In Chapter 24 of Ezekiel the prophet's book, who wrote at the time of Israel's destruction and exile by the Babylonians, I came across one of those passages that kinda knocks the wind out of you...
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men." So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. (Ezekiel 24:15-18 ESV)
I have recently been thinking about the lives of the prophet's in Israel's history and about how difficult it must have been for them. It's obvious that these men aren't perfect (just look at Jonah). We can identify with them as fallen men who are called by God to proclaim His truth and praises to a lost world. In our lives and theirs it can often be hard to obey, and hard to continue walking in faith. However, what strikes me as particularly challenging...wow, ok I can imagine Ezekiel hearing me say that, how his life was 'particularly challenging'...Compared to most, I've only faced brief and light trials in my life, and if someone had the audacity to describe my times of pain as just 'particularly challenging' I would probably want to punch them...Maybe I should just say that what must have been impossible without the grace of God for these men like Ezekiel was that they often had to be messengers or deliverers of God's wrath to their own people, and then they often had to suffer alongside these people as God judged their unrighteousness...EVEN THOUGH THEY THEMSELVES WERE PLEASING GOD!
In this passage we see that God tells Ezekiel that He is going to take away the 'delight of his eyes', his wife. What is translated as 'at a stroke' (the way she would die) in Hebrew has the connotation of suddenly, without warning, as though by the hand of God. But why? Why would God take away Ezekiel's wife and then even remove all the ways He can mourn for her? Well, the passage goes on to reveal that it, like other things in Ezekiel's life and prophetic ministry, will be another sign to the Israelites concerning the destruction of their temple...and Ezekiel obeys.
I can't imagine this. I don't want to imagine going through that. God's Word does not reveal everything about His Sovereign will...we don't know all of the Lord's thoughts and purposes in doing this, but He saw it as good and Ezekiel trusted first in the Lord. I have no doubt this was unspeakably painful for him. His wife was the 'delight of his eyes', or the desire, the object of his affection, a beloved, goodly, pleasant, lovely thing (Strong's Dictionary). This, like all other Scripture, should point us to the Cross...to the Gospel. This is not our home, and the Lord's love for His saints is immeasurable and eternal. Praise Him and cling to Him.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
death...and the Resurrection
http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/category/Death.aspx
I just listened to an amazing sermon about the resurrection...about how Easter is also a harsh reminder of the reality of death. I believe this one will stay with me.
This is something I've been thinking about for a while now. How do I perceive death? Why am I still afraid? How do I apply the reality of Christ's victory over death to my heart on a daily basis? Praise God for His provision through this sermon.
I just listened to an amazing sermon about the resurrection...about how Easter is also a harsh reminder of the reality of death. I believe this one will stay with me.
This is something I've been thinking about for a while now. How do I perceive death? Why am I still afraid? How do I apply the reality of Christ's victory over death to my heart on a daily basis? Praise God for His provision through this sermon.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Abraham
Today I was reminded of the father of our faith, Abraham. I listened to a short podcast celebrating the Advent, and this week's highlight was the story of Abraham, his wife, and their miraculous child.
First, (and maybe a bit off-topic) but I wish I saw every child as a miraculous child. Maybe, hopefully, if I get to the see the birth of my own child, this will be obvious...but what I mean is that I always want to see God giving life as a miracle. I hate that in our time there is so little awe. Lightning, earthquakes, birth, the sun, the moon, shooting stars...everything has been 'figured out'. I'm not saying that science has robbed man of his wonder. That would be a scapegoat. Man's pride has robbed him of this wonder. Our three pound fallen brains are so easily convinced that we have everything figured out...it seems to take a 90 year old barren woman having a son to shock us out of that.
I digress. Abraham's faith. In the history of this world, I'm convinced that there has never been a longer three days than the three days that Abraham journeyed out to sacrifice his son...
Literally thinking of this leaves me speechless.
Perhaps only one other moment in eternity has lasted longer...the moment Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath while hanging from a cross.
This world is filled with awe and wonder. We exist because of it.
Praise God for His incomprehensible Love and Grace.
