Category: PASSION Reflections

All of Grace

On By BrianIn Miscellaneous2 Comments

A couple of posts ago, I noted that our new years resolutions rest on God’s grace in order for us to see them come about.  As we begin this new year, it is a good reminder for me that all of life rests on God’s grace.

Every blessing comes by God’s grace.  Psalm 145:8-9 tells us that God is gracious and good to all.  Every good thing we have is because of God’s goodness and grace.  Food, clothing, shelter, health, breath, presents under the Christmas tree, job, safety – all of this and so much more flows out of God’s incredible grace to us.  This is often called common grace.

None of these things are deserved.  We need to recognize that.  Sometimes we get upset if God refuses or removes a blessing.  We think we deserve it.  It is our right to have it.  But Scripture is clear we don’t deserve anything good.  We are sinners.  We have gone astray.  Even our best deeds are like filthy rags.  We deserve death.  (Isaiah 53:6, 64:6, Romans 3:23, 6:23)

But God not only pours out common grace, he offers us saving grace.  He offers us forgiveness and cleansing from all our sins.  He offers us the hope of heaven and the resurrection.  He offers us a new life.  He offers us adoption as his children.  He offers us his Spirit in our lives.  None of this is deserved.  We can’t earn it, work for it, merit it.  All we can do is receive it by faith.  It is all grace.  (Ephesians 1:3-14, 2:1-10)

But his grace doesn’t end there.  God gives us the grace to be holy – to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives (Titus 2).  He gives us the grace to serve him in various ways (Romans 12:6).  And it is his grace that should motivate us to be holy and to serve (Romans 12:1-2).  THe Christian life is by grace too.

But what about the trials in life?  Where is God’s grace there?  It comes in the form of strength to endure.  In our weakness, God graciously gives us his strength (2 Corinthians 1:9-10).

Maybe you know all of this, and like me just need a reminder.  Maybe these thoughts are new to you.  All of life is by grace.  Every blessing and the strength to endure every trial is grace.  Salvation from beginning to end, including the Christian life, is grace.  All of grace.

This year I am planning to read through the Bible reflecting on God’s grace as I go.  I am also planning to read some good books about God’s grace.  I hope to share what I find with you on this blog throughout the year.  I want to know God’s grace better this year, and I hope you will know it better too.  Life really is all of grace.  Lord, open our eyes.

Resolution Questions

On By BrianIn Habit of Stewardship, Holidays

As I mentioned in the last post, I take time at the new year to evaluate where I am and where I would like to go in the coming year.  In examining my life, and considering how I need to grow, it is helpful to have some good questions to ponder.  Donald Whitney has given us 31 great questions to consider at the beginning of a new year.  A sampling includes:

  • What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
  • What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
  • In what spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
  • What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
  • What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

For all 31 questions, visit his site here.

New Years Resolutions

On By BrianIn Habit of Stewardship, Holidays

Every year I make some new years resolutions.  I start by evaluating where I am, and pondering where I would like to be and how I would like to grow.  I then seek to make several resolutions which are broken down into two main categories that follow the theme of this blog and my life.

The first category is “To live with a passion for God and compassion for people.”  Under this category, I have the the following sub-points:

  • By setting my gaze on Christ and spending time with God as his loving child
  • By spending time with my family as a loving husband and father
  • By spending time with others
  • By focusing on Christ’s passion for me (salvation)
  • By living out the commands of love (10 commandments)
  • By living out the virtues of love (Fruit of the Spirit plus others)
  • By practicing the habits of love (spiritual disciplines)

Each sub-point then has a few specific resolutions that I want to live out during the coming year.  Some will be new; others will simply be something I want to continue or improve.

The second category is “To help people and families live with a passion for God and compassion for people.”  Again there are subpoints with specific resolutions under each.  My subpoints are:

  • By discipling my own family
  • By serving in my local church
  • By writing resources for individuals, families, and churches
  • By teaching in various settings as opportunities arise
  • By pursuing continued learning opportunities

I share all of this to perhaps encourage you to evaluate your life, and consider how you might better live and help others live with a passion for God and compassion for people.  Your subpoints may look very different (especially in the second category), and your resolutions will likely be very different (you’ll notice I didn’t even include them), but the point is to evaluate where you are and where you might grow.

A few final thoughts.  First, it is easy to go through all of this and then put your resolutions away and forget them.  I’ve done this.  Don’t do this!  Keep them out where you can see them and review them regularly.

