February 29, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/29/2012

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him will all my heart. He helps me and my heart leaps with joy. I burst out in songs of Thanksgiving.
–Psalm 28:7, NLT

You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
–Matthew 5:14 NLT

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Can We Build the Church By Being Against the Church?
Daniel Darling

It’s hard to read a Christian book or blog post or to hear a sermon without hearing some overt or implied criticism of some part of the evangelical Church as a whole. That’s not even counting the Twitter feeds of Christians.

I’m reading a terrific book right on the centrality of the gospel by one of my favorite author/preacher/bloggers. It’s a book that is both challenging me and inspiring me. But even this favorite author can’t resist the easy stereotype of “most churches” or “most Christians” or “The Church is …” It seems nearly impossible for us to build up our ministries without having to use another expression of Christian ministry as a foil.

I know this because I do this myself. In my forthcoming book, I spend a considerable time pushing back against the pressure to be perfect among 2nd-generation kids. I felt (and still feel) it was a legitimate criticism. And yet I wonder at our motives. Are we genuinely concerned about the perceived blind spot in this generation’s evangelical movement or are we simply trying to provoke so as to build our own tribes? Are we being truly prophetic or are we trying to position ourselves as more pure than our ministry brothers?

These are questions worth asking ourselves, I think. Now please understand that this is not a plea for squishy, doctrine-free tolerance. I loathe the progressive movements that advocate tolerance for everyone except those whose beliefs they despise. Doctrine is important. Warning our flock about the dangers of aberrant theology is vital for their spiritual lives.

But we could all do better at examining our motives and check our facts. Scoring cheap points in a message or blog post or book based on broad stereotypes of the Body of Christ is both intellectually lazy and it’s an insult to the Bride Christ loves.

I want to be faithful in shepherding my flock, which includes speaking the truth about what’s false. But I don’t want to build my ministry on the foundation of someone else’s failures (perceived or real). Let’s build our ministries on the unchanging Word of God as our source, on the radical nature of the gospel message. And let’s remember that we ourselves are fallible, flawed messengers easily prone to our own errors of judgment.
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Praying

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17).

Thank God for that! He got under a juniper tree, as you and I have often done; he complained and murmured, as we have often done; was unbelieving, as we have often been. But that was not the case when he really got into touch with God. Though “a man subject to like passions as we are,” “he prayed praying.” It is sublime in the original–not “earnestly,” but “he prayed in prayer.” He kept on praying. What is the lesson here? You must keep praying.

Come up on the top of Carmel, and see that remarkable parable of Faith and Sight. It was not the descent of the fire that now was necessary, but the descent of the flood; and the man that can command the fire can command the flood by the same means and methods. We are told that he bowed himself to the ground with his face between his knees; that is, shutting out all sights and sounds. He was putting himself in a position where, beneath his mantle, he could neither see nor hear what was going forward.

He said to his servant, “Go and take an observation.” He went and came back, and said–how sublimely brief! one word–”Nothing!”

What do we do under such circumstances?

We say, “It is just as I expected!” and we give up praying. Did Elijah? No, he said, “Go again.” His servant again came back and said, “Nothing!” “Go again.” “Nothing!”

By and by he came back, and said, “There is a little cloud like a man’s hand.” A man’s hand had been raised in supplication, and presently down came the rain; and Ahab had not time to get back to the gate of Samaria with all his fast steeds. This is a parable of Faith and Sight–faith shutting itself up with God; sight taking observations and seeing nothing; faith going right on, and “praying in prayer,” with utterly hopeless reports from sight.

Do you know how to pray that way, how to pray prevailingly? Let sight give as discouraging reports as it may, but pay no attention to these. The living God is still in the heavens and even to delay is part of His goodness. –Arthur T. Pierson
***
Each of three boys gave a definition of faith which is an illustration of the tenacity of faith. The first boy said, “It is taking hold of Christ”; the second, “Keeping hold”; and the third, “Not letting go.”
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The How of the Christian Life
Alex Crain, Editor, Christianity.com

“…be it unto me according to Your word.”
Luke 1:38

“How It’s Made,” the Science Channel’s hit show, regularly makes the most of people’s curiosity about how household items like gummie candy, aluminum cans, and flavored bacon actually go from raw materials to finished product. It’s easy to become mesmerized when cameras are leading you behind the scenes into the inner workings of factories making a few of your favorite things. By the end of each segment, the mists of your own vague ideas about process and production have been utterly dispersed.

This week’s reading in chapter four of Francis Schaeffer’s True Spirituality is a bit like “How It’s Made” in that he delves into the secret of how the Christian life is effectively lived. While many of us know this secret in theory, the daily mist of our own residual fallen nature makes it necessary to review the blazing truth so that we might see ourselves (and God) accurately and live out our faith practically.

Moving forward from last week’s teaching in chapter four about the normality of believing in unseen things, Schaeffer issues the biblical call this week to engage in what he terms “active passivity” when living the life of faith.

Schaeffer points out that belief in the Holy Spirit is one thing. Now what do we do with that belief? Second Corinthians 13:14 says that “the communion of the Holy Spirit” is to be with all true believers. We are to rely fully and constantly on Christ’s promise to send us the Holy Spirit. He is the agent of the power and Person of the glorified Christ.

“There is not enough strength in ourselves, but placed before us is the power and work of the glorified Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Surely this is exactly what Christ meant when he said, ‘I will not leave you as orphans.’”
(John 14:18)

“As we look at the book of Acts, we find in the early church not a group of strong men laboring together, but the work of the Holy Spirit bringing to them the power of the crucified and glorified Christ. It must be so for us also.”

“As with Mary in the virgin birth when she gave herself with her body to God in response to His promise, so we are in the same situation in [a certain sense] that we have these great and thrilling promises we have been considering, and we are neither to think of ourselves as totally passive, as though we had no part in this; nor are we to think we can do it ourselves.”

“If we are to bring forth this fruit through us by the agency of the Holy Spirit, there must be a constant act of faith, of thinking: ‘Upon the basis of Your promises I am looking for You to fulfill them… bring forth Your fruit through me into this poor world.’”

“We do not have to beat ourselves or be dejected, [but simply say]“Be it unto me according to Thy Word.” This is what I mean by active passivity. This is the how, and there is no other.”

Finally, as if to say “this is really how it’s done!” Schaeffer reemphasizes that this is not just theoretical access to the power of the crucified, risen, glorified Christ. This is access that we have in reality—in the here and now.

Intersecting Faith & Life:
Are you depending on your own energy, cleverness, persistence, charisma and talents to present the Christian life as attractive to your lost friends and family members? By faith (Hebrews 11:6), gaze upon Christ—His atonement, perfections and promises. Respond with active passivity: “Be it unto me according to Thy Word.”

For Further Study:
Romans 6-8
The Wind of the Holy Ghost Blowing upon the Dry Bones in the Valley of Vision, by Ebenezer Erskine
John Owen on the Spirit in the Life of Christ, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson
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The Fruit of Perseverance

Paul’s Apostolic Ministry
1 Therefore , since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, 2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves ; 8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed ; perplexed, but not despairing ; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken ; struck down, but not destroyed ; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death works in us, but life in you. 13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
-2 Corinthians 4:1-18

The apostle Paul often wrote about perseverance. He urged believers not to tire of following Christ and doing good, even when persecuted. The reason was that in time, their faithfulness to plant seeds would produce an amazing harvest.

If anyone had a right to say that, it was Paul. He’d been beaten, stoned, whipped, and driven out of town. He’d survived riots, shipwrecks, illness, and abandonment. He had a thousand reasons to be disheartened and want to give up, yet he knew his obedience to God wasn’t in vain. Some might surmise, Well, it doesn’t look as if he reaped much: he was persecuted, moved from prison to prison, and eventually executed. But if we assume that rewards come only in material terms, we miss a powerful truth.

Consider the awesome harvest that actually resulted from the apostle’s faithfulness. For one thing, the gospel spread across the Roman Empire, and the early church grew far beyond the Jewish world. And the seeds Paul planted by writing his epistles resulted in billions of lives being radically changed. Any strength we draw from these letters is fruit of the hardships he endured. Yet when he urged believers never to tire of obeying the Lord, he didn’t know the full extent of the impact his life would have. He just believed in the power of faith.

Do you realize how impactful your life is? Don’t be deceived by Satan’s lie that your suffering or obedience will amount to nothing. Here’s the truth: Your faithfulness to God never goes to waste–it’s making an eternal difference in someone’s life, whether you know it or not.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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The Place of Tears
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Wednesday, February 29 2012

“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death” (Mt 26:38).
Often the place of our greatest pain becomes the place of our greatest triumph. Gethsemane was the place of Jesus’ greatest trial. Three times He asked the Father to let this trial pass. It was not to be. The Father sent His Son to the cross to pay a debt owed by humanity.

Jesus was faced with His own temptation to quit, to not fulfill His destiny, to run from his assignment. It was a personal battle to persevere. Sometimes we face situations that cry out “I quit! I cannot endure anymore!” We want to throw in our towel of what little faith we have left. We conclude that this faith thing simply does not work.

“Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him” (Lk 22:43).

After Jesus asked the Father if this cup could pass, an angel was sent to Him to comfort Jesus. The Father’s answer to Jesus’ prayer was “No.” But, His compassion to His Son came in the form of an angel. Some temptations seem to be more than we can bare. However, God tells us: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it”(1 Cor 10:13).

If we persevere we often realize later the place of our greatest battle becomes the place of our greatest victory. It would be here, on the Mount of Olives, near the Garden Gethsemane where Jesus ascended and would return triumphantly – not as a sorrowful soul – but as our triumphant Savior. The battle He won in Gethesmane would result in the triumphant entry as Lord of the universe.

God will use your greatest failure or greatest sorrow to be a powerful force in your life and the lives of others. Your Valley of Baca (weeping) becomes springs for you and others. You will go from strength to strength (Ps 84:6). It is in the dying that the new springs are allowed to come forth and a new strength emerges.

If you find yourself in your Garden of Gethsemane, lay yourself at the feet of the only one who can sustain you. Entrust yourself to your Heavenly Father. Let Him determine your fate. It will ultimately become a place of victory.

