Getting the Gospel Right

I’ve been doing some thinking lately. This post is a rewrite of something I tried to post recently but decided needed a little more work. I’m struggling through something that I think I have known for a long time but which is becoming ever more clear to me recently as I’ve had opportunity to hear some devotionals given in public settings. And that is that I am growing more and more concerned that a lot of people who think they know the gospel do not truly understand it or, in some cases, even know it. Recently I have heard several things which have left me pondering and weeping and concerned.

I have made several attempts at writing this post where I’ve tried to say what it is that I’ve been hearing that isn’t right, but it just becomes a long list of things, so I’ll sum it up this way: What I am hearing is a very man-centered, shallow, unbiblical version of the gospel. I hear a lot about faith, but not a lot about what exactly we must be putting faith in. I hear a lot of wishful thinking, a lot about hope, but not much about what true hope must be grounded in to be sure.

What I am not hearing in too many of these settings is the biblical gospel. What I am not hearing is the truth about sin and how very offensive it is to Holy God. What I am not hearing is Jesus being exalted and praised and glorified and worshiped. What I am not hearing is a deeper longing to know Him and love Him. What I am not hearing is a biblical explanation of the Cross. And it concerns me that so many people who think they know the gospel don't seem to understand it very well.

I have just finished reading a little book called, What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert. I want to strongly encourage you to get your hands on this book and read it. Even if you think you know the gospel, be encouraged at reading it spelled out clearly and well. I was deeply encouraged while reading and thinking about this book.

I wish I could do a more thorough review but I'll just tell you that through the course of the book, we examine, in light of what the Bible teaches, what is the good news, and near the end Gilbert points out that any gospel presentation that either downplays, leaves out, or does not have the Cross as the center piece is not a faithful gospel presentation. This from page 96 is just true and vital to understand: “The way to be included in Christ’s kingdom is to come to the King, not just hailing him as a great example who shows us a better way to live, but humbly trusting him as the crucified and risen Lord who alone can release you from the sentence of death. At the end of the day, the only way into the kingdom is through the blood of the King.”

I am convinced that what we really, truly need is to be proclaiming Jesus Christ, and Him crucified and risen again. I am convinced that we need to be obsessed with Jesus, Himself. We are created by Him and for His glory.

I am convinced that when we begin to live in the light of the biblical, God-centered, Christ-centered, cross-centered gospel, that this is when we will begin to live lives that are gratefully surrendered to the King. Not responding to the guilt that a recent study kind of emoted up in us, but a real heart response to the work of the Holy Spirit in a life that is surrendered to the King.

I am convinced that we have got to get it deep into our understanding that yes, God loves us with an amazing and incomprehensible kind of love, but it is not because we are so wonderful, but it is because He is so wonderful. There is nothing I can bring but filthy rags. The fact that He loved me and saved me while I was yet His enemy, a sinner, this is incredible love. But it is because He is glorious and wonderful and full of mercy and grace. It is not because I am so lovable. What I am saying is that we desperately need a God-centered understanding of the gospel rather than the shallow imitation offered by a man-centered one. I am convinced that as long as it is about us and how we feel, and not yet about Jesus and the blood that He shed on our behalf and for His praise alone, we are not experiencing revival. And I am thirsty for revival. I want to decrease and see Him increase. I want to be all about talking about Him and proclaiming the true good news to people and not watering it down or downplaying the importance of the cross. I want to love Him more than life. I want to proclaim His praise and to learn to be more bold in this. I have not been bold. I want to learn to be.

I am seeking to lay aside the weights and the sin that entangle me from running the race as one who wants to run to win, running wholeheartedly for the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I want to learn to enjoy the good gifts God has given, but not to live in the stupor of worldliness that threatens to dull my senses to eternity. I don’t want to make temporal things so important that I forget and think little of the life to come. Jesus has reconciled me to God and I can boldly approach His throne, clothed in His righteousness, washed clean by His blood, freed to live for Him. I want this to be what consumes my thinking and my actions. And when I am tempted to forget, may I turn my eyes back to Jesus and fight against the worldliness that threatens to turn my attention and affection from what is most worth living for.

That book, again, was What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert. Read it. I don’t recommend a lot of books here. This one I am recommending. Even better, read your Bible prayerfully and often. Fill your mind with God’s word and think on it and saturate your understanding with a biblical view of the gospel. If there is anything we must get right, it is this.

In Honor of Reformation Day:

"I cannot choose but adhere to the word of God, which has possession of my conscience; nor can I possibly, nor will I even make any recantation, since it is neither safe nor honest to act contrary to conscience! Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God! Amen." - Martin Luther

And After the Storm.....

Driving home from an event at Michael's school tonight, we saw a rainbow. This was taken while driving.



We joked that it must end at Ft. Knox....

We were on our way to Sonic....

But when we saw this we decided to pull in at Dairy Queen. I don't think I've ever seen the whole arch of a rainbow before. We couldn't capture how cool it really was.


Who knew the rainbow ends at Big Kmart? That made me laugh a lot.


Vanna Boo....wish we had gotten a picture of the awesome sunset in the other direction.

Calm

“Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’

But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’” - Matthew 8:23-27

If you ever need a reminder that we really and truly are not in control, a good, rousing storm can provide just the refresher course you need.

