware of our affection, we may be missing something big!

God’s word is powerful (2 Timothy 3:16), and as we allow it to define our parenting, we can trust in his faithful work in the hearts of our children.

By Andy Farmer

In my devotions these days one of the books that is feeding me is J. C. Ryle’s classic book “Holiness.”  Ryle is writing in the 1800’s to address tendencies in his Christian culture for people to go to extremes.  One extreme is to see holiness is something we ‘get’ through some powerful spiritual experience – what was then called a ‘higher life’.  The other is to view holiness as a comparative thing – it’s OK as long as long as you don’t get too carried away with it.  In other words, Ryle was writing to people like you and me.  

In his third chapter he attempts to unpack the practical reality of holiness.  Reading his description has become a great test of my own desires for holiness.  Men, as we head into the new year let’s put ourselves under the Ryle’s practical holiness test.  Where is God putting his attention for our holiness in the coming year?  What clear deficiencies need to be addressed if we are to grow in practical holiness?

The following list is a summary of Ryle’s description of practical holiness with an application question to consider following each item.  Perhaps there are one or two items on Ryle’s list that the Lord has put on your list for 2010.  If you’re searching for some good sound reading for life change – get the book.  It is a true classic.

Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture.

• What role is the Bible currently playing in the way you make decisions?  

A holy man will endeavor to shun every known sin and to keep every known commandment.

• Are there any areas where you know you are failing to obey God, and not doing anything about it?  

A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.

• When was the last time you soaked in one of the Gospels – and learned about the way to follow Jesus?  

A holy man will follow after meekness, longsuffering, gentleness, patience, kind tempers, and government of his tongue.

• How do you do in situations where you are wronged?  

A holy man will follow after temperance and self–denial.

• Are there any areas of excessive self-indulgence that you are falling into on a regular basis?

A holy man will follow after charity and brotherly kindness.

• Are you battling the tendency of self protection or self promotion with love toward others? 

A holy man will follow after a spirit of mercy and benevolence towards others.

• Are you looking for opportunities to do good to others?  

A holy man will follow after purity of heart.

• Is there anything you regularly watch or listen to that would defile your heart?

A holy man will follow after the fear of God.

• Is there anything you regularly do simply because it pleases the Lord for you to do it?

A holy man will follow after humility.

• Are you looking for opportunities to promote the interests of others over your own?

A holy man will follow after faithfulness in all the duties and relations in life.

• Do you see faithfulness to your responsibilities as a blessing?

Last, but not least, a holy man will follow after spiritual–mindedness.

• Are you looking to order your life around the things that stir your thirst for Christ?

By Ramona Doyle

 

I like the beach.  My husband likes the mountains.  I thrive on order.  My husband has an incredible ability function well in the midst of chaos.  On a marriage retreat many years ago we competed with the other couples to see who could list the most differences between us.  We listed 261 differences.  We won.  Even if you and your husband have similar personalities, you don’t need 261 differences or to be married very long to figure out that you are two very different people, and those differences can either challenge the unity in our marriages or they can serve as tools in the hand of the Lord to sanctify us and deepen our oneness.

 

Earlier in our marriage there were times that the differences between us threatened me.  There were even times when I tried to make my husband be just like me (that’s a scary thought!).  Hint…don’t try that :-).  Through the years the Lord has faithfully worked in my heart to teach me that he has a wonderful plan for these differences.  My marriage to my husband, with all of our differences, was by his design and is intended for his glory.  Learning to view our differences in light of scripture has helped me anticipate the Lord’s activity in them, strengthened our marriage, and added to my joy in our relationship.

 

Here are some of the things I’ve learned to expect the Lord to do in the midst of our differences…

 

• “Iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17):  How kind of the Lord to help me in my sin and weakness with the insight and counsel of my husband.  And in his struggles I can do the same for him.  We sharpen one another in our faith, help each other in our battle with sin, and help equip one another to love and treasure Christ all the more.

 

• “A threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12):  God made me in weakness in order to point to his sufficiency, and in my husband’s leadership he provides a wonderful covering.  As I draw from them both, I am strengthened!  Not only this, chances are you and your husband’s strengths and weaknesses are in different areas…your strengths help him in his weakness just as his lift you up in the midst of yours.

 

• “It refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31-32):  My thoughts about my marriage can so often be “me-centered” but the Lord has made my marriage to be “God-centered” … a reflection of Christ’s relationship to the church!  Because of this I know that God is invested in cultivating the same sacrificial, gracious love in us that he has for us.  God is at work…that’s real hope!  Together we mirror something we could not on our own.  Our differences, as we submit them to his gracious work in us, reflect something marvelous about Him and testify of His glory to the world.

 

No matter how different we are from our husbands…what marvelous hope and help we can draw from the Lord’s magnificent plan for our marriages!

By Andy Farmer 

 

I’m subbing for Jared today.  In thinking about this Christmas season, and specifically about the preaching series, ‘God With Us’, I’ve been thinking about Jesus in the cradle.  I have a hard time grasping the idea that a little helpless baby could be simultaneously the Sustainer of the Universe, though I know that’s true. 

 

But I’ve also been thinking about the baby Jesus in terms of what he came to do as Savior.  Specifically what he came to do as Savior for me – today.  For me to escape all the cultural trappings of the Christmas season (most of which I actually enjoy), and live with the essence of the message of Christmas, I have to bring myself right up to the manger and ask that little baby – ‘what does this mean for me today.  One thing that speaks to me in this meditation is a quote from Paul Tripp’s book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hand. 

 

“The good news of the kingdom is not freedom from hardship, suffering, and loss.  It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself.  His rescue produces change that fundamentally alters my response to these inescapable realities.  The Redeemer turns rebels into disciples, fools into humble listeners.  He makes cripples walk again.  In him we can face life and respond with faith, love, and hope.  And as he changes us, he allows us to be a part of what he is doing in the lives of others.  As you respond to the Redeemer’s work in your life, you can learn to be an instrument in his hands.”  (p. 16)

 

The work of my redemption, which was effected in the cross, and which is working itself out every day, began with a baby in a manger.  And as I reach beyond myself to serve God’s purpose in others, that redemption work is being done through me, at the same time it is being done in me.  I’m in an instrument in the little Baby’s hands.

By Andy Farmer

 

Jared has been on vacation so I’m guest blogging. 

 

A couple of weeks ago the pastoral team had the opportunity to gather at the Sovereign Grace Pastors College where we, along with dozens of other pastors from around the country, joined with this year’s class of PC students to study pastoral ministry.  Led by C. J. Mahaney, the class was not so much a seminar but a fellowship.  Men from around the country in various sizes of churches dialogued together on the call and responsibilities of shepherding the flock of God under the passionate biblical exposition of C. J. and other well tested pastors. 

