Tag: Christianity

Saturday Strands

On By BrianIn Saturday Strands

Here are some loose strands to ponder:

What Makes Christian Prayer Christian? – Joel Beeke and Paul M. Smalley (Crossway)
We must confess our prayerless praying to God and plead for the renewal of our souls. Prayer is the thermometer of our souls. Let us then take practical steps toward prayerful praying.

Missiles and Moments of Clarity – Ryan Currie (TGC)
It’s strange how moments of crisis bring clarity. Each defensive burst clarifies realities I was already aware of but had hidden under the hum and drum of everyday life. These missiles provide moments of clarity into what’s most important.

Those Already Present and Those Who Have Not Yet Arrived – Tim Challies
As I heard the announcement, it occurred to me that when it comes to delays, there is a world of difference between those who are already seated on the plane and those who are still rushing to it.

No Life in God’s Service Is Wasted: Three Lessons from a Brief Ministry – Matt Rhodes (DG)
How will we invest our years, our wealth, our energy, our reputations, and our relationships? The choices we make in this short life show how fully we trust Jesus to give us everlasting life.

Flashback: Stand Firm In His Love
God offers us great compassion. Not just a little. Not just some. Not just the leftovers. God offers us great compassion.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping God with your local church!

For God’s Sake and Their Sake

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

Be kind for God’s sake. If you mistreat my son or daughter – who bears my image – you mistreat me. In the same way, if you mistreat a person – bearing God’s image – you mistreat God.

To hate someone is to hate God. To insult a person is to insult God. To ridicule a human being is to ridicule God. To mistreat an image-bearer of God is to mistreat God. How dare we treat people that way! How dare we treat God that way! Be kind for God’s sake.

Be kind for their sake. In Romans 2:4, Paul tells us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. Yes, we had to be convicted of our sins, but it was His kindness in Jesus that drew us to Him.

If what we dish out is judgment and hatred and anger, we will only turn people off from Jesus. A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down. You attract bees with honey not vinegar. We attract people to Christ not with our condemnation but with our kindness.

World has spades of hatred and anger and insults and ridicule, but we are called to be different. Let us be known as a kind people, so people want to know why we are so kind to them. And then we have opportunity to tell them about Jesus, who was and is so kind to us. Be kind for their sake.

How To Treat Others

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

God created us in His own image; therefore, we must not murder another person (Genesis 9:5-6). We can kill animals for food, but we must not kill a human being, because each one is made in God’s image.

John equates murder and hate – to hate your brother is to murder him in your heart (I John 3:15). Jesus connects murder to anger – anger towards another that lashes out or simmers into bitterness. Jesus also ties insults to murder. And Jesus ties ridicule – you fool! – to murder (Matthew 5:21-22). By John’s and Jesus’ definition most of our politicians are murderers. And so are we – murderers in our hearts and with our words.

And this is not how we are to treat each other made in God’s image. Rather:

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV)

Instead of insults and ridicule, we are to speak with kindness. Instead of anger and hate, we are to show tenderheartedness and forgiveness. Instead of hate, anger, insults, and ridicule, we are to treat image-bearers of God with dignity and kindness. Imagine how living like this could heal our families, heal our nation, and heal our world – if we just treat each other with the dignity and kindness that each person deserves as an image-bearer of God.

Regardless. No exceptions. There is no situation that justifies not treating each other with kindness and dignity. There is no situation that justifies treating someone like an animal, like garbage – with hate, anger, insults, or ridicule. No matter how others treat us, God calls us to treat them with dignity and kindness. Regardless.

False Desires

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

In Christ, we become new creations, called and able to reject false desires. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
(II Corinthians 5:17)

In Christ, God has made you new.  Your old sinful way of life is gone.  You have a new life in Christ, so you don’t have to follow false and deceptive desires.  His Holy Spirit enables you to reject fleshly desires (Galatians 5:16).  His grace trains you to reject worldly passions and live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life (Titus 2:11-12).  In Christ, you can overcome.

Indeed, He calls and enables all of us to reject deceptive desires like lust, coveting, greed, gluttony, and selfishness.  He calls and enables all of us to reject false feelings of hopelessness, despair, and worry.  He calls and enables all of us to reject wrong self-perceptions of superiority, self-righteousness, and worthlessness. 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
(Romans 12:2)

Instead of conforming to the false desires of our world, we are to renew our minds with God’s truth that we might discern what is good and follow that. 

