Flashback Friday – The Gospel is My Redo Button

Have you ever wished for a redo button? Have you ever had a day that started off so completely on the wrong foot that you wish you could just push a button and start over?

You woke up tired because you didn’t get enough sleep the night before, or the night before that, or the one before that! The stresses of the upcoming day are already pressing down on you. You are grumpy. The kids are running around wild. Not listening. Again. And then your sin rears its ugly head and you blow up. At the kids. At your husband. At anyone within sounding distance.

That was my Monday morning. And there I was, trying to pick out my clothes so I could take my shower, and all I could do was cry in my closet. I already hated how things were going, and it wasn’t even 9 a.m. I hated my tiredness. I hated my grumpiness. I hated how I had sinned again by lashing out in anger (a sin I am constantly fighting). And I wished I could just back up the clock and start all over again. All of this is exactly what I told my husband when he found me in a heap of tears on the bed—“I just wish I had a redo button.”

As he sat there patiently and gently consoling me, he said, “The gospel is your redo button. You can’t go back and undo all the things that have already happened this morning, but you can start again right now because of the gospel. You have already been forgiven and so you can move on. The rest of your day doesn’t have to be determined by how your morning went.” (I am paraphrasing, of course, because he said it even better than that.)

If that doesn’t make a lick of sense to you, this is what it means: When Christ came to earth as a man over 2,000 years ago, he lived a perfect life for you. He was never grumpy to anyone on a Monday morning and never lashed out in unrighteous anger. In fact, he lived all of his Monday mornings perfectly (and every other day too) because he knew that we couldn’t. When he died on the cross, he took all of the wrath and curse that our sins deserve on himself, and paid our sin penalty in full, because he already knew about all of our Mondays, and he still loved us and wanted us as his own.

He knew that the only way we could be in his presence for eternity was by taking our sins upon himself and giving us his perfect life in return. If you have trusted in Christ and what he did on the cross for you as your only means of rescuing from the punishment your slew of heinous Monday mornings (and every other day) deserves, then the gospel is your redo button.

When you sin, you know it has already been paid for. And while that doesn’t give us liberty to sin with abandon (because who would really want to do that to the One who rescued them from hell with his own life, anyway?), it does mean that you can ask for forgiveness and rest assured that there is no guilt or condemnation reserved for you (Romans 8:1-4). And if the Creator and Judge of the universe does not condemn you, then you can go on with the rest of your day from a new starting point. This is God’s grace to us! This is how the gospel applies to our everyday lives! Praise the Lord for his great loving-kindness!

I am always thankful for the gospel, and I was particularly thankful for it this Monday morning. I pray that the next time you or I have a Monday (or any day) like this, we will ask God to help us see how his glorious gospel applies to our life. And if you think it doesn’t apply to you, then I ask you to consider the free and undeserved gift of salvation for sinners that God offers through his Son, Jesus Christ, that covers and pays for a multitude of Mondays as far as eternity.

Flashback Friday – What About God?

Quick! Name the first person you would go to when you need to talk about your day. What about when you’ve got the flu? Or when your car breaks down? Typical answers are: best friend, doctor, mechanic. These are not necessarily wrong answers, but what about God? Do we seek his counsel first, or is he the runner-up?

Let’s compare two kings in the Old Testament: King Asa (2 Chronicles 16) and King Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20).

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:7, 9)

In 2 Chronicles 16, King Asa has a conflict with the king of Israel, so he pays the king of Syria (with money from the temple and his own house) to break his covenant with the king of Israel and back him up instead. And for a time, it worked. But because Asa did not seek the Lord, and instead relied on his own cunning and human kings, he is told by a messenger of the Lord that he will always be at war. Even later in life, when king Asa has a severe disease in his feet, Scripture tells us that “he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians” (2 Chronicles 16:12).

In contrast, Asa’s son, Jehoshaphat, walked in the ways of king David and “his heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 17:6). King Jehoshaphat made it a pattern in his life to seek the Lord before he acted (2 Chronicles 18:4, 31). In 2 Chronicles 20, a mass of armies came up against him in battle, and we can clearly see his resolve to seek the Lord first and foremost.

Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. (2 Chronicles 20:3-4)

He opens his prayer by ascribing glory to God (v. 6), and then, in complete humility and dependence, prays, “For we are powerless . . . We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12). And because he humbled himself to seek the Lord before he did anything else, the Lord fights for them and delivers their enemies into their hands without them even having to lift a finger (2 Chronicles 20:15-17).

The contrast between Asa and Jehoshaphat is stark and serves as a reminder for us. We need to remember to seek the Lord first in all that we do, even before we seek out practical help from man. How often do we turn to man’s accepted way of fixing things without asking God for help? How often do we immediately jump in with both feet and try to take matters into our own hands? Like calling the doctor when we are sick, or a plumber when we have a pipe problem, or texting our spouse or a friend when we have a bad day. I’m not saying those are bad resources (in fact, I believe their skills and gifts are God-given for the benefit of others). But do we stop to pray first and then pick up the phone? Far too often we seek the help of man without even consulting God—or we ask him as an afterthought once we think we have it under control or we already have a plan in place. But his Word says to come to him first.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and [then] all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, emphasis added).

