“My faith is SO puny…” and other nonsensical remarks

January 30, 2013

Maria Faith, Hebrews, Hope, Prayer, Uncategorized, Waiting , , Leave a comment

Which of the two situations described below make you doubt the sufficiency of your faith?

– a BIG need that looms large and feels almost impossible?

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-seeing someone else set ALL their hope and trust on God?

**

I read a Ben Franklin quote the other day, “He that lives upon hope will die fasting.”

I think THAT sentiment sums up most folks’ view of hope.

But does Franklin’s hope refer to the Christian hope? -The hope that is an anchor to our soul, firm and secure, i.e. CHRIST?  (Hebrews 6:19)

Not at all.  Ben Franklin is talking about the kind of hope that is wishful thinking, the kind we all employ when we say, “I hope it doesn’t rain for the picnic!”

Christian hope is a different concept – it’s a firm assurance, expectation, and guarantee.  And you know what else; it does NOT find its origin in us!!!!  That actually is a relief.

You ask, “Maria, you mean I don’t have to gin up my slacking, weak faith? “

No!!!! – because it’s not YOUR faith to begin with.  If you are a Christian, then you have had the faith of Christ implanted in you.  So the REAL question is…….

Are you a true, authentic Christian?  Here’s the test:

  • Do you actually believe who Jesus the Christ says He is? – the Son of God who alone is the way to the Father, who alone is sufficient to have his payment for your sins count for you, who alone is sufficient to have his perfectly lived life count for you?
  • And do you desire, in some measure, to rely on Him FOR standing in your stead at the Executioner’s Block, to rely on Him FOR having earned ALL the righteous credit you’ll ever need to please God?

If you can say YES to the above, then that is proof that this alien/foreign/other faith is from outside of you.  The content next to the above 2 bullet points is NOT obvious, not gleanable from nature or from the world.  You had to have HEARD that information and there had to have been a spot created in your heart/mind to accept and receive that info as the most amazingly good news and way to have peace with God and be FREEEEEEEEED of your guilt.

Be assured: if you are Christian, then the faith you have been given is ENOUGH.

*

Mike and I are so thankful and grateful to have this opportunity to trust God for some big things in our own personal lives.

Most of the time our prayers are taken up for all those whom we love,  that is the needs of:

a)   family members

b)   friends

c)    co-workers and neighbors

d)   brothers and sisters in Christ

e)   and then those who are cared for by a/b/c/d

Now Mike and I get to watch, expect and wait for God to work in a big way in our very own personal circumstances.  We are SO excited.  We know our God as the One who does ABUNDANTLY more than we can ask or imagine.  He is the epitome of creativity.

God has already answered 1 of our big 5 – we found a house to buy on our one house-hunting trip to Waynesville, NC.

Now we are watching/expecting/waiting to see how He

  • Sells our current house in the time period set by the seller of the NC house
  • Provides me with a job at the income we have determined is sufficient
  • Brings paying clients to Mike as a business consultant
  • Leads us to our new church family

We feel blessed to have been given this opportunity to enjoy front-row seats and see what He will do.  And then many of you will rejoice with us and find new strength and desire to exercise the gift of faith and prayer given to you.

Pray on and watch for great things! 

The gift of patience, an acquired skill

January 23, 2013

Maria 1 Timothy, Faith, Hebrews, Patience, Peace, Prayer, Uncategorized , , , 1 Comment

 

And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what God had promised – Hebrews 6:15

Waiting, patiently or ‘Macrothymeo’ that is ‘longtime – passion’ according to Strongs 3116 – keeping one’s desire in check for a long time.

How do you think God gets us to practice this skill and get better at it?  Right!  He sends us lots of situations perfectly suited to chip away at our defects.  The Bible declares Jesus to be the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). That means that true faith is a gift from Him and that He is also the one charged with perfecting what He implants in us.

Our brother and sister-in-law were married 15 months ago and expected a 6 month wait before Eve would receive the correct immigration status and permission as a Canadian to live in the States with her husband Steve.  They are still waiting.  We have watched their patience with admiration and awe.  Surely God is doing great things in this couple and individually, crafting a stronger reliance on Him.

Some friends of ours waited agonizingly month after month for an adoption to go through.  Their faith grew one week at a time, as they learned, as we all must, that they are not in control.  They were rewarded with both an adoptable newborn AND a pregnancy.  We just learned yesterday that their patience and trust in God has borne yet more fruit as a hoped for Army situation has been granted after a 3rd drawn-out request.