First, (and maybe a bit off-topic) but I wish I saw every child as a miraculous child. Maybe, hopefully, if I get to the see the birth of my own child, this will be obvious...but what I mean is that I always want to see God giving life as a miracle. I hate that in our time there is so little awe. Lightning, earthquakes, birth, the sun, the moon, shooting stars...everything has been 'figured out'. I'm not saying that science has robbed man of his wonder. That would be a scapegoat. Man's pride has robbed him of this wonder. Our three pound fallen brains are so easily convinced that we have everything figured out...it seems to take a 90 year old barren woman having a son to shock us out of that.
I digress. Abraham's faith. In the history of this world, I'm convinced that there has never been a longer three days than the three days that Abraham journeyed out to sacrifice his son...
Literally thinking of this leaves me speechless.
Perhaps only one other moment in eternity has lasted longer...the moment Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath while hanging from a cross.
This world is filled with awe and wonder. We exist because of it.
Praise God for His incomprehensible Love and Grace.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Hope...and what are our eyes fixed on?
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5
Why does Paul end here on hope? Or better yet, why does God through Paul say that suffering leads to hope. A hope that does not put us to shame. I think it's important to look back a chapter and see how Abraham's faith and hope are spoken of. Romans 4:18 says, "In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, 'So shall your offspring be.'" Also, James 1:2-4 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." In this passage God goes from trials and the testing of our faith to perfection and completeness. I believe God has been using this season of my life to refocus my eyes on the Gospel and to deepen my understanding of the relationship between hope, faith, trial, and sin.
Again, why hope? I think this passage, by context and according to Strong's Greek thingy, is relating hope and faith as basically the same thing. So, to recap we have suffering producing endurance, which produces character, which produces hope, which is like faith, which is tested and leads to our completeness in Christ! Yay! Ok...what do we do with that? Well, as most Christians know, faith is important. We take steps of faith, we seek to grow in our faith, we rely on our faith in the Gospel and God's promises, we pray in faith...faith, faith, faith! What is absent here?!.........WORRY, ANXIETY, FEAR. Also, we don't see in these passages God saying, "And you have to focus on your sin! Don't forget your sin!"
OK WAIT! I am in NO WAY saying that we shouldn't concern ourselves with sin, that we shouldn't take sin seriously, that we shouldn't HATE sin, and seek to have it eradicated from our lives! I am saying the exact opposite! Scripture says the opposite! What I'm talking about here very much has to do with sin and comes from a desire to not live in it. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, LOOKING TO JESUS, the founder and perfecter of our FAITH, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Lay aside EVERY WEIGHT AND SIN...RUN WITH ENDURANCE! This is calling us to do something! Something very hard! Otherwise it would be a walk in the park, not an endurance race. However, what are we to fix our eyes on? Our sin? The desire to be pure? The other runners? No...it's Jesus! The author and perfecter of our faith!
How often in my desire to please God, in my desire to be holy, I've let my eyes stray from the Gospel, stray from my hope. And when I have, fear and anxiety creep in. Even those things can seem to motivate us for a while...but not in this long of a race. I believe the only thing that will give me the strength and clarity I need to run this race is looking to Jesus. Looking to Him to transform my sinful desires that corrupt so much. A lot of us, including myself, need a more Biblical perspective of the serious of sin. The way some professing followers of Christ are living, they should read Ezekiel and gain a healthy fear of the wrath of God toward sin. However, I think many of us, again VERY MUCH including myself, have allowed a fear of sin to direct our faith...and I don't believe that's Biblical. I want Jesus to direct my faith. I want to run after Him. I need to be sooo much more often filled with faith and hope in the cross than I do fearing my sinful flesh. haha...even as God seems to be teaching me about this lately...it's hard to type these things. I have had such a tendency to focus on sin in my walk...and because of the abuse of license I've seen some take, I still fear saying anything that would even hint to someone that sin is something we 'shouldn't really fret over'. There are whole movements in the church that think like this! I hate that! But as God continues to grow me, I'm seeing that I must be firmly fixed on Him, and I can't live any longer in fear.