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and [then] he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4, emphasis added).

“In all your ways acknowledge him, and [then] he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:6, emphasis added).

Let us offer our prayers to him before all else. He is the One in heaven, ruling over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in whose hand is power and might surpassing all others so that none can stay his hand. If we seek him before all else, we will have no lack, for those who seek the Lord lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10).

Lord, please help me to seek you first and acknowledge my need to You before I turn to man, or to modern conventions and conveniences. Help me to do this in all things; from the decisions I need to make, to times of trouble or crisis, or even when I just feel sad and lonely. Thank You that You are always there when we call.

Flashback Friday – How Does Your Garden Grow?

It’s too nice of a day to stay indoors! The flowers that the kids and I planted are doing great, but so are the weeds! So on this beautiful day, I took the opportunity to clear out the flower beds.

Whenever I am weeding, I am always reminded of how our spiritual life is like a flower bed or a garden. If we do not tend to it, weeds start to spring up. Let it go for a few days, and you may only have a few tiny sprouts. It’s nothing, right? I’ll take care of it tomorrow, we tell ourselves. Sin always starts small and seemingly harmless. But let it go unchecked for a little while, and now you’ve got big trouble! What seemed like not such a big deal is now firmly rooted and harder to dig out. We must be constantly on the alert about what we are letting grow in the garden of our hearts.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Our hearts are the center of everything in our lives. They are like the spiritual hub that all of our “networks” flow from—or to use the garden analogy, the soil that everything takes root in and grows. Good, well-tended soil, will produce good things; bad, untended soil will produce bad things.

Luke 6:45 says,“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

While what is inside of us controls what comes out of us (Matt. 15:10-20), it can also work inversely; that which we take in affects the condition of our soil/hearts. If you’ve ever heard the saying, “Garbage in, garbage out,” there is definitely biblical truth to that maxim. The Scripture talks about not putting worthless things before our eyes (Psalm 119:37). While a “good” heart can only be created by the supernatural work of God through the act of salvation—turning sinners into a new creation with a new heart—we must still be careful about what we put into our hearts. What we read, watch, listen to, look at, and the influences in our lives matter. We must be diligent to nourish our soil with things that will cause healthy growth. We must also do maintenance on the garden of our hearts, being on the lookout for anything we may have let slip by—weeds that are starting to sprout up—and then use the necessary means/tools to remove them.

We can keep watch over our hearts, nourish them, and root out weeds in a few ways:

1) Daily being in God’s Word

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word”(Psalm 119:9).

This is simple and straightforward; we use the Word of God to guard our hearts, or to “hedge us in,” if you will. Daily intake of his Word will keep our hearts on the straight and narrow path, guarding us from turning to the right or to the left (Proverbs 4:27).

Similarly, 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

The Greek word used for sober is sophron, which literally means sound or healthy. A sober or sound mind comes from keeping our minds saturated in the Word of God so that it serves as our compass for life, always pointing us “true north.”

2) Being watchful in prayer

In the famous passage on the Armor of God, we are given a list of things that will help us “stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). We put much stock in the items that correlate to a physical piece of armor, but often take little notice of the last admonition that says “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). Prayer is another offensive weapon (along with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God) in our arsenal against sin, so we must use it at all times if we want to guard the battle soil of our hearts.

Another way we can search out “weeds” in our hearts is to ask God through prayer to point out any sins in our lives that we are not aware of, as David did in the Psalms. Our prayer could be one similar to his: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24).

3) Being in close enough fellowship with other believers that they can be “weed” inspectors in our lives

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:12-13).

Sin is deceptive. Sometimes it creeps in unnoticed. Other times it disguises itself. Sometimes we try to convince ourselves that it’s not a big deal, or no one will know, or we can stop when we want to. Other times, we are in flat out denial or rebellion. This passage calls us to “take care,” watching over our hearts so that we do not become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. But we are not called to do this in isolation. We are told to “exhort one another.” God knows we are not always good or honest at inspecting our own hearts, so he gives us the Body of believers to help us. This means we need to be around the Body frequently and transparently so they can be a tool in our garden bag for identifying and removing sin in our lives, and we can be the same for them. While we are supposed to do our due diligence to examine ourselves first (Matthew 7:3-4; 2 Corinthians 13:5), we are also there to help our brothers and sisters in Christ (Matthew 7:5).

I am so thankful God has provided these means, along with the enabling power of the Holy Spirit inside of us, to tend to our spiritual garden. Let us take every care to keep watch over our garden, asking God to lead us away from temptation and deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13), to keep us back from presumptuous sin (Psalm 19:13), and to use his Word to illuminate the soil of our hearts (Psalm 119:105). And when we do give into temptation and end up sinning, let us be diligent to cut it out immediately at the root so that our once beautiful flower bed does not become an overgrown tangle of weeds.

Room for Doubt

A woman wept alone in her hotel room—a crumpled heap in the middle of the bed, only able to grip the sheets in agony. Each tear assaulted her like a tidal wave of doubt. Her face contorted from crying out as she faced her dilemma: she had been following Christ for many years now, but wondered if someone could be truly saved who had just sinned as grievously and for as long as she had.