I spent the morning watching the weather steadily deteriorate from remarkably breezy, to windy, to rainy and extremely windy, to windy and stormy enough that I was expecting to see Dorothy and Toto come flying by any moment and I was beginning to get a bit nervous about what the afternoon was about to hold for us. In spite of this, I was still surprised to hear the tornado sirens begin their eerie blast just as I was pulling out of the neighborhood to pick my daughter up from preschool at noon. My adrenaline level increased exponentially. I do not like to hear those sirens.

I grew up in Florida, and hurricanes I understand. I don’t like them and they frighten me, but at least you can sort of know they are coming and evacuate if need be. It’s relatively rare to be surprised by one unless you just are living in a cave or something. Then again, in Florida, it’s so flat and close to sea-level that the caves are probably under water, so you probably wouldn’t want to do that. :-) Tornadoes are something else entirely. The first time I lived in the midwest, our house did not have a basement, and my husband spent most of the year we lived in Indiana in Bosnia with the Army. After today I am glad to know that I can hear the sirens at my house. When we lived in Indiana, I couldn’t. That whole year in Indiana I was alone in my basement-less house whenever those scary and unnerving tornado watch inducing storms would come through. And the power of those midwest thunder storms is something to behold, very different from the afternoon thunderstorms I had been used to in Florida. For some reason, the worst ones were always in the middle of the night that year, too. I spent several sleepless nights huddled in front of the news and packing the boys up into the hallway with their pillows and blankets, the safest place I knew of in that house. After we left there, I told my husband that if we ever lived in the midwest again, I wanted a basement.

Fast forward to today. I didn’t know I needed the basement until I was already in the car on my way to pick up my little girl. I drove as fast as I safely could to the church where she goes to preschool, watching that scary sky the whole way. When I got there I was informed they’d evacuated everyone to the basement and we were welcome to stay, too, until the warnings passed. So, I got to spend 30 minutes in the basement with a ton of preschoolers singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Our God is an Awesome God.” I can think of worse places to ride out a tornado warning.

Those teachers and helpers and church staff members did a wonderful job of keeping a whole bunch of kiddos and worried moms calm down there in that basement. And I just have to say this, too, I am extremely thankful that we are finally getting some rain. We are parched here in this part of Kentucky.

And you know what the most amazing thought is? Though storms are real and frightening and I have a healthy respect for them, deep down I know that no matter what, I know the One who can calm the storm. Come what may, He is in control. Even if the storm takes a very real physical toll, Jesus is in control. And in this I can find true calm.

I love that passage from Matthew. I wonder what the disciples expected when they woke Jesus up and begged him to save them? It’s clear from their reaction that whatever they expected Him to do, they did not expect Him to silence the wind and waves. I wonder, did they believe He could save them, but did not realize just who He was and what power He held in control until that moment? It is a fearful and wonderful thing to realize just how awesome He really and truly is. They got a glimpse of His divinity in that moment, and it awed them. It ought to awe us, too, as we ponder the majesty and wonder of just who Jesus really is.

Because of something I’ve been pondering for a while now, more on that in the next post, Lord willing.

Journal vs. Blog

I think if I'm going to keep on with this blogging thing, I need to put myself on a write it and wait a bit schedule. Sometimes I just need to let it stew in my journal for a while. I just have so many thoughts spilling out of my brain sometimes, but I'm too quick to post them. Not necessarily bad posts, I'm just not sure they need to be here. At least not until I've pondered on them a while. Wonder it this means I'm nearing the end of this blogging adventure? I'm finding more and more that I wish I'd waited when I post some of my longer posts.

Thought I'd Try Something New

Well....do you like the new look? I've been playing around with it all afternoon. It is sad, really, how long it took me to figure out how to do this little change at the ol' blog. But it was fun to try my creative juices out. I am not very computer savvy nor am I terribly artistic or crafty at all, but it was fun to try to figure out how to make my own picture and put it up there. And yes, that is my Bible, my glasses and my glass of sweet (with Splenda!) tea with lemon. It's not professional, and I'm sure you truly artistic people will think it's amateurish, but it is the best I knew how to do. Plus, I've been thinking about a change for a little while, but couldn't really justify spending money that we don't really have for splurging to have it redone professionally when blogging is just a hobby that I'm somewhat sporadic about. So, when I had a little brainstorm this afternoon, I thought I'd try it out, and it was free - I even found some free software to download that allowed me to play around with my picture and get it ready to post. My husband was laughing at how excited I got over my little project. It's just so seldom that things like this that I dream up turn out anywhere close to what I wanted. Anyway, I've done something new and I enjoyed it. :-)

Fall Foliage in My Backyard 2010

The view from my back porch. That white concrete area is down the hill in our backyard and then you climb up that concrete ramp and back down a rocky concrete slope to the little creek.



The boys have spent hours exploring along this little creek with their friends in the neighborhood.













I just love the fall. Don't you?

Status Report - October 2010

Seeing as we are more than a week into October now, following Lisa’s example again, here’s my status update:

Sitting.....in my kitchen.

Eating....pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. Liking all things pumpkin now that I have finally found some in the store again. I even roasted my own pie pumpkin yesterday and pureed it. It worked out well. A rather messy endeavor, but I liked the “I did it myself” factor of it all. I’ll need to buy a sharper knife before the next time though. Cutting through the stem and pumpkin was rough with the dull knives that currently inhabit my kitchen drawers, though they have no trouble slicing my fingers occasionally.