Why does Paul end here on hope? Or better yet, why does God through Paul say that suffering leads to hope. A hope that does not put us to shame. I think it's important to look back a chapter and see how Abraham's faith and hope are spoken of. Romans 4:18 says, "In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, 'So shall your offspring be.'" Also, James 1:2-4 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." In this passage God goes from trials and the testing of our faith to perfection and completeness. I believe God has been using this season of my life to refocus my eyes on the Gospel and to deepen my understanding of the relationship between hope, faith, trial, and sin.
Again, why hope? I think this passage, by context and according to Strong's Greek thingy, is relating hope and faith as basically the same thing. So, to recap we have suffering producing endurance, which produces character, which produces hope, which is like faith, which is tested and leads to our completeness in Christ! Yay! Ok...what do we do with that? Well, as most Christians know, faith is important. We take steps of faith, we seek to grow in our faith, we rely on our faith in the Gospel and God's promises, we pray in faith...faith, faith, faith! What is absent here?!.........WORRY, ANXIETY, FEAR. Also, we don't see in these passages God saying, "And you have to focus on your sin! Don't forget your sin!"
OK WAIT! I am in NO WAY saying that we shouldn't concern ourselves with sin, that we shouldn't take sin seriously, that we shouldn't HATE sin, and seek to have it eradicated from our lives! I am saying the exact opposite! Scripture says the opposite! What I'm talking about here very much has to do with sin and comes from a desire to not live in it. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, LOOKING TO JESUS, the founder and perfecter of our FAITH, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Lay aside EVERY WEIGHT AND SIN...RUN WITH ENDURANCE! This is calling us to do something! Something very hard! Otherwise it would be a walk in the park, not an endurance race. However, what are we to fix our eyes on? Our sin? The desire to be pure? The other runners? No...it's Jesus! The author and perfecter of our faith!
How often in my desire to please God, in my desire to be holy, I've let my eyes stray from the Gospel, stray from my hope. And when I have, fear and anxiety creep in. Even those things can seem to motivate us for a while...but not in this long of a race. I believe the only thing that will give me the strength and clarity I need to run this race is looking to Jesus. Looking to Him to transform my sinful desires that corrupt so much. A lot of us, including myself, need a more Biblical perspective of the serious of sin. The way some professing followers of Christ are living, they should read Ezekiel and gain a healthy fear of the wrath of God toward sin. However, I think many of us, again VERY MUCH including myself, have allowed a fear of sin to direct our faith...and I don't believe that's Biblical. I want Jesus to direct my faith. I want to run after Him. I need to be sooo much more often filled with faith and hope in the cross than I do fearing my sinful flesh. haha...even as God seems to be teaching me about this lately...it's hard to type these things. I have had such a tendency to focus on sin in my walk...and because of the abuse of license I've seen some take, I still fear saying anything that would even hint to someone that sin is something we 'shouldn't really fret over'. There are whole movements in the church that think like this! I hate that! But as God continues to grow me, I'm seeing that I must be firmly fixed on Him, and I can't live any longer in fear.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A fearful thing...
Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a fearful (or dreadful) thing to fall into the hands of the living God." If you would like to know why this is the case, I would suggest reading Ezekiel chapters 5-7. It may be one of the scariest depictions of God's fury. It's hard for me to even write about this section of Scripture because of how seriously furious God is in it. It's nothing to joke about or take lightly...God HATES sin.
Israel, yet again had turned it's back on the Lord their God. "...their whoring heart...over their eyes that go whoring after their idols." And God's response is righteous judgment. While I was reading this I was thinking how hard it must have been to be Ezekiel or any of the prophets that were given the task of comunicating God's wrath to their people...often seeing none change their ways and having to suffer along with their nation. Yet, this is only a shadow of the eternal judgment that is to come...Because in this passage, there is still mercy.
"Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the LORD. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them."