 

One of the most soul-challenging and fear of God-stirring sessions was on dealing with criticism, an inevitable reality to all pastors.  But pastors aren’t the only ones who have to face this issue.  Everyone experiences criticism, just or unjust, at some point – from a spouse, child, parent, boss, co-worker, fellow Christian, neighbor – anyone one can turn a critical gaze and ungracious tongue in our direction.  C. J. shared two quotes in particular which I think can help us all when we face criticism.  Read the two quotes below in order.  Let David Powlison describe you in detail through his personal experience.  Then let Charles Spurgeon draw your eyes off yourself and onto the Savior who knows your sins better than any critic; and yet showers you with mercy and favor because of the Gospel. 

 

David Powlison: “…There was a time in my life where the heat—what I was facing—was a constant.  A man who was out to get me, a man who slandered me, who was trying to trash my reputation, and publishing all sorts of falsehoods about me.  And one effect was that wherever I would go and speak, it would be one of the inevitable questions—“What about what so and so said about you?”  It was just an onerous thing to have to deal with.  And the form of sin that came out was simply being preoccupied and brooding about it.  And I started to realize that when I woke up in the morning it wasn't wisdom who said hello to me, it was what was happening to me, and the fact that I didn't like it.  When I stand in the shower what am I thinking about?  I am constructing my own mental self-defense.  I am trying to defend my reputation in my mind.  I am calculating answers to give and what I should write to him and who I should get to help me and if somebody asks me a question what should I say to them.  And in that distractedness, that preoccupation, that brooding, that obsession with my own self-defense, sins of omission, I am not as attentive to my family.  I am not as attentive to students.  I am preoccupied with myself and the fact that this guy doesn't like me and he is out to get me.  Here is the heat: the slander, the continual questions being raised.  You see the thorns: preoccupation; sins of omission.  Not really difficult rocket science to figure out what is ruling my heart here, right?  It is my love of reputation.  It was my desire to be thought well of.  It was my desire to be treated fairly, my desire to be understood and not misunderstood and caricatured.  It was idealism, a romantic ideal of the unity of the Body.  This man was a professing Christian.  Why couldn't we all get along?  Why does this keep happening?...”  (Excerpted from 2007 Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference message)

Charles Spurgeon (on Psalm 37:5–9): “In the matter of personal reputation we may especially be content to be quiet, and leave our vindication with the Judge of all the earth.  Our strength is to sit still.  If we look to the Lord's honor, he will see to ours.  It is wonderful how, when faith learns to endure calumny (slander; defamation) with composure, the filth does not defile her.  Even in the worst cases, where a good name is for awhile darkened, Providence will send a clearing like the dawning light, which will increase until the man once censured is universally admired.  No shade of reproach will remain.  This requires much grace to carry it out.  To await in holy patience the time for clearing up the difficulties of Providence—this is what every gracious heart should aim at.  A silent tongue in many cases shows not only a wise head, but a holy heart.” (From the Treasury of David)

 

 

By Ramona Doyle

I heard a humorous story recently that went something like this… …A prominent southern family hired a biographer to research and record their family history for posterity.  In the course of his investigations, the biographer went back to the family and expressed hesitancy to complete the work.  He had uncovered a “skeleton” in the family tree and feared the family would not want it exposed.  After sharing his findings, he was told to go ahead and complete the biographical piece.  He was given specific instruction regarding the distant relative who had scandalously embezzled funds from his firm, cheated on his income tax, and murdered someone to cover his deeds, ultimately resulting in a lengthy imprisonment and execution by electric chair.  The writer was asked to use his gift for weaving words so that the work could be completed without tarnishing the family record.  When it came to the relative’s byline in the book, the biographer wrote, “…he held the seat of applied electronics at the county’s most prominent institution.  He was bound to the position with the firmest of bonds and his death came as a great shock.” J

Words. They are very important.  It is easy to laugh at the discrepancy between truth and tale in the above story, but how often do we do the same thing??  Our words are powerful, telling, and never neutral.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:34, “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”  What we say is an indicator of what is going on in our hearts.

 

I’m guilty!  My sentences have exposed my heart and I’ve been sentenced by my words so many times.  I can be tempted to craft words to minimize impulsive spending at the grocery store or mall.  I can be tempted to retell a story to make myself look better than what really happened.  Or I can be tempted to call attention to my accomplishments in conversation.  And these words reveal pride, fear of man, and self righteousness in my heart.  And when words don’t reflect reality, Scripture calls them a lie.  Ouch!

 

Words like these reflect a selfish orientation rather than a Godward orientation in our hearts. But thankfully, the Lord does not leave us without instruction with regard to our words.  We can grow in honoring him in this area by being diligent to abide in the Lord that we might bear good fruit (John 15), slow to speak (James 1:19), careful to weigh our words (Proverbs 10:19), and quick to confess our sin (1 John 1:9).  And we can rest in the assurance that he gives grace to the humble as we seek to please him (James 4:6).  May our prayers and hearts mirror those of the psalmist who writes, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”  (Psalm 19:14)

By Ramona Doyle

 

I walk regularly for exercise.  On a recent vacation when I realized that I had forgotten my walking shoes, I used a pair of ‘trekking sandals’ in their place.  The open sides even seemed to add an advantage: when a tiny pebble became lodged in one of the heels during a walk, I assumed it would work itself free and ignored it.  I learned a huge lesson that day…one small pebble can cause one huge blister!

 

Sadly, this lesson had an all too familiar feel to it…you see, small pebbles are not the only things that can cause big problems.  I had a season of not being able to sleep.  It started when my husband got a sinus infection that left him with a tendency to snore, waking me up several times throughout the night.  Occasionally, I had difficulty getting back to sleep.  Then I started laying awake worrying about whether I would get enough sleep on a given night.  With less sleep, my daytime activities seemed harder.  Then, as I contemplated my age and remembered the difficulty my mother experienced with sleep in the latter season of her life, I started wondering if this was to be course of my remaining years.  Translation: fretting led to fear, which led to anxiety, which yielded the fruit of discouragement and robbed me of my joy.  And my discouragement subtly seeped into other areas of my life.

 

I had allowed a small situation to grow out of proportion by not taking immediate steps to appropriate grace and ask the Lord for help.  We can do this in so many ways: a small worry becomes a big fear; a little sin becomes a huge stumbling block; a tiny concern becomes an overwhelming anxiety.  A few small steps away from grace and before we know it we can functionally live as if we have no hope.  We can forget to stand on the priceless truths of Scripture that remind us that the Lord hears the prayer of the righteous (Proverbs 15:29) and is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1), then in self-sufficiency seek to overcome our own problems or sin.  The Lord is willing and available, but our own strength is woefully inadequate!  It’s like crawling through a desert on our hands and knees gasping for water while failing to notice we are crawling around the edge of an oasis!  I praise God for his abundant grace that woke me up (pun intended!) to see his provision in the midst of my need.  I found peace as I prayed, meditated on His word, and asked others for prayer and counsel.  And the Lord later healed my husband’s snoring problem!  Psalm 25:10 says, “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness...”  May this motivate us to take quick steps to appropriate His abundant grace for every need.

