Sometimes people say that they cannot believe that, if there is a God, he would take interest in such a tiny speck of reality called humanity on Planet Earth. The universe, they say, is so vast, it makes man utterly insignificant. Why would God have bothered to create such a microscopic speck called the earth and humanity and then get involved with us?
Beneath this question is a fundamental failure to see what the universe is about. It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself. And he says it for us to learn and enjoy—namely, that he is infinitely great and powerful and wise and beautiful. The more the Hubble Telescope sends back to us about the unfathomable depths of space, the more we should stand in awe of God. The disproportion between us and the universe is a parable about the disproportion between us and God. And it is an understatement. But the point is not to nullify us but to glorify him. —John Piper
GOD
“God won’t put more on you than you can bare” …
This is a VERY commonly held belief.
You hear it preached from pulpits… repeated by fellow Christians trying to encourage you… but it’s simply not true.
There is nothing in the Bible that says this… So where did it come from?
A misreading of scripture…
It’s found nowhere in scripture because it’s actually a twisting of the following verse from 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NASB, emphasis mine):
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
You see, the verse in question is actually referring to temptations, NOT the weight of circumstances, religious duty, afflictions, trials and tribulations. God won’t allow you to be TEMPTED beyond what you’re able to resist… but He sure as heck will allow more things to happen to you than you can bare.
In fact, many times you see people in the Bible being put in serious conditions beyond what they can bare. Jesus wept… sweated blood because He was so distressed over his inevitable sacrifice… and then was tortured until He died.
God WILL put more on you than you can bare!
You may think this isn’t true. But it is, God will put more on you than you can handle. Why? Because He doesn’t want you to rely on your own strength, your own works, your own mettle to live the Christian life. He wants to do it for you, He wants to be your strength, your source of life, so sometimes He (lovingly) has to allow you to be broken by your circumstances.
Read this passage from 2 Corinthians 1: 8-11 (The Message, Emphasis mine):
2 Corinthians 1:8-11 (New International Version)
8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia . We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our[a] behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Paul said “He didn’t think he was going to make it”… other translations say “we despaired even of life” (NASB)… “we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life [itself].” (Amplified Bible)… any way you look at it, they were under more pressure than they could humanly take.
And what was the purpose of this? Why did God ALLOW them to be crushed?
So they would turn to God and trust in Him as their strength… and KNOW that He is the only one who can successfully live the “Christian Life”.
“As the Hebrews were promised the land, but had to take it by force, one town at a time, so we are promised the gift of self-control, yet we also must take it by force.”*
The very concept of “self-control” implies a battle between a divided self. It implies that our “self” produces desires we should not satisfy but instead “control.” We should “deny ourselves” and “take up our cross daily,” Jesus says, and follow him (Luke 9:23). Daily our “self” produces desires that should be “denied” or “controlled.”
That path that leads to heaven is narrow and strewn with suicidal temptations to abandon the way. Therefore Jesus says, “Strive to enter through the narrow door” (Luke 13:24). The Greek word for “strive” is agonizesthe, in which you correctly hear the English word “agonize.”
We get a taste of what is involved from Matthew 5:29, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you.” This is the fierceness of self-control. This is what is behind the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:12, “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.” Are you laying hold on the kingdom fiercely?
Paul says that Christians exercise self-control like the Greek athletes, only our goal is eternal, not temporal. “Everyone who competes in the games (agonizomenos) exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25). So he says, “I pommel my body and subdue it” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Self-control is saying no to sinful desires, even when it hurts.
But the Christian way of self-control is NOT “Just say no!” The problem is with the word “just.” You don’t just say no. You say no in a certain way: You say no by faith in the superior power and pleasure of Christ. It is just as ruthless. And may be just as painful. But the difference between worldly self-control and godly self-control is crucial. Who will get the glory for victory? That’s the issue. Will we get the glory? Or will Christ get the glory? If we exercise self-control by faith in Christ’s superior power and pleasure, Christ will get the glory.
Fundamental to the Christian view of self-control is that it is a gift. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace . . . self-control” (Galatians 5:22). How do we “strive” against the our fatal desires? Paul answers: “I labor, striving (agonizomenos) according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Colossians 1:29). He “agonizes” by the power of Christ not his own. Similarly he tells us, “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live” (Romans 8:13). “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). We must be fierce! Yes. But not by our might. “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31).
