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Tag Archives: grace

Mission minded…

I want you to think of a few things that will help you to remain mission minded. For the record, these are things I ask myself, or pose to myself on a regular basis; today has been one of those days.

 

God is sovereign, he placed you where you are.

You will be going into work, or staying home, or taking rest today because it was ordained by God. This same God knit you together in your mother’s womb, he also knit the people around you in their mother’s womb. The people you will see today are intended for you to see, they are not an accident.

Do you believe that?

 

You have nothing to fear or worry over, your food, your clothing, your social status.

Do you know what it is to be hungry? Do you know what it is to be a social pariah? Do you know what it is to be underdressed. Now ask yourself this, what did my worrying do to improve/resolve this problem? I believe when you evaluate that you realize it contributed nothing. I believe you will realize it is in God’s hands.

Do you believe that?

 

We go day in and day out, neglecting our God.

Our very hearts and minds drift from him towards desires of the flesh. Towards what will satisfy us physically and emotionally, we whore ourselves to it. Our work, our children, our church, our friends, ourselves.

Do you believe that?

 

We do not deserve one iota of respect, patience, peace, mercy, or love from the almighty being that created us.

We deserve to die, we are like dust before the lord. Apart from God and then compared to God, we don’t even register. We couldn’t even stand in his presence! We couldn’t even look at him!

Do you believe that?

 

This same God sent his only son, himself, in the flesh, to DIE for YOU.

Do you believe that?

 

We are forgiven, we are forgiven, we are forgiven, WE ARE FORGIVEN!

Do you believe that?

 

Who can stand before our God!? Who can hold back his hand!? How can anyone not be amazed by our God? If you see him, hear him, feel him, know him, then how can you not be amazed by our God?

Do you believe that?

 

From the overflow of our hearts comes praise and worship.

What is praise? If your child learns to walk, if you get a new car, if you got a great deal on clothes; how do you react? You want to tell everyone about it, if you are like me you can’t shut up about it! That is praise, how much MORE then should we praise God? What has been done for us? We are forgiven, we are loved, we are provided for, we will live forever, we are heirs to the throne, we are children of the light. Why would we not talk about it? If our God is in control, and we are forgiven even though all signs say we shouldn’t be; then why are we not on FIRE to tell people?

 

There is no feasible excuse outside of: we don’t believe.

Broken, Glory?…

To all things God gets the glory.  This is something of a doctrinal mantra, but is it something you believe?

We know that God is faithful according to Scripture.  Having on a multitude of occasions fulfilled his promises to his elect.  Not necessarily in their lifetimes, but certainly fulfilled.

So what do these two things tell us about God’s character, and what it should mean to his elect?

Its never too late, and nothing is impossible. 

God is most glorified when we are most incapable of receiving glory.  That is what is meant when it is said “my power is made perfect in your weakness” when we are removed, and God is the only one to receive the due credit, he will be most glorified.

So take heart, that when you are broken, and all appears lost  There is God, and in him there is our hope. 

So then what does his faithfulness have to do with that? 

Well he has promised that all good to those who love him and are called according to His purpose for His glory.  If you are His, and in you is His glory, and that glory is in your good; how can you lose?

I don’t say that from a prosperity stand point, but from a point of faith and promise.  In the vastness that is God’s grace and mercy, we find even more to love him for.

In our brokenness we find his Glory, and like everything he does, it’s a beautiful reversal.

The weight of Grace…

First I want to define a few things up front before I begin.

 

Grace: Mercy, forgiveness, freely extended to individuals who deserve only wrath.

Belief/Faith: Treasuring Christ above everything, and living in a manner that reflects outwardly the inward Joy of that profession.

Weight: Value or cost of something. Not necessarily a burden, although the cost or value to one might seem burdensome given it’s elevated cost to the one who assumes that weight. (it will make more sense as you read)

 

Recently (this past Sunday) I began a discussion with a friend of mine from church regarding God’s Love vs. His Justice.  I want to outline this briefly to provide a basis for further development.  We know that God’s Justice is perfect, and that our trespasses against an infinitely worthy/innocent/glorious God carries the penalty of death and eternal separation from God.  We also know that by Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice at Calvary we, upon accepting and having faith in him, have his righteousness imputed to us.  This is a legal action, nullifying our transgressions before God and allowing us to be in his presence in fellowship forever.  The question this raises is, why? 

