He Is Doing Something

"We should not be too taken aback when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen to us now. What do they mean? Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and he is dealing with us accordingly." --J. I. Packer in Knowing God

Read More

God the Gracious Initiator

Over 27 years ago, as a brand new believer in Jesus Christ, I picked up a copy of J.I. Packer's classic book Knowing God.  In those early days of my faith, I remember God using this book to shape my understanding of Him, and creating in my heart an awe that such a majestic and holy Being would stoop to love me.

But that was a very long time ago, and after so many years, I had forgotten the specific parts of the book that impacted me.  Recently, however, I took it up again to read and discuss it with some lovely college girls at my church. And I have to say that I am being blessed all over again.

Chapter 3, called Knowing and Being Known, was such an encouraging reminder of God's gracious treatment of us. God is so gracious that He takes the initiative to reveal Himself to sinful, undeserving human beings.  When He makes us to know Him, our lives are changed forever.

     "What happens is that the almighty Creator, the Lord of hosts, the great God before whom the nations are as a drop in a bucket, comes to you and begins to talk to you through the words and truths of Holy Scripture.  Perhaps you have been acquainted with the Bible and Christian truth for many years, and it has meant little to you; but one day you wake up to the fact that God is actually speaking to you--you!--through the biblical message.  As you listen to what God is saying, you find yourself brought very low; for God talks to you about your sin, and guilt, and weakness, and blindness, and folly, and compels you to judge yourself hopeless and helpless, and to cry out for forgiveness. 
     But this is not all.  You come to realize as you listen that God is actually opening his heart to you, making friends with you and enlisting you as a colleague...a covenant partner.  It is a staggering thing, but it is true--the relationship in which sinful human beings know God is one in which God, so to speak, takes them onto his staff, to be henceforth his fellow workers (1 Cor. 3:9) and personal friends.  The action of God in taking Joseph from prison to become Pharaoh's prime minister is a picture of what he does to every Christian: from being Satan's prisoner, you find yourself transferred to a position of trust in the service of God.  At once life is transformed."  (page 36)

Packer returns to this idea (that God is the gracious initiator in our relationship with Him) as he wraps up chapter 3. This should wash over our souls with a sense of joy and comfort and gratefulness:

     "What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it--the fact that he knows me.  I am graven on the palms of his hands.  I am never out of his mind.  All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me.  I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me.  He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment therefore, when his care falters.
     This is momentous knowledge.  There is unspeakable comfort-- the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates--in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good.  There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me.
     There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see...and more corruption in me than ...I see in myself.  There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose."    (page 41)

What can I say after that except to repeat the words of this Christ Tomlin song, "You see the depths of my heart, but you love me the same. You are amazing God!"

Read More

An Imperishable Inheritance

In his book, Finally Alive, John Piper talks about the apostle Peter's emphasis on the living hope that we have. "I think Peter is emphasizing this because the overarching context of his letter is suffering. Don't be daunted by your suffering. Even if they take your physical life, they cannot take the life you have by the new birth. That is imperishable."

I think pondering these truths help me to grapple with the daily decision to be satisfied in Christ alone. What do I mean by that? Well, it is easy to get so caught up in this life as if it is all there is. Sometimes I face the challenges of my day without an eye to eternity, and without relishing the hope that should carry me through any struggle. We are just passing through this life, though it is all we know now. Certainly we have a lot to do here, and there are very real struggles that have to be faced with wisdom, but there is a far greater reality that we wait for. Christ has purchased for me an imperishable inheritance, and I pray that He will cause that to impact my attitude, moment by moment, with hope and joy!

Read More

Currently Reading...

It has been a while, but I recently picked up Gospel-Powered Parenting again, and remembered how much I love this book. Farley does a great job of showing that what we believe about Jesus Christ and the degree to which we are first transformed by His glorious Gospel will have everything to do with how we parent our children.

One chapter is about God being our gracious Father, and I appreciated this quote about how He proved that by giving His Son for us:

"...the knowledge of what we deserve, and what it cost God to be gracious, is the measure of his fatherly grace. When all is said and done, the cross is the tape that measures the length and breadth of God's grace."

Read More

Gospel Powered Parenting

A friend and I have been reading a book together by William Farley called Gospel Powered Parenting. In his first chapter, Intellectual Submarines, Farley discusses the unseen assumptions that cruise just below the surface of our lives but drive how we think and act.

He says that godly parents operate from the following 5 assumptions as they face the task of raising children.

1. Parenting is not easy. We cannot be perfect parents. "Precisely because we are so flawed, the gospel, the saving work of Christ, must be your refuge." (p. 20)

2. God is sovereign, but He uses means. God is completely in control of salvation, but He loves to use parents to bring salvation to their children. We are utterly dependent and responsible at the same time.