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February 28, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/28/2012

The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.
–Proverbs 12:22, NLT

The Lord is my light and my salvation –
so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?
–Psalm 27:1 NLT
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Men & Christian Friendship: It Won’t Just Happen on its Own
by Shawn McEvoy, Crosswalk.com Managing Editor

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.
Proverbs 17:17, NLT

I own many books, but the ones I reference often I keep above my desk at work. One of these is a 1983 edition of David W. Smith’s The Friendless American Male. It’s a title that, sadly, has only grown more accurate in the last 28 years, its content more applicable. Men, especially us hard-working, married-with-children types, are lacking in close biblical friendships. The reasons are varied and several, and it’s not my intent in the space of a daily devotional to present or solve them all. Suffice to say that most men I talk with vouch for the lack of friends in their life, even if they speak of different reasons for the condition.

It’s something I worry about, something I marvel at when I consider some of the differences between myself and my own father. Back when my father was climbing the ladder in the Tucson Real Estate industry and had children aged 7 and 5 like I do now, his weekends were all his own. Tennis in the morning on both Saturday and Sunday. Soaking up sun at the pool or doing yardwork in the afternoons. Watching sports or even working in the evenings. A quarterly fishing trip. Several of these activities involved his friends and acquaintances. It’s worth noting that he didn’t know the Lord at this time in his life, but also important to note that, to the best of my recollection, we kids weren’t starved for his attention or affection. It still seemed like we were close, and had plenty of time together. So, I use my father as an example of the model I was shown for what men were expected (allowed?) to do and be in the 1970s.

At some point things changed, and yes, in most ways, for the better. Men began leaving their work at work. Being conscious about setting aside time for family activities. Reserving weekends for playing with their kids and going to soccer games rather than hitting the tennis court or the golf links or the lake. Technology, instead of saving us time, only seemed to create more ways in which we could spend it working. Where my father routinely met his buddies for a beverage after work, it’s all I can do to rush home, swallow some food, and not leave my wife and kids feeling neglected before I log on for another couple hours of work and then an exhausted collapse into bed. Meeting another dude for a beer or coffee? Seriously, I don’t want to laugh, but when? Even if I had a hole in my schedule, what makes me think the person I might invite (even if I knew someone well enough to want to spend time with him) would have time and desire, too? I’ve been heavily involved in our Adult Bible Fellowship class at church for years now, and I can count on one hand the times I’ve done something outside of church with any of the men in that group.

So, something is definitely missing. Somewhere, we went too far. I remember being single and having the privilege to work with some very close friends in our college admissions office, both of whom were newly-married. Getting them to do anything outside work was just about impossible. One of them wouldn’t even go see a movie with me – one that I was offering to pay for – on the night his wife was busy studying for her nursing final exams. The other wouldn’t even ask his wife whether he could put off lawn mowing for one more day to attend a minor league baseball game with a mutual friend who was in town for one night. What was going on?

Sure, I was tempted to blame their wives for not letting their husbands out to play, but even if there was truth to that notion, it wasn’t the issue. The issue was, and is, that men simply are not bonding much these days… that the Bible speaks about friendship and male leadership and iron sharpening iron… and we are either purposefully choosing or unwittingly failing to make bonding and sharpening a priority.

So how do we purposefully choose?

For me, the solution lies partly in my favorite time of every year, mid-March. That’s when I and 13 of my friends from college and camp get together for a long weekend of fishing, good food, fantasy baseball drafting, and most importantly, fellowship. We call it “Draftmas” because it’s very much like a holiday for us, and it centers around our fantasy baseball draft and league as a device to draw us all together, give us common footing. But to a man, most would tell you that the baseball is not the point. So what is?

Back to Smith’s book; on page 52 he writes: “Close friendships don’t just happen. They result from the application of principles recorded throughout the Word of God.” He contrasts the kindness and affection that David and Jonathan shared with the “lack of sympathy” and “overt emotional harrassment and condemnation” Job experienced with his pals Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad. The difference, Smith says, can be found throughout the Bible in these six principles of male friendship:

1. God-Centered

2. Formation of a covenant

3. Faithfulness

4. Social involvement

5. Candor

6. Respect

Just as Amos 3:3 says, “Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment?”, so do we display an intentional commitment to this activity as central to who we are as men, to who we want to be the rest of the year for our families and each other. While having close friends who don’t live near me (but whom I’m always in contact with) does, admittedly, sometimes hinder me making new friends locally, it also serves to remind me how making new friends is possible and necessary. And I can see Smith’s principles at work in this treasured group: God is indeed at the center of each of our lives; we’ve formed an agreement to meet together and communicate together around something we all enjoy, and are faithful to that agreement, to God, and to each other. We all fill roles, and are active socially and economically with each other, lending a hand in often amazing ways when needs arise; we speak freely and candidly, and we respect the various issues everyone brings to the table.

This year more than any other year in the past, those issues are big ones. Joblessness. Crises of faith. Being overwhelmed. Economic hardship. Remarriage. Career decisions. Waiting on God. Loneliness. Recently-deceased parents. Autism. Health. I’m really wondering how different this gathering is going to be from past ones. With so many of us suffering so many trials of life right now, some might think this sure sounds like a downer of a man-cation. I don’t think it will be. In fact, I can’t wait to get out of town to really bounce ideas and prayers off my friends, really seek out ways we can help each other, while at the same time destroying them by catching more fish and outbidding them for Albert Pujols.

It’s an amazing dynamic, one I could not live without. One of our group recently told me, “You know this is only going to get harder to keep up the older we get.” I disagreed. I know that I and several others are only finding it easier. For one thing, our wives have finally seen the difference in their men when they spend this time with each other. Mine practically pushes me out the door even though the event is usually over her birthday weekend. It’s not a perfect answer to what I’m missing and seeing so many other men miss in their lives, but it’s a start, and even, I realize now, a model.

Intersecting Faith & Life: What common interest can you center a group of Christian men around? It should be an excuse, a starting point, a conversational diving board. While things like sports, fishing, golfing, and other stereotypical male things are good, bear in mind that no one man enjoys all of these activities or subjects, and often, it’s a sore spot with them, one that might be the very thing that, deep down, has them feeling like not as much of a “man.” Wives, you can help “wake up” your listless man by hooking him up with his friends (not YOUR friends’ husbands on a grown-up play-date, mind you), letting him reconnect with those who share his memories and activities he used to enjoy. Several healthy couples I know set aside one weekend every year for each person to spend a same-sex getaway with close friends, while also not feeling threatened by the idea of an evening here, an afternoon there causing any damage to the relationship. If anything, it’ll make your marriage healthier, and bring back some things to talk about and pray for.

Further Reading

1 Samuel 18:1-4; 19:1-10
The Making of a Friendship
Why Men Need Friends
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Sowing to the Spirit

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God ; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. 11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs ? Nor can salt water produce fresh.
Wisdom from Above
13 Who among you is wise and understanding ? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
-James 3:9-18

In all our daily choices, we either “sow to the flesh” or “sow to the Spirit” (Gal. 6:8). With our actions and thoughts, we plant seeds that affect what kind of person we’re growing into and the level of impact our lives will have for God.

“The flesh” is the part of us that wants to live and act independently of the Lord. As humans, all of us have to deal with the pull of this attitude; we don’t lose it automatically when we’re saved. However, the Holy Spirit frees us from slavery to the flesh. He begins to change us so we can turn from the deceptive lure of living for self and instead start to live according to the truth. The choices we make contribute to the process of transformation, and when they’re in alignment with the Spirit’s work, they plant good seed that results in even more new growth.

When you’re sowing to the Spirit, you’re accepting God’s truth into your mind and heart. Then you’ll begin to experience eternal life, which comes from truly knowing the Lord (John 17:3). The fruit of the Spirit grows naturally from these seeds of godly truth and influences every aspect of your life. When you feed your spirit with the things of God, you’re going to become stronger, more Christlike, and more full of His life in your thoughts and actions.

Are you feeding your spirit and the wellspring of your life, or are you feeding the part of you that wants to act independently of God? Do your choices sow seeds that are building you up, making you different, and letting streams of living water flow from you to nourish others (John 7:37-39)?

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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Coming Out of Babylon
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Tuesday, February 28 2012

…”Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.” Revelation 18:4
There is a day when God is going to judge the system of Babylon around the world. What is Babylon? Babylon is a system of doing business. The stronghold of the workplace is mammon and pride. Dependence on money and misplaced trust are at the core of a Babylonian philosophy of life. Revelation 18 describes a time when God will judge this Babylonian system. It is the one place that we see a system destroyed in one day, even one hour. I do not believe Babylon is a particular city, but a world system. “Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her” (Rev. 18:8a). “Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!” (Rev. 18:10b).

As Christian workplace believers we are called to acknowledge the signs of the times. When the Soviet Union fell, many knew it was going to happen because they could recognize the signs of the times. God has a way of shaking things up. These shakings force us to determine who and what we will place our trust in. God says that we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Mt. 22:37).

Are you still living in Babylon in the way you do business? If so, expect to share in the sins of Babylon when God decides to judge her. Ask God to show you where you might be operating in a “Babylonian” system of work.
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Suffering and the Biblical Story
Dr. Robert Peterson

[Dr. Peterson is professor of systematic theology at Covenant Theological Seminary. This article is related to the weekend mini-course that Dr. Peterson presented through the Richmond Study Center on suffering and the resurrection May 23-25, 2010. It is taken from his book Suffering and the Goodness of God, which Dr. Peterson co-edited with Chris Morgan, professor of theology and associate dean of the School of Christian Ministries at California Baptist University.]

We are all acquainted with suffering. For us to get a handle on suffering we must view it from Scripture’s perspective and not merely from our own. That means that we must consider it in light of the biblical story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.

CREATION AND SUFFERING
Understanding Genesis’s teaching about God’s creation sheds light on our understanding of suffering in two important and related ways. First, we discover that suffering is not something created or authored by God. Rather, God created a good universe and good human beings. Second, we learn that there was a time when there was no suffering. Suffering is not original; it has not always existed.

Suffering is not created by God.
Genesis 1-2 shows the Creator to be transcendent, sovereign, personal, immanent, and good. God’s goodness is displayed in his turning the chaos into something good—the heavens and the earth. His goodness is even more clearly reflected in the goodness of his creation, evidenced by the steady refrain, “And God saw that it was good” (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), a goodness accentuated on the sixth day: “Behold, it was very good” (1:31). God’s generous provisions of light, land, vegetation, and animals are blessings given for man’s benefit, as are the abilities to know God, work, marry, and procreate. God blesses man with the Sabbath, places him in the delightful garden of Eden, gives him a helper, and establishes only one prohibition, given not to squelch man but to promote his welfare.
The conclusion is clear: God is good and did not create suffering or evil. He created a good world for the good of his creatures. Humans too were created good and blessed beyond measure, being made in God’s image, with an unhindered relationship with God, and with freedom. As a result, casting blame for suffering on the good and generous God is unbiblical and unfounded.

