A NEW SELF

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20 NIV)

The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, “Give Me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down… Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked -- the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: My own will shall become yours.” 

-- C. S. Lewis in “Mere Christianity”

#5805

THE BURDEN OF WORRY

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”  (1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV)

Do you feel that your small anxieties, cares, and concerns cannot measure up to the world’s collective prayers to God? People are dying from flood, famine, earthquake, war, and fire; yet you worry about getting to an appointment on time. It seems almost presumptuous to expect God to care about your worries, doesn’t it?

Nevertheless, hear the truth of the Christian faith: God loves you. God has concern for your life. Your greatest triumphs, your smallest sorrows, God knows and cares about them all.

The scriptures tell you to “Cast all your anxiety on [God] because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). The key word here is all -- not only the big stuff, but also the little worries and doubts that assail you throughout an average day. …

God of love, I’m tired of carrying this burden of worry. I want to believe that You will take it from me, but I find it hard because ____________________. Today, help me to cast all my anxiety upon You. Lift me up if I stumble; forgive me if I fall. I ask this humbly. Amen. 

-- Patricia Wilson in “Freedom from Worry”

#5804

THREE DOLLARS WORTH

I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please. Not too much -- just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don't want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don't want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture. I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don't want to love those from different races -- especially if they smell. I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like about three dollars worth of gospel, please. 

-- D. A. Carson in “Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians”

#5803

CHOOSE NOW

"See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”

Hear how the God of creation Himself speaks of this matter. Here lies the whole of the divine mercy: It’s all on this side of the day of judgment. Till the end of time, God is compassionate and long-suffering, and continues to every creature a power of choosing life or death, prosperity or destruction; but when the end of time is come, there is an end of choice, and the last judgment is only a putting everyone into the full and sole possession of that which he has already chosen. 

-- Adapted from William Law in “An Appeal to All that Doubt”

#5802

FORMING THE GREATEST CHARACTER

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may [discover] what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  (Romans 12:2 NRSV)

The study of God's Word, for the purpose of discovering God's will, is the secret discipline which has formed the greatest characters.

-- James W. Alexander

#5801

SOMEONE TO SURRENDER TO

"For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for Me and for the gospel, you will save it.”  (Mark 8:35 GNT)

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “When a person has found something which he prefers to life itself, he for the first time has begun to live.”

Jesus in His proclamation of the kingdom told us what we could prefer to life itself. The Bible ends by telling us we are called to be a people who could say, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20), who could welcome something more than business as usual and live in God’s Big Picture. We all have to ask for the grace to prefer something to our small life because we have been offered the Shared Life, the One Life, the Eternal Life, God’s Life that became visible for us in this world as Jesus.

What we are all searching for is Someone to surrender to, something we can prefer to life itself. Well here is the wonderful surprise: God is the only one we can surrender to without losing ourselves! The irony is that we actually find ourselves, but now in a whole new and much larger field of meaning. 

-- Adapted from “Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr”

#5800

HANDLING OUR POSSESSIONS

“Then Jesus said, ‘Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own… Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.’”   (Luke 12:15,21 NLT)

Our world is full of “things” and “stuff” -- that is, possessions. We have an inbuilt desire to possess things. We find ourselves eager for possessions and for all that money promises and provides. But if we are not careful, we find ourselves trusting money to buy us life, and our lives are governed more and more by the pursuit of possessions. This is a trap. There are many things that money can’t buy for us, and there are some things that money will actually take from us…

If the pursuit of possessions purchased from profits is the essence of our existence, one’s life is measured by what one owns. Money becomes our god. We are owned by our money and possessed by our possessions.

So what do we do? We should accept possessions gladly, hold them lightly, use them wisely, share them unselfishly, and offer them worshipfully to God for His use. The quality of one’s life is seen in how well we handle things rather than letting things handle us. 

-- Adapted from Stuart Briscoe in “Daily Study Bible for Men” 

#5799

LONGING FOR GOD

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  (Matthew 5:6 NIV)

We do not come to be with Jesus because we are righteous or strong. The people gathered around Jesus because they were needy. In His [Sermon on the Mount] Jesus begins to explain the profound difference between the religious leaders’ teaching about attaining righteousness through their interpretation of the Law and traditions and the greater righteousness that moves beyond the Law to a relationship with God in Christ.

Our sinful, restricted self is uncomfortable and fights being revealed. But deeper within us is the longing for God, placed within our true self by God. We come to God as we are: caught by sin and longing for God; and we are always met by God’s grace and mercy. 

-- Wendy Miller in “Learning to Listen”

#5798

INVERTED CHRISTIANITY

Two thousand years ago Jesus extended an unbelievable invitation: "Follow Me." And the invitation is still on the table. But let me drill down on this a little bit. I think there are lots of people who think they have accepted the invitation. They think they are following Jesus. But the reality is that they have invited Jesus to follow them. And there is a world of difference!