Perhaps we have faced a similar crisis—some situation or sin in our lives causes us to be at a crossroads of whether we truly know the Lord or not. So what should we do when we doubt our salvation?

Some people tell you to write the date in the front of your Bible that you prayed a prayer of salvation, or walked an aisle during an invitation, or got baptized. Then if you ever doubt your salvation, those people tell you to open your Bible, look at the date, and be at peace because that one event in your life proves you are a Christian.

This is heresy of the greatest kind and actually harmful to people because it can leave them stuck on the road to eternal torment and punishment for their sins in hell.

It is good to remember the day of your salvation and be thankful for the grace given to you when God began a good work in your life. But the Bible never tells us to look to a date for assurance. If we are dependent on a moment for our salvation rather than currently looking to the crucified Savior, then we may have good reason to doubt our position before God. The true evidence of genuine saving faith is not in a one moment event but rather in a current examination of our lives.

Jesus says that the one who truly believes will demonstrate their faith by a life that bears fruit (Mark 4:20). He is not talking about apples and oranges here. However, just as the outward produce of an apple tree is a sign that it really is an apple tree, a Christian’s life will display evidence that instills confidence of being the genuine article. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8).

In fact, Paul tells the Corinthian church they should search for this evidence in their lives: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Moments of doubt can actually be a good thing if we use them to look for signs that we are “walk[ing] by the Spirit, and . . . not gratify[ing] the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

If we are walking according to the flesh, Paul says it will be evident. Our lives will be marked by “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19–21). The warning is that if our lives line up more with these things, then we can have no confidence that we will “inherit the kingdom of God.”

On the contrary, the Christian’s life will be marked by “the fruit of the Spirit” which “is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). If we truly “belong to Christ Jesus” we will “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).

This is huge. In our moments of doubt, our response to our sin plays a pivotal factor in our assurance. Are we bearing fruit by keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8)? That is, when we sin, is our conscience pricked and grieved over our offense against God, causing us to despise and reject our sin and turn once again to Christ for forgiveness? Are we willing to forsake our sin in order to gain Christ? Are we daily asking the Spirit to help us obey God and not give into temptation? Or is our sin not a big deal to us?

If the latter is the case, then there is much room for doubt that we truly know the Lord.

When we come up against a “crisis of faith” (questioning if we are truly saved or not), it is a cause for alarm, but not the kind you might think. We do not need to be alarmed that the very act of doubting our salvation will send us to hell. The crime is not in the questioning. Rather, the crisis moment causes an alarm to go off in us, alerting us to the danger of sin.

The Christian’s alarm may be caused by a grievous sin they have allowed to go on in their life without repentance. Now the Spirit is alerting them to the grave danger they are in if they do not flee from it and turn back to Christ.

The non-Christian may be alerted to their sin for the very first time and experience a critical juncture in their life—to repent of their sins and turn to Christ for salvation, or to ignore their current distress and continue living as before.

Doubting brings us to a place where we can receive grace—either the grace of assurance or the grace to repent and believe.

The Christian can gain assurance they belong to God, not by turning to the date written in their Bible and brushing away any nagging conviction of sin, but by repenting of their sin and continuing to follow Jesus. Doubt can bring a non-Christian to the realization that they never knew Christ as their Savior, therefore giving them the chance to call on his name and be saved. Both must look to Christ, and not to themselves, to provide relief from their burden of sin and doubt.

Do not fear those times when doubt creeps in. Do not ignore those moments that nag your conscience. Rather, do honestly examine yourself. Do forsake your sin. Do call to the Lord to save you, and then do cling to Christ in assurance that he promises he will save everyone who calls upon his name (Romans 10:13).

The previous blog was originally published at https://lifeword.org/blog/no-room-for-doubt/

Flashback Friday – The Weirdo, the Fear, and the Church

Be weird.

Be random.

Be who you are.

Because you never know

who would love the person you hide.

– C. S. Lewis

 

A friend posted this on social media, and I have to admit this is a huge struggle for me! It is hard for me to be myself around others. What will they think? Will they like me? We all wonder what other people think of us; whether the person they perceive is the same as the one we see in the mirror. I believe that is normal, a part of us navigating our humanity. But I also believe that underneath, there are some fears and truths that need to be examined.

The Weirdo

A church friend and I were discussing various essential oils that help with sleep and relaxation. There is one oil in particular that gives me really strange dreams when I diffuse it at night. She wondered if I was talking about nightmares. I tried to explain they weren’t bad dreams so much as really messed up ones—like I was tripping on acid or something.

Freeze.

As I was having this conversation with her, I was internally weighing whether or not I should say the part about the acid and what she may think if I did. As I pondered her possible reactions, I came up with at least three in those few nanoseconds of thought:

1) She may think I am a horrible example of a Christian because I know, and proficiently use, drug references in everyday speech.

2) I must know drug references because, either:

a) I have experience with drug use in the past and am currently in recovery, or

b) I am currently doing drugs.

