Announcement: New Domain
Quick announcement: the Foundational Knowledge WordPress Blog has now moved to http://www.FoundationalKnowledge.org
Please update your bookmark to continue following the site for access to new content as well as the previously published. In addition, a new email address has been established for questions and comments. You can send emails to info@foundationalknowledge.org
This email address will also accept questions or comments for the Visceral Reflections podcast. Thanks so much for your support and continuing to read and listen to this content. May the Lord use all of the content to encourage hearts, grow faith, increase wisdom and produce the fruit of a lasting relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!
Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Our Heart in Apologetics #4: Humility
Our Heart in Apologetics #1: Introduction
Our Heart in Apologetics #2: Making Disciples
Our Heart in Apologetics #3: 5 Things to Remember about Unbelievers
Humility and Pride cannot occupy the same space, they are at odds with each other! We learn in the Bible that God is
opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; Proverbs 16:5). Jesus extend an invitation for every person to come to Him when He states, “come to my all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest. …let me teach you as I am humble and at heart (Matthew 11:28-29). James 2:1 tells us that we are not to hold our faith in the Lord Jesus with an attitude of personal favoritism. James then follows by admonishing us not to honor one person over another because that is judgmental and evil in the sight of God (James 2:9).
The practice of Apologetics always requires a heart check because pride can be strong, enlarge our blind spots and distort our vision of other people. Nothing can be as intoxicating as the desire to be right when defending what we have placed our faith in, and the practice of apologetics will expose this in us. Because of this grave danger, our approach to apologetics must be one of heart and mind, not just mind. To reduce apologetics to an intellectual task will also reduce the person we are engaging to an opponent, a task, a project, a prize to be won, or yet worse, an enemy! Therefore, a disposition of love and a heart posture of humility is required of those engage in these conversations for the sake of the hearer, for the glory of God and for our call to love God and love people.
So, we start with the three passages above as a personal spiritual health check. A good passage that will help align our hearts with God’s is in Colossians 4:1-6, which we are going to walk through in this post and those to follow.
Colossians 4:1 – 6: Preparing our hearts for the Work God has planned
Colossians 4:1: Attitude of Humility
1 Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
- Humility is a uniquely Christian character trait that grows in our heart through a response of gratitude and thanksgiving for the grace and mercy we have received. It reflects a true understanding of our condition of being poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3), plagued with sin (Romans 3:23; Isaiah 64:6) and need for a Savior (John 14:6; Matthew 18:14; Ephesians 2:1-10).
- We give thanks for our accolades, titles, positions or accomplishments, and always remember that we have a Master in heaven; we are to live our entire lives with that reverence for our Father in heaven.
- See 1Corinthans 10:31; Colossians 3:23
- Mark 10:45 – The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to offer His life as a ransom for many.
To follow Jesus means to reflect the life of Jesus to others by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Scripture calls us to walk in a manner worthy of His calling (Ephesians 4:1), which means that we are seeking to live out the graciousness and mercy that He extends to us. It is that grace and mercy which transforms our hearts to be more like Christ in our encounters with people. This is the disposition we carry into apologetics so that we can assist people in getting over barriers to faith. One last item of note is that a heart attitude of humility guides us to meet someone in their faith journey, do our part, and then trust God to take care of the rest. We may be sowing for others to reap later, or we may reap what others have sown, so be discerning to accept the role God is giving you in each encounter, we need to be content to do our parts and avoid the pitfall of sloppy agape!
Platform UPDATE: Visceral Reflections Podcast
07/15/2021 UPDATE: Visceral Reflections has now propagated out to iTunes and is available on Apple Podcasts.
07/10/2021 UPDATE: The New Visceral Reflections Podcast has been pushed out to various platforms including Spotify and Anchor. Check out the Podcast page on the right side of the menu above. Thanks so much!
This post is to announce that I am creating a new Podcast to share some of the recording that I have been making for several years. I have resisted doing this for a while, largely because there are so many good podcasts out there, and even more bad ones. I had personally bookmarked several dozen just from within my circle of influence, but there is just no time to hear them all. That reality helped frame what I hope this podcast will be. The first item of note is that I am not interested in building a following, so that helps in that I will not feel compelled to create/force content. My hope is that I can share inspiration that I have received and things I am learning for the purpose of helping other believers on their faith journey by removing barriers to faith, offering counsel, answering Bible related questions, as well as speak to those that God is calling, but have not yet received saving faith. Overall, I hope these recording allow me to step into someone faith journey to point them to the cross and help them get close to God, and to know the depths, and heights, and width and breathe of His love for you and me. So, this will be fluid, raw, free of a schedule, and ideally high value for some. Jesus told Nicodemus that the wind blows where it wishes and is not contained, or predictable, and so it is with everyone who walks by the Spirit (John 3:8). So the expectation is to be open to what God is doing and not outrun my coverage of what I envision this to be.
Typically my process is that I will receive inspiration on a topic I have been pondering or perhaps something that I have read in the Bible or a book, so then I will make a voice recording of my thoughts. These recording often serve as fuel for the posts on this blog. With encouragement from my niece to publish these recordings, I have begun to go through them and have found several that I plan to share, and more to still be reviewed. The idea, at least as of today, is to share the raw, unedited inspiration that is often, for lack of a better term, a stream of consciousness.
At the C.S. Lewis Institute where I am a Commissioned Fellow and serve as a Mentor, we speak of bridging the gap between heart and mind. As Christians, we seek to have Christ formed in us (Romans 8:29; Galatians 4:19), but our spiritual formation is not achieved merely through receiving information, but rather by using that information to act as guardrails in the practice of spiritual disciplines and personal worship, which deepens our roots, as branches connected to the Vine, so that we can live a fruitful life of abiding in Christ (John 15:1-11). IN parallel, our roots are strengthened to go deeper with corporate worship at church. In this daily practice of personal worship, we begin to crave communion with God, we develop a growing hunger and thirst for righteousness and we experience the love of God in daily life, a life of thanksgiving, a life of gratitude, and a peaceful confidence that God is actually in control. This is a transforming place of surrender where we truly accept our stories and see our journey with new eyes, through the lens of the Sovereignty of God (Ephesians 1:18)! Then we enter, what Eugene Peterson called “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” when describing the Christian life.
So, what are visceral reflections? They are snapshots from my faith journey in the process to build the bridge between heart and mind. They are my thoughts, opinions and extrapolations of the heart knowledge that has shaped me, those truths that I know to be true in my gut, spiritual realities that manifest in the physical world that I know are true by faith! These are raw, unscripted, theologically tested, not checked for chapter and verse, but usually in the ballpark, and often contain long pauses while I unpack my thoughts on the fly. I would also add that I have listened to some recording and the current version of me has received encouragement and insight from previous versions of me; that’s weird to share, but it’s true, not being boastful or arrogant, just factual.
You can see up in the menu that I have already added a Podcast page which will be updated as this develops. That page will contain links to shares in the Marketplace and a list of episodes that link to the recordings. So I pray that this new endeavor will add value, inspiration, conviction, and heart knowledge to help you grow closer to God!
Growing in the Forbearance of God, Part 1
From the very beginning it has been determined what we shall be, yet we still spend most of our lives investing in temporary identities that will have no place in eternity, unless we allow them to define us on this side of eternity!
- ‘The Love of God in Daily Life’ by Tom Talamantez
When God made man in His image, there was already a plan set in place that we would be conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). We would be set on a path to walk as He walked, with the Holy Spirit inside us to guide us along with His Word. With His word as our lamp and His Spirit as our Counselor, we press on in this journey until Christ is formed in us (Galatians 4:19). So with that, my desire here is to put forth a simple understanding of the forbearance of God, a common thread that binds all true believers to the Vine and the foundational truth of what it means to become like Jesus!
Philippians 4:5 says to let your forbearing spirit be known to all men (NASB 1979). If there is one verse that captures what it means to represent Christ in the world, I would select Philippians 4:5, largely because of the word that Paul uses here to define a forbearing spirit. If you look up this verse in a dozen or more translations, you will find that the word is translated in many different ways, for reasons that I am about to share. The Greek word EPIEKES is often translated as “gentleness” in modern translations, but early translations of the New American Standard, Revised Standard and the 1901 American Standard version all translate the word as forbearing. I think that is the best translation because it can mean so many things, but as you will see, all of the possible definitions share the qualities of grace and humility. According to John MacArthur, the word can be summarized as humble graciousness, which is why I believe that forbearing is the best translation. These are a few examples of what the word could mean: contentment (Philippians 4:11-12), goodwill for another beyond reason such as the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), joyful charity (2Corinthians 9:7), over generosity by giving more than what is reasonable (Luke 15:20); not getting what you deserve but rather receiving graciously what you do not deserve (Luke 23:34), being slandered or misrepresented (James 3:8), humbly accepting when your reputation is ruined by gossip and lies (Genesis 39:19-23), accepting mistreatment without malice or hatred (Acts 7:60), and accepting being hated, yet still reaching out in love (Romans 12:20). The word is packed with meaning and should be known as it is central to a life of serving God and an important part of Christ being formed in us.