3. A good offense is better than defense. We must focus on preparing our children to enter the world and conquer it through saving faith in Jesus Christ, not merely protecting them from it. We must show our children through our lives and teach them through our words that Christ is more glorious and satisfying than anything here.

"We aimed all our arrows at our children's hearts, knowing that once their hearts had been changed, the decisive battle was fought and won." (p. 26) This is what the new birth is all about.

4. Understand the new birth. If our children have only adopted a religious, moralistic, works-righteousness philosophy, they will be no different from the world. Only when they are born again will they follow Christ and his word. "New birth is a radical change of heart that ushers in new desires, new loves, and a new life direction." (p. 28)

5. Effective parents are not child centered. They strive instead to put God at the center of their family. Having a God-centered family means saying no to kids when it is in their best interest, husband and wife are united before their kids, marriage is a higher priority than kids, and there is a willingness to be different from the world.

After almost 22 years of trying by God's grace (though as flawed sinners) to follow these 5 principles, I can say "Amen" to everything he said in this chapter! God has been moving us more and more over the years to cast all our hope for our children on Christ and His transforming work in their hearts. I feel deeply the responsibility I have to do everything possible to give them the Word as much as possible, live it out before them in a gracious, humble way, and pray for God to save and sanctify them. Ultimately though, it is all up to Him, and I am astounded and humbled to know that He wants to use me. WOW!

I hope you will pick up this book and catch a vision for the wonderful work God desires to do in you and in the lives of your children.

Read More

Highly Recommending: Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

Over the past year, my Bible study ladies and I read Paul David Tripp's book Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands. It was one of the best books I have read in a long time about discipleship and ministry, and solidified and expanded my understanding of how God intends to use sinners (in need of change) in the lives of other sinners (also needing change).

At the end of Chapter 14, Tripp sums up the gist of the whole book and articulates the simplicity, yet grandeur of personal ministry in the following couple of paragraphs:

"Two things always come to my mind as I finish teaching this material. First, I am hit with the utter simplicity of biblical personal ministry. It is not a secret technology for the intervention elite, but a simple call to every one of God's children to be part of what God is doing in the lives of others. It is living in humble, honest, redemptive community with others, loving as Christ has loved, and going beyond the casual to really know people. It is loving others enough to speak the truth to them, helping them to see themselves in the mirror of God's Word. And it is standing with others, helping them to do what God has called them to do. It is basically just a call to biblical friendship! It is almost embarrassingly simple: Love people. Know them. Speak truth into their lives. Help them do what God has called them to do.

At the same time, there is a grandeur to personal ministry that cannot be captured with words. God is painting his grace on the canvas of human souls. One day we will stand with him in Glory and see that canvas completed, and we won't be able to do anything but worship. What is our part in all of this? We are God's brushes. He wants to soak us on the palette of his grace and paint more of his goodness on yet another soul. The question is, "Are we soft brushes in his hands?" A hard, dried-out brush doesn't pick up the paint well and mars the surface it was meant to beautify. I hope this book will help you become a soft brush in the hands of a Redeemer who will continue to paint until his canvas is complete."

Tripp's hope, expressed in that last sentence, is my prayer as I set out to apply the principles outlined in this helpful book.

Read More

Questions to End the War of Words

Paul David Tripp's book War of Words has been a favorite of mine for many years now. Ever since the first time I read it, I haven't been able to escape Tripp's challenge to let my speech be "an agent of grace in the lives of those around me." Of course, like many struggles against sin, there's a cycle of victory and then defeat, and the need to repent and keep striving, with the Spirit's enabling.

Recently I started reading this book out loud to our children, and I'm so thankful to have it's influence around again to help us work on loving, gracious speech. At the end of the first chapter, Tripp includes a list of wonderfully convicting questions to help evaluate our progress. Here's a few:

1. Does your talk with others lead to biblical problem solving?
2. Does your talk have a "stand together" or a "me against him/her/them" posture?
3. Do your words encourage others to be open and honest about their thoughts and feelings?
4. Are you approachable and teachable or defensive and self-protective when talking with others?
5. Is your communication healthy in the principal relationships in your life?
6. Does your talk encourage faith and personal spiritual growth in those around you?
7. Do you talk with others to develop relationships with them, or do you only talk to solve problems during times of trouble?
8. Do you speak humble and honest wods of confession when you sin and words of sincere forgiveness when others sin against you?
9. Do your words reflect a willingness to serve others or a demand that they serve you?
10. As you face the struggles of talk, do you do so with a recognition of the gospel--God's forgiveness, his enabling grace, and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit?

Read More