By Jared Mellinger

From his first year in Dundee, one of Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s greatest desires was for revival.  By revival, he meant a heightening of normal Christianity, in which theology would catch fire and the Spirit of God would fall upon his people in a unique season of refreshing, empowering, and fruitfulness.  In revival, Christ was preached and the reality of the gospel was pressed upon the hearts of men and women in a unique way.  I would love to see a revival in our day, in Covenant Fellowship, and I believe it is something we should all be desiring and praying for.     

 

M’Cheyne started a weekly prayer meeting shortly after becoming a pastor.  He would first teach on something related to the outpouring of the Spirit, and then lead the congregation in a time of prayer, and then close the meetings by reading about the history of revivals. 

 

Three years into his pastorate, he went on a seven month trip.  While he was gone, God answered his prayers and revival broke out in Dundee and throughout Scotland.  There was one day where M’Cheyne’s friend, W.C. Burns, who was filling the pulpit at St. Peters, was preaching and, “the whole of the vast assembly were overpowered.  The Holy Spirit seemed to come down as a rushing mighty wind, and to fill the place.  Very many were that day struck to the heart…  The power of God seemed to descend, and all were bathed in tears…It was like a pent-up flood breaking forth; tears were streaming from the eyes of many, and some fell on the ground groaning, and weeping, and crying for mercy. Onward from that evening, meetings were help every day for many weeks; and the extraordinary nature of the work justified and called for extraordinary services.  The whole town was moved.”

 

Those were the reports that were reaching M’Cheyne while he was traveling.  How did he respond to these reports?  With bitterness and jealousy that he wasn’t at the center of this revival?  No: “They were such as made his heart rejoice.  He had no envy at another instrument having been so honored in the place where he himself had labored with many tears and temptations.  In true Christian magnanimity, he rejoiced that the work of the Lord was done, by whatever hand.”

 

As he returned, the revival continued for years to come. 

 

So much more could be said about M’Cheyne’s life and ministry.  God continued to use this single man who gave his life to holiness: a man who redeemed the time, pursued humility, treasured the Word, and longed for revival.  May his life spur us on to the same. 

By Trish Donohue

On our most recent date night, Jim and I found ourselves in the middle of a great conversation in the Acme parking lot of all places. It was raining and the drops on the windshield were reflecting and shimmering on everything in the car including us; it was a perfect movie scene, although instead of a tearful break-up or a spontaneous declaration of love, we were talking about gratitude—very un-Hollywood.

Jim was showing me how I can often enter situations looking at what needs to change instead of first seeing God’s grace and thanking Him for it. His observations were welcome ones since this is an area I want to grow in, and I have benefitted immeasurably from his help.

In my puny attempts to change, I’m happy to inform all you fellow ingrates that God has been extremely patient and hasn’t given up on me. There’s hope for us! As wives and moms, our countless menial tasks provide us countless opportunities to glorify God through gratitude. Here’s one thing I’ve been realizing as I’ve pondered the practical implications of gratitude.

We women often complain about situations that we actually love.

Sounds illogical, I know, but let me give you some examples from my own life:

• My daughter happened to get very sick the one night that Jim was away recently. I was up with her all night—I think I might have gone to sleep at 5:30 a.m. 

The temptation in that moment is self-pity, and yet the truth is that I love being a mom. I love my daughter and that I am the one who can comfort her. I love that Jim enjoys his job and gets to travel and that I can support him in that. If someone would offer to take this responsibility away from me, and thus the long night, I’d refuse in a second. The truth is that I’m tempted to complain about the situation…even though I love it.

• I’m walking past my sons’ room and the floor is once again littered with stuff. Didn’t I ask them to at least keep the floor picked up?

The truth in this situation is that I love having boys. They are a gift—a messy, dirty one sometimes, but a gift. These bug collections and dirty camo shorts and Lego guys represent the joys of their lives. Would I get rid of this "problem" if I could? Would I exchange them for a quieter, messless variety? Never.

So many of the minor irritations in our lives fall into this category—part and parcel of a job we wouldn’t trade for the world. Today as we feel our "last nerve" begin to tingle, let’s see if we can look past it to the broader gift of God, and praise Him for it…in gratitude.

By Jared Mellinger

One of the great lessons we learn from the life of Robert Murray M’Cheyne is the importance of redeeming the time.  He is a man who truly desired to spend every day “Making the best use of the time” (Eph 5:16).

M’Cheyne lived with an awareness that life would not last forever.  On his 21st birthday, he mentioned in his journal that a friend had died at the age of 31, and then M’Cheyne reflected on the question of how long he himself would live.  In his culture, he had the experience of being surrounded with people who frequently became ill and passed away.  This served as a reminder of the brevity of life and the importance of eternal things.  When others died, he seized it as an opportunity to cultivate an eternal perspective on life. 

We never know how long we are going to live.  M’Cheyne didn’t know he was only going to live to the age of 29.  But had he known this, I don’t think he would have lived any differently.  He knew that a long life is not guaranteed, and it changed the way he lived.  It is doubtful that he would have accomplished as much good as he did during his short life apart from this wise perspective on life and death.      

One of the practices that helped M’Cheyne redeem the time was keeping a journal.  His journal reflected short but faithful entries.  He believed this played an important role in his spiritual health because “it ensures sober reflection on the events of the day as seen in God’s eye”.  It was a means of accountability, and it served him well. 

His biographer, Andrew Bonar, tells us that “after spending an evening too lightly,” M’Cheyne wrote the following in his journal: “My heart must break off from all these things.  What right have I to steal and abuse my Master’s time?  ‘Redeem it,’ he is crying to me”.  And on a different occasion he wrote: “Little done, and as little suffered.  Awfully important question—Am I redeeming the time?”  He believed that time itself was something entrusted to him by God.  We are stewards of time, and time is a precious gift from God that must not be squandered.  This doesn’t mean we don’t know how to relax, have fun, and enjoy vacations.  It simply means we live with an awareness that we will answer to God for our use of our time, and desire to please our Heavenly Father in all we do.   

He also redeemed the time by using all the resources available to him to grow in godliness: not only journaling, but also confessing sin, seeking out the counsel of his friends, living his life in community, studying passages of Scripture that were relevant to his particular struggles, and reading the biographies of men whose lives challenged him to grow.