Since the Apostle Paul instructs us to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2Corinthians 13:5), I have provided a few characteristics of saving faith so we can test our own hearts in order to ensure that we do not fail the test. This is in no way comprehensive, but can be a barometer to see if your vessel is chartered towards Christ.
1) Humility is the first characteristic of a believer. Jesus spoke to this in the Sermon on the Mount when he said. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” (Matthew 5:3). This can best be understood as the “poverty of spirit” which is to say that the Kingdom of God belongs to those who recognize that their entire being is corrupted by sin. Humility is the opposite of pride and Jesus teaches on both quite extensively in the gospels. The first trait of our Identity in Christ is to understand that we are poor, that is to say that we are spiritually destitute, beggars at the foot of the Cross, with nothing to offer, just completely dependent on God’s mercy to save us. The very recognition of our condition requires a humble spirit, because pride creates blind spots in our self-assessment that distort visions of our self.
2) True Personal Worship for His glory and His purpose. God is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). True worship has two aspects to it which are personal worship and corporate worship. Personal worship is to nurture our disposition to be thankful, humble and gracious as a lifestyle that manifests in glorifying God in everything we do (1 Corinthians 10:31). We nurture our disposition by abiding in Christ (John 15:5), which simply means to remain in Christ or remain joined to Christ, so by faith we seek to live (abide) in union with Christ. The discipline of reading the Bible and allowing it to convict our hearts (Hebrews 4:12) and to see our own sin (Psalm 119:11) produces a thankful heart, and we begin to give thanks for the things we take for granted such as waking up in the morning, sight, taste, touch, aroma, creation, the bible, clean water, shoes, indoor plumbing, medicine, community, etc. In this practice, the Holy Spirit is writing kindness and truth on our hearts (Proverbs 3:3) which is seen by those we engage (Proverbs 3:4) and this grows our faith and trust in God (Proverbs 3:5-7), and eventually we are seen as a person who spends time with Jesus (Acts 4:13). In application, I have found it helpful to literally ask myself the question of why I do things, how will it glorify God, how will it represent God to the lost and what are my motives for doing the things I do. Proverbs 16:2 says that the plans of man are pure in his own eyes, but God weighs the motives.
3) True Corporate Worship is our participation in the church community. This is the practice of giving and receiving in the body of Christ. This means that we bring our gifts to contribute to the needs of the saints whether that is by the gift of encouragement, praying for others, sharing what God is teaching us, listening to what God is teaching others, sharing in acts of charity together, and many other acts that contribute to the building up of the church. Every morning when I am completing my prayer time, I always conclude by asking God to prepare my heart to give and receive, for the simple reason that giving and receiving together can be difficult. I have found that many believers are good at giving, but find it difficult to receive, so I pray that I would be better at not depriving people the blessing of giving to me whether that is prayer, encouragement, teaching, or just being available with my time. Every believer has something to offer to the church and must not deny the church community of the gifts and talents that God has designed into us, so we are to participate in church community and not merely be an observer.
This brings me to an important topic that is way too big for this article, but that is to understand that there are two styles of corporate worship. Expressive worship (bottom up man to God) and Formative worship (top down God to man). 1) For many years I practiced Expressive worship in many different evangelical churches. Something that often left me feeling exhausted and not refreshed at all, largely because this type of worship has a heavy emphasis on emotional experience. I am not wired this way, so I often found that communion with God was not happening in the high energy experience often initiated by rock style church music. As someone who is highly introspective, I find communion with God in nature, on an empty beach, or walking in nature early in the morning. 2) In recent years, I have transitioned to formative worship and have found that my communion with God and awareness of His presence stronger than ever and always experienced in church community. This transition for me began on August 20, 2015 and took a few years for me to see what God was doing, largely because I was raised to “demonize” this type of worship as “religious.” What I have learned is that I grew up practicing American Evangelical Christianity or “churchianity” as is the popular critical term these days. What I did not know was that for two thousand years, the Christian church practiced the three cords of worship which are liturgical, evangelical and charismatic. In this style of worship, everyone participates and I found that I was no longer just an observer of the show, but that I have a part in what God is doing in His church, this is the practice of the liturgy. Not mindless rote repetition, but sharing in the worship of God, with one voice, with the family of God! In this process, I joined the Anglican church and my communion with God has never been so close. It would later come as no surprise that some of my favorite authors where Anglican such C.S. Lewis, J.I. Packer, Jonathan Edwards, N.T. Wright, Alan Fadling, and many others, even Jane Austen, so I could see how all their writing were profoundly impacted by the style of worship they practiced. As someone more introverted, what I bring to the table has never fit well in trying to express myself to God, but when worship is designed to form us like Christ and we are the receiver and not the giver (top down), then God can meet me where I am, alleviating me of having to bring something to the table, and my position moves from responsibility to response which is quite refreshing. This practice of worship also alleviates the believer of the exhaustive, ongoing effort to produce new “productions” of worship because it is not about us, but it is about God as the subject and object of worship and we are simply the recipients of formative change. Much can be said about this examination of worship, but my testimony is that going to “church” no longer feels like an obligation, but something that I am anxious to attend.
4) Godly thinking – the bible has a lot to say about training our minds and maintaining governance over our thought life. The biggest challenge to biblical thinking is the discipline of not bowing down to conventional wisdom and the pressure to conform that often comes along with it. It is instinctive within our sin nature to always take a pragmatic approach without fully considering what God might be doing in these circumstances. So it is important to seek His will in the situation, and not try to find the quickest path to restore our comfort. We are given an example in Isaiah 30:1-3 when God warned Judah to not seek comfort from Egypt (Egypt is a symbol of the world in Biblical typology). God says you seek to execute a plan but not my plan (v.1), you did not pray to Me about this decision and you have sought safety and shelter in the shadow of Egypt (darkness of the world) (v.2), and ultimately your decision to seek comfort in the world will be your shame and humiliation (v.3). Living victoriously in the truth of who we are called to be as believers begins with what we allow in our minds. We need to have the Word of God so engrained in our hearts and minds that when we come across corrupt thinking, we have discernment to embrace, challenge, reject, or correct. We need to practice this and pray for this discipline. Every morning I pray for my inner circle, and one of the prayers I offer is that we would be people who have the Bible engrained in us to the point that biblical knowledge becomes our visceral knowledge to build our confidence in all of our decisions, as well as to not blindly follow the advice or opinions of friends, family, teachers, counselors, or church leaders, but to test everything by scripture and cling to what is good and reject everything that goes against God (1 Thessalonians 5:21; Philippians 4:8). If we commit to Biblical thinking, you will have the profound experience of the Holy Spirit bringing scripture to mind in almost every situation as a sign post to proceed or retreat. This process by itself will push people away from you, but those who seek truth and seek to know God more fully will gravitate towards you. Lastly, we need to understand that 1) our faith does not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God (1Corinthians 2:5), 2) we have been given the Mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), 3) we have the power of the Spirit (2Timothy 1:7), and 4) we have the promise that God is doing good things in us (Philippians 1:6). I have written several articles on Biblical Thinking which are linked here: Biblical Thinking
Much more can be written on growing a forbearing spirit. The sum of all of this is to continue to grow in holiness. In everything that we do in life is either making us more like Jesus or more like Satan. When we use the terminology to “follow Christ”, what we are really saying is that we are going to walk on the path that transforms us to be more like Christ, which is spurred on by the desire that Jesus must increase and we must decrease (John 3:30). To scoff at this idea is an indication of where you heart is today. One might easily justify that this is extreme or point out that some things are innocuous necessities to life that have nothing to do with holiness nor are they evil, but it must be pointed out that this perspective is only possible in limited human thinking in which we focus on ourselves rather than recognizing the truth that God is always with us (Hebrews 4:13), we are to do ALL things for God’s glory (1Corinthians 10:31), and we are to invite God into our work (Colossians 3:17, 23). Jesus is the life (John 14:6) and when we follow Christ, our life is not our own, but we have been bought with a price which is by the blood of Christ (1Corinthians 6:19-20). To think that God is only to be engaged at our convenience and that everything is going to be on our terms, is a good indication that you are growing to be more like Satan. If you still disagree, then my encouragement to you would be to make reading your Bible a priority, take it with you, especially to church, search the scriptures throughout the day rather than wasting time on social media, and pray about the validity of the things I shared above. When God calls us, it is not only to be His child for His glory and His purpose, but it is also to become holy because without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).
Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
From Great to Good!
4 I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; 5 I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; 6 I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and I had slaves born at home. I also possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. 8 I also amassed for myself silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers, and the pleasures of the sons of mankind: many concubines.
9 Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. 10 All that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. I did not restrain my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor; and this was my reward for all my labor. 11 So I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold, all was futility and striving after wind, and there was no benefit under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 2:4-11
When Jesus said that you cannot serve God and wealth, or you will end up loving one and despising the other, He was providing a framework for our entire lives with an implied question. The questions that we should ask ourselves is, “are we building our own kingdom?” or “are we building the kingdom of God?” The answer to this question will shape our entire life because the answer to this question reveals which God we worship. When Jesus pits God and wealth against each other, He is not saying that wealth is bad, but rather He is calling attention to where we place our faith. We know from the scriptures that all money belongs to the Lord (2Chronicles 29:10-20), we know that God is the One who has given us the ability to create wealth (Deuteronomy 8:11-18), and we are also told that everything that we have acquired with our wealth belongs to God (Psalm 24:1), so Jesus is not condemning wealth, but rather calling us to keep it in perspective so that our blessings do not become idols. Paul also calls attention to the problem of wealth when he wrote to Timothy and said to instruct the wealthy to place their hope in God and to be generous with their wealth and rich in good works (1Timothy 6:17-19). The importance of calling this out is because where we place our faith determines where we place our trust, and where we place our trust determines where we spend eternity. This question of kingdom, faith and trust is one of eternal significance because the answer shows us our true identity. Not the identity we claim when we tell people we are Christian, but rather the identity that God sees in the dark corners of our heart where our motives and desires reside. What we desire, what motivates us, what breaks our heart, what causes us to rejoice, and what we hope for are all indicators that reveal which kingdom we are putting first (Matthew 6:33).
When we consider the eternal significance of putting the kingdom of God first, we must look at Luke 16. Jesus told us the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 where we see a clear picture of a man who worshipped God and a man who worshipped wealth. This is a short, but significant story that we should know when it comes to the question of identity. In the story we see that Lazarus has received comfort, but more importantly Lazarus is called by name, a sign that he had embraced his eternal identity in this life and worshipped God. The rich man does not have a name, but is identified by the god he worshipped, his riches. Since the rich man worshipped what was temporary, his identity was temporary, and now we see in eternity that he is perishing because his god also perished. This is not the case for the Christian who is marked by our identity in Christ, and therefore we will retain our identity for all eternity with Christ. As believers, we have a relationship with the living God (John 10:27-28) and it is the Spirit of God that leads us and speaks to us affirming that we are heirs of God adopted into His family (Romans 8:14-17).
The question of which kingdom we are putting first to build, can also be understood as the pursuit of greatness or a pursuit of goodness. In Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, Solomon stated that the pursuit of greatness was all about building everything “for myself.” Contrast that with Paul writing to Timothy instructing those who are wealthy to be generous and rich in good works. What is important to understand is that the key difference in the pursuit of greatness and the pursuit of goodness is the condition of our hearts. Two people can look very similar in their accomplishments and their possessions to a certain degree, but it is their attitude towards those possessions that determines the kingdom that we are building. Both people may appear great and successful in the eyes of the world, but the person seeking greatness is fully invested in what we know is going to fade. This leads to a discontent heart because the eternity that God has placed in our hearts can never be filled by what is temporary. In contrast, the pursuit of goodness is a pursuit of a fruit of the Spirit, a trait of Christian character identified in Galatians 5:22. We must note that goodness is not a measure of morality, but correctly understood, goodness is a virtue of benevolence, a disposition of the soul that is cultivated as Christ is formed in us. In Ephesians 5:8-10, Paul provides more insight into goodness as he identifies Christians as children of Light who are to exhibit this identity in how we live (v.8) which is characterized as goodness (expressed as being charitable), righteousness (which is expressed as kindness and graciousness indicating a heart right with God), and truth (v.9) in our seeking to be pleasing to the Lord (v.10). We see here that truth is central to a heart right with God that manifests the fruit of the Spirit. Truth is central because Jesus is the truth (John 14:6), the Holy Spirit is the truth (John 14:17), and the Bible is the truth (John 17:17), all of which produce true worshippers who worship in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23-24).
In summary, the reason this is a heart question is because the pursuit of greatness is “me” focused and the pursuit of goodness is “other” focused. Every person is seeking to build a kingdom, either their own or Gods. If we are “me” focused, then we operate by the vice of pride as fuel for the pursuit of greatness. If we are “others” focused, then we operate by the virtue of humility that fuels our pursuit of goodness. Where we all start out in the pursuit of happiness to build our kingdom, some will hear the call of God, respond by faith, put on Christ, and pursue the kingdom of God. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells us to seek His kingdom first, and everything else we are pursuing will be added to us. There is a mystery to what occurs in this process, because it is this pursuit of God as our first Love that actually transforms our hearts in a way that our old desires fade away and we grow new desires that lead us on our journey to grow up in Christ. This is what the psalmist was referring to in Psalm 37, where we are advised to place our trust in God and seek goodness (v.3), find our joy in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart (v.4), walk with Him daily in a trusting manner (v.5) and He will grow in us His righteousness that we show ourselves to be children of Light (v.6). In this process, the desire of our hearts are conformed to what God desires us to be, and our will is aligned with His will. This is why we cannot serve God and wealth. The affection for either one requires a different nature and a different heart, the two are at odds with each other. That is why any attempt to seek both will lead to despising one and loving the other. Like light and dark cannot co-exist and cannot occupy the same space, so a choice must be made. C.S. Lewis summarized this brilliantly in his book, ‘Mere Christianity’, when he wrote, “aim at heaven and you will get Earth thrown in; aim at Earth and you will get neither.”
Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
(Photo and quote from the Christian film, ‘Old Fashioned’)
Psalm 139, Part 3: God with us!
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take up the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
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Psalm 139 – Part 2: God’s Omniscience
In looking at the attributes of God, one cannot elevate one over another for they are all inherent to who God is. That said, it is the Omnipresence of God that really make our journey possible. We know intellectually that God is infinite and that God is everywhere, but I would guess that most of us seldom consider how this impacts our faith. There are two quite noteworthy items that we should know about the omnipresence of God. The first is that the omnipresence of God is not merely speaking of space, but both time and space, in addition to transcending time and space. The second noteworthy item is that the omnipresence of God is to be a source of comfort rather than dread. When we found saving faith, our relationship with God changed from enemies of God (Romans 5:10) to children of God (John 1:12). God is no longer our judge (John 3:18), but our Abba or Daddy (Romans 8:14-17), in which we have been adopted into the Kingdom of God by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Our new position in the family of God is one in which we enter into communion with God.
When we invite people into a relationship with God, we likely have not considered that it would not be possible if God were not omnipresent. By simply comparing to human relationships, we recognize that we cannot be with multiple people at once if those people are in different locations. Pretty basic, right! Of course, but that’s the point! Communion with God is possible because God is everywhere in space and time. That means that if I am talking to Him in Chicago, my friends and family can also be praying to Him at the same time in California, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, London, etc. Without the omnipresence of God, we would not be able to pray with confidence that He has heard us or even has the ability to answer our prayers. Imagine if praying to God was tantamount to calling the DMV or the IRS or any major corporate call center that uses technology in place of people. What if calling God was like calling the Help Desk in the IT department at your company? Rather than asking someone if they prayed today, you might ask them if they opened a support ticket with the heavenly hotline and where they are in the queue? The recording might say something like, “there are 2.4 billion people ahead of you and your estimated wait time is three and a half years!” Seems silly right! Of course it does, but that is probably not to far off from what the reality could be if God were not omnipresent.