Drinking....a glass of milk. My resolve to forego coffee this morning has only lasted until about 8:30, however, so I will probably be making a pot of coffee when I finish this. I have to survive the flag football game at 11:00 somehow, you see.

Pondering......the fact that my son and daughter are having a conversation about how she does not like pumpkin. She opted for Cinnamon Toast Crunch (actually the generic store brand) instead of the pumpkin pancakes. I guess for her there can be too much pumpkin.

Disappointed.....with my homemade pumpkin coffee creamer. I made it yesterday and it wasn’t as good as it smelled. I’ve noticed through the years that I enjoy the idea of such things better than the actuality, and a recipe that looks delicious on paper often does not live up to the anticipation, in my experience. Same with smoothies. They always sound like such a good idea, but very rarely do I enjoy them once I follow the recipe.

Smelling....the coffee brewing. I decided not to wait.

Enjoying....seeing the leaves changing. One of my favorite things about the fall.

Thinking....that I need to make better use of my journal and less use of my blog. I tend to use this space to work out things I’m thinking through. I think I need to do less of that. Last post being a good case in point. That probably should have been written in my journal, not here. It’s so tempting when I’ve got something I’m pondering and praying over and musing over to need to blog about it. I’m thinking that may not be a wise thing to do. I say too much on Facebook, too.

Reading....False Impression by Jeffery Archer. Needed something fiction once in a while so took the kids to the library this week. It was Fall Break for them, and it’s been nice having them home and the weather being so nice to play outside. Should have been out even more than we were. Also reading Our Awesome God by John MacArthur.

Time....to get off the computer and get on with this day. It’s going to be a busy one.

Now That I've Finished the Book:

I don't know why, but I'm a little fearful to hit the publish post button with this one. Every so often I have a post like that where I hesitate before writing and then hesitate before posting. Maybe it's because I'm still working through some of this stuff. It's a long post. If you're interested, might want to pack a lunch or something. Then again, I may just be typing away in the dark for only me, and that's really okay, too.

When I’ve written about the study our church has been going through, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, I’ve clarified that I wasn’t necessarily endorsing it here. I wasn’t sure why I felt that qualm other than the fact that I don’t think we need to put any teacher on a pedestal and need to run everything we read and hear through the Word and think it through, not just assume it’s all okay, and because I am not comfortable recommending things I haven’t read completely first. Though this is a personal blog and I’m not seeking to have a big blog presence or name or following, I do feel a responsibility to be careful in what I promote or endorse here. I do sense a responsibility to anyone who may stumble across my scribblings here to not lead anyone astray when it comes to matters of the Christian faith. If I learn by reading the Bible and better understanding it that I am in error, I pray I’ll be teachable and willing to change as I step heavenward in sanctification.

One reason I’ve been hesitating about writing this post is that I don’t want to write a full review but just share my general impressions now that I’ve finished the book and what I’m taking away positive and negative. Since I didn’t read it with the goal of reviewing it, I know whatever I say here won’t be complete, just what I’m working through as I process what I’ve read, and this post has ended up way too long anyway.

I also should up front mention that I am wary of this type of book campaign. It reminds me of the “Purpose Driven Life” fad a while back when people were getting all emotional and caught up in the hype and group experience, but ignored - or didn’t discern - some problems/potential problems. It was hyped as being “life changing” and “deep” so we all assumed that it must be so and that we had to get that from it. These kinds of campaigns remind me a little of youth camp. You get all emotional, and you know you are supposed to get something deep and meaningful and life changing so you gin it up (sometimes), and it’s very emotional, but once it’s all over and the thing fades you start to discern what was real and what maybe wasn’t so much.

I’m having some of the same qualms and red flags now. And I’m trying to discern where real conviction is occurring, and I think there is some, and where it is just guilt put on us by what someone else says we should feel guilty about. It is scripture that is life-changing. In so far as it is properly studied, taught and applied then we should heed the teacher we are learning from, but always prayerfully search it out and trust the Holy Spirit to open His word to us as well and make sure what we’re taught is right.

That is all a very long build up to say that, though there are good, even necessary things I’m taking away from our group reading of Crazy Love, my ability to hear Chan’s argument was severely lessened when I got to Chapter 9: “Who Really Lives That Way?” I wasn’t familiar with all of the people he chose to give as examples, but one in particular I had read and heard some about and then dug around a little more after reading the chapter because I was surprised he was used as a prime example. When this particular person was presented as an example to look up to as someone who is living out the kind of radical faith Chan is exploring in the book, it gave me pause about the foundation of his whole discernment process.

Because, on the surface, the person does live a radically counter-cultural life, does engage with segments of society that, frankly, we (I) do need to do better about seeking out to love and minister to. But his theology is not sound if you look into it. He is steeped in and committed to, in fact is a fairly known spokesperson for the postmodern, mystical, social gospel, “red-letter” brand of ‘Christianity’ that characterizes the more disturbing branches of the ‘emergent/emerging’ movement. I know that I need to be more aware of the ‘least of these’ in our world and it is a good thing to give oneself and sacrifice to minister to the poor. I need to do better in this, be more intentional about this. I need to do better in knowing and loving people who aren’t so much like me. But, it isn’t enough to seek to end poverty here or reach people if the gospel we seek to win them to isn’t the true gospel. If we merely help here on earth but do not tell them the truth about the life to come, we haven’t really helped. And I’m talking to myself here, too. I need to be much more willing to open my own mouth and hands with the gospel to others, and this is an area where I’m sensing conviction.