Suffering has not always existed.
A related but distinct principle we learn from the biblical account of creation is that suffering has not always existed. From a theological standpoint, God’s creation of the universe out of nothing shows that he alone is independent, absolute, and eternal. Everything else has been created. Further, the inherent goodness of creation leaves no room for a fundamental dualism between spirit and matter. Contrary to some philosophical and religious traditions, the Bible teaches that matter is a part of God’s creation and is good.
From a historical standpoint, the story of creation unmistakably recounts that there was a time when there was no suffering. Suffering is not original. Indeed, the very fact that our world now includes suffering testifies that it is not now the way it was, and therefore, as Cornelius Plantinga helpfully states, “it is not the way it is supposed to be.”1

THE FALL AND SUFFERING
Suffering and sin were not a part of God’s original good creation. But they are surely a big part of human life today. To understand why things are not the way they’re supposed to be we must consider the fall. The biblical account of the Fall helps us understand suffering in three important ways. First, we see that suffering is a consequence of sin. Second, we learn that suffering is not natural to God’s good creation but is an intruder. Third, we realize that suffering contains an element of mystery.

Suffering is a consequence of the Fall.
God is the author of neither sin nor suffering. He creates a good world and good human beings who reflect his goodness. Henri Blocher wisely warns, “We cannot be too radical here. The perfect goodness of God’s creation rules out the tiniest root, seed, or germ of evil.”2 Suffering is not a part of God’s creation, but rather a byproduct of sin, as Carson states so clearly:

Between the beginning and the end of the Bible, there is evil and there is suffering. But the point to be observed is that from the perspective of the Bible’s large-scale story line, the two are profoundly related: evil is the primal cause of suffering, rebellion is the root of pain, sin is the source of death.3
Genesis 3 makes it clear that as sin enters through Adam so do its consequences—estrangement from God, shame, alienation from others, suffering, banishment, and death. Paul in Romans 5:12-21 confirms this: sin entered the world through one man’s sin, and condemnation and death through sin.
On a cosmic scale, therefore, all suffering is an effect of the Fall.4 Indeed, because we live in this fallen world, we will suffer and “reap sin’s consequences in the home, the workplace, and the cemetery.”5

Suffering is an intruder.
As a consequence of sin, suffering is also an intruder into God’s good creation. Michael Williams observes: “By beginning with the story of creation rather than the Fall, Scripture proclaims categorically that sin is an intruder. It is not the product of God’s creativity. It does not belong.”6 Sin is not the only intruder, but its evil children—suffering and death—have intruded as well.
We intuitively know this but often do not consider its significance. When we encounter suffering, something inside us often cries out: “This is wrong! The world should not be like this! Children should not be abused, senior adults should not get Alzheimer’s, missionaries should not be tortured!” Or on a more personal level, we might protest: “Why me? What did I do to deserve this?” Such instincts are valid because they recognize that this world is not the way it is supposed to be. We know this when we consider sin; we know to hate rape, murder, bigotry, and child abuse. We oppose sin and refuse to be at ease with it. In the same way, we are not to be comfortable with the reality of suffering (although we are to be at peace with God in the midst of it) and should do our best to alleviate it.7 Like sin, suffering is an intruder and cannot be welcomed as natural.8 The horror of suffering’s intrusion points to the horror of sin, its fundamental source.

Suffering is mysterious.
Suffering is not only a consequence of sin and an intruder, but it is also mysterious. Theologians speak of “the riddle of sin.” For example, Anthony Hoekema asserts:

The fact that we can discern these stages in the temptation and fall of our first parents, however, does not mean that we have in the Genesis narrative an explanation for the entrance of sin into the human world. What we have here is the biblical narrative of the origin of sin, but not an explanation for that origin. One of the most important things we must remember about sin… is that it is inexplicable. The origin of evil is… one of the greatest riddles of life.9
The riddle centers on the question: why would Adam and Eve sin? Augustine helpfully taught that Adam was able not to sin and able to sin, so that there was an inherent possibility to sin in him. We agree, but as Hoekema advises: “But how this possibility became actuality is a mystery that we shall never be able to fathom. We shall never know how doubt first arose in Eve’s mind. We shall never understand how a person who had been created in a state of rectitude, in a state of sinlessness, could begin to sin.”10
The difficulty remains: “how could a sinless will begin to will sinfully?”11 Adam and Eve were created good and did not initially have a corrupt heart to lead them astray. They had a close relationship with the Lord, enjoyed intimacy with each other, and retained authority over creation. It would seem that they had everything in Eden they could possibly want; they lived, after all, in paradise! Collins notes:

In 3:6, as [the woman] regards the tree and sees that it is “good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable for giving insight,” the irony of the parallel with 2:9 (there was already “every tree desirable to the sight and good for food” in the garden) should not escape us. She already had everything she could possibly want, and she even had the resources to get everything she thought the tree had to offer.12
The first couple had everything they could ever want, and yet history records that, in unfaithfulness to God and disobedience to his one prohibition, they threw it all away for a piece of fruit! How absurd! As Augustine noted, trying to determine reasons for such foolishness is like trying to see darkness or hear silence. Or as Cornelius Plantinga describes, sin is like sawing off a branch that supports us—it cuts us off from our only help.13 We cannot make sense out of such folly or find clear-cut explanations for the irrationality of this Original Sin.14
If the origin of evil is one of the greatest mysteries of life, then it should come as no surprise that the existence of its byproduct—suffering—likewise remains a mystery. Paul’s words “now I know in part” (1 Cor. 13:9, 12) show that for at least some matters even apostolic revelation is partial; and suffering is one of those matters. God has revealed much about suffering (hence this blog post and the book on which it is based!), but our knowledge is limited and some mystery concerning suffering will remain.15
While its source, nature, extent, and effects are themselves enigmatic enough, the primary mystery related to suffering concerns how and why a sovereign and good God chooses to decree/permit suffering in general, as well as to distribute it so seemingly inequitably. We know that sin, suffering, and death are results of the Fall, but if God is sovereign, why would he do it this way? And why do some seem to live in relative ease while others are consistently pounded with heavy blows? And why does this particular circumstance happen to this person—or worse, to me or my family? At its core, this aspect of the mystery of suffering is really the mystery of providence: Why does God run his universe the way he does?16
Scripture’s account of the Fall tells us that sin and its corollaries suffering and death are not created by God; they do not belong. Yet through the rebellion of Adam, they have intruded. The world is not the way it was, but thankfully, as Genesis 3:15 hints and the rest of the Bible makes increasingly clear, the world will not always be this way. Because the Son of God became one of us and died and arose to set things right, this ugly curse will be removed from the earth and from humanity (Rev. 22:3). Because “God was pleased . . . thru him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19-20) there will be a new heaven and new earth, the home of the Trinity and God’s people for all eternity. But in this interval between God’s initial good creation and final recreation, sin, suffering, and death exist. And somehow the good, sovereign God guides history in such a way that he plans that evil would occur and even utilizes it to bring about his intended purposes for creation. He plans it, guides it, restrains it, and uses it.17 In doing so, he will glorify himself and benefit his creatures. So suffering may be mysterious, but it is not utterly pointless. A biblical view of the providence of God “affirms that all things ultimately have purpose, even evil acts which appear to be completely senseless.”18

~ Dr. Peterson is professor of systematic theology at Covenant Theological Seminary

~ Dr. Chris Morgan is professor of theology and associate dean of the School of Christian Ministries at California Baptist University

Discuss this article with Dr. Peterson and others on the Richmond Center for Christian Study blog.
———————–
Being Proven

“There he proved them” (Exod. 15:25).

I stood once in the test room of a great steel mill. All around me were little partitions and compartments. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures that showed its breaking point. Some pieces had been twisted until they broke, and the strength of torsion was marked on them. Some had been stretched to the breaking point and their tensile strength indicated. Some had been compressed to the crushing point, and also marked. The master of the steel mill knew just what these pieces of steel would stand under strain. He knew just what they would bear if placed in the great ship, building, or bridge. He knew this because his testing room revealed it.

It is often so with God’s children. God does not want us to be like vases of glass or porcelain. He would have us like these toughened pieces of steel, able to bear twisting and crushing to the uttermost without collapse.

He wants us to be, not hothouse plants, but storm-beaten oaks; not sand dunes driven with every gust of wind, but granite rocks withstanding the fiercest storms. To make us such He must needs bring us into His testing room of suffering.

Many of us need no other argument than our own experiences to prove that suffering is indeed God’s testing room of faith.
–J. H. McC
***
It is very easy for us to speak and theorize about faith, but God often casts us into crucibles to try our gold, and to separate it from the dross and alloy. Oh, happy are we if the hurricanes that ripple life’s unquiet sea have the effect of making Jesus more precious. Better the storm with Christ than smooth waters without Him.
–Macduff
***
What if God could not manage to ripen your life without suffering?

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February 27, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD

We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer.
–Proverbs 16:1 NLT

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
–Psalm 119:105 NLT
———————–
Knowing Versus Doing
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Monday, February 27 2012

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection….” – Philippians 3:10
If I asked you the purpose for which God made you, what might you say? You might give a lot of answers that required some action on your part. However, the simplest answer to that question relates to one primary thing: fellowship. The most important thing God desires from us today is to have a deep and intimate fellowship with each of us.

The apostle Paul said he wanted to know Christ, and by knowing Christ he could experience the power of His resurrection. I find this to be the hardest thing for many of us workplace believers to do. So often it is much easier to be busy with the urgent (or even Christian) activity than spending quiet moments before the Lord. Before we realize it, days have passed since our last quiet time with Jesus.

Jesus understood how important quiet moments were with the Father. “After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone” (Mt. 14:23). The more mature I become in my relationship with the Lord, the more precious this time becomes to me. It is a time I look forward to almost daily. It offers me a time to reflect, to share my concerns with my Lord, and to hear Him speak. In the last few years I have begun prayer walks, which accomplish three things: fellowship, prayer, and exercise. It has changed my prayer life. I have come to understand that Jesus views us as His friend and He wants to spend time with us. We are depriving Him of His time when we put Him aside for the urgent. An interesting thing happens when we make prayer a priority: Urgent things seem to wane as we focus on Him. He makes all these other things fall into place.

Are you taking the time to get to know Him today?
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Freedom from Self
Sarah Phillips, Crosswalk.com Family Editor

Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51: 12)

Do you have a hard time embracing the idea that God loves you? Do you struggle with a nagging sense of inadequacy or unworthiness?