God is so patient. As a sit here in a computer lab, in a nation of many godless people and idol worshipers, I'm reminded of God's patience...These people and I deserve the same punishment Israel did. "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) I think the biggest mystery is why, oh why, does God love us? Yes, God is love, but He is also Holy. This is not like asking, "Why is water wet?" Because this water, our God, against sin will be steam...a scorching heat that burns the flesh rather than soothes it. I don't know why God loves me, a sinner, enough to send His Son to become sin for me, so that I might become the righteousness of God...I don't know why He chose me from eternity past to call me out of darkness. I have no idea why, but I love Him for it.
Israel, yet again had turned it's back on the Lord their God. "...their whoring heart...over their eyes that go whoring after their idols." And God's response is righteous judgment. While I was reading this I was thinking how hard it must have been to be Ezekiel or any of the prophets that were given the task of comunicating God's wrath to their people...often seeing none change their ways and having to suffer along with their nation. Yet, this is only a shadow of the eternal judgment that is to come...Because in this passage, there is still mercy.
"Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the LORD. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them."
God is so patient. As a sit here in a computer lab, in a nation of many godless people and idol worshipers, I'm reminded of God's patience...These people and I deserve the same punishment Israel did. "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) I think the biggest mystery is why, oh why, does God love us? Yes, God is love, but He is also Holy. This is not like asking, "Why is water wet?" Because this water, our God, against sin will be steam...a scorching heat that burns the flesh rather than soothes it. I don't know why God loves me, a sinner, enough to send His Son to become sin for me, so that I might become the righteousness of God...I don't know why He chose me from eternity past to call me out of darkness. I have no idea why, but I love Him for it.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The Church...Eph 4
Meditating on recently...
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:1-16
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:1-16
Monday, December 7, 2009
The Sacrificial Lamb...
"And the Lord made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them..."
Genesis 3:21
From the first time sin entered into this world, the innocent have been sacrificed to cover the shame of the guilty...How blessed are we to know the final sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who does not just cover, but takes away the sins of the world. I can't even begin to comprehend the love of our Father.
He made us special, set apart from the rest of creation. Everything else was created from His unsearchable imagination...but we were made in His image...in the very likeness of the One who has always been. And when we, His most precious creation, rebelled and wanted nothing to do with our Creator...He sacrifices for us the One who has been one with Him from eternity past. His Son.
Genesis 3:21
From the first time sin entered into this world, the innocent have been sacrificed to cover the shame of the guilty...How blessed are we to know the final sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who does not just cover, but takes away the sins of the world. I can't even begin to comprehend the love of our Father.
He made us special, set apart from the rest of creation. Everything else was created from His unsearchable imagination...but we were made in His image...in the very likeness of the One who has always been. And when we, His most precious creation, rebelled and wanted nothing to do with our Creator...He sacrifices for us the One who has been one with Him from eternity past. His Son.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Meditations of a little man...
Today, a taller than average woman from New York asked me (in the way only a gentle New Yorker can), "Don't you feel weird being so short?"
For those who don't know, I am a generous 5'4" without shoes on. I've found that even in Asia this is well below average for a man. But it's a good a question, isn't it? How do I feel being so vertically challenged? To her, I jokingly answered, "It has it's advantages," as we went our separate ways, but how do I really feel? The answer has been different for much of my life (even in preschool I was the smallest), but for some time now my answer is truthfully, "I feel blessed."
My height is a testimony to the wonderful sovereignty of my God. He formed me in my mothers womb and has numbered every hair on my head (Mat 10:30 and good news for those going bald)...I'm pretty sure He knew how tall He wanted to make me. Did I always see it this way? Not at all. As a child, I prayed from kindergarten through all of high school that I would finally hit a growth spurt...but it never came. At least by 14 I had passed up some of the girls! Praise Him! :)
In all seriousness though, God has used this aspect of my life to bring me through many trials, to shape my personality, and to bring glory to Him for his amazing providence. At this point, I would not choose to be taller if I was given the choice. As a child, getting picked on and 'looked down upon' made me ridiculously competitive. Severe Napoleon Complex. Life and every aspect was an opportunity to prove my self. This led me down a path of very few friends and lots of arguments. It wasn't just in sports and academics that I had to be the best, it was life. Pride was my sword and my shield.
