This Vanishing Mist

Totally Like Whatever, You Know?

2010-01-21T10:38:00.001-08:00

I have started and not finished about 20 posts for this blog, so if anyone out there is reading, forgive me.

I saw this video on John Piper's twitter today, and instantly felt as though it was made for ME. Enjoy.

Totally Like Whatever, You Know?

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Jesus conquered the grave!

2009-09-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

I've always cognitively understood the resurrection of Jesus. You know, what it was and why it matters. But this week, I was reminded, via a sermon, that in the book of Acts, the believers were always testifying to the resurrection. The cross was part of it, but the resurrection was the main focus of their testimony.

So, I was thinking and praying, perhaps even confessing, that I don't think I quite get the resurrection the way that God would want me to get it. And, I remember thinking to myself that it would have been easy for the apostles to stand as witnesses to the resurrection because they SAW Jesus die and then they SAW him alive again.

So what about us? We didn't get to watch Jesus die and then eat breakfast with him on the beach like 5 days later. So how are we witnesses of the resurrection?

Well, the Lord answered me sort of unexpectedly when I was confessing sin and strongholds to Him. I got it! I mean more than just in my head like before.

Death is the greatest stronghold we could possibly face. It's the one thing that we very obviously cannot defeat with our flesh- the sting of sin. And Jesus DEFEATED DEATH - the strongest stronghold!

And if he can break the physical stronghold of death, if his Spirit is THAT powerful, then MAN is He surely strong enough to set me free from dead works, spiritual strongholds, and sin. You see, my sin totally loses its power when I realize that the Spirit inside of me is so much stronger than the sin.

So my witness to the resurrection is that the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead has birthed new life in me - putting sin to death and living out righteousness in me! (In a tangible way, not just hypothetically.) And when that happens, you can't help but witness to it - both in word and deed.

But I realized that this means the real problem with my sin (and I really should specify strongholds, idols, repetitive sin) is not that it is too strong for me... cause we already know that it has no power, that God is stronger and goes on our behalf to defeat it, and also that he wants it gone more than we do.

No, the real problem with my strongholds is that I am actually depending on them... that I actually don't want them to be gone... that I actually think there's something in them that will satisfy me. And so I stop short of freedom; I don't surrender every single thought to the Lord. I don't bring ALL of my darkness to the light.

So if we really want it, we can have victory. God promises it and gives us everything we need to have it. Give thanks to the LORD!

Jesus IS life.

2009-08-12T03:20:00.000-07:00

I couldn't sleep tonight, which is nothing new since this fetus has taken up residency in my uterus. Awake in the middle of the night = prime time for random thoughts.

Tonight I managed to identify one of the main culprits for wasted time in my life and in many people's lives... the idea that life and ministry are two separate things. They aren't... and don't say, "Duh."

When I first started walking closely with the Lord after I graduated from high school, I remember thinking a lot about what "my ministry" would be. Not that this wasn't well-intentioned... it was.

The problem, though, was unconsciously thinking that ministry was something formal and separate from the life that God put right in front of me - the people, the family, the roommates, classmates, school work, neighbors, jobs, etc. that God uniquely put into my life.

The result? While pursuing formal "ministry opportunities," (i.e. teaching, writing, going on mission trips, etc.) I have often neglected real ministry, real relationships, the chance to see God transform real lives (including mine), and the chance to really love people.

Well-intentioned or not, I believe this separation is dangerous. And I think I'll leave it at that.

unashamed

2009-06-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16

Is gospel-sharing a habit in your life?

D. Martin Lloyd Jones Quote

2009-06-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

Drawing a distinction between trusting in your works and working because you trust in God...

"The error of justification by works is in trusting to the discipline of your own soul to save your own soul; but the opposite to trusting your works is not to do nothing, it is to do everything but not to put your trust in any of it. It is not the works that are wrong, it is the faith in your works, trusting in your works." - D. Martin Lloyd Jones, Spiritual Depression, Page 211

Good word.

the center of God's will

2009-06-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

A little nugget for you. This is something God has been reteaching me recently about being in the center of His will.

I think a lot of us want to know the answer to the question, "What is God's will for my life?"