Anyway, the fact that Chan had this person as a prominent example of what he’s seeking to teach us toward is a shame, because it taints the good that is in what he’s trying to say. It makes it so much harder to hear what may be good and necessary.

So. Having said all that, here’s what I’m taking away:

I believe that each of us who claims the name of Christ is wise to examine ourselves to be sure we are in the faith and to guard our hearts against anything that steals our joy in Him and causes us to be lukewarm - and there are so many things that pull us in so many directions and make it harder for us to hear and to live a life sold out to Christ and deeply loving Him. And we are wise to be daily on guard against being lukewarm, examine ourselves often, examine what is motivating the decisions we are making. 2 Corinthians 13:5-6; Proverbs 4:23; Revelation 3:14-22

I believe that we must be careful to lay aside any weight that is distracting us and hindering us from running the race well, from running wholeheartedly to Jesus and living life in the light of the truth of His Word and loving Him wholeheartedly. Hebrews 12:1-2; Philippians 3:7-16

I believe that we need to learn to be content with where God has us and seek to obey Him in all we do and in every small or great duty of life as we learn His word and learn to surrender ourselves to it. And in doing this, we need to be learning and practicing loving others well for the sake of the Savior who first loved us. Philippians 4:11-13; Philippians 3:17-21; 1 Corinthians 13

I want to expand on that for a minute. I spent a lot of the reading of this book paralyzed with guilt and feeling beat up because we bought the nice house that we did when we moved here. It is not said, but fairly well implied that you cannot live the radical love for Christ and faith in Him and live in this kind of house.

Through much prayer, thinking on numerous examples in the Bible, trying to look at the whole counsel of the word not only the passages highlighted in the book, and discussions with my husband, I think the way to view it is to commit to hold possessions lightly, to constantly be on guard about being too comfortable with our society’s view of wealth and possessions and to remember that this home, this world, is temporary and we must be Kingdom/Heavenly minded. I am also examining ways in which the way we went about looking for our house when we were in that process a few months ago may need to have a different focus than we have in the past. If our material wealth is a weight that is distracting us from running the race well, we need to examine that and determine what to do about it. We need to be seeking hard after Kingdom living and caring much less about the things our culture says are important. Building up wealth for wealth and pleasure’s sake mustn’t be our aim in this materialistic society where that is what is pumped into us day in and day out. We need to be seeking how to use the material things we have to show hospitality and to bless others. We need to commit to not live right up to our income level so we can free up resources to be used for the furtherance of the gospel and meeting needs. We need to constantly be on our guard and be aware that material blessings and wealth, and let’s face it most people in America are WEALTHY compared to the rest of the world, can be a huge distraction from what is best, what is eternal.

But, I do not think we are all called to sell our homes and live in the New Monasticism way. We are to be faithful bearers of the Name of Christ in the jobs and professions God provides for us to do. We are to be faithful witnesses where He plants us and be aware of needs around us and be prepared to actively seek to meet needs and look for opportunities to do so. We need to see ourselves as stewards of the things we have and use them to honor God and bless others, not be bloated, gluttonous hoarders who are so short-sighted that we only live for what is temporal. But it isn't wrong, either, to live in the house I live in at the moment. It is the attitude of the heart that is important.

In our discussions, we talked about how when you read the Bible you need to look at what is descriptive vs. what is prescriptive. For example, when Jesus told the disciples to take nothing with them on a missionary journey, was that descriptive of that instance or was it prescriptive of how we are to do everything in life? In our discussions we thought of Lydia, who opened her home to be used by the church. We thought of Abraham who generously practiced hospitality - and who was also willing to give up that which was most precious to him when it was God's will that he do so.

The scripture says to be content in want, but also in times of abundance - wherever we are placed at every season of life, be content, and it is only through Christ who strengthens us that we can do all things - be content in all things. It is the Lord who gives and the Lord who takes away, in all things we must learn to say, “Blessed be the Name of the LORD.” We must learn to see it all as His, not just in lip-service but in heart attitude and action. He must be our heart’s desire and focus. We are pilgrims here, and we need to learn to see it that way, to hold lightly to the things of this world.

One more thing I’m taking away from this is that I want to live on purpose, not just let life happen, but determine to live Kingdom minded, asking God to help me to love Him more, asking Him to open my understanding of His Word, asking Him to help me to want to obey and to want to look for ways to serve Him and to want to love others as He commands me to do. One thing I’ve realized that I believe is true conviction is how unwilling I often am to move out of my comfort zone and get my hands dirty for the sake of the gospel. I am far too often complacent to sit at my computer or my kitchen table thinking about these things, but far less willing to act on them. This is something I’m praying for God to change my heart and help me to see how He would have me be. I think one reason that example that I mentioned that bothered me was used is because at least he’s out there acting on what he says he believes. What would it look like if I were to become much more purposeful about acting on what I know is true? This is probably the biggest thing I’m struggling through at the moment to understand and purpose to take to heart, not just keep thinking about. And I confess that even typing that scares me. One of the hardest things to overcome is love of comfort. And that’s where I find myself. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and I need Him to put what He wants me to desire in my heart.