In reality, I have no personal experience with drugs whatsoever, so these thoughts may seem unreasonable, extreme, or even comical, but they’re legit. Heck, I’m even afraid to let certain people know that I burn incense while listening to Dave Matthews Band. (I am even worried about what you might be thinking right now because I just used the word heck.)

Every time I talk to someone, I am constantly trying to monitor, filter, edit, and mold myself into what I think that person would find acceptable. Like, What is their “normal”? and, If I say this or do that, am I going to fit into the realm of what they can handle without giving them any strange vibes or setting off their internal “weirdo” alarm? (And yes, I am having this dialogue with myself at the same time I am interacting with people. And yes, I’m afraid you are judging me for it.)

The Fear

What am I afraid of in situations like these? I’m afraid if I am truly myself, that people will not like me—that if my way of saying and doing things doesn’t jive with the way they would say and do things, they won’t want to be around me. I have to remind myself that God made me who I am, idiosyncrasies and all.

Taking into account that the Christian should always be changing from one degree of glory to another and growing in sanctification (Christlike-ness), there is still an element of us that is going to remain uniquely us, the special person God made you to be. There isn’t another person just like you. He gave us varying spiritual gifts for the edification of the Body, but he also gave us varying personalities and quirks. These are not a result of the Fall (like when the dude at Walmart is a jerk and says it’s just his “personality”). These are the eccentricities that God in his goodness ordained to display his glory through the creativity it took to make each person unique among the billions.

What this means in practical terms is that I am never going to stop being the introvert who is way better at writing my thoughts than speaking them, who could contentedly spend an entire day not seeing or speaking to another living soul, but who lights up when teaching a women’s Bible study or performing on stage. I will never stop being the girl who could spend hours in a craft store because the endless color and pattern possibilities excite me, who could hike all day in the peacefulness of the woods, or who is snarky and makes occasional drug references in everyday conversation. (Okay . . . I really don’t talk about drugs that much!)

It means my husband is never going to stop being the quiet, nerdy, shy guy in person with a no-holds-barred personality on stage, who loves sports, history, and pestering people with old man jokes, and who can’t teach without a whiteboard.

It means my friend Terry is never going to stop being the goofy guy who has way too many books, fountain pens, song references and dad jokes, who is a self-proclaimed introvert but can strike up a meaningful, friendly conversation with anybody over his handlebar mustache.

It means my friend Shannon is never going to stop being the girl who you can trust to tell it like it is, gets eerily excited about dissecting things, is hyper-Type A organized, and can’t stand the salt and pepper shakers to be off-center on the table. (No, I mean, she really can’t stand it. Like, it’s a thing. It has to be fixed. Immediately.)

When God formed us in the womb, he had all of our oddities planned out for his glory and good purposes (even the weird salt shaker thing). So we do not have to fear being ourselves! Our differences are good!

The Church

Another essential aspect that needs to be considered is my location. Where was I when I was having this acid-tripping, essential oil conversation? The church. The church is supposed to be the most welcoming place on earth because it is made up of believers who are the embodiment of Christ. We should represent the fact that all who are in Christ are welcome and accepted into the Father’s presence becauseof Christ. And all who are seeking truth should be welcomed because they are image bearers of the living God, like all of humankind. But sadly, the church is too often the place where we feel the least welcome and accepted. Often, it is the hardest place to be ourselves.

Before Christ, we were all equally sinners standing before a holy God, and none of us could make ourselves acceptable in his sight. When we are in Christ, the just debt for our sins has already been paid by Christ (we have no room to boast), so we are all on level playing ground. Before Christ, our sin was the great equalizer; in Christ, his blood is the great equalizer. We all need it for our covering.

In Christ, there is neither Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, but we are all one. So churches should be welcoming to everyone, not just people “like us.” When done right, the church is the one place where people from all walks of life, ages, genders, socioeconomic statuses, ethnicities, music preferences, fashion styles, interests and hobbies can come together and like each other. The church should be the place where people who wouldn’t normally hang out together come and love each other because their lives share a common theme—redemption. They love and accept each other because they have been loved and accepted by the Savior.

Conclusion

So while I need to filter everything I say through the Word (is it helpful, edifying, truthful, not slanderous, does it give grace to those who hear, etc.?), I am free to be myself and say quirky things that come to mind. As long as I am not giving license to my “old self,” the body of sin which was crucified with Christ and brought to nothing so that it might no longer enslave me (Rom. 6:6), I am free to be the person I have been made to be (Eph. 4:24).

If you are a part of the church, how are you doing at loving that unconventional person who isn’t exactly your cup of tea? Who knows? You may not be theirs either. Maybe we won’t be BFFs with everyone we talk to, and that’s okay. But we can love each other and even have cordial (dare I say, uplifting?) conversations because we were both called to the same body—Christ’s.

So don’t be afraid to be the genuine, exceptional person God made you to be just because someone doesn’t “get” you. Be yourself. You never know who may need the blessings your personality brings.

Flashback Friday – Weddings in Winter

There are not many weddings in winter. In fact, June is famously known as the “wedding month,” with the highest percentage of couples getting hitched. The winter months typically have the fewest amount of weddings, with January being the lowest. If you really want to shock people, send out a Save the Date card with a January time stamp and they’ll say, “Who gets married in January?” In most climates, winter is cold, the flowers are dead (except from your local florist), and no one is expecting a wedding in winter.