I ask this question all the time, but usually the answer I am looking for is some sort of activity - a job, a ministry, a project, a group of people to help. We really want to know what we are supposed to be doing. That's what we usually mean when we say we want to know his will.

But God has reminded me recently that his will is not just doing the right activities, ministries, what have you. Activities are always secondary to heart condition in God's Book. Activities are essential to our faith, but they are not primary. I believe the Enemy works very hard to get us to focus on our actions while our hearts stay far from God.

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

God's will is very clear in Scripture. He wants us to draw near to him - to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and he wants us to love our neighbor as He loved us. Very well then - we can do that anywhere.

God is very clear that loving and delighting in Him is His primary desire for you, and He always takes care of the secondary - making your path straight and giving you the desire of your heart. You love and trust; He carries out the plan.

So maybe the next time we feel like we want to ask God, "What should I do?" Maybe instead we should question our hearts.

Is God currently the center of my life? Is HE the best thought on my mind all day long? Do I love Him more than anything else in my life? Do my thoughts constantly gravitate towards Him? Is my heart and mouth overflowing with praises to Him.

If the honest answer to these types of questions is "no," then there is no ministry, no job, no mission, no work, no human relationship in the world that's going to satisfy you or change you.

We hate that answer. We think that if we could just have this job, do this or that thing, then we will be happy. If we are not happy in the Lord now, in the current situation where HE has placed us, then we will not be happy in any situation. And if we think we will, we are only deceiving ourselves.

I must confess that I am so guilty of this - of thinking that activities and new circumstances will solve the dissatisfaction in my life - trying to fill emptiness with works and ministry and "legitimate" things, while the only thing that counts is faith working through love. I still tend to believe the lie that my worth is found in what I am doing, which is so contrary to the gospel!

Maybe God is wanting you, like me, to repent from this type of attitude. Maybe He wants us to quit covering up our ugly dissatisfaction with fancy-looking "righteous deeds" that amount to dirty, bloody, garments in His Book and return to Him. You can know you are in the center of His will when He is the center of your life.

St. John Relief

2009-05-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

You can donate to those who lost their homes in the St. John Fire here. They also need a lot of different household items (also indicated on the website).

the way to raise support (love this!)

2009-05-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

I just saw something so cool in Philippians 4, and I am tucking it away for the next time I go on a mission trip, or even the next time I am asked to support someone on a mission trip.

Long story short, at the end of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, he thanks them for giving him money/resources/what have you to help support him when we was in need on his missionary journey.

"Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction... you sent a gift more than once for my needs." Philippians 4:15-16

And then in the next verse he gets to the profound stuff.

"Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account."

Translation: I don't need your money because I have learned to be content in all circumstances and I trust God will accomplish his work without your money, BUT I am so glad that you gave to me because giving to the Lord's work equates to profit in your heavenly bank account, and I badly want THAT for you more than I want anything from you.

Love it! Love it! Love it!

G.K. Chesterson Quote

2009-05-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

Convicting quote. (At least for me.) What do you think about it?

"What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert--himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt - the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it's practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . . The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table."

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy [Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co., 1957], pp. 31-32

This quote comforts and convicts me at the same time. It's comforting for someone like me who is severely introspective; I was never meant to be able to trust what I find in my own heart. It's also convicting; do I speak the word of God without fear?

props to twitter

2009-05-05T14:58:00.001-07:00

I myself do not twitter (and have been known to poke fun), but in the last 24 hours, I watched twitter work wonders as a mobilizing tool.

You may know that there was a huge fire in an apartment complex in the St. John's neighborhood of Austin yesterday. St. John's is one of the poorest areas of town, and it also happens to be the place where our church has purchased land for a building.

Well, this afternoon around 1pm, I got on Facebook to see tons of my fellow Austin Stone friends had tweeted? about opportunities to help gather food and clothing for the 300?? victims. You would not believe the number of volunteers and donations that had been made by 2:30pm when I arrived at Iglesias Ebenezer Church in St. Johns.

I guess the Lord can use even the cheesiest tools to establish His Kingdom on earth and bring hope and help to those who are suffering. :)

thoughts and questions I could elaborate on...