But then...like so many before me...the Gospel took hold of my life. I received the call to take up my cross, to die to myself everyday, and to live a life of humble service. I am called to be like Christ. "Whoever says he abides in him (Christ) ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." (1John 2:6) And how did Christ walk...how did the Holy One, the Son of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords live his life? Well..."Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the FORM OF GOD, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself NOTHING, taking the form of a SERVANT, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he HUMBLED himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:5-8) No more profound statement has ever been uttered under the sun. God, Him through whom all things were made and are held together, came to us as a man...and not as a king, but a humble servant, to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. (2Cor 5:21)
How dare I seek to bring glory myself? Who am I? Praise God for giving me the GRACE of being small. I pray that He will continue to let me work for the greatness of His Name! Like a child riding on their father's shoulders, the lower we are the higher He gets to lift us up :)
For those who don't know, I am a generous 5'4" without shoes on. I've found that even in Asia this is well below average for a man. But it's a good a question, isn't it? How do I feel being so vertically challenged? To her, I jokingly answered, "It has it's advantages," as we went our separate ways, but how do I really feel? The answer has been different for much of my life (even in preschool I was the smallest), but for some time now my answer is truthfully, "I feel blessed."
My height is a testimony to the wonderful sovereignty of my God. He formed me in my mothers womb and has numbered every hair on my head (Mat 10:30 and good news for those going bald)...I'm pretty sure He knew how tall He wanted to make me. Did I always see it this way? Not at all. As a child, I prayed from kindergarten through all of high school that I would finally hit a growth spurt...but it never came. At least by 14 I had passed up some of the girls! Praise Him! :)
In all seriousness though, God has used this aspect of my life to bring me through many trials, to shape my personality, and to bring glory to Him for his amazing providence. At this point, I would not choose to be taller if I was given the choice. As a child, getting picked on and 'looked down upon' made me ridiculously competitive. Severe Napoleon Complex. Life and every aspect was an opportunity to prove my self. This led me down a path of very few friends and lots of arguments. It wasn't just in sports and academics that I had to be the best, it was life. Pride was my sword and my shield.
But then...like so many before me...the Gospel took hold of my life. I received the call to take up my cross, to die to myself everyday, and to live a life of humble service. I am called to be like Christ. "Whoever says he abides in him (Christ) ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." (1John 2:6) And how did Christ walk...how did the Holy One, the Son of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords live his life? Well..."Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the FORM OF GOD, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself NOTHING, taking the form of a SERVANT, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he HUMBLED himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:5-8) No more profound statement has ever been uttered under the sun. God, Him through whom all things were made and are held together, came to us as a man...and not as a king, but a humble servant, to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. (2Cor 5:21)
How dare I seek to bring glory myself? Who am I? Praise God for giving me the GRACE of being small. I pray that He will continue to let me work for the greatness of His Name! Like a child riding on their father's shoulders, the lower we are the higher He gets to lift us up :)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
oops...
Something I find wonderful about walking with Christ, is looking back over the ground we've tread, and seeing what He has lead me through. Usually, we can't see too far forward, which is also wonderful but often frustrating for us humans (trust issues usually) :)
As I look back over these last four years, from when my relationship with God began to take off (at least as far as I could notice...cause God set me apart before I was born Gal 1:15), I see a HUGE mistake that God has been redeeming me from. Like all mistakes, this was a result of my sin. But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ! (Rom 7-8) Amen.
But here's how I see it. When I was first introduced to really studying God's Word, mining through the passages for those Gospel truths that transform lives via the Holy Spirit, I fell in love. I fell in love with God's Sovereignty, His Power, justification, sanctification, building up the body through encouragement toward godliness, sacrifice, discipline, and so much more! I had been given riches the world seemed to know nothing of! But...through my sinful flesh, I began to love these 'things' and aspects of God apart from their creator and source. The essence of idolatry.