The Bible also talks about a wedding that will come when we least expect it. Revelation calls it the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Revelation 19:7-9)

Jesus told his disciples that he would be returning for them so that they could be with him in heaven (John 14:3). Angels confirmed to the apostles that Jesus would be coming back in the same way they saw him leave, in a cloud (Acts 1:10-11). The apostle John received a special revelation from God that concluded with a message that Christ would be coming again soon (Revelation 22:12).

But God’s Word says Christ will come when we least expect it, when we are not looking for it. Many will not be ready because they are too busy enjoying the pleasures of this life, just as the people in Noah’s day didn’t expect a worldwide flood to come until it was too late! This is because no one except God the Father knows the day or the hour that Jesus will return, not even the angels or Jesus himself (Matthew 24:36-39)!

The most prestigious of all weddings has no Save the Date warning.

However, those who are children of God (those who have repented of their sins and put their faith in Christ as their only Savior from those sins) will not be totally shocked at its coming (1 Thessalonians 5:4). We may not know the exact time Jesus will return, but we know what to look for because the Bible describes it for us. We are told to stay awake and watchful. Not that we should literally never close our eyes to get some sleep, but that we should be preparing ourselves for that unexpected hour.

I recently returned from a trip to the Chicago area for my brother-in-law’s wedding. They seemed to get hitched without a hitch! The total wedding planning time took about a year and a half. It was a DIY style wedding and reception, so the bride arose extra early to get her hair and makeup done so she could then set up her own flowers, table decor, and place settings. Whew! That makes me tired and stressed just thinking about it!

Her preparations looked flawless. Soft white lights strung across the ceiling contrasted the rough wooden rafters and exposed brick walls of the venue, giving the room a warm, romantic glow. Elegant white rose petals lined the floor on either side of the aisle. The guest tables had beautiful and intricate place settings. The bride herself was stunning yet simplistic with her soft updo, off-white, satin sweetheart dress with white Chuck Taylor’s underneath (what else?). While everything looked seamless, I know how much work she put into her special day.

And we should do the same. But our groom is not just a man, he is the perfect Son of God.

The Bible often refers to the return of Christ as “the day of the Lord.” And since we have been told that it is coming, the apostle Peter asks what sort of lives we ought to be living (2 Peter 3:8-12). Those who have faith in Christ as their Savior should be living lives of holiness and godliness, turning away from sinful desires and worldly pleasures (Titus 2:11-13). With even more thought, detail, and intention than a bride puts into her wedding day, we should be diligently making ourselves ready to be found without spot or blemish for our perfect Groom. And God’s Word promises that we do not have to do this alone! As we strive toward holiness, it is God who is at work in us, and at his coming he will make our garments spotless white (Philippians 2:12-13; Ephesians 5:25-27).

Those who have not turned from their sins and trusted in Christ for salvation also need to be on the alert for this future wedding day. But instead of a lavish wedding dinner with the Bride-groom, Scripture paints a different picture of the wedding scene for them. In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells a story about guests at a wedding feast. As the king comes to meet them, he finds one man lacking proper wedding attire. The king instructs his attendants to “bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13). This may sound harsh just for wearing the wrong outfit, but for those who want to enter the marriage supper of the Lamb, your garments must be washed and made white by the blood of the Lamb himself. This means you must turn from your sin and place your trust in the payment that Christ made on the cross of his own blood for your behalf. He paid the just penalty for your sin so that you do not have to. He took your dirty, torn garments on himself, and gives you his spotless robe of righteousness earned by his perfectly obedient life. If by God’s grace you place your faith in him, then you will be properly adorned for the greatest wedding of all time. Then you will be able to say like Isaiah:

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

Where Will You Dwell?

Planning summer vacations can be so much fun! There are endless possibilities stretched before you: where you will go, what you will do, what food you will eat, and don’t forget—where you will stay!

Many people consider going camping, because with a simple tent setup (which oftentimes isn’t that simple), you can stay just about anywhere very inexpensively! My friends recently convinced me of this camping novelty as we planned a trip for my 40th birthday.

In the Psalms, we see two very different pictures of people setting up tents:

Their graves are their homes forever,
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they called lands by their own names.
Man in his pomp will not remain;
he is like the beasts that perish. (Psalms 49:11–12)

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (Psalms 90:1–2)

The Hebrew word for “dwelling place” in Psalm 49 means tabernacle, or, quite literally, tent. It was most frequently used to talk about the tabernacle, or tent, where God dwelled among his people in the Old Testament.

So in essence, we have two camps set before us in these psalms: the camp of death and the camp of life.

The first camp is a place of self-sufficiency. The people who live here try to make a name for themselves—and it even seems they are successful! They name lands after themselves. Psalm 49 says they “count themselves blessed,” “boast in the abundance of their riches,” and “the glory of [their] house increases.”

That way of living certainly sounds appealing and carefree!

