What All I Have

Truth #1: I have a widescreen tv and a Blu-ray disc player, a stove and an oven and a dishwasher, a car that runs fairly dependably, a house to live in and groceries in my pantry; some pets, a family, fairly good health and a somewhat capable mind; a guitar, a piano, a Bose stereo, a computer, a sense of humor, a family physician, health insurance, life insurance, home-owners' insurance, books and bookcases, lamps and lightbulbs and eyeglasses; clothes and shoes, a few friends, memories, regrets, and worries and difficulties. I have goals and ambitions, successes, defeats, sadness and joy. I have it all.

Truth #2: All I have is Christ.

Various Thoughts, Ruminations and Hopefully Non-Platitudes

Just some completely random thoughts today:

I so like and appreciate Tim Challies. I don't know another internet writer/presence/person with more to offer and a sweeter, humbler soul than him. And besides that, it's fascinating to see how his career has come along in the seven or so years I've been reading (and listening to) him.

Relationships are hard, at home and in the church. We have to love each other. (It's different in the workplace; certain things are required of us there, but not like with family.) We can't run away. We're called to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:10-16) to each other when everything in us wants to ignore, pout, quietly leave, rail against. We're called to press in tighter when the going gets rough. It's contrary to our flesh, our society and our desires. It is the way of the Cross.

John Calvin is cool and helpful. I have a booklet entitled "Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life" which is simply Chapter Six of Book III of his "Institutes." That little book talks about things like those mentioned above: the true Christian walk and calling of a disciple (as opposed to the grandiose and silly things we sometimes like to make it). We're called to self-denial, he explains; but beyond that, we're called to take up our Cross and follow the Lord Jesus. Cross-bearing, Calvin says, is more difficult than self-denial.

I appreciate my family. I feel so inadequate in my efforts for them. I either over-do or under-do; my weakness and stumbling in this become more apparent to me everyday. "For we all stumble in many ways." It makes me (after I remember to think about it) more consciously dependent on, and earnestly desirous of God's mercy for them, for us all. In the end, all our best efforts will be seen to have been far short of the perfection required in order to accomplish the great tasks we've been given (loving our husbands and children, being a Proverbs 31 lady, etc.) But what will be seen is the perfect accomplishment of our Lord and Savior in his sinless and perfect obedience, including his death on the Cross. In his resurrection, we are made to share in his very own perfection, righteousness and glory. What a thought; what a hope! It spurs me on to renewed effort and willingness to die to myself daily and finish well the race set before me.

Well, those are some of my thoughts for the day. Be blessed in your day.

All I Have is Christ

Growing older stinks sometimes. I often am aware that I've brought a lot of the difficulty of this time of life on myself. It is all too true. But yet...

There's grace. My Lord loves me; he thought of me before the foundation of the world was even laid and determined to have me for his own child. He purchased me out of the world with blood-soaked mercy. I am forever his.

I am a mess-up in many ways, but Jesus Christ redeems mess-ups just like me, swoops them up out of the pit of despair they've dug for themselves and makes them part of his story, to the praise of his glorious grace, as it says in Ephesians 1:3-10. He is sure-handed and able to do everything I cannot. All I can do is fall on him for mercy and grace for help in time of need.

Growing older is another way God is using to make me see that it's in Christ alone my hope is found. Some young people out there are sure able to put that into words very well! Here's one example. When I'm young and when I'm old... all I have is Christ.




Sovereign Grace's Devon Kauflin

Psalm 19

The Bible doesn't give its treasures away to glib readers. For instance, it often records surprising things that people said and did, but without comment; we are puzzled, and must become more thoughtful if we hope to solve the riddle. The Bible says things that seem to contradict other things; we are challenged, and must stop to study if we want to have understanding. The Bible says some things in such a way that if we're looking for an easy, shallow way to believe about God, we can seem to have found it. If we insist, the Bible will remain a small book to us.

But the Bible is, in actuality, a deep treasure mine, while at the same time it is a vast library. The glib reader, though he intends to dig deep, will miss the treasure because he misses the contexts, the wide references, the wonderful continuity. Or, the glib reader will browse here and there from the wide library but never dig deeper, never get the big picture, because he's busy with only bits and pieces. And so he too will miss the treasure.

But the one who's given up glibness... the one who's begun to tremble at this word... roams far and wide, up and down, throughout the vast library. Night and day you'll find him there, poring joyfully over the volumes. He has a pickaxe; he often stops to dig deeper for the treasure that the volumes say lies beneath the surface. He sometimes weeps at the aching beauty of what he finds. Pickaxe in one hand, open reference in the other, he'll spend his life mining for this treasure, for the truth that is more to be desired than gold. (Yes, than much fine gold.)

Some Thoughts on Cross-Shaped Worship

I was thinking this morning that our worship of God is Cross-shaped. The daily working out of our salvation is not only vertical, toward him, but horizontal, toward one another, as the gospels and epistles so consistently show. The Bible doesn't separate vertical from horizontal; worship isn't worship without both, just as a Cross is not a Cross without both. "So if you are offering your gift at the altar (vertical) and there remember that your brother has something against you (horizontal), leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23,24).

What other god is so uncompromisingly solicitous of the love of his followers for each other? But our God is always mindful of his children, his heritage, and we're called to imitate him in that mindfulness. We're never to forget each other in our worship of him, even in our corporate singing, because even there he tells us that we're speaking to one another, teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).

I'm seeing more and more that this is the Cross-shaped life he's calling us to in his church.

Photo

Piper on Mental Health

"While I was a student at Wheaton College, a very wise and deep and happy teacher of literature, Clyde Kilby, showed us and taught us this path to health. Once he said, 'I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.'