And how does the Spirit produce this fruit of self-control in us? By instructing us in the superior preciousness of grace, and enabling us to see and savor (that is, “trust”) all that God is for us in Jesus. “The grace of God has appeared . . . instructing us to deny . . . worldly desires . . . in the present age” (Titus 2:11). When we really see and believe what God is for us by grace through Jesus Christ, the power of wrong desires is broken. Therefore the fight for self-control is a fight of faith. “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called” (1 Timothy 6:12).
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org
Wrecked by Abortion: Bound4Life
by Rachel Knight
Last weekend, my life was absolutely wrecked. Every month I go to the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Houston , Texas . Not to protest, to pray. I am part of the Houston chapter of Bound4Life. We stand on the opposite of the street from the clinic and pray. We don’t carry signs, wear T-shirts, pass out fliers, or even talk with the people going inside. In fact, our mouths are covered with red tape that has the word “LIFE” written across it.
We stand in silence to identify with the silent cries of the unborn and for those who have no voice. We appeal to a Higher Authority, the Almighty Judge, to have mercy on our country and change the laws relating to abortion. Our prayer is simple: Jesus, I plead Your Blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America .
We believe that abortion is a giant in our land, and that God gives us the power to take down giants.
It is absolutely critical that the Body of Christ lift up the city of Houston , Texas . On the surface, the city looks like any other city. But, our proximity to Mexico makes us a major hub for the human trafficking. A majority of the women and children that are trafficked into the United States come through Houston . Many of them end up staying in this city. Planned Parenthood is in the process of building the largest abortion clinic in the western hemisphere in Houston , Texas . At six stories high this clinic will be a giant in the city. They will legally be allowed to perform late term abortions and are dedicating an entire floor to a trauma center because of the frequency of complications that occur during late term abortion procedures. If there was ever a time to pray for our country, the time is now!
Some months, it is awesome to stand outside of the clinic. We know that we are tearing down strongholds in the spirit. As we pray, we can literally see God moving. Other months, the walls seem impenetrable and all I can do is weep. This past weekend, I was crying out for mercy on behalf of our city. I was repenting and crying out for the love of Christ to be made evident to the women that walked through the doors. I was praying for an awakening to take place in the Body of Christ. Now is the time for His bride to rise up. We cannot remain silent and allow this giant abortion clinic to rise up in our backyard. Now is the time to cry out for a deliverer!
As I was standing there, I was praying for each person that entered that building. The Lord was telling me how much He loved them and how He was calling out to each one of them. I was praying for His love and mercy to rain down in each woman’s life.
As I was praying, a car pulled up behind the gate. This was strange because cars don’t normally park there. The parking lot is across the street. Very rarely do cars pull up there, and if they do, it is just for a moment to pick someone up who is leaving the clinic. A Muslim couple got out of the car. She pulled down the scarf from around her face and she was stunningly beautiful. From across the street, I could see this woman’s fear and pain. She radiated grief. She absolutely broke my heart. I began praying and interceding on her behalf. She started to walk towards the door and then dropped to her knees near the bushes. In the Spirit, I dropped to my knees as well. As her knees hit the ground, she threw up in the bushes. My heart broke into a thousand pieces. Her husband grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. One of the Planned Parenthood volunteers grabbed her other hand and together they walked her into the clinic. All I could do was stand on the street and weep. I cried out for her to have a revelation of the love and mercy of the God of Isaac. I asked that He send his angels after that woman. I could not enter to building to go after her, but He could. I could not wrap my arms around her, but He could. God spoke to me and told me that He was showing me a very vivid and graphic picture of what goes on in the hearts of the women that walk through the doors of that clinic.
Everything in me broke for her. I may never know that woman’s name, but she absolutely changed my life. We never spoke, but I will never be the same. Her face is forever burned onto my heart. I know that the heart of God is broken for the men and women in the Muslim culture. He desires to pour out his love and mercy into a culture that knows nothing of Him. This past weekend was absolutely a wake-up call to me. Now is the time to fall onto our knees and cry out on behalf of the people that He loves. They need Him so badly!
It is time to cry out on behalf of a city that is in desperate need of mercy.
Has the Church in the West abandoned the love of Christ for recreational theology?
Last weekend I got to attend a conference with the students from [redefined]. It was a great time, as always, but one session in particular pierced my heart. The theme of the weekend was love. God’s love. Brotherly love. Romantic love. They covered love. It was sacrificial love on Saturday afternoon, though, that wounded me.
