25 August 2011
more on motherhood
Gosh, i'm not even a mom yet and i'm convinced it's probably the hardest job in the world. This post by Rachel Jankovic at the Desiring God blog helped convince me of that but offers hope (and beauty?) at the same time, the same hope that applies to all of life: the gospel.
nobodies
This post from Michael Oh over at the Desiring God blog is rad. Read it. Live it with me.
"I believe that Jesus Christ is calling for well-trained, well-educated, godly, capable, wise, talented nobodies."
"My point is that missions is simply doing what the Lord has gifted and called you to do — where there are few or no Christians — so that those who cannot be saved without believing in the gospel would hear the life-giving good news of Jesus through you.
It’s choosing to forsake the comforts and glory of the American dream to live in an African jungle, or any foreign land, and speaking in a foreign tongue, choosing to be slightly uncomfortable and really need God so that he might have have the glory he is worthy to receive."
"I believe that Jesus Christ is calling for well-trained, well-educated, godly, capable, wise, talented nobodies."
"My point is that missions is simply doing what the Lord has gifted and called you to do — where there are few or no Christians — so that those who cannot be saved without believing in the gospel would hear the life-giving good news of Jesus through you.
It’s choosing to forsake the comforts and glory of the American dream to live in an African jungle, or any foreign land, and speaking in a foreign tongue, choosing to be slightly uncomfortable and really need God so that he might have have the glory he is worthy to receive."
happy promises
Great post from Fabs--'5 Promises to Make You Happy' from Psalm 16. Must remember these every day of my life.
22 August 2011
law + gospel for kids (and adults too)
I read this post the other day but I got to thinking about it at work and so I think I need to keep it. Doug Wolter wrote this guest post:
Here's a simple outline to follow in balancing the law and the gospel in our parenting:
Give them God's law - You must do it.
Remind them they're sinners - You can't do it.
Point them to Christ - He has done it.
Tell them as believers - In Christ, you can do it.
Step 1: Give them God's Law - You must do it.
For example, let's say your daughter whines and refuses to help serve you in the kitchen because she'd rather watch T.V. You come to her and say, "You need to stop whining and obey your daddy by serving cheerfully right now. You must do it."
Step 2: Remind them they're sinners - You can't do it.
Your daughter looks away from you and whines even louder, "I don't want to." So, you tell her, "I know that you don't want to and I also know that you can't serve cheerfully and think of others first on your own. You're just like me, you're a sinner. You can't do it."
Step 3: Point them to Christ - He has done it.
Your daughter gives you a strange look. So you sit down beside her and say, "You know what, I'm so glad that God has mercy on sinners like you and me. That's why he sent Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life and died on the cross in our place to take our sin and give us his righteousness if we would simply trust in him. Jesus never whined and always obeyed his Father cheerfully. He has done it."
Step 4: Tell them as believers - In Christ you can do it.
Finally, you look at your daughter and tell her that as believers in Christ we have been made new. We are clothed in his goodness because of his grace. Therefore, we have a heart that wants to serve and think of others first. It's in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. In Christ you can do it.
Realistically, you won't be able to delve into this deep of discussion every time, but this is the heart (and basic outline) behind how to approach these situations. Note: If you're child is not yet a believer in Christ, the Last Step is an opportunity to help him or her respond to God's grace offered to them in Christ - pointing them away from their performance to Christ's performance on their behalf. Remind them that Christ took our filthy rags, he took our failed test of obedience, and in exchange he gave us his white robe of goodness and his perfect score of obedience. We receive it all by faith in what Christ has done for us, not what we must do for him.
Here's a simple outline to follow in balancing the law and the gospel in our parenting:
Give them God's law - You must do it.
Remind them they're sinners - You can't do it.
Point them to Christ - He has done it.
Tell them as believers - In Christ, you can do it.
Step 1: Give them God's Law - You must do it.
For example, let's say your daughter whines and refuses to help serve you in the kitchen because she'd rather watch T.V. You come to her and say, "You need to stop whining and obey your daddy by serving cheerfully right now. You must do it."
Step 2: Remind them they're sinners - You can't do it.
Your daughter looks away from you and whines even louder, "I don't want to." So, you tell her, "I know that you don't want to and I also know that you can't serve cheerfully and think of others first on your own. You're just like me, you're a sinner. You can't do it."
Step 3: Point them to Christ - He has done it.
Your daughter gives you a strange look. So you sit down beside her and say, "You know what, I'm so glad that God has mercy on sinners like you and me. That's why he sent Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life and died on the cross in our place to take our sin and give us his righteousness if we would simply trust in him. Jesus never whined and always obeyed his Father cheerfully. He has done it."
Step 4: Tell them as believers - In Christ you can do it.