M’Cheyne’s redeeming of the time resulted in much study of God’s word, much reading of good books, much evangelism, much care for the poor, much fellowship, and much prayer.  His life teaches us to make the best use of the time we have: to view time itself as a valuable gift from a generous Father, and to live with an awareness that our lives in this world will not last forever.  As those redeemed by Christ to receive adoption as children of God, we make it our aim to please him every moment of every day. 

Redeem the time!

By Jared Mellinger

Humility is the area where I have most greatly benefited from the example of Robert Murray M’Cheyne.  M’Cheyne valued humility above all else, because he believed nothing brings more honor to Christ.  Again and again, at each point in M’Cheyne’s life, he walked the humble path. 

While he was in Divinity School praying through his desire for pastoral ministry, and weighing whether or not he was called, he wrote in his diary, “What should I fear?  If God [sees fit] to put me into the ministry, who shall keep me back?  If [I’m not fit], why should I be thrust forward?”  And once in ministry, his pursuit of humility showed itself in that he did not seek to gain a name for himself.  His close friend and biographer, Andrew Bonar, wrote the following of M’Cheyne: “Although naturally ambitious, grace so wrought in him, that he never sought to bring himself into view; and most cheerfully would he observe and take notice of the graces and gifts of others.” I need to remember that humility cheerfully takes notice of the gifts and graces of others. 

According to M’Cheyne, “the lust of praise” was his life-long besetting sin.  As a pastor and as a preacher, he faced a very real temptation to win the approval of others, to try to present himself in such a way that he attracted people to himself.  He said, “A man cannot be a faithful minister, until he preaches Christ for Christ’s sake—until he gives up striving to attract people to himself, and seeks only to attract them to Christ.  Lord, give me this!”

He considered himself a proud man, who, by the grace of God, was pursuing humility.  At the age of 19, he wrote a typical journal entry expressing his longing for humility: “Sept 9, 1832 – Oh for true, unfeigned humility!  I know I have cause to be humble; and yet I do not know one half of that cause.  I know I am proud; and yet I do not know the half of that pride.”  That is a sentence worth meditating on!  It should be that we are pursuing humility in a similar fashion. 

M’Cheyne lived with an ongoing, ever-increasing awareness of his own sinfulness.  Confession of sin was a regular practice for him.  Here is a journal entry as a 20 year old: “August 13, 1833 – Clear conviction of sin is the only true origin of dependence on another’s righteousness, and, therefore, (strange to say!)  of the Christian’s peace of mind and cheerfulness.”  There was a direct correspondence between his awareness of sin and his awareness of grace.  The more you are convicted of sin, the more you will marvel at the Savior!  

Let’s be like M’Cheyne and devote ourselves to the pursuit of humility.  Let’s celebrate the gifts of those around us, seek to attract people to Christ, and prayerfully cultivate an ongoing and ever-increasing awareness of our sin.  Let us be quick to confess our sin and receive the grace of God.  Our peace of mind and cheerfulness depend upon it!    

By Jared Mellinger

 

Last week, I wrote about the singular focus of Paul.  This week, I want to reflect on the life of another man who had one great passion in his life.  His life has had a great affect on me personally, and on many Christians over the past 150 years.  My hope is that introducing you to this man will help spur you on to pursue a life of passion for God.  Never underestimate the power of biography.

 

Robert Murray M’Cheyne was a young Scottish Presbyterian pastor who lived in the 1800’s and died in 1843 at the age of 29.  He pastored a church named St. Peter’s Church of Scotland, in the town of Dundee, from 1836 until his death, in 1843.    

 

Born in Edinburgh on May 21, 1813, he was the youngest of four children, and had two brothers and one sister.  He was tall and energetic, eloquent, intelligent, and academically gifted.  He enjoyed drawing, singing and writing poems.  He loved the outdoors, walked often, and took in the “blue water, brown fields, and green firs” of the Scottish countryside.

 

When Robert was 18 his older brother, David, passed away.  Robert would always look back on that day, July 8, 1831, as the day he came to know Christ.  One year after David died, M’Cheyne wrote in his journal, “On this morning last year came the first overwhelming blow to my worldliness.”  Death has a remarkable way of opening blind eyes to the weight of eternity.

 

Four months after his conversion M’Cheyne enrolled as a divinity student at Edinburgh University.  During his time at the university, M’Cheyne read a lot about the life of Jonathan Edwards and was stirred by his biography.  “How feeble does my spark of Christianity appear beside such a sun?  But even his was a borrowed light, and the same source is still open to enlighten me.”

 

At the age of 23, this gifted preacher was ordained at St. Peters, a church of 1,100 people.  This was his conviction: “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.  A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”  M’Cheyne stepped into ministry as a man who was passionate about living a life that demonstrated “great likeness to Jesus”. 

 

M’Cheyne frequently struggled with illness due to a heart condition.  After three years in pastoral ministry at St. Peters he went on a missionary trip for seven months, with the hope that a warmer climate would improve his health.  Toward the end of his trip, he received word of a revival that was breaking out in Dundee, at St. Peter’s.  The revival came under the preaching of W.C. Burns, the man covering M’Cheyne’s pulpit while he traveled. 

 

M’Cheyne returned to St. Peters, where he ministered for four more years before passing away at the age of 29.  He died, having never married, on March 25, 1843, after only seven years of pastoral ministry.

 

Reading about the life of Jonathan Edward’s led M’Cheyne to pursue the source of Edwards’ passionate Christianity.  Over the next four weeks, I want to examine M’Cheyne’s eternal perspective, humility, hunger for the Word, and desire for revival.  Our spark of Christianity may appear small, but the same Source is still open to enlighten us.

By Andy Farmer

 

Note:  This is the seventh in a series of posts on Christian liberty based on a pastoral letter written by John Newton in 1776.  For background on the letter see the 6.18.09 post.  You can read the letter in its entirety HERE.

 

John Newton was a man who was acutely aware of the time he had wasted in life before submitting himself to the Savior.  He carried a deep desire to use his remaining time on earth in spiritual productivity.  But he also recognized a certain folly in activity blindly done, even spiritual activity. 

 

He understood that work in the world was taxing, but that simply bouncing the intensity of everyday life and throwing ourselves into some spiritual activity to compensate wasn’t sustainable Christianity.  He understood that leisure had its place, if for nothing else then providing a pause in life from constant secular, or even spiritual, pursuits. 

 

Newton would appreciate the value of a walk in the woods, a good book, hanging out with friends, listening to music, a good meal and all that goes with it.  But he also saw the snare in escaping into liberties with the same intensity.  Why? Because more than anything else, what we do in our liberty has the greatest possibility of any endeavor of wasting the precious time God has given us.  