I want to step heavenward as I learn to surrender to Him each step of the way.

So, I did begin and will continue to work through some things as a result of reading the book. I do think American Christians are so steeped in the self-satisfied gluttony of our culture that we don’t even recognize it and need to be shaken up to see it. I think we’ve been fed such a steady diet of the false health and wealth ‘gospel,’ the false gospel of your best life now and how we deserve material and physical blessings rather than seeing sacrifice and even suffering and trials as necessary for our sanctification and that our focus needs to be on our best life later, that we don’t recognize that it isn’t biblical. We need to learn to love God with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths and be willing to be spent in service to Him - not because we want more stuff, but because of WHO HE IS. We do need a much higher view of our God. I loved the advice at the end of the book to stop before we pray and really think about Who we are praying to, how awesome He is, and then begin to pray. That will revolutionize how and for what I pray. I do need to learn more and more how to love my neighbor as myself and how that is to look in my life.

So, though I have concerns about the book, I’m not sorry I read it. I did glean some good, hard things I don’t want to ignore. And I truly believe that He who began a good work in me will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. I don’t believe He leaves us to spin around and around saying, “How much is too much? What am I supposed to do now?” looking for a sign for some BIG THING I’m to do for Him, rather than realizing it is a heart issue we need to develop of holding lightly to things and developing a heaven-minded view of life. I do believe we need to live every day faithfully for Him, seeking to obey Him in the daily, everyday things, seeking opportunities to meet needs as we are aware of them and acting on the things we know to do. As we do, He will lead us where He wants us to be, big thing or little thing, living faithfully and stepping heavenward throughout a surrendered life.

What's On My Nightstand - September 2010

It's that time again at 5 Minutes for Books for the What's On Your Nightstand carnival. I haven't done a "What's On Your Nightstand" post in a while, and once again I'm a day late, but I thought I'd post a short one this time.

Just finished:

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss. I think this is one of my all-time favorite books. It's definitely one I keep coming back to and re-reading. I don't know how many times I've read it, but it gets better every time. It's fiction, written as a journal started when the main character, Katy, is sixteen years old and follows her through her life. I want to learn to be the kind of woman who desires to love Jesus as much as she does in the book. I remember when I first read it that I loved it, but I wondered that it wasn't stronger on the gospel. When I re-read it for the umpteenth time this time, I was struck by how in the world that could have been my take away from it. This book is FULL of the gospel. I think in my immaturity it bothered me that when young Katy talks to her pastor about her doubts about her salvation he doesn't tell her, "Pray this prayer and you'll be alright," or something along those lines. As I've matured in grace I have grown in my understanding that presenting the gospel is so much more than: Pray this prayer, check this box, raise your hand and you're in. The gospel is so much more than a ticket out of hell or merely the simple entry point to the Christian life. A life that has been surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and cast all her hope on Christ experiences a lifelong growing in His grace (sanctification) as we grow ever deeper in the knowledge and grace of our Lord. It is a 'stepping heavenward' as we learn to surrender to the truth of His word and live in the light of that Word daily, in all we do. And this book beautifully illustrates what that is like in a simple, surrendered life. Friends, I love this book. I want to have the kind of desire to grow in love for Jesus and never lose that deep desire to know Him and to know and obey His word. (The edition I have has a forward by Elisabeth Elliot, but I couldn't find that one at Amazon)

Crazy Love by Francis Chan. We've been reading through this one with our small group at church. We are actually on Chapter 8 as a group, but I went ahead and finished the book this week. I have taken some things away from my reading of this book that I want to remember, but I hate to say I don't believe I can recommend it as highly as I would have liked to. I hope to write a blog post soon about my thoughts as I am coming to the end of the study.

Currently Reading:

Our Awesome God by John MacArthur. I've read this before but it has been a long time and I wanted to read it again as we finish up our Crazy Love study and as I finished reading Stepping Heavenward again and remind myself again what an awesome God we serve. It is an incredible thing to know that God has revealed Himself to us in His word. To love Him more deeply, more radically, we've got to know Him. We've got to worship the God who is, not some god of our own imagining. This is my heart's desire.

The Brixton Brothers: The Case of the Case of the Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett. One of the most unexpected benefits of having my son grow older is that he is finally at the point where the kinds of things he's interested in reading are also interesting to me. He introduced me to the Shadow Children books, which I blogged about a while back and which sparked some interesting discussions with him and his brother that were very good. This book is a spoof of the old Hardy Boys books, and as someone who loved, loved, loved the Hardy Boys books, I'm finding it very funny. My son doesn't have as much experience with the Hardy Boys, having only read a few, but he agreed with my evaluation that it was spoofing them very well. He enjoyed this book so much I thought I'd read it to see if it was worth getting some more from the series for him. As far as older kid books go, it's not too bad. I can see why he liked it. I'm not devouring it like I did, say, the Harry Potter books, but it's not bad.