This shines a light on an important point. As stated earlier, communion with God is only possible because our infinite, holy God is not confined by time or space, so He is able to journey with each one of us. Whether we are sitting with Him (Psalm 46:10), on a journey (Psalm 121:8), or sleeping (Psalm 127:2), God is with us. Without the omnipresence of God, the sovereignty of God would be non-existent and we would truly be on our own, leaving God hopeful for us, but powerless. Thankfully, sovereignty does not rest with man, but with God, therefore we can have hope in the God who is faithful and good (Psalm 118:1).
As we begin in verse 7, the Psalmist notes that God is Spirit just as Jesus did in John 4:24. This is important because God as Spirit is not bound to the physical finitude. The rhetorical question of “where can I go” is a statement about the fact that God is everywhere. Next we see that the presence of God transcends time and space in verse 8. The Psalmist notes that whether he were to go to heaven or to hell, two places that are outside of our third dimension of time and space, God is there. Since God created time and space, it follows that God would not be bound by time or space, however we tend to think of God as up in heaven looking down on us, when in reality He is with us wherever we are. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), Jesus tells us to go to all the nations, then He tells us that He is always with us. This is not only a testament to the deity of Jesus, but also a source of comfort. In verse 10, we see that God has us by the hand, which is an incredible source of comfort as we seek guidance in taking steps in life. God uses this picture in other scriptures such as Psalm 37:23-24 and Isaiah 41:10-13. It is a picture of a Parent / child relationship in which we are not only not alone on the journey, but we are traveling with someone who knows what is best. We as people are bound by time and can only move at the pace of time, but God is already at our destination, both our physical destination we may be heading today as well as our future destinations that we will eventually reach over time. Once again we can have the peace of God because of the attributes of God, knowing He is good, He is love, He is all powerful, all present and all knowing, which are all attributes that make a Christian faith possible.
Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Assurance of Salvation and the Silence of God!
We all get lost sometimes! There is no darker or heavier experience than the feeling of being disconnected from God, yet knowing God is there. Having a visceral awareness of God while being emotionally disconnected. This dynamic can not only cause a believer to doubt their salvation, but also take it very personally. The Silence of God by Michael Card resonates with me deeply having walked this lonely path of feeling abandoned by God. Because of the heaviness of this topic, I hope that this writing will be a source of encouragement. This topic is really a theological discussion, yet, while theology is the last thing we want to talk about during these times, there are some theological truths that we must cling to in order to navigate our faith in the darkness.
You have taken away my companions and loved ones. Darkness is my closest friend. – Psalm 88:18 (NLT)
We are saved, we are being saved, we will be saved. Somewhere along the line, you may have heard this in your Christian journey. Some might call this a contradiction, but it’s not, others may call it a paradox, but I would say no to that as well. I think it is best described as spiritual realities that are articulated as a bridge between time and eternity. For example, in Ephesians 2:6 we see that He has seated us with Him in the heavenly realm. There is a mystery to this truth, but somehow God has seated us with Him, though outside of time, so that in the future we can be used an example of God’s incredible grace and kindness.
There are many reason why a person of faith may doubt their salvation, but whatever the cause, this appears an important part of the faith journey. In the midst of the peaks and valleys of faith, I have come to believe that every genuine believer will doubt their salvation at some point and experience tells me that this is a common experience of every genuine believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. This seems so evident that I have also come to believe those who have never had the experience of doubting their salvation may possibly have never had a genuine born-again conversion. That may seem counter-intuitive and harsh to many, yet it likely makes perfect sense to those who have felt like a cloud of darkness sits between them and God. At the bottom of this writing, I have placed the first 26 verses of Lamentations 3, a place where I found comfort for the simple reason that it describes how I felt during these times. The following conversation is encouraging to me because God used my experience to guide another in this time:
I arrived in Atlanta on a work trip and decided to text my old friend Bob to let him know that I was in town. It turned out that his new office was literally in the same office park as the hotel my company booked for me, so I felt that God might be coordinating a divine appointment. We met for lunch, then after catching up for a bit, he got a little serious. “Can I read something to you?” while taking out his bible. He read Romans 1:21-25 and then went back to verse 24 and asked me, do you think this verse is talking about me? Do you think that God has given me over to my sin? A cloud of darkness covered the area as I could sense the heaviness of this question weighing on him. Here was a man who knew the Bible well, yet the weight of the question was real and it was pressing down on him. It made me think of Psalm 38, “benumbed and badly crushed with the agitation of my heart!” This was definitely a divine appointment as God was using me to help someone navigate a path I have traveled myself.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
– Romans 1:21-25
As I took a moment to hear the question, also listening for what the Holy Spirit might want me to say, I sat quiet for moment. After a bit I replied that “I absolutely understand the weight of your question, and it is one I myself have asked. Let me start by pointing out that someone who is not saved would never ask this question. The unregenerate don’t worry about sin, and most feel worthy of going to heaven.” There was a pause, but I could see that the words were sinking in. I added that “the question itself if proof of your salvation.” I knew we needed to unpack what led to this question, but first I felt that knowing some scripture would help combat these feelings in the future, so I shared Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 8:7, Romans 3:11, John 16:8, and Psalm 139:16.
There is an axiom in Biblical theology which states “regeneration precedes faith.” American Christianity is infected with this notion that man chooses God. We like to say that God is in control and that God has a plan for your life, but then we tell people to “ask Jesus into their hearts”, something that I have yet to find in the Bible. The truth is that God calls us, justifies us, and glorifies us (Romans 8:29). This is important to know because it helps to properly frame the conversation about the assurance of salvation.
In Ephesians 2:1-10, we see that the entire work of redemption and salvation is a work of God. We were dead (v.1), But God being rich in mercy (v.4) while we were still dead, He made us alive (v.5), raise us up (born-again) and seated us with Him in heavenly places (assurance of salvation) in Christ Jesus (v.6) so that in the ages to come He would show the riches of His grace (God’s plan, v.7), for by grace you HAVE BEEN SAVED (past tense) through faith as a gift of God (v.8), nothing was done by us, but by God (v.9) and we are the work of His hands with work He prepared for us to do (God’s purpose, v. 10).
Back to Romans 3:11, “there are none who seek God” because in our natural state we are enemies of God who do not walk with God and “we are not even able to do so.” (Romans 8:7). In addition, we see in Romans 2:4 that it is the kindness of God the leads us to repentance, which 100% the work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8). So as Bob and I discussed these critical points, there was some comfort in his mind to embrace these truths of His position in Christ as not abandoned, but justified and sanctified. Now he could redirect his heart and mind to seeking what God is doing. The barrier may be sin that needs purging, the barrier could be to grant forgiveness, or accept forgiveness, the barrier could be idolatry in which a gift of God has become God, perhaps a root of bitterness, or it could simple be a time of preparation in which God is allowing you to step into the wilderness of isolation in order to help someone down the road who has been abandoned. Whether the reason is because of something we have done, something that was done to us, or a deep work of God, we can be assured that God has not abandoned us.
We must always remember that the physical reality of how we feel does not always reflect the spiritual reality that we have been granted. We can also look at scripture and know that God is sustaining us in ways that we do not know, largely because we are not paying attention, but once we realize He has been looking out for us, it becomes a watershed moment in our faith. For me, Deuteronomy 8 and Psalm 78 were two passages that revealed God’s sustaining grace to me at a time that I was so focused on licking my wounds that I failed to realize that He was covering me. I wrote about my experience in “Grace in the Wilderness,” a verse from Jeremiah 31. If you take a look at The Journey in the Topics menu on this page, you will see 29 other articles that I have written relevant to this topic.
The goal of this writing is to provide some affirmation that our faith is genuine for salvation. Every true believer will face this struggle at some point, and possibly more than once. If you don’t believe me, ask Billy Graham! I know he is dead, but I listened to an old sermon recently in which Billy shared some doubts about his faith that he had wrestled with. He shared that his doubt arose from not having the emotional response that so many around him were experiencing. Through studying scripture, he came to realize that his faith was genuine, so as he sought God’s leading his faith began to grow. Two things I recall testified to his salvation, 1) his hunger for the Word of God and 2) the way his heart was stirred when seeing someone get baptized. So I offer that as a word of encouragement – the greatest evangelist in history since the Apostle Paul, also struggled with the assurance of his salvation in the process of God making him. Take heart and stay the course, God is doing deep work in you!
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I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
6 In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow.
13 He made the arrows of His quiver
To enter into my inward parts.
14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people,
Their mocking song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has made me cower in the dust.
17 My soul has been rejected from peace;
I have forgotten happiness.