 

We’re talking about uses of liberty such as the couch potato, the internet zombie, the gaming geek and the gym junkie.  Activities that justify intense leisure because we have just been doing intense work, or intense ministry.  Things taking over our time and our lives like weeds in a garden.   Here we need to nail the exhortation of the apostle Paul to our mental doorpost:

 

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,  making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Eph. 5:15-17)

 

Newton’s solution to the balance problem in life is simple.  In considering the preciousness of time, we should not be compelled to constant productivity, but should allow our rest to have its appropriate effect.  Not to retreat from spiritual productivity but to refresh for renewed spiritual productivity.

 

By Jared Mellinger

Those who follow Christ should be people with a single focus in life.  We can say, with Paul in Philippians 3:13, “One thing I do.”  That is the motto of those who live for the glory of God.  Paul understood that he was created to have one great passion in life.  He sits in prison and calmly writes “To live is Christ. (Phil 1:21)  This is the Christian’s resolve.  One version translates it, “If I live, it will be for Christ.” 

Clearly, Paul is a man of one thing.  He essentially says, “OK, if I have been given the gift of life, I am going to spend my every breath for Christ.  I refuse to abandon the reason for which I was made; I refuse to waste my life.  I refuse to commit cosmic treason and turn my back on the Creator and Ruler of the universe, the Christ who made me, the Christ who died for me, the Christ before whom I will one day stand and give an account of my life.  If I live, it will be for Christ.”

Is that your perspective?  In difficult trials and in easy circumstances, in suffering and in joy, at work and at home, in youth and in old age, in singleness and in marriage?  

It reminds me of what J.C. Ryle says on the subject of zeal:

“Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way….
A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing.  It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit.  He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God.  Whether he lives or whether he dies, whether he has health or whether he has sickness, whether he is rich or whether he is poor, whether he pleases man or whether he gives offence, whether he is though wise or whether he is thought foolish, whether he gets blame or whether he gets praise, whether he gets honor or whether he gets shame—for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all.  He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory.”    

Can you relate to that?  Only seeing one thing, caring for one thing, living for one thing, swallowed up in one thing, burning for one thing, and that one thing is to live for Christ.  Do you have passion to see God glorified in your life?  Is there anything you find yourself caring about more than the honor of Christ in your life?  Is there anything you need to part ways with in order to honor Christ more?

Let’s be Christians who look at our lives and resolve with a single minded focus, “By the grace of God, in life and in death and in all that I do, Christ will be honored in me.”

By Andy Farmer

Note:  This is the fourth in a series of posts on Christian liberty based on a pastoral letter written by John Newton in 1776.  For background on the letter see the 6.18.09 post.  You can read the letter in its entirety HERE.

After assessing the effect of how we pursue liberty on our own souls, Pastor Newton calls us to turn our attention toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.  In this he is applying the teaching of the Apostle Paul, who advocated liberty constrained by the law of love in his letter to the Romans

Romans 14:14-21  ¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.  ¹⁵ For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.  By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.  ¹⁶ So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.  ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  ¹⁸ Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.  ¹⁹ So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.  ²⁰ Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.  Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.  ²¹ It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble

Newton advises us, in considering our brothers, that charity and prudence may require us to abstain from things that might be suitable for our liberty but would be a stumbling block for someone weaker.  But to Newton love doesn’t just mean we watch what we are doing around weaker people.  He reminds us that we don’t always know who might be affected by what we do in the exercise of liberty.  We will never know whose faith has been undermined by taking their cue from observing us when we didn’t know we were being watched.  And therefore we won’t be able to help a person who might stumble beyond our awareness.

 

He also makes a connection between how we view our liberties as they relate to what we want to be our example.

 

And it seems that an obligation to this sort of self-denial, rises, and is strengthened, in proportion to the weight and influence of our characters.

 

In other words, those who aspire to greater influence for God should be all the more concerned about their example to others. 

 

The important thing here is that we are not motivated by what others think of us.  That would be fear of man.  We are, rather, motivated by a love for God and others that will seek to make sure that our lives are lived for the ‘mutual upbuilding’ (as Paul says it) of our brothers and sisters in the faith.  So we don’t simply think in terms of avoiding what might stumble others.  We want to see our lives among our brothers and sisters as opportunities to strengthen the faith of others through how we make decisions regarding liberty.  Liberty strained through the law of love will be liberty well expressed. 

By Andy Farmer

 

Note:  This is the third in a series of posts on Christian liberty based on a pastoral letter written by John Newton in 1776.  For background on the letter see the 6.18.09 post.  You can read the letter in its entirety HERE. 
 

John Newton’s approach to liberty and worldliness begins with the effect of our choices and pursuits on our own souls. 

 

In considering our souls, Newton challenges us to refrain from things that ‘deaden our hearts to divine things’, and exhorts us to not ‘pursue, rest in, or allow’ anything that gives us greater joy than our chief joy in God.

 

Last week we dealt with a false distinction between public and private spirituality.  Newton reminded us that our public and private lives are constantly intertwined, because God sees all.  In this exhortation he deals with another misunderstanding.  We often live with a functional divide between our ‘sacred’ (meaning the things we do that are consciously about our religious experience), and our ‘secular’ (meaning the things we do that we don’t consider religious) lives. 

 

When we live with a distinction between sacred and secular, ‘Christian Liberty’ can simply become the religious permission we assume to do worldly things.  We can avoid uncomfortable evaluation of our worldly pursuits by pointing to all the religious activities (quiet times, service, meeting attendance, good deeds, etc.) that give us the right to a reasonable amount of worldly indulgence.  In a sense, we live as if we need to ‘protect’ our secular liberties from sacred contamination.  The truth is, we never have to guard our secular lives from the influence of the sacred world.  I don’t remember a time when I was watching an Eagles game and suddenly got the urge to shut off the tube and read my Bible.  Even if they were losing. 

 

At risk in this sacred/secular distinction is true joy in our soul.  Our souls weren’t created with bipolar tendencies.  They were created to find joy in God and him alone.  It is God’s lavish grace that allows us to experience true joy in God through secondary joys.  And Christian liberty may be best understood as the kind permission of our Creator to enjoy the things He has created for us.  I believe this can include things that we have created for enjoyment as well – art, music, visual imagery, sports, Mexican food, roller coasters, jokes, beach vacations, movies, Ford Mustangs… well, the list is getting a little long and a little too personalized, but you get my point.
 

The first test is, according to Newton, whether something we enjoy through liberty works against our joy in God.  If it does, it will have an enslaving and ultimately damaging effect on our souls.  And liberty was never meant to produce those results.  To rightly understand and enjoy liberty we must remove the sacred/secular divide.  All our secular enjoyments have sacred implications.  And all our secondary joys must ultimately feed our primary joy in God. 