On the nightstand to be read next:

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper. I tried reading this once before, but I have to confess to you all that I find Piper to be hard to read for some reason. I want to read this one, though, so it's what's up next. My music pastor's wife used something she learned from it during a talk she gave at a recent women's event, and it reminded me to get the book back out and try to read it again.

Other than that, I need to get to the library again sometime soon. I usually have some kind of fiction book going, but right now I seem to be delving into weightier things (except for my son's book, that is).

Don't forget to see what books everyone else is posting about over at 5 Minutes for Books.

Those Pesky Emotions

I think I’m allergic to Kentucky. I was allergic to southern Indiana, too, but I do believe it’s worse here. I was on some allergy medicine that the doctor told me isn’t his first choice because he doesn’t think it’s the best for treating the kind of allergy I seem to have but because we were going through the military healthcare/pharmacy system he had to prescribe that brand first. (Just a glimpse of what’s to come for all of us with socialized medicine. Unnecessary aside, moving on....)

Anyway, after almost a month on this medicine I finally quit taking it. Sure I could breathe better, but I was irritable, depressed, crying over things that normally wouldn’t have me collapsed into uncontrollable tears, unable to think clearly, and starting to have some vision trouble so finally I googled the medicine and found that these can all be side effects of the medicine I was on. I didn’t realize just how irritable I had been, however, until I mentioned this weekend that I’d been feeling less irritable and my husband rather quickly said, “Yes, you’ve been much better.” No hesitation there. Oops. I’m glad I’m married to such a long-suffering kind of guy. I’m also glad he advised me to quit taking the medicine before I drove my family and anyone else who has to be around me crazy.

I hate that the medicine affected me that way, but even more I hate that it took me a month to realize I was acting in response to how I felt rather than being self-controlled and patient in spite of feeling irritable and depressed. I don’t want to be ruled by my emotions, ‘real’ or allergy medicine induced. I say ‘real’ in quotes because, let’s face it even without medicine, sometimes our emotions are not based in reality. And really, I shouldn’t ever be making decisions or actions based on them. The sad thing is that I didn’t even notice that’s what I was doing until the cumulative effect of a month on the medicine made the side-effects so obvious I couldn’t ignore them anymore.

The temptation, however, is to blame my sinfully acting irritably solely on the medicine. That would not be wise. The fact is, most days I don’t need to have a month’s worth of allergy medicine in my system to feel irritable at times. I’m still responsible to submit how I feel to the Lord. I’m thankful He allowed me to recognize something that was triggering the things that made it harder to be obedient, but I don’t want to lay all the blame on the trigger. The truth is that I have enough sinful attitudes all on my own that I need to be submitting to Him daily, too.

So, I’m back to not being able to breathe again and feeling stuffy and full of sinus-pressure-headedness, but I feel like me again and I don’t feel nearly as depressed or as full of foggy thinking, and hopefully I’m learning to recognize a little sooner when the irritability and depression I’m feeling may have a real cause and need attention, and I’m thankful for the grace my husband showed me as I worked through all that. For that I’m thankful.

Discernment and Devotionals

My younger son is playing Upward flag football this year. At halftime, while the players are meeting with their coaches, a devotional is given for the parents and friends on the bleachers. During the devotional yesterday, the person leading the devotion asked us, “What does God want?” He then proceeded to tell us that we find the answer in Genesis, that it tells us in Genesis that God was lonely and wanted to create man to have a relationship with him.

My jaw dropped, I whipped my head around to look over at my husband and saw that he and the friend he was talking to had both raised their eyebrows. I was making mental notes to talk to my older son afterward since he was sitting there at the end of the bench listening to the devotional, too.

After the man was done speaking and the game started again, my older son slid down the bleacher and sat next to me and said, “I don’t think that was right. God wasn’t lonely, was He?” I was overjoyed to hear him say that. We talked about how, no, God doesn’t NEED anything. He has perfect fellowship within the Trinity, hard as that is for our minds to grasp. We were created for His glory. Yes, we get to have relationship with Him through Jesus Christ alone, that is a glorious benefit we receive through faith in Christ, and He does love us. But God was NOT lonely. And reading Genesis will not tell you that He was.

I also told my boy that’s why it’s SO important that we read the Bible for ourselves and know what it says so we can discern when someone tells us something that isn’t right. I told him one of my favorite things that I’ve heard Alistair Begg say when preaching is, “You’re sensible people. Go and read it for yourself and make sure that what I am saying is true.”

I’m thankful that the man sharing on Saturday wants to share the gospel with the people sitting on those bleachers. He is also not the first person I have heard try to explain it that way. I just wish that we in the evangelical church would get over ourselves and stop trying to make it all about us humans and realize that it really is all about God. All about His glory. I wish we would see God for how truly awesome He is. We are created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And I really wish we would read our Bibles and be like the Bereans and know what it says and speak it clearly. Just because it's a short devotional doesn't mean we can be careless with our theology. Bad theology from a “Christian” or “church” setting is more dangerous to my children than the things they hear out in the world, if you want to know the truth of the matter, because they expect to hear the truth in those settings and it is presented as being biblical.

And I am so very thankful that God is working in my son’s heart and granting him the discernment to recognize error. May we be faithful to teach him God’s word and to encourage him to read it for himself so that he will grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord who is saving him.