The problem with it, however, is where they are placing their trust. The psalm goes on to say they “trust in their wealth” and “have foolish confidence.” These people are trusting in what they have accomplished to save them and boasting in themselves. But none of the glory they have built will go with them when they die; they will be able to take none of their wealth with them.

Even if for some reason they could take their money with them, the psalmist says that no man can “give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should go on forever and never see the pit” (Psalm 49:7–9). The end of choosing to dwell in this camp only leads to unending death. No human achievements can ever earn our way out of this predicament.

The second camp, however, is a camp of life. The people in the second camp choose to dwell with God, the One who made the lands the people are naming after themselves, who existed before he ever created them, and who will exist forever! These people realize the price for their life is costly; they know God’s wrath is justly on them for their sins (Psalm 90:7–11).

Yet by God’s grace, they also realize God is the only one who can “ransom [their] soul from the power of Sheol” (Psalm 49:15)! Instead of foolishly boasting in themselves and the works of their hands, they ask God to bestow favor on them—that he would establish the works of their hands (Psalm 90:17). Instead of being satisfied in all they have achieved, they ask to be satisfied with God’s steadfast love (Psalm 90:14).

The Israelites in Moses’ day had this same choice put before them. Before Moses was to die (the same man who wrote Psalm 90), God gave him the task of communicating the blessings they would receive if they obeyed God’s commandments, and the curses they would incur for disobeying God’s commandments. They had to choose—following God meant life; following their own way meant death.

Moses said:

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days,” (Deuteronomy 30:19–20).

We have the same choice today. In which camp will you choose to dwell?

The previous blog was originally published at https://lifeword.org/blog/where-will-you-dwell/

Flashback Friday – 4 Practical Lessons from Job’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Have you ever had a day that goes something like this:

You are trying to leave for work and the car won’t start despite your efforts to jump it. Great, you probably need a new battery (or worse!) and the bank account is already low. Next, you get a phone call from a loved one saying they’ve just been diagnosed with a severe illness. That afternoon, you receive a large, unexpected bill in the mail and you wonder how you’re ever going to pay it. Then for the cherry on top, you get a scathing message from a friend (or so you thought) about something you did last week that offended them. Now your relationship is in conflict but you don’t know when you will have the time or be in the right frame of mind to to deal with it.

I am a homeschooling mom of 7 (10 years old and under) so for me, that kind of a day would look something like this:

I am trying to start school after an already stressful, late start to the day and pulling teeth to get the kids to finish their chores. From the other room, I hear two of my kids screaming and yelling at each other and then the inevitable, “Mommy, he HIT me!” wail. As I go to extinguish that fire, I hear a panicked cry from the hallway, only to discover that my three year old has pooped in her pants. As I hastily make the two fighters sit somewhere to wait for my return, the baby (who is now crawling and cruising) starts screaming because he bonked his head on the coffee table and also needs a nap. Meanwhile, another child is getting frustrated in the schoolroom because she’s stuck on a problem, and I’m not available to help. And in the back of my mind, I know I don’t have anything planned for dinner yet.

On these days, I almost (and sometimes do) break down and wonder if one more thing could be added to my plate or go wrong. I wonder why God is doing this to me. Subconsciously, I am questioning the goodness and fairness of his decision.

As I began reading the book of Job again, the brick piling effect of what happened in his life in chapter one started to feel all too familiar. My mind started relating, Oh my goodness! This is just like one of those days I’ve had where it’s just one thing after another!

Let’s take a look at what happened to Job:

Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” Job 1:13-19

In reality, the problems I described about my day are nothing compared to what Job went through. Nor are the problems in the first scenario. Nobody died and your whole livelihood wasn’t lost in a moment (although there may be times that we are faced with such devastating news). Nonetheless, these problems are real. They may only be for a day, a week, or sometimes for a whole season, but we must face them.

So what lessons can we take away from Job’s response to his crisis? Remember, the Bible is not just a book of old stories; it is true and it has application for our lives today.

Let’s take a look at Job’s response:

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Job 1:20-22

Here are four lessons we can take away from Job on our own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days:

1) It’s okay to mourn

It’s okay to grieve over a devastating or heartbreaking loss. It’s okay to acknowledge that this is a stressful situation or that it feels like it’s more than we can bear. We don’t have to slap a smile on and pretend everything is alright, nor should we.

In verse 20, Job “tore his robe and shaved his head.” In his time and culture, doing so was a sign that you were in mourning. We know this is an acceptable response because verse 22 says that “in all this Job did not sin.” His mourning was not a self-focused pity party or angsty sulking. He had emotions, and he displayed them in a way that was appropriate to his situation. We too were created with real emotions, and it’s okay to show them as long as it’s not a sinful expression.

2) Worship God in all circumstances

Worship may be the last thing we feel like doing when we’re going through a hard time. But the Bible repeats this idea of praise, even during the storm, when it says things like:

“Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16).

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1).

It doesn’t say “rejoice sometimes,” or “bless the Lord only when you’re having a great day”; it says always and at all times.

We can follow Job’s example that, although he was in mourning, he falls down on the ground and worships.

But why should we worship? The answer to that is next.