For the first nineteen years of my life, if I'm being totally honest, I think it was more about Jesus following me. I didn't want to go anywhere without Him. But it wasn't about me serving His purposes. It was about Him serving my purposes. I think many Christians have an inverted relationship with Christ. Call it spiritual selfishness. Our relationship with Him is all about us. And then we wonder why we're unfulfilled and bored with our faith.

Are you following Jesus? Or is Jesus following you? 

-- Mark Batterson, from his blog Evotional.com  

#5797

IN GOD WE TRUST

Who can we count on anymore? Who can you trust? We are living in a world where trust is one of our most endangered virtues and values. In the midst of the world’s trust crisis, to a people suffering from a trust deficit, it is time to announce at the top of our lungs, “In God We Trust!”

“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.”  (Jeremiah 17:7)

“When I am afraid, I will trust in You.”  (Psalm 56:3)

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one that trusts in the Lord.”  (Psalm 34:8)

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!”  (Isaiah 26:3)  

-- Leonard Sweet in “A Cup of Coffee at the Soul Café”

#5796

HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE

“Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing. Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 2:4-5 LB)

Hurt people hurt people. If someone is hurting you, that person is doing so because he or she is hurting. We need to look beyond people’s faults and see their needs. Then we can learn to love.

Have you discovered that the most obnoxious people and the least loveable people are those who need love the most? The people we would rather ignore are the ones who desperately need massive doses of love. Everyone needs love. If a person can’t get love, he will strive for attention. And if he can’t get attention, he will work at attracting negative attention. Subconsciously, he is saying, “I will be noticed, one way or another.”…

If instead of thinking about a person’s faults we begin to think about their needs, it will change the way we feel. 

-- Rick Warren in “God’s Power to Change Your Life”

#5795

REPENTANCE REQUIRES TRUST AND HUMILITY

If our problem is really sin – a fundamental breach in human existence – then repentance, not self-improvement is the first requirement. This is the biblical view of the foundations of morality. The prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul all beckoned their hearers to a new life by calling them first to give up the old in repentance. (See Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3-5; Acts 26:20; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:9-10.)  Repentance is the absolutely inescapable first step of the Christian moral life. Without repentance, the Christian moral life is impossible.

Repentance requires two things: humility and trust. Repentance requires the humility involved in the confession that I am a sinner, one whose life is not whole and who lacks the power both to find either the direction to wholeness or the resources for wholeness on my own. Repentance requires trust in God’s power that can and will ultimately sustain and establish me if I let go of myself into God’s powerful hands. Without both trust and humility, repentance is impossible. 

-- Adapted from “Vision and Character” by Craig R. Dykstra

#5794

SEEKING TO FOLLOW CHRIST

“The gifts Christ gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)

The church is the worshipping community. We are that body of people who are learning together to repent, pray, and serve in the light of our history and an imagination that is teaching us to do so. The focus of our history and imagination is Jesus Christ, in Whom we see what it means to live in repentance, prayer, and service. We seek to follow Him, to be His disciples, and to undertake the disciplines that such a life requires. 

-- Craig R. Dykstra in “Vision and Character”

#5793

THE FAST LANE OF HURRIEDNESS

“Be still, and know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46:10a NIV)

It's time to learn another way to live [other than the fast lane of hurriedness]. To do that, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives. As much as we complain about it, though, there's part of us that is drawn to a hurried life. It makes us feel important. It keeps the adrenaline pumping. It means I don't have to look too closely at my heart or life. It keeps us from feeling our loneliness. As long as I have [busyness], I can demonstrate that I am an important person.

"The press of busyness is like a charm," Kierkegaard wrote. "Its power swells... it reaches out, seeking always to lay hold of ever-younger victims so that childhood or youth are scarcely allowed the quiet and the retirement in which the Eternal may unfold a divine growth."

Hurry, then, is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.

-- John Ortberg, in “Leadership Weekly”

#5792

BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS – Part 4 of 4

“Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions.” (James 2:18b GNT)

Then is basic Christianity the belief that Jesus is the Son of God who came to be the Saviour of the world? No, it is not even that. To assent to Christ’s divine person, to acknowledge man’s need of salvation, and to believe in Christ’s saving work are not enough. Christianity is not just a creed; it involves action. Our intellectual belief may be beyond criticism, but we must transfer our beliefs into deeds.

What must we do, then? We must commit ourselves, heart and mind, soul and will, home and life, personally and unreservedly to Jesus Christ. We must humble ourselves before Him. We must trust Him as our Saviour and submit to Him as our Lord; and then go on to take our place as faithful members of the Church and responsible citizens in the community. 