As we kick off Lent, we encounter a lot of talk about sinfulness, reparations, confession, and penance. The Lenten focus is wonderful and necessary for all of us. We are sinners in a fallen world, and we can find ourselves forgetting our need for God and His grace readily.

It’s easy to see how Lent can infuse humility into one who suffers from pride. But what about those of us who suffer from scrupulosity? A quick internet search of this term brings us to Wikipedia which defines scrupulosity as “obsessive concern with one’s own sins and compulsive performance of religious devotion.” Scrupulosity is basically an obsession with our own faults and failings. It often plagues perfectionists and can be paralyzing to the believer’s life. The scrupulous believer holds on to his or her sins and even erroneously labels innocent acts as sinful, convinced God could not love them enough to forgive them.

When the tendency to hyper-focus on imperfections and sins takes over, we need to remember that Lent is the journey towards Easter. It is meant to help us grow in our relationship with God, not lead us into clinical depression.

Let’s take the Lenten practice of fasting, for example. Why do Christians fast? Fasting can be found in both the Old Testament and the New, with Moses (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9,18 ), Elijah (1 Kings 19:8), and our Lord (Matthew 4:2) all participating in 40-day fasts. Biblically, fasting centers around genuine humility and a desire to be in right relationship with God. Fasting is a way of denying ourselves excesses so that we might be more attuned to the Lord’s voice. This requires first and foremost a belief that one can be in right relationship with God; that He is accessible to the believer!

Fasting makes the most sense when we consider it in light of Genesis 1, which reveals that we all have inherent dignity as creatures created in the image and likeness of God. An excerpt of this chapter states:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them… God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1: 26 – 27, 31)

As human beings with this dignity, we can exercise our gift of free will to embrace opportunities God gives us to experience His refining grace in our lives. In doing so, the small aches and pains that come with fasting should draw our attentionaway from our failings and towards the reality that God loves us so much that He would suffer profoundly for us on the Cross.

Intersecting Faith & Life: If you suffer from scrupulosity, give it up for Lent. Instead of repeating your sins to God over and over, spend the next several weeks studying the gospel in light of God’s love for you.
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The Missionary Call

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea ; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets ; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
Matthew 4:18-22

I’ve heard every reason you can imagine for avoiding missionary service: “I haven’t been to seminary.” “I can’t preach.” “I’m too old.” “My family won’t go for it.” On and on the list goes. Let me tell you that there are thousands of active missionaries who once thought that God couldn’t use them either. I often have the privilege of hearing their stories of how the Lord turned resistance into enthusiasm.

People can offer God plenty of reasons why He shouldn’t call them to spread the gospel. But His call is not issued for our consideration; He expects a response of obedience and surrender.

A believer is accountable only to say yes to God’s call. It is the Lord’s responsibility to equip the chosen for the work He’s assigned. A personal plan has been mapped for each believer’s life, and God provides the personality and temperament that suits. Then He adds skills that can be developed and the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill His mission.

God makes His call with wisdom and discernment. He knows why He created you and what you’re capable of accomplishing in His strength (Eph. 2:10). Rejecting the invitation to serve Him is foolish. It would be like telling almighty God that He made a mistake. But surrender opens the door to a lifetime of service, blessing, and joy!

Mission work can occur near or far. You could serve: at home by writing to prisoners; down the street by dishing out meals at a shelter; across the nation by providing flood relief; or in a foreign land by translating the gospel. In short, a missionary calling is whatever God tells you to do.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.

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February 26, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD

We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield.
–Psalm 33:20 NLT

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
–Lamentations 3:23 NLT

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Spiritual Warfare
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Sunday, February 26 2012

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood….” – Ephesians 6:12
Have you ever heard someone say, “I will never do business with another Christian”? I hear this comment quite often in my dealings with Christian workplace believers. This comment represents the battle that rages against us by the enemy of our soul to destroy the witness and effectiveness of Christian workplace believers. We must realize that we are in a war – a war for the souls of men, a war to discredit all that a Christian stands for, a war that is designed to divide Christian against Christian.

Satan’s ploy in the life of Christian workplace believers is to do several things to make them ineffective as soldiers in the workplace. First, he wants to discredit them by allowing them to fail other people in their professional services. This often shows up in failing to perform what they committed to do or performing in an unsatisfactory way. Sometimes, this is a result of a downright failure of the workplace believer to perform with excellence. In other cases, it may be a misunderstanding in the midst of the service that causes strife and division instigated by the enemy.

The result in both cases is the same: a division among Christians and even non-Christians, further resulting in a damaged witness for Christ. The apostle Peter admonishes us to “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us” (1 Pet. 2:12).

There are times when each of us is thrust into situations out of our control. Sometimes this results in our inability to pay a bill on time, or to deliver a service. Defeating satan in these battles requires extra communication with those with whom we are dealing. If the motive of your heart is to do right, then God will give you favor in order to work through these difficult spots. Ask God today to show you where the enemy is seeking to make you ineffective.

We wage a spiritual war that is not flesh and blood. We must fight this war with spiritual weapons applied to practical daily living.
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Compromise Always Leads to Deceit (Living a Life of Absolutes in a Culture of Compromise)
By Os Hillman

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” -Hebrews 13:8

The apostle Paul understood that the higher you go up a mountain of influence, the greater the level of spiritual warfare. “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16:9). He understood that his calling penetrated spiritual forces in high places. It was not just a matter of his communication and professional skill that would make him effective in impacting his culture; it was overcoming the principalities that ruled the mountains he was seeking to claim.

Oswald Chambers also understood this truth: “When you get higher up, you face other temptations and characteristics. Satan uses the strategy of elevation in temptation, and God does the same, but the effect is different. When the devil puts you into an elevated place, he makes you screw your idea of holiness beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear, it is a spiritual acrobatic performance, you are poised and dare not move; but when God elevates you by His grace into the heavenly places, instead of finding a pinnacle to cling to, you find a great tableland where it is easy to move.” John the apostle described the core areas that man is tempted in the following verses:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” -1 John 2:15&17

If you have not gained a victory over Satan’s traps of performance, passion, position, and possessions before you are elevated as a change agent into a leadership role, you will be an easy prey for Satan and his demons. Many leaders’ integrity is not strong enough to keep them at the top of a mountain once the prosperity, fame, and prestige hit them. Heinz Ketchup founder H. J. Heinz once said, “Quality is for a product what character is to a man.”

Compromise and Relativism

We live in a day of compromise and relativism. Today’s mantra is “do whatever you want as long as it does not affect me.” Many change their beliefs based on whether it might be acceptable for the particular audience they are speaking to. However, God’s character never changes. He is a God of absolutes. Politicians often change their position based on the political risk. Granted, sometimes they change simply because they change their view of the subject, but more often it is a result of political expediency.

Compromise Leads to Deceit

Compromise will always lead to deceit in a life and will lead to a leanness in your soul. When the people of Israel began to compromise, God allowed leanness in their soul: They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. (Psalms 106:13-15).
You will lose confidence in the spiritual part of your life as you begin to compromise your integrity. God is looking for integrity. David came to learn this after his sin with Bathsheba and his murder cover-up: Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom (Psalm 51:6). Ultimately, compromise sabotages the heart’s good intentions and turns us into a spiritual hypocrite.

Satan is a Legalist

Compromise gives the enemy of our soul a legal right to sift us. Jesus understood that Satan was a legalist when he said these words: “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me (John 14:29-30). Jesus was saying, “There is nothing Satan can attack for reasons of sin in my life.”

Unresolved Issues

Compromise is evidence of an unresolved issue God is forcing you and to deal with to gain healing and freedom. There are often roots to why we compromise. Sometimes it is fear. Sometimes it is pain. Sometimes it is dysfunction that has roots in our early childhood. We are never excused from our behavior, but we must always seek to understand the roots of behavior to correct it. The Bible says the truth shall make your free. Understanding the roots of behavior is the first step toward freedom.

Compromise leads to losing confidence in the spiritual dimension of our lives and ultimately leads to poor decisions rooted in deceit. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. (Jeremiah 7:24).

It’s a Slippery Slope

Once you start compromising, the stakes begin to rise. And the greater leadership position you hold, the greater the fall. However, whatever you uncover through transparency and repentance, God will often cover. However, what you cover through deceit and lying, God will uncover. And the greater leadership position you hold, the greater the humiliation will be.

The psalmist wrote about the kind of life God blesses.

Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart;
He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. -Psalm 15

God blesses those who live a life of integrity and is willing to even swear to his or her own hurt to maintain that integrity. May you be a person of integrity God can bless.

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February 25, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD

I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word.
–Psalm 130:5 NLT

If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
–Ecclesiastes 4:10 NLT
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The Missionary Question

For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek ; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed ? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard ? And how will they hear without a preacher ? How will they preach unless they are sent ? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS !”
Romans 10:11-15

At every missions conference hosted by my church, I give God the same message I’ve been repeating since my early 20s: “I’m available, Lord. I’ll go to foreign fields if you say so.” Until He tells me to pack my bags, I’m going to keep on sending others to work among unbelievers in distant and even remote lands.

Paul asked a series of rhetorical questions in Romans 10 that can be summed up like this: How will the world hear about Jesus if you do nothing? God uses Christians to spread the word that His salvation plan is available to all. He put us in families and communities and nations so we will mingle and share what we know. But some believers are called to carry the gospel farther than others. Those who stay behind are to offer prayer and resources for those who travel.

If you’re shaking your head and thinking, Mission work isn’t where my heart is, I have news for you: Every believer is called to missions as either a goer or a sender. That call comes in dramatic ways for some, but for most of us, it is simply a biblical principle to be followed (Matt. 28:19). What’s missing for those who don’t have a “heart” for such work is passion. Christians who share and go and send are often excited about God’s message for unbelievers—and it’s possible for you to become more enthusiastic too.

I challenge you to ask the Lord, “Am I open to going anywhere You send me?” Our roots in a community should be sunk only as deep as God wills. If you aren’t called to go, then choose to be a sender. Offer your prayers, your money, and anything else that will help to put others on the mission field.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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Fruitful Suffering
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Saturday, February 25 2012

…”It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” – Genesis 41:52
Joseph named his second son Ephraim. Ephraim was given to him after he had been delivered from his suffering of 13 years. Joseph said that he named him this because God had made him fruitful in the land of his suffering. Ephraim means “twice fruitful.”