18 So I say, “My strength has perished,
And so has my hope from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
20 Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
26 It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
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Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Psalm 13: Waiting on God!
How long, Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long am I to feel anxious in my soul,
With grief in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in Your faithfulness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has looked after me.
The passing of time and the feeling of time passing are two very different things! In the human experience, our internal clock is often misaligned with the universal clock. While time is steady, at least in the perception of how we measure it, time in our experience can often feel fast or slow. (Yes, I believe there is a lot of validity to time dilation theory, but that is a different conversation). One reason that the book of Psalms has become my favorite book in recent years is largely because of the expression of human experience that deeply resonates with my and the revelation of the character of God that helps me understand my feelings, circumstances and the reality of Hope.
In Psalm 13, we see one of those honest expressions, full transparency before God, with a cry of desperation. In verse 1, the question is posed that many of us have felt and likely expressed in prayer. Lord, did you forget about me, I feel forgotten, how long will you ignore my cries? In the past I have done some ad-hoc surveys to ask people if they would rather be hated than forgotten. Over 90% said hated, largely because to be forgotten is to not matter. One friend of mine said she would hope that someone “would care enough to hate her rather than know that her existence did not matter at all.” In verse 1, the Psalmist is getting at this feeling of being forgotten. The language of “hide Your face from me” is to be understood that God doesn’t even acknowledge his existence, completely forgotten. The “grief in my heart all day long” that the Psalmist expresses is an all encompassing, perpetual ache of thought and emotion that likely includes nervous stomach, overthinking, and overwhelming sadness. He continues (verse 3) with a plea, please “consider me and answer me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.” At this point, the Psalmist is appealing for some sense of understanding in this situation because he could face death at the hands of his enemies (verse 4).
Verse 5 is the turning point for the Psalmist where he find his footing, so to speak. He recognizes that his enemies find pleasure in him feeling fearful (v.4b), but he will not he shaken because he remembers the faithfulness of God. His faith is restored because he knows his God is faithful and trustworthy, therefore he can rejoice. I think it would be appropriate to say that he is describing the peace of Christ (Philippians 4:6-7). In verse 3 he prayed that the eyes be enlightened and in verse 5, his vision is restored as he can now again see his life under the sovereign hand of God who has provided him salvation. In Ephesians 1:18, Paul gives us a pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened and I think that is a great prayer for times of distress. It is common to all who walk with God to find ourselves in the fog of trials, and it is our nature to look at ourselves in those instances, but God is saying look to me, remember who I am, and recall the things that I have done for you.
The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I wait for Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who await Him, To the person who seeks Him.Lamentations 3:22-25
Waiting on God is central to the Christian life for many reasons, but it is often magnified in times of turbulence. What we learn here is that all of our life circumstances are under the sovereign governance of God, so every one of these encounters is an opportunity to grow our faith, and further the formation of Christ in us (Romans 8:29). Our circumstances also temper our spirits so that we can be a light to others when they face these circumstances. Much like Jonah praising God from the belly of the whale oceans and oceans deep, so the Psalmist also sings to the Lord amidst facing possible death. In the moment, he felt abandoned, overcome by fear, but his prayer shaped him. How often have we seen God come through for us when things looked hopeless? If you don’t keep a journal, you should at least start writing down the faithfulness of God in your life as a source to remind ourselves that God is faithful and always right on time. When we are shaped on the anvil of His will and emerge through the Refiners fire, we are further equipped to be a light to the world (Matthew 5:14) so that we can come along side folks in distress and share the love of God (2Corinthians 1:3-7), a light in the dark for someone that God is calling us to bring to the cross. In Psalm 13, we see the appropriate response once we gather ourselves, take a deep breath, and remember that we are not alone on this journey. Lastly, I share these verses about and below as reminders of who our God is. Every morning, as we give thanks for another day, I find it good to pray, that no matter what the day holds, the Lord is my portion! That is a good reminder that when storms arise in my life, I can wait on God to lead me through the storm, which by faith, calms the storm in me because the Lord is my portion.
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus
Philippians 1:6
Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
The Disciplined Life: Resolve and Virtue
The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
– Proverbs 16:9
(When I wrote the first version of this article several years ago, the circumstances of my life may have influenced my position. In revisiting this topic, there are multiple edits to the point that this is largely a rewrite, as experience has brought clarity that has changed my opinion on several key elements of this conversation. As a result, I offer this revision which attempts to provide a high level overview of the heart work in discipline).
Discipline is a Daily Choice!
What does it mean to find resolve?
It literally means to settle the matter; to make a final decision and to see it through; to erase doubt and not question the goal or objective. I could go on, but you get it, it simply means to forge a path to the desired outcome. In the pursuit of a disciplined life, one must first have resolve in order to achieve the desired goal or outcome. While that might sound fairly simplistic on the surface, the underlying conditions of our hearts are a bit more complex. We cannot simply think our way to discipline, rather we must align our thoughts with our actions. What that means in reality is that it is not enough to have the knowledge and the desire, but we must also hunger for it, which means that we must learn to not hunger for the things that brought us to this point. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” (Matthew 5:6). Jesus uses this terminology to impress upon us that the pursuit of righteousness is a craving and a thirst to be quenched. In other words, it is something we cannot live without, we have to have it.
Discipline as Second Nature
Discipline itself is the steady course of action by which habits are formed, and the habituation of our adaptive unconscious is the path by which we develop discipline. Simply stated, the repetition of habits is the building up of the discipline becoming second nature, at which time we do things automatically as a regiment of who we are, rather than the more laborious regiment of reasoning with ourselves to do something.
For example, let’s look at fitness. If regular physical activity is part of your life such as running or lifting weights, then this should resonate with you. If you have not exposed yourself to exercise for a long period of time, then the beginning of incorporating this into your life may seem difficult. After the first workout or the first run, you may feel physical pain. In addition, you may feel emotionally discouraged or defeated as the engagement may have proven to be more difficult than anticipated. After a few engagement with exercise, you will come to a crossroads where the work necessary to achieve your goals is weighed against the motivation that provoked this engagement in the first place. This moment of truth is where you begin to understand your true desire. Several things could happen here, but before we continue, I need to point something out that is critical to success. This is a difficult journey to travel alone. When you look at the three scenarios to follow, the odds of continuing to press on increase exponentially when you have a support system. Whether it is someone to encourage you, admonish you or join in with you for accountability, having another person will largely determine success. Doing it alone will often feel like three steps forward and two steps back, and that will take its toll on your motivation, so enroll someone who truly wants to see you succeed. Okay, now the roads before us:
1) you might get unconsciously stuck for a variety of reasons. Whatever the reason, this will likely manifest in contradictory behavior that cancels out the regiment, such as driving thru Dunkin Donuts on the way home from the gym. Simply going to the gym will not eliminate the desire for the things that got you here, so this is where your desires are tested, whatever they may be. We do make our plans, but then we need to be mindful of our steps, perhaps start with baby steps. Go for a walk or at least park far, before signing up for a marathon.
2) you may realize that your motivation does not have deep roots and abandon the desire to change; this is your come to Jesus moment, and you realize that you do not desire what you thought you desired. This can also be where you find out that maybe you have not given your best effort, so you make adjustments. Perhaps you do not want to quit, but your situation feels hopeless. I have hit this wall in the past. I never had peace about giving up my dream, but it seemed hopeless. What I learned was that my desire is real and my frustration in the moment was necessary to test the depth of the roots of my desire, so in a sense my discouragement was a catalyst towards my resolve.
3) you recognize that your motivations are deeply rooted and you find the grit to press-on though it seems hard at the time. If you find yourself at #3, you will find that this decision to test your roots and find your grit is a daily choice to commit. In a very loose sense, this is similar to our faith in God. C.S. Lewis wrote that every morning when we awaken, our faith to trust God must begin all over again as if nothing has ever occurred. In the same way, we daily must face the crossroads and choose the path to which we have resolved to travel.
Continuing with the exercise example, when you hit the wall, you may need to remind yourself or even say the words out loud, “I love this more than I want that” or perhaps you need to imagine what life would be like by staying the course or quitting. The good news is that the repetition over time begins to strengthen our resolve. At this point we have begun to re-habituate our hearts by re-engineering our thinking and our actions, we now hunger for our desires and daily renew our call to action. For me personally, I have arrived at a place where I crave my workout and if I am unable to make it to the gym, I truly miss it. To me this is encouraging because I can recall a time when it was hard and my goals seemed unrealistic, but now I find it hard to have a rest day which is a necessary part of weight training. As an added motivation, once you see measurable results, that is like fuel in your tank, whether that is the number on the scale, your clothes fitting better or just having more energy, it’s inspiring. For me personally, I thrive on encouragement, so when someone acknowledges my efforts or notices weight loss, that makes me go harder and the adrenaline from the encouragement often helps me take it to the next level.