"He had learned the deep significance of this outward-oriented self-forgetfulness from C.S. Lewis and drew our attention to it often. Mental health is, in great measure, the gift of self-forgetfulness. The reason is that introspection destroys what matters most to us--the authentic experience of great things outside ourselves."


from "The Clouds Ye So Much Dread Are Big With Mercy--Insanity and Spiritual Songs in the Life of William Cowper", The Hidden Smile of God by John Piper, pg. 112

Photo by Nelson~Blue

Death is Not Dying

"On March 4, 2009, Rachel Barkey had an opportunity to share about her hope in the midst of terminal cancer. What began as a small talk to her church women’s group became an event attended by over 600 women and was an experience that left many with a desire to discover more about Rachel’s journey and faith."

I kept hearing about this, but I just didn't believe it 'til I watched it today. You find 55 minutes and watch it, too. Death is Not Dying

Build a House

As parents, do we sometimes think of the devotions we have with our children as the window dressings of a house? The reading and study of God's word coupled with prayer are, instead, the very timbers that hold the structure up, that hold it together. Don't think of daily devotions together as mainly the use of something you've bought at the Christian bookstore; it's the solid, daily diet of the Scriptures themselves, along with fervent and earnest payer that God's Spirit will apply its truths to our hearts, that will grow us and our children into ones who bear much fruit for His kingdom.


Photo David H-W (Extrajection)

Phillipians Two 1 thru eleven

Oh, the utter astoundingness of it; that pitiful created beings would continue doing things in our homes, churches and lives "from rivalry and conceit" when we serve a Savior who, "though He was in the form of God, did not consider 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."

The spectacle of my own strutting pride in view of the humility of our Savior makes me want to go crawl under a rock. But He won't allow it--I'm instead to turn my gaze steadfastly to His example, and then go and act like Him.

What God Enjoys

From Dr. Erwin Lutzer, senior pastor of Moody Church in Chicago:

"God enjoys being believed."

Let the ramifications of that truth slowly seep down and spread through every recess of your heart, becoming a fruitful bough in all you say and do for the rest of your life.

Jesus' Ferocious Plan

I've tried to track down the author of this essay but haven't been able to (yet.) I read it some years ago on the blog of a wonderful Christian man, a Bible professor as I recall, who was dying from cancer. I remember that this entry was written by his wife after they'd attended a chapel service and heard their friend Elliot speak. Their online journal was very touching and inspiring, and this particular entry stood out to me as exceptionally grand, so I copied it and saved it to a folder. Going through some things today I found it again, so thought I'd share it with you.

"I can't possibly tell about all the things Elliot reminded us of, about how incredibly glorious Jesus is and what an unspeakable privilege it is to belong to him and be part of his kingdom, but I'll pick this one image he painted for us. He reminded us that Jesus' death on the cross was not a passive thing that he simply endured, but rather a ferocious attack on the enemy--sin and death--in which that enemy was defeated and destroyed by Jesus' obedience to the Father that flowed from his passionate love for him.

Elliot said he pictures it like shark hunting, in which Jesus gets ready to jump into the water to take on the shark. Jesus explains to his disciples that his plan is to get swallowed by the shark, rip out the shark's insides, and then jump back into the boat. When the skeptical disciples ask, 'Don't you think that will smart a bit, mate?' he says, 'Yes. But the shark will be dead.'

"Jesus took on human flesh, immersed himself in this messed-up world and chose to undergo a horrific execution in order to take on sin and death and rip out their guts. Crucifixion smarted plenty, but it worked. His resurrection--his startling jump back into the boat--destroyed the enemy. Hallelujah!

"That was a great reminder, both of what it cost Jesus to redeem us and of the triumph of his resurrection that broke the power of death over him, and also over us as we are united to him."

Half A Christian

I heard a great line from Alistair Begg on the radio the other morning: "Half a gospel makes half a Christian." It resonated with me as so true. I was a half-Christian for many years. Having missed the part about God's wrath against sin, and my very real guilt, I had no real appreciation for the grace of God and for what a debtor to mercy I really was. This left me, in the end, arrogant and self-sufficient.

Of course there's really no such thing as "half a Christian;" that's the scary part, because it means that many who have heard only half the message of the gospel, and responded to it, now believe themselves to be converted, and they may not be. May God raise up many more pastors, like our own, who will preach the full message of the good news boldly and faithfully.

Delight Yourself in the Lord

I really need to follow up the last post with some more thoughts on the election...I've had them, I'm fairly certain. But for now I'll just say this, which is likely of much more eternal significance:

that when it says in Psalm 112:1, "Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments", those two things, fearing the LORD and delighting in his commandments, are the same thing.

Amazing that the fear of him and delight in what he commands are all of a piece.

52 and Thankful

Today is an anniversary of sorts, marking 52 years of life on this earth. There is a book to write now, as anyone who has arrived at the half century mark of living can tell you! A lot has happened; a lot more will. Looking back and gazing forward, I'm so thankful to be able to say on this day that...

1. God is sovereign. His purposes and His plans will stand; "for the earth will be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

2. He is good. I need have no fear of those plans and purposes, for He is the judge of all the earth
who will do what is right.

3. He will complete the good work that He has begun in all His people. Grace began it,
grace will finish it, and grace will lead us home.

4. He changes selfish, greedy people into thankful ones.

I'm grateful for mercy and grace, for discipline and forbearance. And for so many other things that include people, and churches, and families, and friends and blessings.

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies;
For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child;
Friends on Earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy church that evermore,
Lifteth holy hands above;
Off'ring up on every shore,
Her pure sacrifice of love;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thyself, best Gift Divine,
To the world so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine,
Peace on earth and joy in heaven.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.