The problem with idolatry, apart from it being a sin our God despises (see commandment I and II of the ten Ex 20), is that as much as you can love an idol, or anything apart from the God who is and made love, it can't sufficiently love you back. You will be disappointed, you'll come up dry, you will not be satisfied! Created things, as much as they may be made in the image of their creator, aren't supposed to be loved (actually they can't be loved 1 John 4:7-21) apart from their creator.
For me these truths from God's Word, these disciplines, this knowledge, changed my life. And rightly so! It freed me from the bondage of the lies I was living in before, and I wanted more! Well, time passes and my pride becomes bigger. I was trusting in the knowledge of God and godly things...but not completely in God, not in His acceptance of me through the blood of his Son...and I began to notice. The pride was apparent. So what does any good Christian do when they find sin? Nip it in the bud! Get it out! Let's get on to holiness people! :) I say this with sarcasm while acknowledging that we MUST passionately fight our flesh and seek holiness by His grace. But anyways, like many Christians, I decided to begin burning the idols...However, it's much easier to tear down an alter to a false God, than it is to tear out the sin in one's heart that lead us to that idol in the first place. I'm not saying I stopped reading the Word, quit praying, quit encouraging...but I became very suspicious of myself, my actions, and all this "knowledge" I had acquired. Anyone who knows me well will verify this. Instead of addressing my heart with God and trusting Him to refocus my heart on to Him (which is what I wanted) I thought I had to get rid of stuff for that to be possible.
There's probably a lot more that could be said about all this and what has been going on in my heart (the pride, the fear, the GRACE! etc), but I'll just end by saying how thankful I am for God's amazing grace and will in my life. Praise Him for teaching me to love Him, so that I'm able to love, use, and serve the things that are from Him.
As I look back over these last four years, from when my relationship with God began to take off (at least as far as I could notice...cause God set me apart before I was born Gal 1:15), I see a HUGE mistake that God has been redeeming me from. Like all mistakes, this was a result of my sin. But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ! (Rom 7-8) Amen.
But here's how I see it. When I was first introduced to really studying God's Word, mining through the passages for those Gospel truths that transform lives via the Holy Spirit, I fell in love. I fell in love with God's Sovereignty, His Power, justification, sanctification, building up the body through encouragement toward godliness, sacrifice, discipline, and so much more! I had been given riches the world seemed to know nothing of! But...through my sinful flesh, I began to love these 'things' and aspects of God apart from their creator and source. The essence of idolatry.
The problem with idolatry, apart from it being a sin our God despises (see commandment I and II of the ten Ex 20), is that as much as you can love an idol, or anything apart from the God who is and made love, it can't sufficiently love you back. You will be disappointed, you'll come up dry, you will not be satisfied! Created things, as much as they may be made in the image of their creator, aren't supposed to be loved (actually they can't be loved 1 John 4:7-21) apart from their creator.
For me these truths from God's Word, these disciplines, this knowledge, changed my life. And rightly so! It freed me from the bondage of the lies I was living in before, and I wanted more! Well, time passes and my pride becomes bigger. I was trusting in the knowledge of God and godly things...but not completely in God, not in His acceptance of me through the blood of his Son...and I began to notice. The pride was apparent. So what does any good Christian do when they find sin? Nip it in the bud! Get it out! Let's get on to holiness people! :) I say this with sarcasm while acknowledging that we MUST passionately fight our flesh and seek holiness by His grace. But anyways, like many Christians, I decided to begin burning the idols...However, it's much easier to tear down an alter to a false God, than it is to tear out the sin in one's heart that lead us to that idol in the first place. I'm not saying I stopped reading the Word, quit praying, quit encouraging...but I became very suspicious of myself, my actions, and all this "knowledge" I had acquired. Anyone who knows me well will verify this. Instead of addressing my heart with God and trusting Him to refocus my heart on to Him (which is what I wanted) I thought I had to get rid of stuff for that to be possible.
There's probably a lot more that could be said about all this and what has been going on in my heart (the pride, the fear, the GRACE! etc), but I'll just end by saying how thankful I am for God's amazing grace and will in my life. Praise Him for teaching me to love Him, so that I'm able to love, use, and serve the things that are from Him.
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