Why would God in his perfect justice offers us, horrible sinners (yes all of us), a free pass?  This we define as Grace, and is fueled by one of God’s other characteristics, his Love.  Stick with me, this isn’t a Rob Bell moment.  We know that Hell is real and not all will receive this pardon or Justification.  So it’s safe to assume at this point, that there is a weight to Grace.  Freely extended, but not freely applied?  Yes, I believe that. 

It all sounds so simple, say a prayer, make a profession, and I’m safe.  True believers know this isn’t the case.  Like the man who finds the treasure in the field and gives away everything so that he can have that treasure.  Did he get more than he gave?  Did he make these sacrifices in sadness?  No, he assuredly received more than he gave, and did so gladly and without regret.  The faith runs deep, is transformational, and works in an equivalent manner.  No, our faith is not works based.  Yes, our works are faith based, and faith is the price of our salvation and reception of this imputed righteousness.

So lets evaluate Faith, and I will keep it very simple here.  Faith as I stated above with belief is placing Christ above everything, including yourself.  The truth is, this manner of living is not unlike living in servitude.  You seek to please your master, with love, through service in accordance to His Will.  You also, were bought and paid for, with his blood which he in turn paid lovingly for you.  Now to a non-believer this cost seems amazingly high.  Both the fact that Christ had to die, and the idea that servitude is the path to freedom.  The truth of the matter is, you are already in slavery before becoming a servant.  If you weren’t, no cost would have been paid for you.  We were all slaves to sin.  That sin drove us to place ourselves above that which deserves Glory (God) and heaps it upon ourselves.  I liken this to slavery, because in this scenario, we are not truly accounted for.  We are another slave, fighting for our own portion, which is maggoty bread compared to what rests on the masters table.  Yet as a servant, we are at the table with our master.  In servitude one is looked after, their best interests met in order for them to greater serve.  It’s a bond of love, and fellowship, sealed in service.  It is symbiotic in a sense, and provides what Sin so readily destroys, harmony or shalom/peace.  (do not read that God NEEDS us so much as he WANTS us)

So what is the weight of Grace?  That isn’t so easily defined, but one could surmise, the weight of Grace is:

The most heinous act in history; which merits the most glorious freedom for the believer.  That price was paid at Calvary, and the price for the believer is: Love, faith, and service for the one who died, and glory for the One who sent Him. 

As John Piper said in a sermon once, (an excellent sermon if you have an hour to listen) and it rings true here.

“We get the savior, He get’s the glory.  We get the great Joy, He get’s the honor.  Is that ok?  Good knight that’s ok!  It can’t be any other way if there is a God and a sinner like me.”

 

 

Parting thought on being a servant…

Lets take a moment to address something else for those who find the idea of being a servant repulsive or indignant. 

In our western culture the idea of “servitude” seems like something that devalues an individual.  We as believers are called into adoption, as heirs, to the throne.  We are not equal, but, part of the family.  How often do you cringe at the thought or service to your parents?  Siblings?  Cousins?  Children?  These are intimate relationships and fellowship, just as the relationship that is formed with the believer and Christ. 

You are cared for, provided for, and loved; but your worth does not exceed the worth of your master.  That does not diminish a thing.  I fully believe that every human is built with a desire to serve, it’s intrinsic to our nature and our happiness.  I do not think this is a coincidence. 

So with that; who or what are you serving?

This is the day…

So my wife and I have been waiting for today.

No, it’s not a holiday or anything special like that.  Today is the day that we take our sweet little girl Maggie to her occupational therapist for review.  This is the day we find out the extent of her trauma from birth.  This is the day that we cling to God the tightest.

We are fearful of what we might find out, we are excited about being taught how best to work with our beautiful little girl.  In the end, God is enough.  We pray that what afflicts our daughter is manageable.  That her quality of life won’t be jeopardized by the news we find out today.  We know that all things to the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.  We know that His grace is sufficient.  We know that he is our strength and our portion forever.  So even though our flesh or our children or our jobs or our world may fail us.  He will not.

God will be glorified in no matter what comes from today, I pray that our daughter is healed for his name sake.  That we might proclaim his miraculous work through our daughter.

If you are reading this, please take some time today to pray for us. 

This is so much bigger than us.

 

-Daniel, a loving father