2009-04-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts for your enjoyment...
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Shouldn't our "want to" be the same as our reality? Why is there a disconnect between what we say we want and what we actually do? Jesus died to give us victory in our actions, not just our will.
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Americans like their privacy, but online social media is proof that even independent Americans long for community - to know others and be known by them. But we'll never get the full blessing of community without the full sacrifice of self.
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I appreciate the media, but I believe it unnecessarily polarizes people and issues. If I watch, read, or listen to the news, I must make a conscious effort not to get sucked in. And, is it okay to have unresolved political issues? I think we need to search out all matters (Prov 25:2) - not only our own position, but how to lovingly respond to those with whom we disagree. Key word = lovingly.
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There's a thin line between discipline and legalism - and we won't find it or walk it on our own. "In all your ways acknowledge him..." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
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If I could just learn to keep my darn mouth shut!
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Hungry people are more aware of their need for God than those of us who are physically satisfied. I think that's probably why the gospel flourishes in places of poverty. If we get really obsessed with seeing the Kingdom of God established on Earth, we might just get a little tired of the apathy of rich people and we just might reach out to those who hunger and thirst, who want to hear. Meanwhile, I am sick and tired of my own darn apathy! Lord, have mercy!
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the itch of self regard

2009-04-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Love this C.S. Lewis quote from Mere Christianity:

The pleasure of pride is like the pleasure of scratching. If there is an itch one does want to scratch; but it is much nicer to have neither the itch nor the scratch. As long as we have the itch of self-regard we shall want the pleasure of self-approval; but the happiest moments are those when we forget our precious selves and have neither but have everything else (God, our fellow humans, the garden and the sky) instead.

I could seek to save my life and establish my own proverbial kingdom by pursuing ambitions that bring attention to me. Then what?

In the words of musician Chris Rice, "...my world's too big to make a name for myself." But, "You are the LORD, the Famous One, and great is Your name in all the earth!"

The way to lose the itch of self-regard and the pleasure of self-approval is to lose myself as I seek His Kingdom on earth... that I may keep it for eternity in Heaven.

a challenge to meditate on Easter

2009-04-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, the way the world works, even if you are not busy (like me) and especially if you are, it is difficult to take the time to sit down, get still, and focus on Jesus.

Unless we are intentional about setting aside time to get alone with God, the Easter holiday will come and go without much of a response from us.

Little note: I've noticed that in weeks where I spend significant and intimate alone time with Jesus, Sunday morning corporate worship becomes something where I anticipate the presence of God and meet with him. On the other hand, I've also noticed that if I don't meet with Jesus throughout the week, Sunday morning is just another robotic routine, a self-help time at best.

I believe that God wants us to anticipate his presence in the corporate worship setting on Easter morning, and I am convinced that it will be very difficult unless we are intentional about setting aside time to be with him and think about what Easter is all about.

I am going to set aside time tomorrow mid-morning to reflect on Easter, and the events that took place to secure my hope and salvation. I hope that you will do the same!

Love,
Leah

what the law could not do, God did

2009-04-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4

You can't fight the desires of the flesh with the flesh. It is too weak.

The Lord knows I have tried too many times to fight off sin with my flesh. The problem is that sin is like a fire, and my flesh is like a baseball bat, and you can't really destroy fire with a baseball bat; you need a fire extinguisher.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

What sin are you dealing with? Or to be more specific, what do you desire in your heart more than you desire God? Is it money? Status? A better job? Better body? Your own fame and recognition? A spouse? A relationship? Attention from men?

Are you trying to fight it with a baseball bat?

God showed me this week that there is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to following Jesus. In other words, I can't expect to be free from sin and free from obeying Jesus. My flesh will always gravitate towards sin if I am "neutral."

But if I am led by the Spirit, if I am taking my thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ, dreaming His dreams and seeking His Kingdom, then I will be free from sin. That's fighting flesh with the Spirit's power - with the fire extinguisher - not with the baseball bat.

And ultimately, it takes a new heart for this to happen. It's natural to try to be good and not sin, but it's supernatural to have new affections and desires for God. It's natural not to want to go to hell, but it's supernatural to love Jesus more than the things of this world.