Joseph was fruitful in two instances. He was fruitful during his time of adversity and in his prosperity. When God brings us into a time of suffering, it can be a fruitful time. It’s rare for us to see the fruit during the suffering period. But know that the roots are going deep into the spiritual soil of our soul because of our pressing in to God during our time of suffering. This is producing a work in our character that cannot be seen until it finishes the process. Such was the case for Joseph.

It was not until several years after such a time of suffering that I began to see the fruit of the trials that the Lord allowed me to experience. How grateful I am to understand some of the “why” that has led to a new life in Him that I would never have had without this period.

Samson had great anointing but lacked character. We see many today who have great anointing yet lack character. But God is raising up Josephs who not only have great anointing for these days but also great character. Suffering produces character.

If you find yourself in a time of suffering, now is the time to press into God. Let your roots grow deeper. Whenever there is a famine, tree roots are forced to drive deeper into the soil to find water. These times are designed to create such a deep-rooted faith that our natures will be changed forever.

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February 24, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/24/2012

Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.
–Psalm 25:5, NLT

He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.
–Isaiah 40:29 NLT
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Godly Rewards
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Friday, February 24 2012

“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’” – Malachi 3:14-15

Have you ever felt that serving God had little reward and the ungodly seemed actually to be more blessed than you? This is what the people of God felt. God heard their cry and responded through the prophet Malachi to explain God’s view on this matter.

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. “They will be Mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “in the day when I take up My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not” (Malachi 3:16-18).

Notice that after the people complained about this, they began to talk to each other, and the Lord listened and heard. God had been taking note of those who were serving Him and honoring Him. There is a day coming in which God will honor His “treasured possessions.” We will see that there is a distinction between the righteous and the wicked on that day when “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall” (Mal. 4:2). What a beautiful picture of what we will feel like on that day.

God rewards faithful obedience. It often requires patience, suffering, and perseverance. Be of good cheer; He will reward you if you faint not.

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Take Up Your Cross

The phrase “take up your cross” has not fared well through the generations. Ask for a definition, and you’ll hear answers like, “My cross is my mother-in-law, my job, my bad marriage, my cranky boss, or the dull preacher.” The cross, we assume, is any besetting affliction or personal hassle. My thesaurus agrees. It lists the following synonyms for cross: frustration, trying situation, snag, hitch, and drawback.

The cross means so much more. It is God’s tool of redemption, instrument of salvation—proof of his love for people. To take up the cross, then, is to take up Christ’s burden for the people of the world.

Though our crosses are similar, none are identical. “If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me” (Luke 9:23 CEV, emphasis mine).

We each have our own cross to carry—our individual calling. Discover your God-designed task. It fits. It matches your passions and enlists your gifts and talents. Want to blow the cloud cover off your gray day? Accept God’s direction.

“The Lord has assigned to each his task” (1 Corinthians3:5 NIV). What is yours? What is your unique call, assignment, mission? A trio of questions might help.

In what directions has God taken you?
What needs has God revealed to you?
What abilities has God given to you?

Direction. Need. Ability. Your spiritual DNA. You at your best. You and your cross.

While none of us is called to carry the sin of the world (Jesus did that), all of us can carry a burden for the world.

Check your vital signs. Something stirs you. Some call brings energy to your voice, conviction to your face, and direction to your step. Isolate and embrace it. Nothing gives a day a greater chance than a good wallop of passion.

From Great Day Every Day:
Navigating Life’s Challenges with Promise and Purpose
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2012) Max Lucado
Previously published as Every Day Deserves a Chance
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Who Cares about Leviticus?
Katherine Britton, Crosswalk.com News & Culture Editor

“You are to be holy to me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set your apart from the nations to be my own.” – Leviticus 20:26

Like most evangelicals, I haven’t devoted much time to parsing Leviticus. After all, we live under the new covenant ushered in by Christ’s death and resurrection, and we’re Gentiles to boot. Leviticus was written for a particular people at a particular time, and vast sections of the book have been demoted to historical curiosities at this point. The fledgling kingdom of Israel – really, a collection of tribes that had more in common with their pagan neighbors than today’s Christian enclave – were on the other side of history’s turning point. The Lord dictated incredibly detailed ceremonial law for this emerging nation that has since passed away, as we have a new and perfect high priest.

Still, the apostle Paul insists that “all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:15). Remember, this is Paul speaking, the same apostle who vilified the Judaizers for insisting the law must be upheld in its minutae to achieve salvation, and who wrote that “no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law.” The resolution of the paradox might be a bit more apparent through the example of Park Street Church in Boston.

Pastor Daniel Harrell convinced 19 members of his congregation to join him in an experiment in “living Levitically,” despite the drastic changes they had to make in their daily living. The group grew out their beards, kept kosher, cleaned their homes meticulously, observed the Sabbath, and even stopped wearing clothes made from blended materials. One of the few exceptions to the experiment was animal sacrifice, as the group intended not to break any U.S. laws while observing the ceremonial ones.

The group found it absolutely impossible to obey every tenet. But the Park Street Church says that wasn’t the point. Seeing firsthand that they couldn’t perfectly fulfill the law, they realized the need for grace in a whole new way. As Romans 5:20 explains it, “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”

Could it be that, in ignoring Leviticus as a whole, we forget how awesome grace is? True, not every ceremonial law (washing your feet? Wearing blended materials?) is also a moral law. But God still told the Israelites to keep it as his law. Reading about the church’s example reminded me of a couple things:

First,God’s people are supposed to be set apart. The Israelites were supposed to look different, act different, worship different, and spend their time in different ways than the nations around them. It was an integral part of their calling as God’s people. The manifestations aren’t quite the same, but Christians have the same calling today.

Second, we aren’t set apart enough. As Park Street Church rediscovered, the law points out our insufficiencies. Even if the law were just a set of external rules, we still couldn’t keep them perfectly. We just can’t measure up to following the law or Christ’s example.

Third, only in Christ can we find rest from the law and a new identity that really sets us apart. The writer of Hebrews notes that the law is “only a shadow of the good things that are coming.” And yes, the law is a good thing – it makes us realize how much Christ had to atone for on our behalf. Not only that, God has adopted us as sons and daughters through Christ to really set us apart. And then he gives us the grace to live it. Sure, we’ll still fall, and that will remind us to run to grace. But the power of the law is gone through Christ.

Intersecting Faith & Life: This week, take time to read Hebrews 10. Notice how beautifully Christ not only supersedes the law, but fulfills all of its demands. That ought to inspire the worship that God desires more than the Israelites’ burnt offerings.

*This devotional originally ran March 8, 2011.

Further Reading:

Living Leviticus: Who Could Do It? Who Would Want To?

How to Use the Law – Lawfully to Bear Fruit for God
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Wounded Parents Wounded Children

‘Ah Lord GOD ! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm ! Nothing is too difficult for You, who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The LORD of hosts is His name ; great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds ;
-Jeremiah 32:17-19

So often when we deal with difficult people, it’s easy to form judgments about them based on their behavior or attitudes. But have you ever stopped to wonder what has made that person so disagreeable or foolish? When the Bible says God “repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children” (v. 18), it is speaking about generational cycles of sin. Unless someone in the family line makes a deliberate choice to change, sinful and dysfunctional behavior will be passed from parent to child for many generations.

This is really just a confirmation of the principle of sowing and reaping. We pass down standards for conduct and character traits that we received from our parents. If we are unwilling to change our sinful habits and attitudes, they will very likely find their way into our children’s lives.

What is true for sin is also true for wounding. When a child is emotionally bruised in the home, his behavior and character may be negatively affected. With this in mind, think about a difficult person that you know. What hurts do you think shaped his or her life? A heart of compassion originates from a willingness to empathize with those who have been wounded. This doesn’t excuse someone’s sin, but it does aid in opening our hearts toward the individual.

What about you? Have childhood wounds contributed to who you are today? How have they affected your life? If you haven’t dealt with them, you’ll probably pass similar hurts down to your children. But with God’s help, you can break this cycle and begin a new one that will benefit future generations.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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Grow in the Gloom
“I have all, and abound” (Phil. 4:18).

In one of my garden books there is a chapter with a very interesting heading, “Flowers that Grow in the Gloom.” It deals with those patches in a garden which never catch the sunlight. And my guide tells me the sort of flowers which are not afraid of these dingy corners–may rather like them and flourish in them.

And there are similar things in the world of the spirit. They come out when material circumstances become stern and severe. They grow in the gloom. How can we otherwise explain some of the experiences of the Apostle Paul ?

Here he is in captivity at Rome. The supreme mission of his life appears to be broken. But it is just in this besetting dinginess that flowers begin to show their faces in bright and fascinating glory. He may have seen them before, growing in the open road, but never as they now appeared in incomparable strength and beauty. Words of promise opened out their treasures as he had never seen them before.

Among those treasures were such wonderful things as the grace of Christ, the love of Christ, the joy and peace of Christ; and it seemed as though they needed an “encircling gloom” to draw out their secret and their inner glory. At any rate the realm of gloom became the home of revelation, and Paul began to realize as never before the range and wealth of his spiritual inheritance. Who has not known men and women who, when they arrive at seasons of gloom and solitude, put on strength and hopefulness like a robe? You may imprison such folk where you please; but you shut up their treasure with them. You cannot shut it out. You may make their material lot a desert, but “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.”
–Dr. Jowett
***
“Every flower, even the fairest, has its shadow beneath it as it swings in the sunlight.”

Where there is much light there is much shade.

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TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/23/2012

He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.
–Psalm 62:2, NLT

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
–Psalm 37:23 NLT
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No Solution in Sight

“He went out, not knowing whither he went” (Heb. 11:9).

It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith, but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea, nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within twenty miles of land, we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead.

How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments and, looking up to the sky, had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights.

So faith looks up and sails on, by God’s great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster; but He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, but trusting.
–Days of Heaven upon Earth
***
“Too many of us want to see our way through before starting new enterprises. If we could and did, from whence would come the development of our Christian graces? Faith, hope and love cannot be plucked from trees, like ripe apples. After the words ‘In the beginning’ comes the word ‘God’! The first step turns the key into God’s power-house, and it is not only true that God helps those who help themselves, but He also helps those who cannot help themselves. You can depend upon Him every time.”

“Waiting on God brings us to our journey’s end quicker than our feet.”

The opportunity is often lost by deliberation.
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Oh Lord, It’s Hard to Be Holy
Laura MacCorkle, Crosswalk.com Senior Editor

“I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44, NIV

Is there anyone who loves keeping a kitchen floor clean? Not I!