3) Trust the sovereignty and goodness of God

The Bible tells us that God is in the heavens and does all that he pleases, that he will accomplish all his holy will, and that nothing can stay his hand (Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:8-11; Daniel 4:34-35).

The Bible also tells us that God is good and loving and just.

So how does that help us to worship?

When we understand that God is in control over everything and that he is also good (not some tyrannical being with all power) it makes a difficult pill easier to swallow. We can trust that whatever our day holds is exactly what God had planned for us that day. We may have had our own plans but God directs our steps (Proverbs 16:9). He knows exactly what we need to go through, even if it is a trial, and his ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). We can trust that God has our best interests in mind (which also happens to be him receiving glory) and that he has the power to accomplish it through our circumstances.

Nothing in our life is meaningless. There is no situation without point or purpose. All of the pieces to the puzzle of our lives are orchestrated by a sovereign, good God to either draw us to himself (Acts 17:26-27) or to sanctify us (make us more like his perfect Son, Jesus, and less like our old sinful selves) (Romans 8:28-29; 1 Thess. 4:3). And all of this brings him glory.

Job acknowledged that everything he had was from God, and everything he lost was a part of God’s good and perfect plan. There is no “Plan B” with God.

4) Don’t blame God

This may seem like a contradictory statement after acknowledging that God is in control of everything, but the Bible is clear that God cannot do any evil or wrong.

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

“The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works” (Psalm 145:17).

“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you” (Psalm 5:4).

“For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45).

These verses are just the tip of the iceberg on God’s holiness. Since the Bible is clear about both the sovereignty of God and the holiness of God, and the Bible never contradicts itself, we must reconcile these things in our minds.

Evil entered the world through our first parents’ (Adam and Eve) choice, which resulted in the breakdown of everything good that God had created (Romans 5:12).

Everything in creation was affected by that choice. We now live in a broken world. Things don’t function the way they were designed to. People still make sinful choices. But God still uses evil for good (Genesis 50:20), and none of God’s good purposes can be thwarted (Job 42:2).

And so just like Job, we can face all kinds of difficult, and even painful, circumstances and not accuse God of any kind of wrongdoing, evil, or ill-will towards us. Just like Job, we can say “blessed be the name of the Lord!”

Flashback Friday – The Whole Gospel: Why Propitiation Matters

Ever heard a gospel presentation that went something like this:

“We are sinners and our sin separates us from God. But Jesus died on the cross and rose again so we could be forgiven. If you ask him to save you, he will. Would you like to pray and ask him to come into your life?”

Most of us probably have. We have probably even said those things. I know I have. While there is nothing wrong with those statements in a stand alone sense, in a gospel presentation they are incomplete.

What?! you may ask.

But they mention that sin is what separates us from God!

They mention forgiveness!

They mention Jesus dying on the cross and rising again!

They even asked them to pray!

What’s the problem?!

I have one word for you. 

Propitiation.

Without this word, the gospel message falls flat—in fact, it is downright wrong.

So what does propitiation mean?

Propitiation is a sacrifice that takes away wrath. More specifically, a substitute payment made in the place of, or on behalf of, another that satisfies the debt they owe, thus satisfying justice and reconciling them to the one to whom payment was due.

So why does propitiation matter? Why isn’t it enough to just say that Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins so we could go to heaven? 

Aren’t you being nit-picky? you may ask.

Yes, but we should be. 

Yes, our sin separates us from God. But why?

Yes, Jesus died on the cross and rose again. But what does that do for me?

Yes, he can forgive us of our sin. But how?

Why does all of this matter? How does that save me?

Propitiation.

If you leave this part out of your gospel presentation, you’re not truly presenting the gospel. 

In his letter to the Roman believers, Paul writes, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Romans 3:23-25).

Similarly, the apostle John writes, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

God is the just and holy judge of the whole universe. He made us and gave us his laws to follow for our good. When we disobey those laws (that’s called sin), we are violating a holy God’s perfect justice system, and therefore deserve to be punished.

That’s what any good judge in any courtroom would do. Justice must be satisfied. A payment must be made. 

The Bible makes it clear that what we deserve, or earn, for our sin is death (Romans 6:23), and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). We would be left in a literal and eternal hell, never being able to satisfy our sin debt. 

When Jesus died on the cross, he took the place that we deserved to be: crucified as a criminal against a holy God. On our behalf, he made the payment to God that our sins required. 

Jesus paid the blood sacrifice that bought our forgiveness. He gave his life to pardon us from the death penalty we deserved. 

He rose again to secure us resurrection life. 

His atoning sacrifice appeased the Father’s wrath against our sin and reconciled us to the just judge of the universe. Jesus made the way into heaven open for us if by God’s grace we have faith in Christ as our propitiation. 

So propitiation matters. 

Without it, we either have . . . 

  1. a God who is not just or good because he would have to ignore his own laws and turn a blind eye to sin in order to let people into heaven, OR
  2. no hope of heaven because there would have been no actual payment for our sins. 

Our faith would be in vain. 

A gospel presentation without propitiation leads people up to the cross of Christ and leaves them there confused. We need the message about the death and resurrection of Christ to tell us why it should matter to us and how it applies to us. We need propitiation for the gospel to mean anything.