Good news:

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. - Romans 6:14-18

If you trust in Jesus, you are free from sin; your status has already been changed!

Grace Part 4: Faith and Works

2009-04-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

I can say with almost complete certainty that I will NEVER go skydiving. If you think I am going to jump out of a plane willingly, you are taking crazy pills. You say to me, "What, Leah, don't you believe that parachutes work?" Yeah, I believe that parachutes work, but there's no way, I am going to willingly put my life on the line by jumping out of a plane. Perhaps you could reasonably argue, then, that I don't really believe the parachute will work. Or, to say it another way: While I agree that a parachute is made to keep me from plummeting into the ground, I am not about to entrust my life to a parachute.

James would call this "dead faith." The evidence of real faith is the action it produces. If I really trust a parachute, I will jump out of plane, but if I don't really trust the parachute, I won't do anything. Look at James 2:17-24.

"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder...

Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone."

The main point of this particular passage in James is to show us that if our "faith" doesn't produce action, then it is empty faith. Even if I believe that Jesus died to save sinners, if I don't entrust my life to him, my faith is empty.

At a glance, James 2:17-24 looks like it contradicts a lot of other passages in scripture. (See Galatians 3:5-13, Romans 5:1, Romans 4:1-9, Romans 3:28, Ephesians 2:8-10)

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." - Ephesians 2:8-10

So what's the deal? It seems like Paul is saying we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, while James is saying we are saved by works and not by faith alone. How do we reconcile this?

It's both. We are saved by grace through faith, and real faith is accompanied by action. Actions don't save you; they just prove that your faith is real. Jumping out of a plane doesn't save my life - the parachute saves my life - jumping just proves that I really believe the parachute will save me (as does operating the parachute correctly when I'm in the air). But if I don't jump, I have not put my trust in the parachute.

The same is true with Jesus. Trying to live a life that pleases God without trusting Christ is like hoping not to die when you go skydiving without a parachute. You must believe in your heart that ONLY Jesus will save you, but if you never entrust your life to Him, if you don't follow Him and do what He requires, then you have not really put your trust in Him, have you?

The passage in James serves to answer a question that skeptics often raise, which I also heard a lot growing up. "So you're saying, as long as I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, then I will go to Heaven, even if I live the rest of my life doing whatever I want - still finding pleasure in sin and disobedience?"

I used to think the answer to that question was "yes." But, if that's the case, go ahead and count most EVERYBODY in. No one wants to go to hell. But Jesus says,

"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
"He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." - Matthew 10:38-39

And Paul says,

" What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"- Romans 6:1-2

Sounds a little different, doesn't it? This does not mean that we will never sin again after we initially put our faith in Jesus, but it does mean that real faith in Christ will produce a change in our allegiance. Our lives will not be dominated by sin (by pride and selfish ambition and anger), but by God's grace through faith in Jesus.

So, are our we working to please Christ so that we may be saved, or are we working to please Christ because HE has already saved us?

Are we motivated to obedience by the fear of punishment, or are we motivated to obedience by our love for God?

"When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see Him there, who made an end to all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free! For God the Just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me, to look on Him and pardon me!" - Before the Throne, Charitie Bancroft, 1863

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Amen!

Grace Part 3: When Faith Wavers

2009-04-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

In my first post on grace, I wrote this:

If we only see God's grace as a means for forgiveness and forget that his grace intends to perfect us, then we will continue to operate in the weakness of our flesh, continue to love things more than we love God, and live in disobedience.

But if we forget that God's grace is the means for our forgiveness and only expect it to perfect us, then when we fail to trust and love God as we ought to, we will enter the darkness of self-condemnation and fear.

Confession: I tend to err on the latter side. When I screw up, I often succumb to a whirlwind of self-defeating thoughts.

"I sinned; what does that say about my heart? Does that mean that I am not a new creation? Am I really dead to sin, or am I just fooling myself? If I was living by faith, then I would not have done that. After all, there will be some who stand before God at the end of time who will hear God say, 'Depart from Me, I never knew you.' Am I just deceiving myself?"

It is times like those that I have to fight to believe that it's Jesus, the object of my faith, that saves me, not the quality or quantity of my faith.