-- John R. W. Stott in “Basic Christianity” 

#5791

 

BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS – Part 3 of 4

Supposing Jesus was the Son of God, is basic Christianity merely an acquiescence in this truth? No. Once persuaded of the deity of Christ’s person, we must examine the nature of His work. For what purpose did He visit this world? The Biblical answer is “Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15b) Jesus of Nazareth is the heaven-sent Saviour whom we sinners need. We need to be forgiven and to be restored to fellowship with the all-holy God, from Whom our sins have separated us. We need to be set free from our selfishness and given strength to live up to our ideals. We need to learn to love one another, friend and foe alike. This is the meaning of “salvation.” This is what Christ came to win for us by His death and resurrection. 

-- John R. W. Stott in “Basic Christianity” 

#5790

BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS – Part 2 of 4

“[The Jailer asked Paul and Silas], ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.”  (Acts 16:30-32 NIV)

Third, we are called upon to believe “in” the Lord Jesus.

William Barclay, In “The Letters of John and Jude,” writes: “The Bible speaks of the man who ‘believes in the Son of God.’ There is a wide difference between believing a man and believing in a man. If we believe a man, we do no more than accept the fact that whatever statement he may be making at that moment is true. All that we are saying is that in a particular case we believe he is telling the truth. If we believe in a man, we accept the whole man and all that he stands for in complete confidence and trust. We would not only be prepared to trust his spoken word; we would also be prepared to trust ourselves and our life to him. To believe in Jesus Christ is not simply to accept what He says is true; it is to commit all life into His hands and into His direction; it is to place ourselves in His hand in time and in eternity.” 

-- Richard Peace in “Learning to Love God” 

#5789

BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS – Part 1 of 4

“[The Jailer asked Paul and Silas], ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.”  (Acts 16:30-32 NIV)

Notice that there are three parts to this key phrase in this passage: “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” First we must “believe.” We have an intuitive sense of what the word “believe” means: to assert that something is true. Certainly “believe” has this meaning in this passage. However, what the Bible means by belief goes beyond cognitive affirmation. Believe also means “to put one’s trust in something or someone.” Because you hold certain facts to be true, you act on them. For example, you say you can believe that an airplane can carry you from Detroit to Los Angeles. But this is not belief in the full biblical sense until you get on the plane and trust your life to it.

Second, the passage calls upon us to believe in something quite specific. Belief as an end in itself is not being commended. We must believe in “the Lord Jesus.” We are called to believe one main thing: that the Lord Jesus, by His death, made it possible for us to be saved from our sin. 

-- Richard Peace in “Learning to Love God”

#5788

GOD REVEALED IN JESUS CHRIST

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known.”  (John 1:18 NIV)

Paul Tournier, the great Christian doctor, declares that life, in order to be life, must necessarily be dialogue. No one can find life in any real sense of the term in isolation. He must find it in contact, in dialogue, with others. The supreme dialogue of life is the dialogue with God. Paul Tournier writes, “Jesus Christ is the dialogue re-established. He is God coming to us because we cannot go to Him.” Jesus came with the good news that God is not a God who hides Himself, that God is not a God whom only the philosophers may know, that God is the God who at all costs desires to be known, and who in the most costly way has revealed Himself to all. 

-- William Barclay in “The Mind of Jesus”

#5787

LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER

There are communal and public dimensions of the spiritual life that must be experienced and without which the soul is impoverished. David knew this, and accordingly he exhorted his friends, “Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness, let us exalt His name together.”  (Psalm 34:3)

There is a delightful naturalness about this exuberant invitation. When we are excited about something, we spontaneously want to share it. “Did you see that?” we ask those sitting around us at the ball game as an athlete shows extraordinary skills. Of course they saw it. We know they did, we just want to share the excitement. “Have you seen the latest movie?” we inquire. Why? Because we enjoyed it and our enjoyment is not complete until it is shared. So it was with David’s experience of the Lord. He was so excited that his excitement needed to be shared and thus multiplied. In effect David was saying, “Let’s do this together, and in so doing let us intensify the joy and multiply the blessing!” 

-- Adapted from Stuart Briscoe in “Daily Study Bible for Men”

#5786

FACING DEATH

As we face death we should find comfort in the declaration that God, by His grace, forgives and delivers us from all that would bar us from the joys of heaven.  He not only undoes the consequences of the evil that has marked our lives, but God also forgets that we ever sinned in the first place (Isaiah 43:25).  Because of God's work in our lives, on that great day when we are presented to the Father, we will be introduced as faultless.  The Book of Jude affirms this truth:  "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).  I can just imagine Jesus saying, "Father!  I want you to meet my friend Tony … the perfect one!"  And that is just what God will do for everyone who trusts in God on the other side of the great divide.

In light of all this good news about how those who understand and live out the gospel can face the last enemy, we can more fully understand why Jesus said what He did, in what many consider to be the most comforting passage of Scripture in the face of death:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going."  (John 14:1-4) 

-- Tony Campolo in “Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God”

#5785