 

 

Psalm 24:3-6  ³ Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?  ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  ⁵ He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  ⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

By Rob Flood

 

Recently, one of my children was skimming the top of a pool with a skimmer.  The pole must have been about 10 feet long.  While having his concentration fully engaged on the pool, he was oblivious to the long stretch of pole behind him.  With no malicious or pre-meditated intent, he nearly knocked two children into the pool.  Thankfully, no one got pushed in.

 

But it did make me think of the damage we can cause when we are reckless or careless…even unintentionally.  A recent study[1] done at Simmons College in Boston tracked the wide-reaching affects that conflict has on children who witness it.

 

Researchers found that adolescents who reported increased family arguments at age 15 had an increased risk of major depression, alcohol abuse/dependence, drug dependence and antisocial behaviors at age 30, compared with peers who didn’t report more family arguments. And those with more family strife had twice the risk for being unemployed as adults.

 

Those who reported exposure to family violence by age 18 were significantly more likely than peers to have a mental disorder, drug or alcohol abuse or dependence, lower self-esteem, and lower overall life satisfaction at age 30.

 

We can sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that our conflict only impacts those we aim it at.  But selfishness and anger, which lie at the root of our conflict, are not instruments of precision.  They are not highly accurate rifles.  Conflict functions much more like a hand grenade. 

 

When we throw it at our opponent, our enemy, shrapnel flies in every direction often inflicting pain and damage on unintended targets.  And, too often, those are our children.

 

Yet our conviction and sorrow over the damage we cause our children don’t often cause us to adjust the problem.  Many times, we work hard to exchange our grenades for precision instruments of anger.  This is not the answer.  What are we to do is our conflict is hurting those around us?  …work at peace.

 

We might declare that we are not the cause of the conflict.  We are simply married to someone who fights with us all the time.  Maybe we think it is the fault of our contentious teen.  Well…maybe.  But Romans 12:18 removes the blame game altogether.

 

 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

 

If there is no other channel, be the channel of God’s grace into your home.  Allow the young standers-by to observe and experience grace as they see it in you.  Don’t pull the pin on the anger grenade.  Lay down the sniper’s rifle. 

 

Not only will this have a profound impact on your own joy. …not only will this impact your marriage.  But this will also have an immeasurable impact on your children…now and into their future.

 

 

By Andy Farmer

 

One of the issues we regularly have to deal with as pastors is the challenge of Christian liberty.  We deal with it on a personal level every day of our lives – what we listen to in our cars, what we watch on our TV’s, what we buy, what we enjoy, what we promote.  But is also an issue we are asked about a good bit as well.  Parents want to know what standards they should have in their families regarding worldly influences.  Men and women both want to know how to interact with all of the virtual and real-time lifestyle choices that are common in the culture around them.

 

The battle with the world is a uniquely Christian problem.  If you are not aware that there is a difference between life in this world and life in the next you are probably not a Christian.  But if the draw of the pleasures and distractions of this world we live in, or questions about liberty, license and legalism matter to you, then you have some good evidence of the Kingdom of God doing its invasive work in your heart.  And you’ll probably wrestle with things that most folks won’t comprehend.

 

When I’m wrestling with whether something I want to do is appropriate for me as a Christian I’ll often pull out a letter written nearly 250 years ago.  Over the next few Thursdays I’m going to be sharing the contents of this letter in bits and pieces in this Thursday blog.

 

Why?

 

First, I think some of the best advice in our current age is to listen to the wisdom of previous ages.  None of our present day temptations are really new, and it can be helpful to see how saints gone by dealt with their versions of our trials. 

 

Second, the letter is written by John Newton, who knew the world from vivid experience, and counseled about it with great pastoral and practical insight. 

 

Third, however, is the recipient of the letter.  This letter is part of a pastoral correspondence between Newton and Lord Dartmouth (founder of Dartmouth College), who served as a key advisor to the Prime Minister of England during the American Revolution.  Dartmouth was a Christian seated at the highest level of worldly influence.  The letter we will be looking at was written in November 1776; just about the same time a copy of a little thing called the Declaration of Independence would be crossing his desk.  Ironically, at the same time that this Lord of the Realm was being reminded that the self evident truth endows every human with an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; he was wrestling with his conscience over whether being a Christian limited the liberties he could rightly enjoy.

 

What we’ll look at therefore is advice to a man who is wrestling in his soul over how to be faithful to his Savior at a moment in time when both worldly influence and worldly temptations are converging upon him in historic proportions. 

 

If you’d like to read the full letter as it is written, here is a copy of it in its entirety.  We’ll unpack it and apply it in pieces over the next few weeks.          

By Stephanie Spence

 

I have come to the conclusion that pet peeves are not good things to have.  There was a time when I actually wanted one.  Really, it wasn’t that I didn’t have any pet peeves, I just hadn’t identified them yet. Just as most people have a favorite color, most people have favorite pet peeves, and I wanted to know what mine were.

 

Upon reflection, it wasn’t hard to name a few things that irritate me.  One group of irritations fall into a category I like to call “mouth sounds.”  This category includes anything that involves lip or tongue smacking, such as chewing with one’s mouth open. 

 

Once my pet peeves were properly identified I began to nurture them, feed them, pet them, and take them out for walks.  After all, they were my pet peeves and I needed to care for them.  For instance, I’d be in community group and someone would be sharing something meaningful, but instead of listing to his words, I was listening to the clicking noise his tongue would make each time he paused to take a breath.  Or, I might be at a coffee shop reading a book and someone at the table behind me would start slurping her coffee to my utter annoyance, producing in me anger and contempt. 

 

I discovered that pet peeves are no more your domesticated household pet than a lion or bear.   They are wolves in sheep’s clothing.  They are like wild animals which are nearly, if not impossible, to tame.  They are not animals at all; pet peeves are nothing short of my flesh on full display clawing, craving, and roaring. 

 

Romans 8:5-6 says that “those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace”.  Justifying and nurturing my anger is living according to the flesh and leads to death. However, I am not in the flesh but in the Spirit because the Spirit of God dwells in me (Romans 8:9). 

 

Unfortunately, pet peeves have a way of sticking around.  But, as irritations come and provoke the flesh, by God’s power my focus can be on what the Spirit wants instead of what these insidious pet peeves want. of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the

By Jared Mellinger

How are we as believers changed from one degree of glory to another?  Take any area you desire to grow in becoming more like Christ: contentment, patience, love, joy, humility, purity, or anything else.  The question is, “How do we change?” 

There are many ways Scripture answers that question.  One essential answer comes at the end of 2 Corinthians 3.  The veil that once covered our eyes, blinding us to the beauty of Christ, has been removed by the power of God, and we now see Christ for who He is.  Because of this, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”  

The way the Spirit is changing us to become more like Christ, increasingly transformed into the image of Christ, is by enabling us to behold the glory of Christ in the Gospel.  As a result of seeing Him for who He is, we are being changed. 