In fact, that is my least favorite chore around my home, and it’s the one I always save for last (and sometimes just forgo altogether . . . especially if I know that company isn’t coming around anytime soon). It seems as though just when I’ve finished vacuuming and mopping the linoleum underfoot that already I will find a speck or a spot somewhere.

Ugh! But that’s how life goes, does it not?

We live and move in our kitchens. We cook and we bake. We nuke and we toast. And some of us even indoor grill (and for the record, cleaning all the intricate cracks and crevices of my indoor grill is a very close and dislikeable runner-up to my kitchen floor).

But really, any type of action taken in our kitchens is going to yield some kind of mess that will be made. And more often than not, it will end up on the floor.

I’ve realized that no matter how often I sweep or spot-clean (in between the major moppings), that my kitchen floor is always, always going to be unclean. It just is. And I will always have to work hard to keep it as close to satisfactory and ready-for-inspection as possible.

I thought about the type of housecleaning that can be overwhelming like this as I was making my way through Leviticus this week. Now if you’ve not been to this book in the Old Testament in a while, then let me refresh your memory: it’s about holiness. And there are all different types of rules and regulations and instructions for priests and the Israelite people on everything from offerings and sacrifices to daily living and loving one another.

Go ahead and read through a couple of chapters and maybe you will feel like I did. First, you might be discouraged. How could the Israelites and priests EVER keep all of these commandments and follow each and every step required for holiness in their lives?

And then, you might feel relieved. Thank God that he showed us in Leviticus that we desperately need a Savior and that he sent his son to atone for all of our sins. I can’t achieve holiness in and of myself. Only through the provision of God’s sinless son, Jesus Christ, am I holy, acceptable and pleasing to him.

But back to my kitchen floor . . .

I’ve realized that I could obsess over it and get out my dust pan and broom or spray here and there with all-purpose cleaner twice a day just to keep up appearances. But to what end? I will never be able to keep it perfectly and exceedingly spotless all of the time. It’s just too hard. And that’s okay. I forgive myself and my floor.

And likewise, in my pursuit of holiness—and a spotless life—because I have placed my trust in the Lord and am covered by the blood of the Lamb, I am forgiven, too. I am holy because HEis holy.

As it says in the praise chorus, “You Are My All in All” . . .
Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising again I bless Your name
You are my all in all

Oh, Lord, it’s hard to be holy! Thank you that our holiness is not up to us. Father, we need you and we depend on you with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our mind. By your strength and because YOU are our all in all, we are able to live lives that are pleasing to you.

Intersecting Faith & Life: As you’re doing a little cleaning this week, remember what Christ did on the cross for you and how you have been washed so that you will be “whiter than snow” (Ps. 51:7).

Further Reading:

John 1:29, NIV

2 Cor. 12:9, NIV

Col. 2:6-7, NIV
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The Call to Serve

but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
-Philippians 2:7-9

When it comes to serving in the church, people rarely request positions where they will go unnoticed. They usually ask to be involved in a place of leadership.

Now, there is nothing wrong with heading a committee. But God calls us to have a servant’s heart: He desires that our motive be to glorify Him, not ourselves.

Over the years, I’ve had many conversations with young men studying at seminary. Countless times, they share the desire to lead a sizable church. And those who are called to a small congregation frequently struggle with feelings of insignificance.

My encouragement to them is this: In His great love, God places us where He wants us to serve, and every task we undertake should be given our all, whether there’s one person listening or a multitude. We ultimately serve Jesus, and He is not concerned with the recognition we receive. He desires our obedience and our best effort. This is true not just for pastors but for all believers.

There are many reasons the Lord calls us to serve. First, He rids us of pride and selfishness, allowing our focus to be on Him. Second, we proclaim our love for Christ through our care for one another. Third, God tests and purifies our hearts through service.

How do you define success? A common response is “achieving predetermined goals.” Scripture’s definition, however, is different. The Lord desires that we discover His plan, obey, and become all that He intended. In other words, for success in the biblical sense, God sets the goals.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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A Man Who Has God’s Favor
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Thursday, February 23 2012

“…Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.” – Zechariah 8:23

Few men of God have become extraordinary people of faith without the influence of mentors. A mentor is one who takes responsibility for the spiritual and, sometimes, physical care of another. It requires a commitment from the teacher and the student.

Elijah mentored Elisha. Elisha became one of the greatest prophets in the entire Bible. One of the primary reasons for this was Elisha’s hunger. Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. It was this hunger that drove Elisha to be sold out to God’s purposes for his life.

I have been privileged to have had many mentors throughout my spiritual life. In each stage of my maturity, God brought new mentors who had unique gifts that the previous mentor did not have. God has given me the hunger to desire a double portion of those positive attributes of my mentors. This desire is sorely missing among many today. I fail to see the hunger among many who could be used greatly in the Kingdom. Instead, the cares of this world distract them. It is an attitude of a la carte versus an attitude of pressing in to the full measure of what God might have for them.

Who are the people of God He has placed in your life? Are you learning from them? Are you seeking a double portion of their anointing? What prevents you from gaining from their wisdom and experience? God may have brought them into your life to prepare you to be a man or woman of God with great anointing. However, there is a time of training and waiting to prove out your own faith. Ask God today if there is someone He would have you mentor or be mentored by.

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February 22, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/22/2012

I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him.
–Psalm 39:7, NLT

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
–Psalm 40:2 NLT
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No Miracles

“And the rest, some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land” (Acts 27:44).

The marvelous story of Paul’s voyage to Rome, with its trials and triumphs, is a fine pattern of the lights and shades of the way of faith all through the story of human life. The remarkable feature of it is the hard and narrow places which we find intermingled with God’s most extraordinary interpositions and providences.

It is the common idea that the pathway of faith is strewn with flowers, and that when God interposes in the life of His people, He does it on a scale so grand that He lifts us quite out of the plane of difficulties. The actual fact, however, is that the real experience is quite contrary. The story of the Bible is one of alternate trial and triumph in the case of everyone of the cloud of witnesses from Abel down to the latest martyr.

Paul, more than anyone else, was an example of how much a child of God can suffer without being crushed or broken in spirit. On account of his testifying in Damascus, he was hunted down by persecutors and obliged to fly for his life. but we behold no heavenly chariot transporting the holy apostle amid thunderbolts of flame from the reach of his foes, but “through a window in a basket,” was he let down over the walls of Damascus and so escaped their hands. In an old clothes basket, like a bundle of laundry, or groceries, the servant of Jesus Christ was dropped from the window and ignominiously fled from the hate of his foes.

Again we find him left for months in the lonely dungeons; we find him telling of his watchings, his fastings, and his desertion by friends, of his brutal and shameful beatings, and here even after God has promised to deliver him, we see him for days left to toss upon a stormy sea, obliged to stand guard over the treacherous seaman, and at last when the deliverance comes, there is no heavenly galley sailing from the skies to take off the noble prisoner; there is no angel form walking along the waters and stilling the raging breakers; there is no supernatural sign of the transcendent miracle that is being wrought; but one is compelled to seize a spar, another a floating plank, another to climb on a fragment of the wreck, another to strike out and swim for his life.

Here is God’s pattern for our own lives. Here is a Gospel of help for people that have to live in this every day world with real and ordinary surroundings, and a thousand practical conditions which have to be met in a thoroughly practical way.

God’s promises and God’s providences do not lift us out of the plane of common sense and commonplace trial, but it is through these very things that faith is perfected, and that God loves to interweave the golden threads of His love along the warp and woof of our every day experience.
–Hard Places in the Way of Faith
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Little Children
Ryan Duncan, TheFish.com editor

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” – Matthew 19:14

When I was a little kid, I made an amazing discovery. I realized that if I found something I liked and asked the right person “Can I have this?” there was chance they would give it to me. This may not seem all that extraordinary to you, but trust me, to a child this was a goldmine. You see, I didn’t just ask for candy at the grocery store or stuff on TV commercials, I asked for everything. I asked other kids if I could have their toys, I asked the neighbors if I could have their dog, I think I even asked one family if I could have their house. I’m afraid I embarrassed my parents to no end, and by the time my father sat me down and explained that asking someone for all their belongings was rude and most people had stopped inviting our family over for dinner.

Kids can be a real hassle, and when you think about it, you can’t really blame the disciples for their actions in Mark 10. Take a look at the following passage,

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. – Mark 10:13-16

Here’s the thing about children. Children are messy, children are selfish, children are ignorant, and children are incredibly self-destructive. Don’t believe me? A monkey knows better than to stick a butter knife into an exposed wall socket, but let a child have its way and they will do it twice! Despite all this however, you really can’t help but admire the oblivious, single-minded nature of a child.

If anything, Christians should try learning from their example. Too often we stop ourselves for encountering God because we are afraid we don’t fit the “Christian” criteria. Well, I’ve got news for you; we will always be children in God’s eyes: messy, crazy, self-destructive children. But as long as we make him the single focus of our hearts, He doesn’t care. So take a lesson from these little ones, pursue God recklessly and don’t pay attention to what others think, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.

Intersecting Faith and Life

Are you pursuing God with the heart of a child? Take a moment to consider.

Further Reading

Matthew 19
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A True Servant

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments ; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet ?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter .” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet !” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean ; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord ; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
-John 13:1-15

Do you equate success with wealth, acclaim, and power? If we measured by these standards, then Jesus, who was rejected by His community and didn’t even have a house of His own, was a failure. But, of course, we know that’s not the case. So God must use something other than these worldly goals to define success. In fact, Scripture is clear that Jesus Christ is our example–we should strive to be like Him.

So, what exactly was our Savior’s mission? In today’s passage, we see the answer through His actions: He came to serve. The disciples, wanting recognition and reward, were arguing about who’d be the greatest in heaven. In contrast, Jesus took off His outer garment and performed the task of the lowliest servant: He washed the dirty feet of His followers. The next day, Almighty God was crucified by His own creation. In allowing this, He offered salvation to all–even those who nailed Him to a cross.

Jesus deserved glory but chose sacrifice and pain. And He asks that we follow His example of service. With the exception of Judas, His disciples obeyed. In fact, they all faced great difficulty and most died brutal deaths because of their faith. But they willingly walked the path of humility because of what Jesus had taught them: “The last shall be first, and the first last” (Matt. 20:16).

How do you spend your resources and time? And which topics dominate your thoughts and conversation? These are a few indicators of the driving goals in your life. You may long for worldly recognition, but God has a higher calling for His children. Ask Him to foster a servant’s attitude in your heart.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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Paneled Houses
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Wednesday, February 22 2012

“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” – Haggai 1:4
There is a crisis of grand proportions in the spiritual house of God today. The moral fiber of our world has eroded. Greed, idolatry, and pleasure are the gods of our day. And it is no different in the Body of Christ.