Well, in relation to this, I got to thinking about when Peter walked on the water with Jesus, and I saw something incredible.

"Peter said to [Jesus], 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' And He said, 'Come!' And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt?'" - Matthew 14:28-31

When Peter started to sink in the water, his immediate response was to call on the name of the Lord. By crying out, Peter displays evidence of faith in Jesus. He doesn't try to swim. He doesn't call out for the other disciples to save him. He cries for Jesus.

And, true to character, Jesus reaches out and saves him. Praise Him for that! He is so merciful! But what does he say to Peter?

"You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (verse 31)

Peter was going to drown, and he cried out, and Jesus saved him! But he still rebuked Peter for his lack of faith.

"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek him."- Hebrews 11:6

It is impossible to please God without faith. So in that moment when Peter considered the circumstance of the storm and, by default, took his eyes off Jesus, it didn't please Christ. Peter elevated the threat of the storm above God's ability to overcome the threat. That is actually an assault on God. Jesus would have much preferred that Peter had trusted Him all the way across the entire ocean. But it didn't keep him from responding to Peter's cry for help.

When we take our eyes off Jesus, it doesn't please Him. He actually hates it when we don't live by faith in Him. When we elevate our own weak flesh above His ability to overcome our flesh, it is an assault on Him. But He is still ready to forgive when we realize that we our faith has faltered and cry out for him to save us.

I feel like the man in Mark 9 who is asking Jesus to save his son,

"But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" And Jesus said to him, "'If you can?' All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, 'I do believe; help my unbelief.'" (vs 22-24)

I believe that in Jesus, I have all I need to overcome my unbelief.

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Coming Next - Part 4: Faith and Works

A little side note: God is ready to forgive!

2009-03-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

My daily reading today was from Psalm 86. You can imagine my excitement when I came across verse 5, which is in almost perfect alignment with yesterday's post.

"For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive,
And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon you." Psalm 86:5 (NASB)

There it is again! God is waiting to show grace, longing to show compassion, ready to forgive and save all those who call on him. God doesn't forgive us unwillingly; he does it eagerly!

As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:11-13 (NIV)

The Lord's name is Jesus.

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." 1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

God sent his only Son, Jesus, to die so that we might see just how much he longs to forgive us and be reconciled to us. Aaaaah! There is no one like God! Let's call on His name and keep calling on his name!

Grace Part 2: Through Faith

2009-03-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

What is the key that unlocks God's grace in our lives? In my last post I talked about how God's grace is the way to both salvation and sanctification. It is not the means to one and not the other, but to both. In this post, I want to look at how God's grace works.

Isaiah 30 might be one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible because it gives such a clear picture of how God's grace works. (And by grace I am referring to God's saving grace.)

The whole first part of the chapter is basically "woe to My children (Judah)" for being rebellious. And in verses 15-16 God sums up their rebellion.

"For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said, 'In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.' But you were not willing, And you said, 'No, for we will flee on horses,' Therefore you shall flee! 'And we will ride on swift horses,' Therefore, those who pursue you shall be swift."

Summary? God tells Judah to turn back to Him and trust Him, and that if they do, He will save them (from their enemy, Syria). But they didn't want to be saved; they wanted to save themselves. Judah didn't want to return to God; they wanted to remain independent of Him. They tried to take refuge in Egypt (vs 2), instead of in God. And therefore, God said he would frustrate their plans, and when Judah's enemies pursue them, instead of being victorious, they will flee.

Then look at verse 18.

"Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who wait for him."

I love what was just said. God is up in Heaven longingly waiting to show grace and compassion to Judah. He really wants to show them grace and save them from their enemies, but he's not doing it yet. Why not? Why is he waiting to show them grace?

The answer is that He is a God of justice. And His justice permits him to show grace to those who trust and wait for Him. But Judah is not trusting God. As long as they try with their own strength to save themselves, God's saving grace is going to be restrained. He wants to do it, but he won't.

The key to unlock God's saving grace will be for Judah to put their faith in Him and cry out to Him for salvation. Just as God longingly waits to show grace to them, he wants them to longingly wait for Him to save them.

"He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you." (Verse 19b)

I think I will talk about the implications of this in our lives in the next post.