Sunset Tonight

The heavens declare the glory of God......







As we were driving home from small group tonight, I was stunned by the beauty of the sunset. I exclaimed to the boys and then said, "That is awesome....but it doesn't even compare to how beautiful Heaven will be because God will be there." We will be able to worship God in purity and holiness there. He is so kind when He declares His glory in giving us this barest shadow of a glimpse of beauty in His creation. How much more beautiful it will be when we will worship Jesus in glory and see Him face to face.

Exactly!

This at Pyromaniacs today is SO well- said. This is eerily similar to the situation we found in SC and why we joined an independent Bible Church eventually there. I am thankful we found the church in St. Louis that we did and that we have found the church we did here in our new town that is NOT like the churches Mr. Turk describes in his article, and which I pray will remain NOT like the picture he paints. It is growing harder to find solid churches in the SBC in many areas due to exactly the things he discusses in this article. Well said, Frank.

A Funny

We did an Answers in Genesis VBS one year (I HIGHLY recommend that curriculum, by the way. Can't say enough about how much I appreciate that ministry). Anyway, I found the music CD from that VBS the other day and we've been listening to it tonight. One of the songs has this line in it: "I've got DNA, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made." My daughter is going around singing: "I've got knee an ache, I'm really, really wonderfully made." It's quite funny.

Thoughts From Sunday Morning

Psalm 63:1-8

“O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirsts for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.

So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips shall praise You.

Thus I will bless You while I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

When I remember You on my bed,

because You have been my help,

Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

My soul follows close behind You;

Your right hand upholds me.”

This was our confession, read together as a church this morning. This is my confession, read often. I pray I will seek my God early, early each day and early in each situation, seek Him, abide in His word, see Him as the only One that can satisfy my thirsty soul. The land we inhabit is a dry and thirsty land, but He is the Living Water who can, and does, satisfy the soul fixed upon Him.

Ephesians 3:14-21

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

This was part of our lesson in Sunday School today as we are studying through the book of Ephesians together. I pulled out this passage to look at right now because I’ve been thinking about how deep God’s grace and love are. As I mature along the walk of faith throughout my life, the more I see how deep this love is. I pray I will know Him and continue to grow to love Him and never forget who I am in Christ. The width and length and depth and height! To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that I may be filled with all the fullness of God. Immediately following that prayer, Paul reminds us that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think. Having come to realize that I can’t, in my own strength and thought and power, even love God purely and as He deserves to be loved, what a joy to know that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all I that I ask or think.

Because I can’t fool God, He knows when I’m merely pretending or putting on a mask. He also hears when I come before Him and confess to Him that I have placed other things, other people, other desires as higher than Him in my affections. I can tell Him that I long to glorify and enjoy Him forever. I can confess my weakness and tell Him that I want to treasure the kingdom of Heaven, to love Him as the greatest treasure of all. And I can tell Him that I want this confession to be true of me, and I need Him to help me to desire Him when I do not, when I say:

“One thing have I desired of the LORD,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD,

And to inquire in His temple.”

Psalm 27:4

And He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Christmas in September

I’m listening to Christmas music. In September. I’m not crazy, I’m just a choir member. At first, I wasn’t ready for Christmas music. I’m really not ready for Christmas, not ready to even start thinking about it yet.

I finally figured it out, though. It’s not so much Christmas that I dread about Christmas. It’s the shopping and hustle and JUNK, the whole secular-who-needs-to-even-mention-Jesus-to-have-Christmas part of the season that depresses me. It’s feeling pressured to find the right gifts and not really succeeding at that. It’s feeling the pressure to spend more money than I should on those presents. Gift giving/receiving is clearly not my love language. :-)

But the worship and the wonder of the Incarnation? That part of Christmas I never get enough of. And the Christmas music we’re singing this year is ALL about Jesus. This I’m ready for. The chills I get when we sing, “Fall on your knees....” or when we sing, “Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel,” or when I start pondering the depths of what Emmanuel, God With Us, means to fallen humanity. When I ponder the wonder of the fact that after hundreds of years of silence, God spoke into the darkness, and He Himself came to redeem fallen mankind. Jesus is the Light of the world. He is the way, the truth and the life, only through Him can anyone come to the Father. That part of Christmas, I celebrate all year long in my heart.

So bring on the Christmas music. I’m rejoicing in wonder at the love, the mercy, the grace, the hope of my Savior.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:1-5

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. he came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:10-14

"Now" and "Not Yet"

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few weeks about the tension between the “now” and the “not yet” of the Christian life. We’ve been reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan in small groups with our church. I’m not necessarily endorsing Francis Chan per se by sharing this, I mean, everything we read and hear we need to be like the Bereans and search the scriptures and not get so excited about any teacher or author that we aren’t careful to judge their words by the Bible. I hate that I have to say that, but anymore you really do....we tend to idolize Christian teachers and authors and bloggers. Not the point of this post, moving on.....

Anyway, as I said we’ve been reading that book. It is challenging me. Especially Chapter 4, “Profile of the Lukewarm,” and Chapter 5, “Serving Leftovers to a Holy God.” Just reading the chapter titles gives you a tiny glimpse of the challenge I’m facing in reading and pondering as I read.