Rejecting false desires isn’t easy.  God never said it would be.  Indeed He tells us that it is a war:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
(I Peter 2:11)

These false desires are at war with you to destroy you.  We must fight.  But God not only calls us, but also enables us, to reject false desires.  May we live in His strength!

Jesus Is Coming

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

The Old Testament was filled with promises in great detail about the coming of Jesus, and He came just as was promised. The New Testament is filled with promises of the return of Jesus, and we believe that Jesus is coming again just as was promised. We are “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

And Jesus is coming again to bring forth the final fulfillment of God’s Kingdom. In the Gospels, Jesus declared that the kingdom of God was at hand. Jesus the King has come, and He cast out demons and healed the sick and raised the dead and multiplied food and calmed the storm to show what His kingdom would one day be like. Satan will be defeated, and there will be no more sickness or death or lack or destructive chaos. And He died on the cross for our sins and rose again to make for Himself a people, His subjects, who will turn from their sin & believe in Him, and begin to follow Him.

One day the King is coming again, and He will bring about the final fulfillment of the Kingdom. He will bring peace and justice and righteousness forever (Isaiah 9:7). He will set up His throne on the New Earth, and He will bring forth His kingdom filled with life and healing and light. There will be no more darkness, and nothing accursed. And His people will be forever in presence of the Lord (Revelation 22:1-6).

So let us carefully prepare for His return. Too many people don’t prepare, don’t even think about being ready for His return. They have no interest in Jesus, no interest in the salvation He offers. But if there is even a chance that what we are saying is true, shouldn’t you carefully explore it? If your eternal destiny rests on what you do with Jesus, shouldn’t you consider it? Jesus might return today. You could die today. Turn from your sin and trust in Him today. Carefully prepare for His return.

He is coming. Are you ready?

And if you are, rest in the amazing certain hope that you have in Him!

Remember

On By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are designed to picture and so remind us of Christ’s saving work for us.

Baptism pictures and reminds us of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and how in Him we have spiritually died and been buried to our old sinful way of life and been raised to a new life with Him (Romans 6:3-4).  Baptism also pictures and reminds us that in Christ our sins are washed away (Acts 22:16).

The Lord’s Supper pictures the broken body and shed blood of our Savior, which we are specifically told to remember (I Corinthians 11:23-25).  The same passage also reminds us that the cup is the New Covenant in His blood – it pictures our new relationship with God made possible through Christ in which are sins are forgiven and His Word is written on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10-12). 

And so both baptism and the Lord’s Supper picture and remind us of Christ’s sacrifice, and how in Him our sins are forgiven and we are now able to follow Him. 

So let us remember and rejoice.  I tell people when I prepare them for baptism, that it is a celebration.

Sometimes we talk about celebrating Lord’s Supper, because it should be a celebration.  As we remember Christ’s saving work for us, how could we not celebrate?  As we consider forgiveness of sins and a new life in Christ, how could we not rejoice?  Remember and rejoice!

Let us also remember and rest.  And in two ways: rest in Christ’s love and rest in His finished work.

First, rest in Christ’s love that brought Him to the cross to die for your salvation.  Everyone is looking for love, and as Christians we have found an undying, unselfish, unending, amazing love.  No matter what others think of you, no matter how they may reject you or mistreat you or ignore you, the God of universe, your Creator and Savior, loves you and will not reject or mistreat or ignore you.  As we witness a baptism or gather for the Lord’s Supper, we remember His saving work for us and rest in His love.

Second, rest in Christ’s finished work.  Jesus died and rose again to cleanse you of all your sins.  In Christ, you are clean.  There is nothing you have to do but believe.  It is not of works, so no one can boast.  No penance, no earning, no striving – just rest in His finished work.  Again, He died and rose again to change you, to give you a new life – something you could not do on your own.  You cannot fix yourself.  He has already done it – just rest in His finished work.  As we witness a baptism or gather for Lord’s Supper, we remember His saving work for us.  It is finished, so we can rest.

As you witness a baptism or gather around Christ’s table, remember His saving work for you.  And as you remember, rejoice and rest.