At this time in my life, I would say that exercise is part of my lifestyle, a second nature. Another part of my lifestyle is my morning prayer and reading my Bible. To me, it is unthinkable to begin my day without communion with God, but it was not always this way. Though my life of faith has been marked by reading and prayer, the hard part was making it a priority every morning, especially in the age of mobile devices and working remotely. I often ask God to protect our time and shield me from calls as well as the temptation to check email, and I have to say that God answers that prayer. A third major part of my pursuit of a disciplined life is with nutrition. This has proven to be very difficult to be consistent, but it is getting better. I am doing “clean eating” and seeing progress as I am stringing together more and more days without compromise. The biggest challenge is that I have zero accountability and can really do whatever I want, when I want, so now I pray every morning that I would make wise choices in regards to nutrition, finances, time allocation and the words that I use with others.
Becoming holy and becoming human
In selecting Proverbs 16:9 at the opening of this writing, I did so because it shows the engagement of God in our lives and I think it wise to consider the presence of God in our pursuits and the matters in which we seek to find resolve in our lives. In all of the life choices of a Christian, we must recognize that everything we do should be oriented towards making us fully holy and making us truly human. The process of sanctification is the process of us becoming more holy as we grow spiritually (Hebrews 12:14). This is the process of Christ being formed in us (Romans 8:29) also called our spiritual formation. As Christ is formed in us, we are putting off sin, dying to self and becoming truly human (John 3:30; Colossians 3:5-25) which we will fully realize when we cross over into eternity, and the fullness of our humanity comes in the twinkling of an eye in the presence of divinity (Colossians 3:1-4).
Virtue and Duty
To be holy and to be human is not something that we likely think about in our pursuit of a disciplined life, but as we seek to have resolve, we are also seeking to align our temporary pursuits with our eternal purpose. Whether that is to honor God with your body, pursue a God Honoring Marriage, fulfill our ministry, raise children, excel in the marketplace, or whatever we do, we are always seeking to do everything to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10″31). In order to keep this perspective, we need to recognize the tension within that makes us who we are, in order that we can grow in our resolve to live out our identity in Christ as a child of God (John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17; Ephesians 2:4-9; Psalm 139).
In speaking of the tensions within us, I am speaking of the struggle between virtues and vices. In our call to grow in virtue, I think that dovetails well in the pursuit of growing in our resolve. As we seek to change so our regiment becomes second nature, so our continued formation to be like Christ grows our virtue. In the book, ‘Glittering Vices,’ the author provides an example using marriage. There is a husband and a wife, happily married and faithful, however what is not obvious to anyone is what is going on in each others hearts. The husband has the virtue of loyalty and for him, it is second nature to honor their marriage vows. Because loyalty is a virtue, he doesn’t face temptation from other woman, it is not ever a thought. The wife in the example does not posses loyalty as a virtue, but rather as a duty. She knows that committing adultery is wrong, and though she often is tempted and imagines herself with other men, her duty is driven by a moral compass to stay faithful. For her, being faithful is harder at first, but over time her virtue grows and she too eventually overcomes temptation as loyalty takes root in her character. In the same way, we are seeking to use our motivations (duty) to grow our resolve (virtue) that we can rehabituate our hearts, unlearn the behavior that holds us back and re-engineer our habits to become a second nature in which hunger for the new habits is still driven by motivations, but these now operate from at a sub-conscious level rather than the conscious motivation that presses to be intentional.
In closing, I would challenge you to put it to the test. Pick one goal or desire, identify the things necessary to get there, be honest about what holds you back, and chart a course to get down this path. By way of example, my goal is to improve my health by weight loss. I have identified that I need to do clean eating for a variety of reasons that work for me, attempt to sleep at least 6 hours a night uninterrupted, and build muscle by lifting weights and having a target protein goal consistent with the clean eating program. At this time, weight lifting has become second nature as I crave it, sleeping all night has not happened but has improved, and clean eating is more consistent and I make good choices most of the time, but I am making progress consistently. My resolve is strong on my overall goal, but my action items are still under construction, though my measurable results show that I am going in the right direction and the good so far outweighs the bad!
Psalm 139, part 2: God’s Omniscience
I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father;
and I lay down My life for the sheep. – John 15:14-15
In looking at the religions of the world, even the harshest critical of Christianity would need to admit, if they were honest, that the Christian religion is unique in many ways. The heart of our religion, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is remarkably unimaginable. The idea that man is sinful and helpless is unthinkable to man in his natural state, and a God who would put a plan of redemption in place, come into the world as a new born child, live out the perfect life that Adam failed to live (Doctrine of Recapitulation), be tortured to death only to rise from the dead in three days – really! Yes, really, you can’t make this stuff up! Then offer eternal life as a free gift is a love unmeasurable. The entire plan of redemption from eternity past is a manifestation of love in its purest form, a love uniquely unhuman, yet to be realized in our process of becoming truly human as Christ is formed in us (Romans 8:29). The entirely of our Christian faith is only possible because of the sovereignty of God, and the many attributes of God including that God is good at all times. The sum of all of this and the incredible benefit to us is that God knows us and we know Him. As we look around at creation and observe the vast sky, the powerful oceans, the imposing mountains, the unique beauty and attributes of the animal kingdom, the sources of food and water to sustain life, and a million other things that make up our world, the truth that the God who made all things also made us for His good pleasure, to be in communion with us, to have a relationship with us, and to lead us in all good things for His glory! So as we dive into the first part of Psalm 139, we see that the knowledge of God is coupled with a God who is knowable and knows us!
In Psalm 139, we learn about the sovereignty of God, specifically His Omniscience (139:1-6), Omnipresence (139:7-12), and His Omnipotence (139:13-18). Lastly, we also see our response in awe of God (139:19-24). That is to say that God has all knowledge, God is everywhere simultaneously, and God is all powerful. It is by these three attributes of God, working with all of His other attributes, God is sovereign over all of creation. In speaking of the omniscience of God, Psalm 139 opens by revealing to us that God possesses all knowledge of the past, present and future, and there is absolutely nothing that He is unaware of. The message of the opening verses of Psalm 139 that is quite incredible is that God is personal and takes a personal interest in each of our lives.
O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and [when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
In learning that God has all-knowledge, we see that God knows us better than we know ourselves. He is intimately acquainted with all of our ways, He knows our thoughts before we have them, He knows our desires, He knows our weaknesses, He knows our sins, He knows our secret sins, He knows what we love, what we hate and what we fear, and He knows our word before they ever make it to our tongue. This is so important to understand because as Christians, we are seeking to know the will of God in order that our wills be aligned to the divine purpose. Because God knows all, and knows us better than we know ourselves, and knows the future and results of our choices, we need to be seeking His will in order that we can walk the path He is directing us on (Isaiah 30:21).
In verse 2, we see that God knows when we sit down and when we stand-up. In other words, there is nothing in our lives that too insignificant for God not to take note of. It can be easy for us to be somewhat in different in life about the smallest things, but as children of God, He is fully engaged in our smallest actions and choices. With this awareness, it would serve us well to invite God into every moment of our lives, rather than our default to bring our worries to Him in prayer or give thanks for the big things in life; rather God wants to be with us in the little things as well, whether that is making dinner, talking to a friend, preparing a document at work, working out, or tending to your kitty cat. Hope and faith grow as a fruit of loving God by this constant communion. This practice allows us to step into the spiritual reality that God is always with us, which is tremendously comforting, especially amidst the unpleasant aspects of life. In his book, ‘Practicing the Presence of God’ Brother Lawrence poses the question, how can I bring glory to God working in the kitchen of the monastery. In taking up the challenge of 1 Corinthians 10:31, whatever we do, do all to the glory of God, Brother Lawrence realized that the invitation to invite God into the kitchen to peel potatoes would produce a joyful work that had previously felt like a chore.
In verse 2b and 3, this spiritual reality is expanded. God not only knows the smallest detail of our lives, but He knows our thoughts and He scrutinizes the path we are on. In other words, God know our hearts so well that He can see our thoughts that grow out of our desires, which lead us down various paths in life. God knows my habits, my instincts, my tendencies, my inclinations, and my fears, as well as my desires, my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations, my hope for others, and the secret miracles that push me to the edge of unbelief.