I’ve realized that the way I approach change too often looks identical to how the world around us seeks to change.  But our approach should be entirely different, because we have come to understand this revolutionary truth: we are transformed into the image of Christ as we behold the glory of Christ.       

Richard Sibbes, a great Puritan pastor, penned one of my favorite quotes in the 17^th century.  Reflecting on 2 Corinthians 3:18, he asks “How are we changed to the image of Christ?”  The answer:

“It is by beholding the glory of Christ in the Gospel. There is a transforming power in beholding the glory of God’s mercy in Christ. It is not a delighting object only, to see the mercy of God in Christ, but it is a powerful object that has an influence upon the soul .” (Works, Volume IV, p.256)

In other words, the Gospel is not just something that makes us happy; it is something that changes us and makes a difference in the details of our lives.  It is “a powerful object that has an influence upon the soul,” making us more like Christ as we behold His glory.

This truth has informed and transformed the way I seek to grow as a Christian.  If we want to be changed, we must spend time beholding the manifold glories of Christ in the Gospel: the glory of His love, the glory of His power, the glory of His wisdom, the glory of His humility, the glory of His patience.  And as we do this, with unveiled face, we will discover that we truly are becoming more and more like the one whose glory has captivated the eyes of our heart.

By Trish Donohue

“Warm, yummy, potato chips right off the conveyor belt, we’re coming!” we cried as we jumped into the van on a recent rainy Monday.  We were headed to the Herr’s Snack Factory tour (free and fat-filled—what could be better?)  We took the tour, clogged up our arteries with the free samples, and were dumped out into the gift shop where my generous husband told the kids to pick out something small.

The girls were gaga over the 25 cent plastic rings and a coloring book, one of my sons picked a plastic popcorn ball probably to aim at his brother’s noggin, and my other son got caught in the tractor beam of a stress potato.  He was enamored, charmed, captivated by it.  For the stress-free among us, an explanation may be in order.  A stress potato is a soft, but not too soft, rubbery potato that you can squeeze the daylights out of, presumably to alleviate stress.  I’m not sure who concocted the idea that you could channel stress into another object by squeezing it, but apparently it sells.  Anyway, my son was all giggles. 

I figured it was a worthy investment.  It could be by the piano for one boy during lessons, or on the other boy’s math book.  Jim could squeeze it while doing the budget and I could have it while rushing out the door and realizing that someone’s flip-flop had vanished again!  (The girls don’t have any stress, they only provide it, so they don’t get a turn.)    

The funny thing is that we all have our stress potatoes, whether it’s a bag of chips, the TV, sleep or shopping.  “This is just what I need,” we tell ourselves again, even though experience has taught us that these things don’t really relieve us, they just temporarily distract. 

Although the “Stress Spud” as we affectionately call it, still resides in our home, I’m so glad that there is real relief for stress, or more accurately, the sin of anxiety. 

“Do not be anxious about anything,” the Bible urges us, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Aaaah.  God’s truth and grace for anxious sinners.  No gimmicks, Herr’s logo, or carpal tunnel syndrome involved.  Just help from Almighty God and a promised peace.  Thank you, Lord, for providing real help in time of need.

But now what do I do with the stress potato?  Stress potato salad

By Kathy Breslin

I used to wonder how singleness could be considered a gift.  I’d heard all the typical responses to that question: “it allows you to serve God,” “you’re time isn’t divided and you can focus on Him,” “think of all the wonderful ways you can help the church,” etc…  I’d heard them all and in my heart I couldn’t help but think “is that really a gift?”  But as I’ve lived my life as a part of this church, my response started to change. 

Change doesn’t happen over night and this was no different.  There was no one thing that I did or heard that caused my change in perception about my singleness to happen; but rather God’s faithfulness in my life.  As I started to serve more, in my Community Group, in Alpha, babysitting for some of the families at church, reaching out to friends who don’t know the Lord, and so on, I was seeing God move in His people and my attention moved away from my own desires and focused on Him and His grace in my life.

God promises us in Psalm 37 that if we delight in Him he will give us the desires of our heart.  What strikes me about this verse isn’t that he’ll give me the desires of my heart but that this is a promise from the One who formed me and has the power to shape me and change me.  While my desires to have a family one day have not changed, my desires to see God’s name be great have grown.  One day this may be through a family but I am excited with what He is doing through me today.
 

In this season the Lord has also given me a clearer idea of what the gift of marriage is all about.  My view of marriage was that it was very much about me and my dreams, needs, and wants, rather than about the Lord.  As some of my closest friends were getting married I started thinking more about marriage and the sacrifices my friends were making to care for their spouse, family, and home.  The more I thought about this the more I realized that the sacrifices I was making to serve the Lord and the church were minor in comparison to those my newly married friends were making in their own lives.  Don’t get me wrong, my friends speak of the many blessings that come in marriage.  But I now have a sober appreciation for the need for grace to be married, not just to be single.  

 

This also made me freshly grateful for my parents and the sacrifices they’ve made for me and my sister.  They laid down their own desires and wants to be there for us even to this day.  I might never know the full extent of the sacrifices that have been made on my behalf but I know I am grateful for them and for whom they’ve allowed me to be as a woman.  

By writing this, I don’t mean to imply that I’ve arrived or that it’s never hard being a single Christian woman.  But God’s faithfulness to me is greater than my circumstances and he has graciously placed me in a church that encourages me and challenges me to continue to fight the good fight.  And while it’s tempting to list my phone number at the bottom of this page, just in case my future husband is reading, I will refrain and trust the Sovereign One who has provided me with more than I can ask or imagine.

By Andy Farmer

In his book, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hand Paul Tripp describes how we view ourselves as something akin to looking at ourselves through a carnival mirror (p. 279).  This is such a wonderful description of how I look at myself.  Sure, I see myself, but not clearly or consistently.  And like the distorted views of a carnival mirror, sometimes my perspective of myself can be way off.  That’s usually the case when I’m in a conflict with Jill and I can’t fathom why she doesn’t see the pristine logic of my arguments.   

But the truth is, even if I had a Hubble-quality mirror, I wouldn’t be able to fully see myself.  Whenever I look in a mirror I can only see one side of me.  That means I’m effectively blind to the rest of me.  When I turn to see a different side I lose sight of what I was just looking at before.  It’s not only impossible to see myself fully, it is also impossible to keep what I have seen in view when I’m looking elsewhere. 

This is true in a physical sense, but it’s also true in a spiritual sense.  For example, when I’m trying to focus on my impatience with others, I can seem to get a good idea of how that works.  But I can’t easily see how impatience is connected to some other selfish craving, like control.  And when I try to focus on the ways I want to control my life I lose sight of how I can impatiently treat people like circumstances or impediments.  I am so grateful that the Word of God is a true mirror, not only in its accuracy, but in its three dimensionality.  It shows my life in all its interconnectivity.  And I’m thankful that I am not dependent on natural sight to truly see.  The Spirit of God is able to open my eyes and direct my gaze not only to who I really am, but what he is really doing by grace.