Second, my two categories and their subpoints are very general – the resolutions themselves must be specific so you know if you are accomplishing anything.  At the same time, leave room for adjustments and changes during the year.  Some ideas simply might not work.  God may call you in different directions than you had planned.  Feel free to edit your resolutions during the year.

Third,  don’t bite off more than you chew.  I have a lot of subpoints, but many of my resolutions are to simply to continue what I am doing or change my focus a bit.  Only a few resolutions will be really new.

Finally,  bathe the entire process in prayer and keep praying through it during the year.  It is only be God’s grace that we can grow, so come regularly to the throne of grace to find his grace in your need to grow.

May we grow this year in living and helping others live with a passion for God and compassion for people – because of Christ’s incredible passion for us!

Lukewarm Coffee

On By BrianIn Revival

I have come to like coffee – when it is hot.  Lukewarm coffee makes me want to, well, spew it back out.

Have you ever thought about what happens when someone orders coffee at a restaurant?  The coffee comes hot from the pot.  But it doesn’t take too long for it to start to cool off, to get lukewarm.  So what does the waitress do?  If she is good, she comes by regularly to pour more hot coffee into the cup so the coffee in the cup stays hot.

We are the cup of coffee.  Jesus is the pot.  If we stay away from Jesus too long, we cool off, we get lukewarm.  We need to regularly draw near to him, let him “fill” us, so that we might stay hot.

So how is our cup?  Hot?  Or have we stayed away from the pot too long?  Does Jesus want to, well, spew us out of his mouth?

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”  – Revelation 3:15-16

Sick Church

On By BrianIn Revival1 Comment

In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus addresses a sick church.  The Creator of the world gives a certain and true diagnosis, and faithful counsel for needed healing.  His words were originally directed at the church of Laodicea.  Might his words describe our churches?  Might his words describe us?

The church is sick because they are lukewarm.  A nearby city was known for its cold water, another for its hot springs.  Laodicea was known for its lukewarm water.  Unwary visitors were known to take a drink only to spit it back out.  Their water was a picture of their spiritual condition.  They had not coldly rejected Christ.  Nor were they fervently serving Christ.  They were lukewarm, indifferent, apathetic, comfortable.  And Christ wants to spew them out.  How well does that describe our churches?  How well does it describe us?

The church is sick because they have a faulty perception of themselves.  Laodicea was a wealthy city and relatively self-sufficient.  The church thought they were rich and needed nothing – but they were deluded.  Christ says they are wretched and pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  Do we see ourselves as rich, or as sinners saved by grace?  Do we think we can manage the Christian life on our own, or do we recognize our need of help?

Christ’s counsel first addresses the second problem.  He calls them to look to him.  They need to acknowledge their spiritual poverty and give up their spiritual self-sufficiency.  Laodicea was a wealthy city, but the church needed to look to Christ for true spiritual wealth – for all the spiritual blessings that flow from Christ. Laodicea had a textile industry specializing in black wool, but the church needed to look to Christ that they might be clothed in white garments – good deeds flowing from God’s grace. Laodicea was known as a medical center with a focus on the eyes, but the church needed to look to Christ that they might see themselves as God sees them.  Are we looking to Christ?

Christ’s counsel continues – moving to the first problem.  They must repent of their lukewarmness.  Though Jesus gags on their lukewarm condition, he still loves them.  He will not allow them to continue living in sin; he will lovingly discipline them.  They must repent – turn from their apathy and be zealous for him.  How?  They cannot do it on their own, they must again look to Christ.  He is knocking at the door of their hearts.  He wants to come in and fellowship with them.  In that fellowship, their hearts will be warmed that they might be zealous for Christ.  Do we need to repent?  Has our relationship with Christ grown distant?  Do we need to open the door again and draw near that we might again be zealous for Christ?

To those who overcome, he promises that we will reign with him.  May we hear what the Spirit says to us in these verses.

Fellowship with my Wood Stove

On By BrianIn Revival

Winter is quickly coming and with it comes the cold.  Soon my wood stove will be full of burning wood to keep our home warm.  The wood stove is in the living room.  My office is the farthest room away.  While the living room stays nice and warm, my office is more lukewarm – even chilly.  After an hour or two in my office, I often go out to the living room to fellowship with the wood stove.  I’ll stand next to it and let its warmth warm me.