I saw more of myself in the lukewarm profile than I want to be there. That’s hard to face. But I must face it. And in facing it and in wrestling with it and in seeking to repent where I’m needing to repent, I am gaining an ever clearer understanding of the depth of the mercy and grace of the gospel. As I was discussing the hopelessness I was feeling one evening while reading Chapter 4 with my husband, in tears I said, “The only hope I have is that when I stand before God, Jesus will stand as my Advocate and High Priest. It is in His righteousness alone, cleansed by His blood alone, that I can hope to stand, because there is nothing, nothing, I can offer Him that is anything more than filthy rags.” I can’t even love Him as deeply as He deserves and I long to love Him. Even in that I need Him, oh, how I need Him. How I need His Spirit to fill me and turn my desires and bend my will and help me to desire Him more than anything else.

And, friends, that is the sure hope of the gospel. In Christ alone do I find rest. In Christ alone am I made righteous. It is true that on my very best day, my very best effort to worship and praise Him and love Him and obey Him is tainted by some sinful thought or motive. And that’s on my very best day. It’s a horrifying thing to realize how often the hypocrite in me rears its ugly head in pride, even when I want to do the right thing for the right reasons. How tempting when I come to understanding in some area to look around and say, “I’m so glad I’m not like those people,” when really I need to be on my face before Jesus in humble gratitude for the way He is opening my eyes each step of faith along life’s walk with Him. How I fear the hypocrite in me that taints everything, even victories and good things, with pride and sinful motives, even when my desire is to be humble.

But that is the now. It is not the ‘not yet.’ I’ve been listening to John MacArthur preach about Heaven on my iPod this week. Friends, can I just tell you that one thing I greatly long for about Heaven is that this sinful flesh will once and for all be completely put off. I will be able to worship God with full love and devotion, untainted by the hypocrite I wrestle with in the now. Then I will be made holy as He is holy. Then I will be able to worship Him with no taint of the former sinful self. Then, no longer will I see through a glass darkly, distracted by the trappings of this world. No, then I will be like Him, for I shall see Him as He is. Then I will be glorified and conformed to His image. Then I will be able to sing in purity with the Redeemed, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is and who is to come.” Until then, I cry out just as the hymn says, “More love to Thee, O Christ! More love to Thee!” Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief.

Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

Philippians 1:3-6 “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

Proverbs 16:6 “In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

Hebrews 2:17-18 “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”

Psalm 27:4 “One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.”

Random Thankfulness

Since the blogging break is something of a non-existent, yet sporadic thing, and I’m not sure I’ll get around to a Thankful Thursday post tomorrow, and since I’m feeling thankful at the moment, here are some things I’m thankful for today:

Thankful for breakfast with some friends today at Panera. Breakfast was more than just breakfast. It was conversation, some much needed perspective, and even more needed laughter. What a gift, the joy of laughter! I’m so thankful for the gift of Christian friends and the answer to prayer they are. God is so very kind to us.

Thankful for the blessing of my husband. He understands me better than anyone I know and he loves me in spite of that.

Thankful Handel wrote the Messiah. I wonder if we’ll get to sing “Worthy is the Lamb” in Heaven one day. Either way, I love to be encouraged to worship with those words and that music here and now.

Thankful for our church. Praying for wisdom as we will be in search of a new pastor, but so very thankful for the strong leadership who remain.

Thankful for Wednesday night choir practice. It’s something I look forward to each week. I’m even thankful we get to work on Christmas music this early.

Thankful that Fall is on the way. My favorite time of year. If only I could find pumpkin in my grocery store. I may have to learn to actually cook a real pumpkin in order to make the pie my son loves so much this year. Who am I kidding, I like it even more than he does.

Thankful for the grace of God which is sufficient, so abundantly sufficient, in my weakness.

Thankful that though weeping may endure for the night, joy comes in the morning.

Thankful that in the midst of weeping, I never have to lose sight of the peace that passes all understanding and the joy that is mine in Jesus.

Thankful for hope that is sure.

“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:15-23

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3

Sure Hope

Lamentations 3:21-24

"This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul.

Therefore I trust in Him!"

Hebrews 6:19-20

"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

Hmmmm.......

A sign that the semi blog break you keep saying you’re going to take but keep coming back from like a pesky fly might need to become something more permanent:

When someone googles “why evangelicals need to be jettisoned into outter space” and it brings them to your blog, it might be time to rethink why you do this blogging thing anyway.

So many questions come to mind, not least being, “Why would someone feel the need to search that?”

Second being, “How much from my recent blogging would have encouraged them away from that sentiment if they spent any time here?”

That second question stings a lot. My friend Lisa posted yesterday about how the things we become obsessed with and the solutions we try to find for satisfying those obsessions cannot satisfy. She pointed out that the only obsession that can satisfy is to be obsessed with Jesus. I’ve been thinking a lot about that since I read it yesterday. When I started thinking about that second question, I realized that the less I am focused on Jesus, the less meaningful this whole blogging adventure becomes, the less meaningful life becomes.

I want to really know Jesus, to run to Him and lay aside the weighty sin that entangles. I want to dig into His word and spend time with Him and know Him and live like I love Him. I want to be faithful and a faithful witness. I want everything I do to be full of the fragrance of Christ, informed by the truth of His word. I want to love Him more fully, more deeply and to live in the light of His word.