The prophet Haggai wrote about a people who had lost concern for the need to build God’s house because they were so focused on their own worldly needs. It is a dangerous place to get with God. When our world begins to focus around increasing our pleasure, building bigger and better homes, and failing to make what is important to God important in our own lives, this should be a warning to us.

Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” He said to them, ” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers’ ” (Matthew. 21:12-13).

Jesus came into Jerusalem and found the workplace believers buying and selling in the temple. As far as they knew, this was an acceptable practice in their day. Their fathers did it, and now they were doing it. It was business as usual. Jesus got angry, turned over the tables, and said that His house was a house of prayer. He found the workplace believers of the day seeing His house as a place for profit, not prayer. They had stepped into a place of complacency that was not acceptable to the Lord. When we begin to blend in with the moral condition of an ungodly world, we begin losing God’s perspective on life.

It is easy to begin blending in with our culture and to accept what is being modeled by the ungodly. God called us to be salt in a world that needs much salt. “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men” (Mt. 5:13). Each of us must ask ourselves if we have lost our salt. Are we having an impact on our world? Or is our world having an impact on us? Ask God to give you a vision for how you can be salt to your world today.
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What Does It Mean To Be Biblically Balanced?
Tullian Tchividjian

I increasingly hear people talking about the need to be “Biblically balanced” and I think I’m starting to understand what they mean.

As I talk to people who speak about the need for our theology and preaching to be “balanced”, they mean that we need to spend the same amount of timetalking about everything the Bible talks about.

So, for example, since the Bible talks about what God in Christ has done andalso what we ought to do in light of what Christ has done, to be balanced we need to give both themes equal airtime. Since the Bible talks about Jesus and it talks about us, to be balanced we need to spend the same amount of time talking about both. The list could go on: since the Bible talks about x and y, to be balanced we need to talk about x and y the same amount.

But, this is NOT the balance of the Bible. While the Bible talks about a lot of things it does not give all of its themes equal airtime.

The overwhelmingly dominate message of the Bible is that God loves (and in Jesus) justifies sinners. There are tons of ways the Bible says this: the whore is made a bride, the dead are raised, the unrighteous are declared righteous, slaves are made sons, the blind see, the sick are healed, the unclean are made pure, the guilty are forgiven, sinners are saved, and so on. Obviously, no Christian denies that the Bible says more than this. But the work of Christ on behalf of sinners is clearly the emphasis of Scripture from beginning to end. What we do in light of what Jesus has done is important. But it’s not more important than (or even equally important as) what Jesus has done for us.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…(1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

The emphasis of the Bible is on the work of the Redeemer, not on the work of the redeemed. As important as how we live is, the spotlight of Scripture is on Christ, not the Christian. As Tim Keller has said, “The Bible is not fundamentally about us. It’s fundamentally about Jesus.”

My point is simply this: to be “Biblically balanced” is NOT to allot equal airtime to every Biblical theme. To be Biblically balanced is to let our theology and preaching be proportioned by the Bible’s radically disproportionate focus on God’s saving love for sinners seen and accomplished in the crucified and risen Christ.

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February 21, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/21/2012

And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.
–Psalm 39:7, NLT

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
–Isaiah 26:3 NLT
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Resurrection: Our New Body

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight – we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. -2 Corinthians 5:1-10

What a scene will occur at the sounding of the Lord’s trumpet! The “dead in Christ” will emerge from their resting places all over the earth and soar into the sky; these saints’ resurrected bodies will reunite with their spirits, which will have been residing in heaven with Jesus. Close behind them will follow believers who haven’t yet departed this life—at that moment, they’ll miraculously be changed as they are “caught up . . . to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).

The description sounds extraordinary, but in fact, the plan is practical. We’re going to need a body with which to enjoy the new heaven and new earth that Jesus is preparing for His followers. However, earthly flesh and bones will not do. They age, break, and succumb to sin. So God promised to transform our humble structures into glorious bodies like the one Christ had after His resurrection. Common temptations and limitations will be gone. In addition, our physical substance will be altered so that we are not restricted by time and space. Remember, Jesus didn’t bother with doors (John 20:19)! Our new bodies will be suited for the environment where we are to dwell forever—an ageless eternity in which all of our needs are perfectly met.

Each believer will still be him- or herself. Friends and family long separated will recognize one another; our personalities will be unchanged, except that we’ll be absolutely sinless. At last, you and I will be the persons that God intends for us to be. And we’ll be housed in a body fashioned like that of Christ—perfect, sinless, and complete.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
———————–
Loose Your Donkey
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Tuesday, February 21 2012

…”Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them….” – Matthew 21:2-3
A donkey was an animal of commerce in Jesus’ day. It was used to carry great burdens of goods from place to place and it was known as the “beast of the burden.” The donkey in Matthew 21 was surely owned by a village workplace believer. But Jesus told His disciples to fetch the donkey for “He had need of it.” This donkey played an important part in Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It was a day that was the culmination of three years of ministry. Jesus chose to use a vehicle of commerce to bring Him into His most important public display.

We are entering a time in our own history in which God is saying to workplace believers, “Loose your donkey for My purposes. I have need of it.” God is preparing His Church to be a vessel for ushering in a great harvest of souls. He is preparing His remnant of workplace believers, who are like a tribe within the Church, to be a major force in this great harvest.

“He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk” (Gen. 49:11-12). Is your donkey tied to the living Vine, the choicest branch of Jesus Himself? When we are tied to the living Vine, designed for His use, we will be useful in God’s Kingdom. Jesus wants to free us from the bondage of work slavery; He wants us to walk in freedom so that others may see God’s grace flowing through us and our place in the work world. Is your donkey available for His use?

Today, ask Jesus to allow the Vine to flow through you in every area of your life.
———————–
The Christian Faith Is Not a Leap in the Dark
Alex Crain
Editor, Christianity.com

“…we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 NASB

We can divide the universe into two categories of reality: the material and the non-material; or that which is seen and that which isnot seen. In talking about unseen reality, I’m obviously not talking about things that must be relegated to fantasy or pure imagination. Rather, I’m talking about unseen (yet real) fixed concepts which our world operates by constantly. Take, for example…

Moral absolutes (e.g. Child abuse is wrong.)
The uniformity of nature (e.g. We live on the assumption that planets and stars move in a predictable fashion. On this assumption we plan trips not only to grandma’s house, but to the moon and beyond.)
Universal Laws of Thought* (e.g. The principle of contradiction: a maxim stated by Aristotle as: “contradictory propositions are not true simultaneously.” [cf. Aristotle's Metaphysics, 1011b13-14]) Avicenna is said to have put it more colorfully, “Anyone who denies the law of non-contradiction should be beaten and burned until he admits that to be beaten is not the same as not to be beaten, and to be burned is not the same as not to be burned.
These are all things that are real, yet are unseen. Laws of thought and moral absolutes may not be able to be weighed, measured or stored in a cupboard, but we count on them and live by them every day just the same.

From what I’ve observed, both children and adults in Christian circles struggle at times with the things they are called to believe in. God seems like a distant idea. Doctrine seems far removed from day-to-day life. At times, you or someone you love may be tempted with the thought, “I wonder if God, salvation, heaven and hell is all just a made up fairy tale.”

At that point you should take a step back and remember that everyone has a faith in their particular view of the world. Worldviews need to be evaluated by whether or not they account for the unseen realities mentioned above. Fortunately, biblical Christianity (not to be confused with tainted, politicized, or hypocritical forms of Christianity that bear no resemblance to the life and message of Jesus Christ) is a worldview that is well able to account for these unseen realities. The biblical God (note well, not just general theism) capably undergirds all unseen moral absolutes, natural constants and universals. Other competing worldviews are weighed in the balance and found wanting.

When we are called on to believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:5), we should recognize that this is anotherunseen reality. The truths of Galatians 2:20 belong in the category of the unseen as well…

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

Let’s not gloss over the fact that we are called to believe in unseen things. But at the same time let’s not jump to the wrong conclusion that Christ asks us to take an idiotic leap in the dark. We all believe in well-founded unseen things everyday.

This week in chapter four of Francis Schaeffer’s True Spirituality (I’m reading through the works of Schaeffer and posting about it regularly here at Crosswalk the Devotional), he calls our attention to this biblical view of truth by underscoring that there are “two streams, two strands of space-time reality—one in the seen, and one in the unseen…”

“[God] is not asking us merely to act on some psychological motivation, but on what really is… there is a Holy Spirit who has been given to us to make service possible.

“The Christian dead, including my loved ones, are already with Christ now, and Christ really lives in the Christian. Christ lives in me.

“Here is true Christian mysticism—not based on content-less experience, but on historic, space-time reality—on propositional truth. Christian mysticism is communion with Christ. It is Christ bringing forth fruit through me, the Christian, with no loss of personality.

“He is the Christ who has died, whose work is finished, who is raised, who is ascended, who is glorified. It is this Christ. Not simply an idea. It is the Christ who was seen after the resurrection… by Stephen, by Paul, by John.”

Let’s walk on today, confidently believing in these unseen realities—Christ was not raised mythically; Jesus, the apostles and the Christian martyrs were not liars; and “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us” (Romans 5:5).

Intersecting Faith & Life: Are you at a loss for words when asked why you believe in unseen things? Learn how to converse with others in terms of their own beliefs in unseen things (like moral absolutes, etc.), and help them discover the worldview that is charged with the majesty and grandeur of God.

For Further Study:

What Is a Worldview? Dr. James Sire

Introduction to Worldviews (series of lectures) Dr. Greg Bahnsen
———————–
Himself

“He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me; because he delighted in me” (Ps. 18:19).

And what is this “large place”? What can it be but God Himself, that infinite Being in whom all other beings and all other streams of life terminate? God is a large place indeed. And it was through humiliation, through abasement, through nothingness that David was brought into it.–Madame Guyon
***
“I bare you on eagle’s wings, and brought you unto myself” (Exod. 19:4).
***
Fearing to launch on “full surrender’s” tide,
I asked the Lord where would its waters glide
My little bark, “To troubled seas I dread?”
“Unto Myself,” He said.

Weeping beside an open grave I stood,
In bitterness of soul I cried to God:
“Where leads this path of sorrow that I tread?”
“Unto Myself,” He said.