The speaker started by painting a very detailed, rather graphic, picture of the society into which Jesus was born. Some of the prevailing ideas from the culture:
· Infanticide was common.
· Children would roam the streets in groups – like packs of wild dogs – after having been abandoned by their families.
· “Sick people should be left to die.” -Plato
· Emperor Tiberius once remarked that he loved to see tortured humans thrown into the sea.
· Emperor Caligula commented that he loved seeing human beings dragged through the streets with their bowels hanging out.
Christians, of course, became great game. Tens of thousands died in the Coliseum – as bait for wild dogs or lions, or as human torches along the perimeter – but the gladiators had been featured “entertainment” for 300 years before Jesus ever showed up.
It was into that world, where human life amounted to about nothing, that Jesus came, commanding His followers to love their neighbors as themselves. He healed the sick instead of letting them die. He held wild children instead of ignoring them. He taught that we’re nothing without love, and His disciples got it..
Early believers were known to adopt those infants that had been left to die. They set up the first orphanages. When plague ravaged a town, people fled, but the first Christians quickly earned a reputation for entering those cities in order to care for the sick and dying – many times giving their lives to the same plague in the process.
Benignus of Dijon, for example, nursed and protected a number of deformed and crippled children that had been saved from death after failed abortions and exposures. His act of love was so contrary to the culture that he was put to death for it.
A soldier in Constantine ’s army, Pachomius, reported giving his life to Christ after watching local Christians come and care for his soldiers who were wounded and/or hungry – the same soldiers who had been persecuting those believers.
The result was a complete change of the known world in less than 70 years..
In 311 AD, Christianity was illegal. By 325 there was some sort of hospice service in every city with a church. In 374, abortion and abandoning a baby were outlawed, and in 378 the gladiator games were stopped.
The world turned over. The “impossible” cases met the Lord. The Church grew. Jesus was glorified, and it wasn’t because they could answer all the hard questions. It wasn’t because one particularly smart Christian wrote a good book in response to an antagonistic atheist. It wasn’t because of their Bible studies, or weekend experiences, or small groups, or potlucks. It was because of their love.
The world turned over because they went out and loved people – practically, effectively, and sacrificially.
We don’t love people sacrificially any more. Collectively, I wonder sometimes if we even love people conveniently. We strive to earn Christian Points by attending a mid-week service or small group in addition to Sunday mornings, by volunteering on a Sunday morning, or by reading an extra “Christian” book every month, but we’re commanded to love people. How can we even show up to an extra-credit meeting if we haven’t loved our neighbor? In 1 John, the disciple who really got “love,” tells us that if we don’t love our brothers we don’t really love God!
Theology is great. It’s fun. I enjoy it. (But why, really? Do I enjoy it because it deepens my love of God and people, or because I enjoy a good discussion/debate and like to be right?) We do need to assemble ourselves together. It is good and necessary to study scripture.
But not in place of love. “Be not a hearer of the Word only, but a …” Because love without deep theology will turn nations.
Deep theology without love will eventually cave in on itself.
I know we’re all terribly busy. And we’re all re-evaluating our financial situations.. And we’ve all been raised with this predominantly Western/Athenian mindset that values philosophies and ideas and knowledge, left to right, over-analyze, reason over emotion, wisdom over feeling.
And I know most of us have grown up in, or been introduced to, local churches that don’t ask much, or expect much, or really hope for much. And we’re used to showing up 15 minutes late on Sunday, nodding our heads, sharing a cup of coffee, and going home to sleep it off.
But what if we practiced loving people again? What if we decided to love people in ways that made us uncomfortable, or took up some of our time, or cost us money? What if we got back to adopting the ones that other people abandon, and hugging the ones that other people forget, and feeding the ones that other people ignore, and running to the ones that other people run away from?
We’d probably never get that flat screen TV, or that iPhone. Probably never have the nicest yard on the block. We may never win a theological debate ever again, and the cerebral atheists would probably continue to call us simple, stupid, and superstitious people.