Finally, you look at your daughter and tell her that as believers in Christ we have been made new. We are clothed in his goodness because of his grace. Therefore, we have a heart that wants to serve and think of others first. It's in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. In Christ you can do it.
Realistically, you won't be able to delve into this deep of discussion every time, but this is the heart (and basic outline) behind how to approach these situations. Note: If you're child is not yet a believer in Christ, the Last Step is an opportunity to help him or her respond to God's grace offered to them in Christ - pointing them away from their performance to Christ's performance on their behalf. Remind them that Christ took our filthy rags, he took our failed test of obedience, and in exchange he gave us his white robe of goodness and his perfect score of obedience. We receive it all by faith in what Christ has done for us, not what we must do for him.
21 August 2011
generous justice
FINALLY finished Tim Keller's small book Generous Justice. I recommend it, it's quite good. Okay, it's really good and really convicting.
A couple of passages:
Pages 95-96... Fasting should be a symbol of a pervasive change across the whole face of one's life. People changed by grace should go, as it were, on a permanent fast. Self-indulgence and materialism should be given up and replaced by a sacrificial lifestyle of giving to those in need.
Pages 102-103... To the degree that the gospel shapes your self-image, you will identify with those in need. You will see their tattered clothes and think: "All my righteousness is a filthy rag, but in Christ we can be clothed in his robes of righteousness." When you come upon those who are economically poor, you cannot say to them, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" because you certainly did not do that spiritually. Jesus intervened for you.
Page 108... [Quote from M'Cheyne] If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Pages 122-123... The gospel makes us all like Abraham, who left his home culture but never "arrived" in another one.
Page 139... Evangelism is the most basic and radical ministry possible to a human being. This is true not because the spiritual is more important than the physical, but because the eternal is more important than the temporal... If there is a God, and if life with him for eternity is based on having a saving relationship with him, then the most loving thing anyone can do for one's neighbor is help him or her to a saving faith in that God.
Page 160... The implication of James 1:17 is that God scatters gifts of wisdom, goodness, justice, and beauty across all the human race, regardless of people's beliefs. Christians see all skill in science, scholarship, crafts, government, art, and jurisprudence as being from God.
A couple of passages:
Pages 95-96... Fasting should be a symbol of a pervasive change across the whole face of one's life. People changed by grace should go, as it were, on a permanent fast. Self-indulgence and materialism should be given up and replaced by a sacrificial lifestyle of giving to those in need.
Pages 102-103... To the degree that the gospel shapes your self-image, you will identify with those in need. You will see their tattered clothes and think: "All my righteousness is a filthy rag, but in Christ we can be clothed in his robes of righteousness." When you come upon those who are economically poor, you cannot say to them, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" because you certainly did not do that spiritually. Jesus intervened for you.
Page 108... [Quote from M'Cheyne] If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Pages 122-123... The gospel makes us all like Abraham, who left his home culture but never "arrived" in another one.
Page 139... Evangelism is the most basic and radical ministry possible to a human being. This is true not because the spiritual is more important than the physical, but because the eternal is more important than the temporal... If there is a God, and if life with him for eternity is based on having a saving relationship with him, then the most loving thing anyone can do for one's neighbor is help him or her to a saving faith in that God.
Page 160... The implication of James 1:17 is that God scatters gifts of wisdom, goodness, justice, and beauty across all the human race, regardless of people's beliefs. Christians see all skill in science, scholarship, crafts, government, art, and jurisprudence as being from God.
18 August 2011
tentmaking
From this article by John Piper:
1. The excellence of the products or services you render in your job shows the excellence and greatness of God.
2. The standards of integrity you follow at your job show the integrity and holiness of God.
3. The love you show to people in your job shows the love of God.
4. The stewardship of the money you make from your job shows the value of God compared to other things.
5. The verbal testimony you give to the reality of Christ shows the doorway to all these things in your life and their possibility in the lives of others.
1. The excellence of the products or services you render in your job shows the excellence and greatness of God.
2. The standards of integrity you follow at your job show the integrity and holiness of God.
3. The love you show to people in your job shows the love of God.
4. The stewardship of the money you make from your job shows the value of God compared to other things.
5. The verbal testimony you give to the reality of Christ shows the doorway to all these things in your life and their possibility in the lives of others.
15 August 2011
12 August 2011
charles spurgeon
'Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Word into ourselves! As I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf, and consume it, so ought we to do with the Word of the Lord—not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it till we have taken it into our inmost parts. It is idle merely to let the eye glance over the words, or to recollect the poetical expressions, or the historic facts; but it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your very style is fashioned upon Scripture models, and, what is better still, your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord.
'I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean. Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like the reading the Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress—that sweetest of all prose poems — without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved.'
Quoted from here.
'I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean. Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like the reading the Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress—that sweetest of all prose poems — without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved.'
Quoted from here.
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