The Christian life is much like this.  On our own, away from Jesus, we grow chilly.  No longer hot, on fire for Christ, we grow lukewarm, indifferent, apathetic.  Our greatest need is to fellowship with Jesus.  As we spend time with the Lord, he makes us hot again.  He gives us a hunger and desire for him.  He makes us fervent in spirit.  He fills us with passion for God and compassion for people.

Have you grown a bit chilly, kind of lukewarm? Is it time to draw near again that he might make you hot?

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).

“…you are lukewarm….Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:16-20)

Driftwood

On By BrianIn Revival1 Comment

This summer I picked up a piece of driftwood from the beach.  I wonder how long it was drifting in the water before it washed up on shore.  Was it days, weeks, months, that it drifted, carried along by the waves?  Once it was part of a tree.  It was growing.  It had a purpose.  But then somehow it broke off, fell in the water, and just drifted.

How easily we can be like a piece of driftwood.  Once we were walking in close fellowship with the Lord.  We were growing.  We lived with a purpose to serve the Lord.  But somewhere along the way, the close fellowship was broken and we started drifting.  Maybe all at once, probably a little bit at a time.  We drifted further and further away, carried along by the waves of our world.  For how long?

Thank God, there is a difference between us and a piece of driftwood.  The piece of wood can never become part of the tree again, but God invites us to stop drifting and return to him.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”  – James 4:8a

Amen.  May it be so.

The Great Exchange

On By BrianIn All About Love

Imagine that you are a begger dressed in dirty, filthy rags.  You work really hard, and after a long time you are able to buy a shirt.  You proudly put it over your rags, but the rags are still underneath, and you can still see the rags on your legs.  What is more, you note that your new shirt is stained with dirt; it is not as clean as you thought.

Then one day, the son of the king comes through town.  You hide in the crowds, but he picks you out, and tells you to come with him.  He casts your new shirt aside, and takes your rags.  To your surprise, he takes his clean robe and places it on you, as he puts your old rags on himself.  What you could not do by your own effort, he has done for you.  And the king welcomes you to his palace.

Dear reader – are you still in the rags of your sin or have you received the great exchange offered to you by Jesus, the King’s Son?  If you are still in your rags, Jesus offers this great exchange to you – he died to pay for your sins, and he offers you his perfect righteousness. Turn from your sins and trust in Jesus and he will give you a new life. If you have received this great exchange, no matter what you have done, you are pure and clean in his sight.

Have you not read:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” – Titus 3: 5a

“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” – Isaiah 64:6

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6

“For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” – Romans 3:21-22

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” – John 1:12

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” – Isaiah 1:18

Motions

On By BrianIn Heart, Revival

Why do we do what we do for God?  Is it from an all consuming passion for him?  Or are we just going through the motions?  Do we have a heart for God or is it just ritual?  Matthew West has a great song called “The Motions.”  The chorus is:

“I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions”

Check out the whole song here: The Motions

Ready To Go

On By BrianIn Heart1 Comment

Loss, heartaches, sickness, pain, disease, strife, trials, suffering – sometimes I look around and I’m just ready to go.  Ever feel that way?

Paul writes about this desire in II Corinthians 4:16-5:9.  He reminds us that the glory that is to come is so great that our current struggles are only slight in comparison.  That must be some glory!

He goes on to remind us that we will one day have glorified resurrected bodies.  Our current mortal bodies (our outer nature) are wasting away.  In our mortal bodies we groan.  But one day we will have resurrected bodies.  The mortal will be swallowed up by life – bodies that will not waste away, in which we will not groan.

Yet our resurrection awaits Christ’s return, so what about when we die before he returns? We get a clue from the cross.  Before he died, Jesus cries out to his Father – “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”  When Jesus died, his spirit went to be with the Father.  This is confirmed by his words to the thief on the cross next to him – “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  The body of Jesus would be buried, but his spirit would meet the spirit of the thief in paradise – with the Father.

So Paul writes that he wishes to be away from the body so he might be with the Lord.  While death is not good (being a result of sin and the Fall), on the other side of death is the beginning of glory when we will be with the Lord.  Paul is ready to go so he might be with the Lord.

Are we ready to go?  Not just to see the end of trials, but because we long with Paul to be with Jesus?  Are we that excited about Jesus?

Paul concludes by saying it his goal to please the Lord.  Until God calls us home, we should seek to please him, to live for him, to serve him.  Is that our goal in life?

Ready to go, and living for him until he calls us to himself.  May it be so.