In verses 4 to 6, we see the all encompassing way in which God is intimately involved in our lives. He knows our thoughts before we think them and our words before we say them. He goes before us and guards our blind spots with His hand upon us. It is truly a knowledge that is unimaginable, far beyond any human thinking. These verses demonstrate the intimacy by which God knows us and is engaged in our lives. To have His hand upon us (v.5) is a picture of an adult comforting a child as that child takes steps forward. As we close this section, let us ponder and meditate on these verses that show us incredible power and wisdom coupled with a tender care for each one of us!
Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
The Love of God, part 2: Union with Christ, update and review 04/28/2023
“Union with Christ may be the most important doctrine you have never heard of. Union with Christ is central to our transformation which means that it is essential for our salvation. The Christian life is not a self-improvement project, and not about making the old self better, but rather it is about the new self as the old self is put to death. In Christ, we are a new creation, and this new identity bring with it a new self awareness and a new mindset.”
Click here for The Love of God, part 1
The topic of Union with Christ goes wide and deep, and is not only central to our salvation, but it is the whole of the Christian life. Union with Christ has been an important doctrine across most of church history, expressed by the Apostles in the New Testament, affirmed by the early church fathers, affirmed during the dark ages, embraced whole heartedly by the Reformers, taught strongly by the Puritans, and did make its way into American Christianity through the historic denominations such as Anglican, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Eastern Orthodox and others. However, as I have spent most of my adult life in non-denominational Evangelical churches, I have seen that church history is largely missing from the teachings and the doctrine of Union with Christ was not a topic that was ever preached. Rather than explore all the reasons why this critical doctrine has been ignored, for now I will focus on the importance of the doctrine for every believer.
Anyone who has spent any time with me the last few years knows that I strongly believe that three characteristics of spiritual maturity are: 1) a tolerance for mystery, 2) recapturing a sense of wonder, and 3) childlike trust. All three of these characteristics of faith require an active imagination. Many things make us uniquely human, but one of the best, and most loving things that God gave us was the ability to imagine. It has been disappointing to see the Cartesian influence in western bible translation, which has removed the word imagination in translating and have most commonly replaced it with thinking. Ephesians 3:20 best translated states that God is able to do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. In this verse we see that our faith must carry us to places in our imagination beyond what we can understand, because our God as revealed in the Bible is too big to be confined to human understanding. In our Union with Christ, we embrace the mystery of what it means to have Christ live in us by the power of the Holy Spirit; we ignite our sense of wonder and mystery in spiritual realities such as being seated with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and also being crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). These practices in our communion with God grow our faith to be more child-like in that we are moved towards complete vulnerability and trust in God, like a child in the arms of a parent! Jesus asked Nicodemus, “if I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe when I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). Just as Paul tells us to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5), it would seem to be wise for us to consider this question as well.
What is Union with Christ?
Union refers to Union with Christ, the spiritual reality of the presence of Christ in us when we were born again. Union with Christ is one of the most important lessons we can understand as we seek to grow up in Christ to spiritual maturity. The first item of importance is that our union with Christ is only made possible by His atoning sacrifice on the cross for our eternal salvation (Romans 6:10; 1 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 7:24-25, 9:11-12, 10:10). We were dead, but God made us alive (Ephesians 2:5). By God’s sovereign election we are called into union with Christ and sealed in the family of God (John 1:12-13; Romans 8:15-17; Ephesians 1:3-14), which not only what makes a relationship with God possible, but it is also to govern our communion with God. That is to say that our justification before God, through faith in the finished work of Christ is a truth upon which our experience of God is to rest during our time of growing in holiness, or the process of Christ being formed in us (Romans 8:29; Galatians 4:19). This foundational truth will give us good footing to stand firm by faith in times when our experience of God is not as warm and fuzzy as it may have been at other times. During our faith journey, we will have times of feasting and times of fasting, and it will be during fasting, those times of desolation (Psalm 63:1) that we need to dig our heels in to stand firm. When Paul gives us the armor of God, he tells us to shod our feet with the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15). In the time of Christ, Roman soldiers put nails in their boots so that they could not lose balance in combat. In Ephesians 6, as Paul is speaking of spiritual warfare (v. 11-12), he instructs us to stand firm by the gospel of peace, because we now have peace with God (Romans 5:6-10) by Christ who made peace by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20). Therefore, by grace through faith, our union with Christ is established (Ephesians 2:4-10; Galatians 2:20).
Growing up in Christ
For the believer, Union with Christ is foundational to Communion with God because it is that Union by which we have access for Communion. Our faith and our feelings will not always align, so in times of feeling distant from God, we can have assurance of our connection by the finished work of Christ. Life is best when they align, but while feelings will change, our faith will be anchored in Christ to grow steadily in the same direction over many years. In our relationship with God, we enter in by faith and begin down the path to grow-up spiritually. While we may not always feel that God is near, we can walk by faith by trusting in His promises in the Bible. So that means that we need to know scripture by getting our daily bread. We not only learn scripture, but we are to internalize it through prayer and meditation. Scripture is layers deep and as we grow-up spiritually, we will see passages we have had memorized for years, and suddenly it speaks to you in a whole new way. This is what we call the doctrine of illumination, because the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts through the Bible, illuminating scripture for each part of our journey. This is analogous to having milk as a baby, but eventually moving on to solid food. Over time you acquire a taste for foods you did not care for when you were younger, but you suddenly find yourself eating sushi and vegetables voluntarily. As a new believer, I would eat up the New Testament and only looked at the Old Testament for Bible in Year plans or if I had a class. Today, I love the Old Testament and often jump back and forth with the New Testament doing my own cross referencing. I am also seeing scripture in deeper layers, so it is not uncommon for me to camp out in a passage for a few weeks and letting it speak to me, something I was not equipped to do earlier in my faith journey. By knowing scripture, we get to know our God, His attributes, His promises, His lovingkindness, and His incredible patience and forgiveness. Then, when darkness falls on our life, we can say like the Psalmist, that the prayer of our life should be the experience of God’s love by day, and to remember His song in the night (Psalm 42:8). We can have assurance that because God is good, God is sovereign, God has good plans for us, and God is all-powerful, then we can have confidence that whatever disruption has fallen on our life is not without purpose, and God calls us to trust Him whole heartedly to see us through the darkness. Knowing the attributes of God will help us navigate any situation. When we know who our God is, then we can look at our circumstances and stand firm in the storm. The faith journey will never be as we imagined despite our best efforts to plan, adapt and have contingency plans. Why? Because a central part of growing up in Christ is to have our will aligned with His will. In scripture we have His revealed will, but it is only when we learn to walk according to His revealed will that we uncover His unrevealed will for our lives. Growing up takes time, largely because in our spiritual youthfulness, we have a vision for what we want in our lives with little understanding of what we need. The result is that God, in His lovingkindness, will provide what we need and often it is not what we imagined.
People Change, God doesn’t!
One of the most important attributes of God from a human perspective, is that God does not change. That is to say that God is immutable, which is a great value to know because we are not immutable, in fact we are in constant change from the moment of conception. Since we are constantly changing, we can have confidence by our Union with Christ, that whatever we are experiencing in our Communion with God is secure in being anchored to the Unchangeable. This is incredible important for our faith because it allows us to have a confidence that God remains exactly as He has revealed Himself. This is a unique fact of Christianity, to have a God who is immutable, sovereign, good, and loving, is also a proof of the truth of Christianity. Every other religion is declared false by many things, but a common trait of them all is that they have a view of god that is very human in character. In Christianity, we have God becoming man to demonstrate true humanity and what it was supposed to be. By the doctrine of Recapitulation, Jesus is the True Human living out the life that Adam failed to execute. Whether it is the god of Islam who is both good and evil, the gods of Mormonism that are constantly evolving, the impersonal gods of eastern religions who change as creation changes, or the impotent gods of the numerous non-Christian cults, they all fall short of the Biblical attributes of God expressed in scripture and lived by Jesus when He walked among us.
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. – Romans 8:15-17
In thinking about our Union in Christ and our Communion with God, it is important to recognize a significant spiritual reality. That reality is that the love of God is the sustaining power in our Union with Christ, and it is that sustaining power that secures us when we do not feel connected to God. This is critical to understand because I have spoken with many people over the years who wonder if their faith is genuine, if they lost their salvation, if God is mad at them, if God is disappointed in them, if that last sin was the final straw and God is no longer interested in redeeming you. All of these feelings are true in the sense that they are actually felt and believed by the Christian, but also none of them are true or even possible because our Union with Christ is His guarantee (Romans 8:31-39), even if we are faithless, He remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).