Otherwise, all we have is the Son of God hanging on a piece of wood and a bunch of religious words. 

Christ is our Savior. But only if he is our propitiation.

The previous blog was originally published at Lifeword.org

https://lifeword.org/blog/the-whole-gospel-why-propitiation-matters/

Guarding Your Heart in a Digital Age: An Open Letter to My Daughter

Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23

Dear Daughter,

As you enter this season of life as a teenager quickly changing into a young woman in a digital age, I want you to know I do not want to hide you from the world so that you don’t know how to function in it later (although, with the many scary things out there vying for your heart and mind, it is tempting). I know you think I’m old-fashioned. The truth is, there are simply things I didn’t have to think about until a little over ten years ago (and you were so young then that I didn’t worry about them yet)—like how to navigate relationships with people in a digital world where messages can be private, hidden, or deleted at the swipe of a screen.

I admit, there are things you are dealing with that I didn’t experience as a child or teen. If you wanted to talk to someone then, you had to write them a letter (yes, by hand) or pick up the phone and call them—out in the open where the rest of your family could hear every word. If you were lucky enough to have a cordless phone or a phone in your room, people could still pick up another phone in the house and hear your conversation. Private conversations were not a huge fear.

We didn’t have tablets, smart phones, or personal computers (till high school). I didn’t get my first cell phone till I was in college, and it couldn’t even text. Today, it is so much easier to hide things. As you live in a world that is almost 100 percent digital, I am still learning the best ways to help you navigate it safely. Like I said, I don’t want to keep you away from it and isolate you. I also know I can’t shield you from everything. But I do know the dangers out there, and I want to help protect you.

Regardless of whether getting to know someone is done digitally, in person, over the phone, or by letter, there are some truths that are timeless, like the Word of God, that I want you to know:

1) Guard your heart

It is easy to think the first person (or any person) who tells us we’re beautiful or they love us is the key to our lasting happiness. It makes us feel valued, special, loved, like nothing in the world could hurt us as long as we have this person’s affection. Those feelings are wonderful. But be careful—our feelings can easily trick us into thinking we have found life’s true satisfaction, as well as our meaning and worth, in being adored by another person. Our feelings can make us think we have found perfect security in the arms and understanding of another. Have you ever thought, Wow, he really gets me! or, I feel so much better after talking to him? We must be careful before another person’s love becomes our whole reason for getting up each day.

2) Emotions can’t always be trusted

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our emotions can lead us astray. Affection for another person (whether friendship or romantic) can be a wonderful thing, a gift from God, but our heart can use those feelings of love or attraction to lie to us. That person, or even just having those feelings, can become an idol to us—something we love and want more than God, and something we are willing to sin to get or sin if we don’t get. The feeling of love can be addicting, and we will often do more and more to get that sensation repeated—sometimes things we will regret later and that are not honoring to God. But our emotions persist—they need their appetite satiated; they want to rule the throne of our hearts, making all our decisions for us. We must check our emotions against the measuring stick of God’s Word, weighing and examining them to see if they are true, right, good, and causing us to act in a way that pleases God.

3) Purity is precious

Guarding our hearts will also help protect our minds and bodies. The heart is the governing seat of all our faculties—if we don’t guard our hearts, we can easily slip into impure thoughts and impure actions. If we give the rights to our heart away to another person, not only may they not care for it well, we will quickly be willing to give them the rights to our mind and body as well.

Think of your heart as the gate of a castle with a key—when you give the key away to someone, there is little stopping them from entering the castle and taking over every room. They now have access to everything, and you gave it to them willingly because you were “in love” or they made you feel beautiful and special. What happens if that person turns out to be a thief or a freeloader? They take from the castle and leave behind destruction, or they just want to use all the castle’s resources for their own pleasure-seeking and temporary fulfillment before they’re on to the next castle.

Our bodies are temples (or castles). We want to keep them pure and unbroken-into by thieves and squanderers. We want to keep our emotional and physical attachments safe and special for the person they were made for. Humanly speaking, it means your spouse—if God plans for you to marry—but most all, it means Christ.

4) Christ alone can satisfy

Our hearts and bodies were made for Jesus Christ. Not only did he make us, but he also purchased us with the price of his life when he died on the cross for our sins. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

We should want our feelings, thoughts, and actions to be pleasing to him, guided by him, and for him supremely. Our hearts were made with a need for love that only Jesus can satisfy. Human love, while a beautiful thing to be treasured and enjoyed, will never truly fulfill our deepest desire to be known, loved, and seen as valuable. Only God fully knows us, loves us unconditionally, can be perfectly trusted with our hearts, and gives us our worth.

This stage of life is tough—and even more so with the challenges and temptations of a digital world. My prayer for you is to be safe, discerning, and wise. You can do that by knowing God’s Word and following it, having openness and accountability with the people who care about you (that would be us old folks over here—your parents), and by believing what God says about you more than anyone else’s words. Don’t let anyone else be the determiner of your worth. Know that you are more loved by God and are more beautiful in his sight than any person could ever love you or praise your beauty. Live in that love, drawing close to the One who loves you every day.

I love you,

Mom