By Trish Donohue

 

Wow!  What a great title!  I have you all hooked, I know it.  You’re envisioning the long sought fountain of youth bubbling up and covering all those fine wrinkles and graying hairs.  I’m sure Clinique offers something like this for approximately $350, but physical youth is actually not today’s topic.  It’s how to be the younger woman described in the well-known Titus passage: Older women…are to so train the younger women…”

 

Okay, it’s true that these verses are directed toward the older woman; the one we are all hoping will arrive in our moment of need, shower us with life-changing wisdom, and clean our kitchen while she’s at it.  But here’s the deal—most  women who would be a benefit to us aren’t prophetic enough to discern the moment we need them, confident enough to assume we want to hear from them, or available enough to be waiting outside our door for the cry of despair.  SO!  Take out your note-pads ye seekers of wisdom.  Here are some tips on how to be a younger woman.

 

1.  Look around.  Sometimes we get “fridge disease.”  You know, you’re looking for the salsa in the fridge and its right in front of you.  These elusive older women are sometimes right in front of us in the lobby at church, sitting beside us in community group, or right behind us in worship.  Who has God placed in our lives that is a little further along?  Whose children are a few years older than ours?  Who excels in an area where we are weak?  Look around and pick out a woman you could learn from.

 

2.   Jot down some specific questions for her.  How does she maintain such purposefulness in her singleness?  How does she do meal planning for her family?  What is her daily schedule?  What do her quiet times look like?  It’s helpful to have some questions ready so you can drop into a conversation quickly.

 

3.  Initiate.  Invite her to lunch after church or to grab some coffee between services, or draw her out after community group.  These conversations don’t have to be formal; in fact, it’s sometimes better when they’re not!  God promises to give grace to the humble, and He will bless our efforts to learn from the women He’s given us.

 

How do I know this?  Because I need a lot of help, and a lot of wisdom!  I recently chatted with a woman whose children are a few years ahead of mine and her counsel was so helpful.  A few weeks later, I grabbed a couple of moms at a meeting and asked them if they had ever struggled with a particular sin I was seeing in my life.  Help is often a conversation away!  And because we’re all called to be “older women” as well as “younger women,” let’s drink in as much wisdom as we can so that we have something to pour out when a younger woman reads this blog and walks over to us!    

 

 

Posted by Chris Radano

 

“The heavens declare the glory of God...” - Psalm 19:1

“You are a believer in God?  But you’re a scientist...” - personal friend

 

As a research chemist, my world consists of laboratories, chemicals, funny looking glassware and unique vocabulary.  To the surprise of my friend quoted above, my faith in God and my love for science were not mutually exclusive.  As a research chemist, I constantly try to find ‘pictures’ in the chemistry lab to help me meditate biblical truths.  The use of chemistry language to describe certain theological processes can be very clarifying to me.

 

For example, there’s the process of crystallization.  Crystallization is a common technique whereby a solid substance (molecule, compound, etc) is purified from a mixture of impurities - e.g. – stuff that doesn’t belong.  The substance is dissolved in a suitable solvent and slowly cooled.  Crystals of the pure substance begin to form, becoming larger and larger, where they can be easily separated.  The impurities never crystallize, remaining dissolved in the solvent, ultimately washing away.  When I see crystallization I think about the process of sanctification.

 

Crystallization is a slow process and is a reminder to me that sanctification doesn’t take place overnight.  The process of crystallization cannot be rushed, but it is a kinetic process - meaning that the overall purity of the final material is dependent on the rate at which the crystallization takes place.  Too fast and the impurities are co-crystallizing with (i.e. attach themselves to) the substance, which means it is not becoming pure.  The slower the crystallization kinetics, the more easily the beauty of the crystals is seen.  To me, the parallel is clear - quick fixes in behavior don’t work to truly purify the heart.  They seem helpful and progress seems to be made, but it is the kinetic effect of the sanctification process over time that produces the beauty of true purity.      

 

The crystallization process happens when the chemist applies certain instruments and techniques to concentrate a chemical activity.  To me the instruments of analysis and techniques of detecting impurity are means of common grace for the scientist to work with chemical processes.  In a similar way, God has given us means of grace to work for our benefit in the process of sanctification.  For example, prayer, application of the Word of God, accountability, trials and adversity in life, the encouragement of fellowship, etc. all make a meaningful contribution to sanctification if we apply them in appropriate ways. 

 

These examples and correlations between chemistry and theology are eye-opening to me when I really sit down and consider them.  I hope that this little lesson in theological science helps you join me in marveling at the wisdom of our Creator/Redeemer.  My purpose is not to try to fit God into my world, but visualize my world as part of what God has created and speaks about in His word. 

Posted by Andy Farmer

 

I turned 50 last week.  People ask me how if feels – a half century old.  I can’t really tell much difference from 49.  But I did have one of those ‘whoa, I’m not a young man anymore’ moments on my birthday. 

 

I have always had this tendency to judge my age by how I mentally picture people I read about in a newspaper.  For so long when I would read, ‘the suspect was a 50 year old white male….’  I’d think ‘what is an old coot doing something stupid like that for?’.  Now I’m that guy – or at least could be a candidate for a police line-up in the investigation. 

 

But I’ve had another more helpful insight on my birthday as well.  I’ve just started reading a book in my devotions called Keeping the Heart by Puritan pastor John Flavel.  In his introduction I came across something that seemed to be a birthday present from the Spirit of God.  Flavel writes,

 

“Remember that you are at the door of eternity and have other work to do”

 

Puritan paragraphs can wear me out, but Puritan sentences wake me up.  So what does this sentence do for me?  One of my defining characteristics is how long it takes me to leave somewhere.  I admire people who pick up the keys and go.  But my family and friends have always marveled at how many things can distract me between going and gone.  I’ll be headed to the door and then suddenly realize it’s a perfect time to change that light bulb to a higher wattage, download that song, fix that door handle…..  then get to the car with no keys in my hand.  Common sense says that to get anywhere in a timely way the best course of action is to forget everything else and walk out the door. 

 

But Flavel helps me see that there’s one door that we will all go through that isn’t best approached with expediency.  The door of eternity is coming closer and closer to me.  Age makes it all the more real and all the more interesting.  But I want to reach for that door intensely distracted by the work of the Kingdom yet to be done while I’m here.  I want to go through that door a busy man; maybe even surprised that I’m leaving because I’m focused on the other work I have to do.  That’s the prayer of this newly minted fifty year old coot.