Grace

2009-03-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love grace? We love love love grace. And how can you not? If it were not for God's grace we could not have a relationship with him!

"If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." Psalm 130:3-4

I love grace. Without God's grace, I am screwed (to put it nicely).

But God's grace isn't only forgiveness of sins. It is forgiveness, but it is so much more.

God's grace is also the way to a holy life - a blameless life lived before God and set apart for God's purposes. Grace makes it possible to do what we are supposed to do.

"The things that are impossible with people are possible with God." Luke 18:27

This is great news, too, because most of Jesus' demands are impossible in our own strength. I could list a slew of them, but let's just start with this one: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength."

Yeah. I'm going to go ahead and say that without God, this is impossible.

We go wrong when we don't see grace as being BOTH the means for forgiveness and the means for holiness.

If we only see God's grace as a means for forgiveness and forget that his grace intends to perfect us, then we will continue to operate in the weakness of our flesh, continue to love things more than we love God, and live in disobedience.

But if we forget that God's grace is the means for our forgiveness and only expect it to perfect us, then when we fail to trust and love God as we ought to, we will enter the darkness of self-condemnation and fear.

As you would expect, a line from the hymn "Amazing Grace" says it much better:

"Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear and Grace, my fears relieved."

Grace teaches us to fear God (so that we can obey) and Grace relieves our fears (because we know that Jesus paid our debt on the cross).

godly sorrow

2009-03-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

If you have time, you should listen to this sermon, by Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Dallas. It is called "Repentance: Good Guilt." In the sermon, Chandler teaches about 2 Corinthians 7:10, the difference between godly guilt and worldly guilt. This sermon struck a chord with me, and I highly recommend listening to it.

When I first really began to understand the gospel, I was about 18 years old. One of the first things I remember learning was the difference between what the Bible calls "godly sorrow" and "worldly sorrow."

Up until I was 18, I think I had only experienced worldly sorrow. In other words, if I screwed up, I just felt bad because the things I had done were hurtful to me. This led to an endless and hopeless effort to try harder and be better, and it led to a fear of being found out.

But my life changed when I realized that ALL of my shortcomings and sins were actually offenses against God. This is the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. If I have worldly sorrow, I am sorry because I hurt myself. If I have godly sorrow, I am sorry because I hurt God.

And the Bible says that godly sorrow leads to repentance (returning to God in your thoughts and your actions) without regret, but worldly sorrow leads to death.

I still sometimes struggle to remember that ALL of my actions are related to God. All of my sin is first and foremost an offense against him. I still sometimes care more about how I look on the outside to others than I do about how my actions might grieve God.

I realize that this post is super-vague. I promise to be more detailed and personal in the future! In the meantime, listen to the sermon!

where "let your light shine" goes wrong

2009-03-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

I grew up in good old Baptist church, where I was taught the importance of living a life that is above reproach so that when people who do not follow Jesus see my life, they would realize that I have something they don't have and they'd want to follow Jesus, too.

This concept is actually a good one. Matthew 5:16 says, "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." But it's the application of the concept where I usually go wrong.

I tend to forget that being a Christian is not about being perfect, but about being forgiven. It's about having your sins paid for by the blood of God's only Son, Jesus. I forget that God loved me while I was actively opposed to Him, and while I was literally unable to please Him.

The result of this forgetfulness is that I try to hide my sin from the world. Instead of displaying the good news that God is forgiving sins through Jesus, I start to think that if I am not perfectly behaved, people will think that Jesus is a hoax.

How much more prideful could someone get? The problem with this is that the picture I paint of myself is hardly ever a real one. And instead of walking in the freedom of faith that I am loved unconditionally, I walk on eggshells, in fear of being found out.

The ironic part about all of this is that when we finally do just trust and receive the unmerited love of God just as we are, then we will, as C.S. Lewis put it, be freed to "take off the silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up" and to actually start shining the light of Christ.

I have to remember that I can never get fancy enough on the outside to earn God's love. God's love could never be earned, and therefore, it can never be lost. There is no need to hide the dark places of my heart from others or from Him; if I let His light shine on my heinous sin, he will heal it.