In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. – Ephesians 1:11-14
Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Football Wedding Vows Update
(Of everything I have written, this post has had the most views every month for the last five years, thousands more than the next closest. I have wanted to edit it for a while, so here is the rework).
A couple posted a request online looking for suggestions for football themed vows. They were having a football themed wedding and asked for football themed wedding vows. Sounded like a fun exercise, so this is what I came up with.
Love is patient, Love is kind and is not jealous; Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not keep a record of wrong doings; does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things, this type of Love never fails!
1. When life blitzes us, I will always protect you
2. Holding is always allowed and encouraged
3. Together we will prayerfully consider when to punt and when to go for it.
4. Excessive celebration will always be allowed and encouraged in our family
5. Timeout are for parents, not for children and we will use them to talk things over when pressure mounts.
6. Life doesn’t always go as planned, so when I have to make quick decisions, I will never call an audible without considering what is best for you, us and our family.
7. For some couples, the wedding is the Super Bowl and the marriage has an off season. For us, our marriage will be the Super Bowl and there will not be an off-season; we will always wear our Super Bowl rings!
8. With God as our Coach, together we will fight on until time expires.
This was a fun exercise. I could not see having a football themed wedding, but when it is time to get married, we’ll see if these are in play!
Psalm 139: Knowing God – Introduction
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me.
Psalm 131:2
When we think about knowing God, we typically think about our relationship with God. It is good to know God and to be known by God relationally, however, to know God also means to know everything that He has revealed about Himself. To know what God has revealed about Himself means that we need to know the Biblical doctrine of God because God has revealed everything that He wants us to know about Himself in the Bible. American Christianity is attached to the cliché, “It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship.” I disagree with this statement because Christianity is actually both, in fact the completeness of our religion demonstrates that Christianity is the only complete religion in the world. The relational aspect of the Christian faith is unique and of utmost importance, however when we limit it to subjective emotion, we can find ourselves questioning our faith, doubting God, even wondering if we have eternal life. This may be why many Christians leave the church, experience burn-out, backslide into habitual sin, or never exhibit any measurable signs of spiritual maturity. We need to recognize that we are beings in constant change, while God is immutable, meaning that God does not change. This is of paramount importance because the winds that drive our sails through life must be filled by the truth of who God is, rather than our experience of God. If we seek emotional highs as a validation of our faith, at times we will find ourselves drifting aimlessly in the oceans of the world, awaiting the next surge of emotional energy to try and gain some control of our vessel.
To grow any relationship, an investment of time is required and knowing God is no different! When we spend time with God through word and prayer, we grow in familiarity which grows our intimacy, our love grows through knowledge of Him, our trust grows from knowing His character, and as our trust grows, we grow in vulnerability towards a life of surrender, the sum of which is how we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Knowing God to be unchanging becomes an anchor for our faith when we come to know and believe the character of God as He has revealed Himself as good, faithful, holy, loving, kind, just, and has sought to redeem each one of us through the blood of His cross.
If you are seeking to know God or know Him better, then I have some great news for you! God has called you to know Him by giving you and I the gift of faith, so let your desire to know God more intimately be a testimony that God is already engaging you! Scripture tells us that no one seeks God on their own (Romans 3:11-12), we are hostile towards God in our nature, cannot please God and are unable to do so (Romans 8:6-8) unless we have faith (Hebrews 11:6). In our natural state, we are spiritually blind to the truth of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4). In fact, we are not only blind, but we are dead (Ephesians 2:4-5), but God brought us to life by His love, and gave us the gift of salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:6-9). Then by His kindness, after bringing us to life, sealing us for eternity (Ephesians 1:13-14), leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Your desire to seek God has grown from His call to you, which is incredibly comforting for those who may not feel especially close to God. Whether we have grown up in the church or made a claim of faith later in life, we all go through periods of questioning. This is why it is important to be aware of what fills your sails, because the wrong source can toss a person overboard when the waters of the world get rough.
In this awareness, we also need to know that it is God who has initiated, who calls, who sustains, who leads, who protects, and who has governance over our lives. We begin as infants in the faith, but as we grow up in our faith, we will begin to recognize God’s hand in all of our lives, provided that we have wandered into rebellion of any sort. From the human perspective, the entirety of the faith process is a waking up to God, and by faith growing in clarity, knowledge and intimacy over time. In his book, ‘Love Alone is Credible’ Swiss Theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar gives us a metaphor to this awakening which I will summarize. Imagine a new born baby coming into the world and the process by which they awaken to their Mother, themselves and the world:
When a woman has a baby, she will spend many hours per day expressing her joy for her new child. As she smiles upon her new child for many weeks, eventually the child smiles back. Parents always look forward to that first smile from a new born child, who smiles because Mom smiled first. This is not unlike our experience with God who first loved us so that we could love. Something intimate is formed in the new-born baby by the Mother’s smile, and an association is formed in feelings of joy, happiness, security, and comfort. The young child is developing a dependence on Mom, and the ongoing nurturing of Mom strengthen the relationship to the point that the baby may be upset when Mom is not around, or even when being held by Dad. The bond is undeniable, and that is the bond that we have with God when we are born-again and become children of God (John 1:12) known as our Union with Christ. Eventually, the child will learn to crawl, walk, talk, and though many things will identify them, the child has a preeminent identity in Christ (Romans 8:15-16). As the child moves towards adulthood, many identities will be embraced or thru st upon the child, but their is a preeminence to our original identity as a child of Mom. The spiritual dynamic of our Identity as a child of God should always be preeminent in all that we do. So, I am not a dentist, rather I am a child of God who practices dentistry, I am not a brother, but rather a child of God with siblings, I am not a college student, I am a child of God who is in college, I am not a business owner, but rather a child of God who owns a business, and so on. We are part of the eternal family of God, that is who we are because He first loved us, and as He smiled upon you and me, we learned to smile back.
The analogy of the new born baby is powerful because many of us, myself included, came to receive our faith in God later in life, after our hearts and minds had already been shaped and influenced by the world. We are born-again, a new creation, and the old things have passed away. These are all spiritual realities that we receive by faith and we need to live into them in our daily lives. We do this by practice, in order that the seed of the gospel takes root and it grows in the soil of our hearts, a process that deepens as we practice our faith. There are people who will hear the gospel and give intellectual consent to it, but it never is any benefit to them because the knowledge was not united with faith (Hebrews 4:2). This now becomes our goal, to grow our faith in God, in the finished work of Christ, and in the guiding voice of the Holy Spirit, in order that we grow up to be strong trees with deep roots, producing fruit in the right season (See Psalm 1). So the obvious question becomes “what do we practice?” We practice our faith through the daily exercise of spiritual disciplines such as reading our Bibles, praying, meditating on the Word of God, quiet prayer to listen, and the sacraments. I advocate journaling though I do not consider it a spiritual discipline, though many do. I just think it is a good idea to write down what God is teaching you, and I also advocate keeping a ‘Book of Remembrance‘ to record and look back on how much God has blessed you. The sum of these practices do work in us in the formation of Christ (Romans 8:29) on our journey to become holy (Hebrews 12:14).
In regards to reading, we need to be reading our Bibles daily, ideally several times a day. American Evangelist, Billy Graham said that he read 5 Psalms a day, all 150 Psalms every month, so that amounted to reading the Book of Psalms 12 times a year. As his job was to read the Bible and talk about it, he could afford the time, but many of us do not have that luxury. However, it is important for every believer to read at least One Psalm a Day. The Psalms are rich with theology and reveals God to us in profound way. To know God, to know the character of God and the attributes of God, I would recommend getting a Psalm a day into your reading, prayer and meditation habits. The Psalms were originally written as song, not only for the purpose of worship, but also as a tool for memorization in ancient Israel, in order that the Israelite would know God.
In Psalm 139, we learn about the sovereignty of God, His Omniscience (139:1-6), Omnipresence (139:7-12), and His Omnipotence (139:13-18). Lastly, we also see our response in awe of God (139:19-24). That is to say that God has all knowledge and God is everywhere simultaneously, and by these two attributes of God, working with all of His other attributes, God is sovereign over all of creation. We will unpack Psalms 139 next.
Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Discipleship for Hearts and Minds 