Striving for souls, I loved the work too well;
Then disappointments came; I could not tell
The reason, till He said, “I am thine all;
Unto Myself I call.”

Watching my heroes–those I loved the best–
I saw them fail; they could not stand the test,
Even by this the Lord, through tears not few,
Unto Himself me drew.

Unto Himself! No earthly tongue can tell
The bliss I find, since in His heart I dwell;
The things that charmed me once seem all as naught;
Unto Himself I’m brought.
–selected

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February 20, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/19/2012

Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!
–Psalm 98:4, NLT

And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.
–1 Thessalonians 3:12 NLT

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/20/2012

Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.
–1 Timothy 2:2, NLT

The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace.
–Psalm 29:11 NLT

———————–
Saved From Such Men
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Sunday, February 19 2012

“O Lord, by Your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life….” – Psalm 17:14

Whenever I travel over the ocean, I am always reminded of the seemingly insignificant time we have on this earth. I often imagine dropping a glass of water out the window of the jet into the huge body of water below. The Lord then reminds me that this is how my life is compared to eternity – a mere drop in the ocean.

Yet, every day millions of people will go to work seeking to gain that elusive thing called success. The rewards of this life continue to provide the incentive for 60-hour weeks or the extra weekend away from the family. Sometimes we get entrenched in the message of the world. This message is an appealing, seductive call to sell out eternity for the temporal.

As a Christian businessman, I fell for this for many years until the Lord allowed me to wake up. It took some severe wake-up calls, but they did their job. I’m so grateful the Lord cares enough to give us these wake-up calls. He knows what real life is about. We think we know what it is, only to learn once again that real life is only in what is built on eternity. How does this verse line up with where you are today? Are you building around a world whose reward is in this lifetime, or an eternal one? Do those with whom you associate live in such a way that they demonstrate their reward is not concerning this life? Jesus said to seek first His Kingdom and all these things will be added. Amen.
———————–
Seeing Through God’s Eyes
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Monday, February 20 2012

“They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.” – 2 Samuel 1:12

How would you respond if you heard something bad happened to someone who had been trying to cut off your head for several years? King Saul had been seeking to kill David for many years before Saul was thrust into battle against the Amalekites. In this final battle, a sword killed Saul. When the news reached David, instead of rejoicing that his enemy was no longer a problem for him, he responded in a totally different manner. He mourned. Imagine that; he mourned for the one who sought to kill him.

This is a sign of one who can look past an individual who is the source of pain and consider how God views him. God looks on that individual and sees his needs and knows why he responds the way he does. When we begin to see people as God does, we’ll no longer look at them as enemies, but as souls in need of grace. This is how Jesus could give of His life for us. He saw our great need, not what we did to Him. When someone wrongs you, do you seek to retaliate, or do you pray to understand the need behind the offender’s actions? For several years a person was a source of constant pain and retaliation toward me. There was nothing I could do to change it. God allowed me to go beyond the person’s actions to understand what was the source of his need. When I gained that understanding, God gave me a picture of this person inside a prison cell and in bondage. This bondage made him respond to life in this way. I was able to pray for him and genuinely love him in spite of the fact that he persecuted me. This is the kind of love Jesus wants us to have when He tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use us.

I believe God does a special work of grace in those who go beyond the realm of normal response to persecution. He brings us to a level of grace we never thought possible. Describing how God worked in Joseph’s life, Francis Frangipane reveals what happens when we tap into this grace:

God made him fruitful in the very things that afflicted him. In the land of your affliction, in your battle, is the place where God will make you fruitful. Consider, even now, the area of greatest affliction in your life. In that area, God will make you fruitful in such a way that your heart will be fully satisfied, and God’s heart fully glorified. God has not promised to keep us from valleys and sufferings, but to make us fruitful in them. [Francis Frangipane, Place of Immunity (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Arrow Publications, 1996), 93]
———————–
Wrestling With God

“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day” (Gen. 32:24).

God is wrestling with Jacob more than Jacob is wrestling with God. It was the Son of man, the Angel of the Covenant. It was God in human form pressing down and pressing out the old Jacob life; and ere the morning broke, God had prevailed and Jacob fell with his thigh dislocated. But as he fell, he fell into the arms of God, and there he clung and wrestled, too, until the blessing came; and the new life was born and he arose from the earthly to the heavenly, the human to the divine, the natural to the supernatural. And as he went forth that morning he was a weak and broken man, but God was there instead; and the heavenly voice proclaimed, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”

Beloved, this must ever be a typical scene in every transformed life. There comes a crisis-hour to each of us, if God has called us to the highest and best, when all resources fail; when we face either ruin or something higher than we ever dreamed; when we must have infinite help from God and yet, ere we can have it, we must let something go; we must surrender completely; we must cease from our own wisdom. strength, and righteousness, and become crucified with Christ and alive in Him. God knows how to lead us up to this crisis, and He knows how to lead us through.

Is He leading you thus? Is this the meaning of your deep trial, or your difficult surroundings, or that impossible situation. or that trying place through which you cannot go without Him, and yet you have not enough of Him to give you the victory?

Oh, turn to Jacob’s God! Cast yourself helplessly at His feet. Die to your strength and wisdom in His loving arms and rise, like Jacob, into His strength and all-sufficiency. There is no way out of your hard and narrow place but at the top. You must get deliverance by rising higher and coming into a new experience with God. Oh, may it bring you into all that is meant by the revelation of the Mighty One of Jacob!
–But God
***
“At Thy feet I fall,
Yield Thee Up My ALL,
To suffer LIVE, OR DIE
For my Lord crucified.”
———————–
Spring Training for Christians
by Shawn McEvoy, Crosswalk.com Managing Editor

We don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong.
2 Corinthians 5:16, The Message

You’ve probably heard that God loves baseball. After all, He began his holy book with the words, “In the big inning…” Everyone who loves baseball like the Lord does feels a tremendous rush this time of year with another set of words: “Pitchers and catchers report.” For the uninitiated, this phrase signals the official start of spring training, which brings with it new hope, and knowledge that at least there’s a thaw and green grass in some parts of our country.

In fact, the game I love, and the game of fantasy baseball off which it is based, are both so prevalent in my mind this week that as I sat down to write this I found my mind wandering. So, noticing that a good friend, fellow fantasy baseballer and pastor was active on his Instant Messenger, I began the following conversation:

Me: I’m sitting here trying to write this week’s devotional, but I’ve got a screenful of stats in front of me, taunting me. Pastor Jay, is there any way I could combine the two? Does our league have any good devotional content?

Jay: Oh, I’m sure we do. How about how we peak spiritually at age 27, like most hitters do?

Me: Goodness, I hope that’s not true. How about our Spiritual Slugging Percentage… are we whomping our fair quota of sinners and unbelievers regularly?

Jay: Uh, right… How about how On-Base Percentage equals theological correctness/sound doctrine, and Slugging Percentage equals evangelism, the impact you’re making for the Lord?

Me: You’re on to something.

There are truly spiritual parallels everywhere.

But as is always the case, snippets of insight and truth are only valuable when applicable. The above only served to remind me that it’s time to take a break from my analysis of the statistics of men who play a game, and check in on my own statistics, go through my own spring training of sorts.

Today’s verse gives us a starting place for where to look, what kind of statistics are important in the Kingdom as opposed to the diamond. Things like height, weight, vertical leap, 40-yard-dash times, race, creed, color, gender… none of those matter. Here’s the checklist we’ll be using to see who’s gonna make the team this season:

Measurables

On-Base Percentage – Like my buddy said, in our checklist this involves good theology and doctrine. Baseballers like to hear chatter out there on the infield. Are you talking the talk?

Slugging Percentage – Now you have to put the above theology to good use, and walk the walk. How much ‘oomph’ can you contribute to the goals of the team?

Batting Average – The most you can do is just put the bat on the ball. So many other factors determine if you’re gonna get a safe hit or not, meaning you’ll probably fail to connect or reach safely at least 70 percent of the time… and that’s if you’re one of the best. The rest is up to God.

Errors – Can’t be avoided, even by the very best of us. What’s important is that we don’t grow complacent with making them. Biblical ignorance is not an acceptable excuse. Neither is yelling at your teammate for making an error.

Strikeouts and Walks – Both are fine. They reveal effort. The way you know you’re off-track is when these become Walkouts and Strikes. I don’t need to be leaving, boycotting, quitting, or checking out in the middle of a slump or when the other team is full of punks.

Sacrifices – When the coach calls for you to bunt another person into a more prominent position, will you obediently lay one down? When you can bring in a run by hitting a fly ball for an out will you gladly do so?

Intangibles

Coachability – I can’t think of a single reason or supporting scripture for a me-first attitude on the Kingdom Conquerors.

Discipline – To what do you say yes, to what do you say no? What do you fail to do? What do you never fail to do?

Leadership – Look behind you. Is anyone following?

Performance Enhancers – Yes, please. I’m simply not good enough to compete in this game without them. No, not steroids, but the Holy Spirit, and regular Bible study and prayer times.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Watch a sporting event with a younger person this week, and see how many parallels and applications you can make together to our spiritual journey.

Further Reading

Opening Day for America
Finish Strong in the 9th Inning of Life
The Magic of Opening Day
———————–
February 20
Bearing One Another’s Burdens

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness ; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. 5 For each one will bear his own load. 6 The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked ; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. 11 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. 17 From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
Galatians 6:1-18

If you are looking for a way to carry out Christ’s command to love your neighbor, Paul has a suggestion: bear their burdens. At some point, everyone struggles under the weight of an oppressive situation. Believers have an obligation to get under that load next to their brothers and sisters.

Jesus sets the pattern for burden bearing. He calls to Himself all who are heavy-laden and gives them rest (Matt. 11:28-29). Since God predestines believers to be conformed to Christ’s likeness, we must imitate His care and concern for those who suffer. Acts 4:32 shows that the early church followed His example. To lift the load of poverty, they pooled their resources so that no one was in need.

Paul’s letters make clear his concern for the physical and spiritual welfare of growing churches. He fasted and prayed for them and sent missionaries when he could. He felt it was his responsibility to strengthen them, even though he sustained a personal hardship—his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7).

A believer cannot wait until his life is clear of obstacles before reaching out to others, since that day may never come. Even though we have our own needs, we can do all things through Christ’s strength—including sharing someone else’s adversity (2 Cor. 12:9).

When you’re willing to wade into someone else’s troubles to help that person hold up under the weight, two things happen. First, he or she receives desperately needed blessings in the form of aid, support, and love. And second, you fulfill God’s command to love a neighbor as yourself.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.

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