But maybe we’d turn the world up-side-down in the process.—-********BORROWED
It’s important to remember that everything is a privilege for the believer. They know God is working all things to their good, and therefore they cannot ultimately be hurt. Every circumstance they face has been orchestrated by God to make them like Christ, which is what they wanted anyway. Additionally, they believe Christ knows no difference between secular occupation and sacred occupation or between important tasks and menial tasks. He is only looking at the heart (Mark 14:8). Therefore, they can face every task in every day with a “get to” attitude instead of a “have to” attitude. They get to wake up early – they don’t have to. They get go to work – they don’t have to. They get to make a phone call – they don’t have to. And having that attitude makes all the difference in the world.
Sinners Always Avoid the Obvious
A friend recently mentioned they heard someone ask Martha Stewart the question, “You are so busy and active. What would you do if you got sick?”, to which Stewart replied, “Sick? I’m too busy to get sick; I can’t get sick; I don’t have time to get sick; don’t talk about getting sick; I don’t want to even think about it.”
Such is the world’s attitude and approach to reality. Sickness?- “I don’t like the subject”; Sin?- “don’t talk to me about that religious stuff”; Death?- “O, that’s morbid, why don’t you talk about something pleasant?”
Often unbelievers, when facing the end of life, they and their families won’t even discuss death and the need to be ready and face it; instead, the attitude is, “let’s just enjoy and have fun in the remaining time we’ve got with you- let’s be pleasant, laugh, eat, share memories, and be positive; we don’t want to be discouraging and negative; let’s all smile and be positive.” Let’s translate that:
Denial- “I don’t want to talk about it.”
The largest, most applicable realities that affect life the most are those that the world doesn’t want to deal with it; Instead, they will only talk food, fun times, cars, movies, jokes, clothes, gossip, the latest Tiger Woods news, college football, movie stars, and fads. It’s not that they only want to talk about lesser temporals, those are the only things that are real to unbelievers so its all they can talk about.
If God, Jesus Christ, sin, sickness, death, and eternity are not real to you, then you will have no interest in thinking about or focusing upon the greater issues of life, living, dying, and entering eternity.
So I would ask Ms. Stewart, “Well, Martha, when you come to die, will you be cooking then? What will you do when sickness does come and you are not before the cameras, but instead are on a sick bed– what will you do then? Then, you will have time to be sick. When death comes to you, then you will face it. You may not want to think about it now, but then you will have no choice.”
Sickness and / or death are fast approaching, and you will have a personal encounter with the irresistible force of every greater reality–sickness, death, eternity, and facing God in judgment and the unavoidable appointment of standing before the judge of the universe, Jesus Christ; then, you will not discuss cooking, or aunt Molly, or Facebook or Twittering, or the latest fad; when that day comes, guess what will be real then? Him and eternity and your fixed eternal destiny.
And guess what will not be in the thoughts of unbelievers then? Food, fun times, cars, movies, jokes, clothes, gossip, the latest Tiger Woods news, college football, movie stars, and fads.
“I don’t like to think about it?” Every unbeliever, including Martha Stewart, needs to get real, get honest, get a Bible, and get to the Saviour to get ready. Now is the only time to think about it.
– Mack Tomlinson
Due to laziness this is a borrowed article!!
Becoming a legalist isn’t that hard. It’s actually pretty easy because I think most of us have a bent toward it to one degree or another. If you practice legalism, you are already a legalist. One dictionary defines legalism this way: “Strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, esp. to the letter rather than the spirit.” A second definition describes legalism as, “Strict, literal adherence to the law or to a particular code, as of religion or morality.” It provides us with a third definition of legalism specific to theology as, “the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws.” These are all accurate descriptions of legalism.
For a legalist, the world is black and white with no shades of gray. By that I mean there is a list of rules to be adhered to and as long as I am adhering to the list, life is good and I’m doing ok. There are things you do and there are things you don’t do as a legalist and the list of “don’ts” is often much longer than the list of “do’s.” For example, failure to adhere to strict rules like don’t go to movies, don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke that occasional cigar, don’t (if you’re a woman) wear pants or jeans, and don’t listen to rock music tend to be more important to the legalist than whether or not I am growing in Christ. For the legalist, spiritual growth cannot be completely accomplished apart from strict adherence to the list of don’ts. Things like praying, sharing my faith, reading Scripture, spending time with people, and being a Biblically faithful husband, wife, mother, or father, all get trumped by the don’t list anytime the don’t list is violated.
But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)
The remainder of Chapter 4 and even into chapter 5 provide specific things to put off, related to our old self, and specific things to put on, related to our new self. For example,
Put off lying (the old self) and put on truthfulness (the new self) – Ephesians 4:25
Put off consuming and uncontrolled anger (the old self) and in its place, practice the new self by dealing quickly with anger before it becomes sinful . – Ephesians 4:26-27
Put off stealing (the old self) and put on honest work (the new self) so that you will be a blessing to others. – Ephesians 4:28
Put off corrupt speech (the old self) and in its place, put on words that build others up, are gracious, and that don’t grieve the Holy Spirit by tarnishing the reputation of the gospel in you (the new self). – Ephesians 4:29-30
Put off bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander (the old self). In its place, put on kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness in the same way that God in Christ has forgiven you (the new self). – Ephesians 4:31-32
Put off filthy joking and foolish talk (the old self) and put on thanksgiving (the new self). – Ephesians 5:4
Do you see what Paul is doing? He’s not just giving us a stale list of do’s and don’ts. Nor is he just giving us a list of don’ts. He’s giving us gospel-saturated ways in which we can overcome sinful habits from our past lives and replace those sinful patterns with God-honoring and lasting change. This is not a to-do list, but we can easily turn it into one if we remove it from the context of the gospel. The reason I can put off these bad habits of my old self and put on the new habits of the new self is because I’ve been given a new self. I am a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and as a result, I am no longer a slave to sin (Romans 6:14), meaning that God has empowered me to change through the gospel. But the new self only exists through believing the gospel. If I take the gospel away from this wonderful chapter in Ephesians, I also take away the new self and what I am left with is the old self trying to reform or reshape itself into something new on its own power, and it will fail miserably because it is powerless to produce real and lasting heart change. The old self can’t fix itself. The old self can only be put off in a real way if there is a new self to be put on in its place and the new self is a product of the Holy Spirit at regeneration.
This is the failure of legalism. Legalism thrives on the negative. Legalism has a preoccupation with putting off, at the expense of putting on. Legalism gets high marks for its ability to put off and to make long lists of things it thinks should be avoided, but it fails miserably at understanding the importance of putting on the new self, which is the source of true righteousness and holiness. Legalism thinks that putting off the old self is true holiness, but Paul disagrees (Ephesians 4:24). If I come away from Ephesians 4 viewing it as a bucket list of what I need to avoid, I am one step closer to self-righteous legalism. If all I do is put off, put off, put off, without putting on, I am moving in the direction of the legalist.
Let me close with a gospel reminder. Even though I have been empowered through the Holy Spirit to put on the new self, I am still inconsistent and many times, I still fail miserably. It is at those low moments when I need to remind myself of the gospel and look, not to my own miserable performance, but at the cross and Jesus’ perfect work for me. In our struggle to lay aside the old self and put on the new self, we will fail and sometimes, we will fail sinfully. The Apostle John anticipated this and he reminds us that when we do fail, we have one who is successfully pleading our case before the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one:
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)
Compassion always comes with a cost, be it time, energy, life, or money
THE COST OF COMPASSION…
1. A willingness to cross social barriers (to be blunt in central Alabama that would mean us good old white folks crossing over to help black folks.)
a. Jesus illustrated in using a Samaritan in this parable (coz Jews hated Samaritans)
b. There should be no religious, racial, or national barriers
to showing compassion!
2. A willingness to take risks
a. The Samaritan took a great risk by stopping to help. (We may have to go into neighborhoods that are not so great)
1) What if the robbers were still near by? (I can’t go in that neighborhood…it’s too dangerous…drugs and such)
2) What if other thieves came by on this road known as “The
Way Of Blood”?
b. So Christians are called upon to take risks – Lk 6:30
1) How do we know people won’t take advantage of our
generosity?
3. A willingness to set aside busy schedules (maybe give up some recreational wasted time to help someone…sacrifice some boob tube watching….etc)
a. The Samaritan was on a journey, but took the time to stop
and care for the man
b. Jesus taught us to take the time to show compassion even
when forced – Mt 5:41
1) The first mile may have been forced
2) But the second mile was one to be given out of love
4. A willingness to make sacrifices
a. The Samaritan sacrificed more than just time and energy
1) He used some of his own provisions – Lk 10:34
2) He even offered an open-ended agreement to provide for
his help – Lk 10:35
b. Jesus taught His disciples to be willing to make sacrifices
– Lk 6:29-30,34-35
c. In so doing, we are truly followers of God and walking in
love – Ep 5:1-2
Ephesians 5
(1)Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children (2) and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