Our dear Anne waits for her husband Wes to return safe and sound from Afghanistan. We pray for endurance and grace for both of them.  Each day is a battle between fear and faith – and not just when our hearts desire big things but in all circumstances.  Waiting is part of the human condition.  Our spiritual ancestors Abraham and Sarah waited on God for His promise to be visible.

And we, too, are waiting for hoped for circumstances to become visible.

Mike and I are waiting/expecting/ hoping/ keeping watch (all the same Hebrew word – qavah 6960) for a house to sell, for a school to hire me and for clients to contract with him.  We are VERY aware that we are not in control.  As God has taught me this year, I make a miserable and short-sighted ‘controller’.  You remember reading  God’s words as He speaks through Timothy,

Jesus is the happy/blessed/ blissful sovereign or controller of all of life, King of Kings, Lord of Lords (1 Tim 6:15)

My husband thinks that I have a strong faith, but I don’t FEEL like I do.  As we have been TRYING to practice obedience by ‘patiently waiting and restfully trusting’ in God’s promises, my mind has from time to time fallen prey to fretful glances at the present suffering of fellow Christians.  I have found myself asking questions like:

  • What makes ME think God will give us what we desire?
  • What if NOT getting what we desire is ‘better’ for us?
  • People I know have lost babies, jobs, health…..why should it be different for us?

The irony of this journey in faith is that we have chosen it.  We COULD have stayed put, in our current jobs and home.

But the lure of adventure, of mountains, of new beginnings beckons.  So we must not murmur against the uncertainty and the wait.

Who knows, maybe that desire for adventure has been planted in us BY God Himself, so that we WOULD seek out the road less travelled?!

What I DO know is that your prayers REALLY help.  I felt an actual shift in my mental state in the dark hours of last Saturday night.  We were in Waynesville, NC (western part of the state) for the weekend.  We had looked at 5 houses that afternoon and picked ‘the one’.  During the night, my mind drifted time and time again to ALL the many contingencies and arrangements that would have to line up for us to ‘get’ that house.  I had felt strong desire rising in me all evening as Mike and I talked about it. I went to bed with one pulsating thought –  “I WANT THAT HOUSE!”

But when I woke up around 3 am to go to the bathroom, I noticed that I was at peace.  I had let go.  My initial thought was, “I will be happy in whichever house God arranges for us.  Therefore, I don’t have to CLING to this particular house.  I can trust Him.  He actually sees the future.  I don’t”

That lessening of my tightly closed toddler fists was the result of your prayers.  I recognized the shift toward peace right away.  Because as soon as those comforting thoughts seeped into my mind, I knew they could ONLY be the result of something spiritual.

So we wait.  And trust Him.  And rely on your prayers for our patience and for the details to work out according to what He has planned.  We will let you know as soon as:

-our current house sells

-the purchase of our NC house goes through (whichever house that ends up being!)

-I am offered a job

-Mike gets his first paying client!

June 1st is when we leave the Shire, headed south and west, God-willing.  And as the weeks fly by, we recall a very great fact about God.  Here is the verse that Mike and I have designated as OUR verse for 2013:

Psalm 126:3 – The Lord has done great things for us: we are glad.

House with M & M in front

 

 

 

A new adventure begins for us!

August 26, 2012

Maria Faith, Uncategorized , 2 Comments

Andrée Seu Peterson crafted an interesting analogy in a recent column for World Magazine, dated 21 Aug 2012 How Linda Diets.  Her cousin Linda, once on a diet, remarked that to lose weight, “you have to like the feeling of your stomach grumbling.”  Andrée followed Linda’s advice and found that, “The change of perspective was effective in turning a normally unpleasant experience into a motivator.”  Andrée continues:

Nowadays I have no trouble with my diet, but everybody has trouble of some kind or other. You may as well expect it: “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). And I have found my cousin’s counsel transfers well from the dieting domain to the spiritual domain: “You have to like the feeling of your soul being in a trial.”

It’s good to know that by looking at problems and challenges differently, I have a better chance of staying motivated LONG ENOUGH to get ALL the good that God intends for me.

My husband and I have deliberately created some trials that we are now entering.  No, we’re not masochists.  But we do like adventure.  Kind of like George Műller, we have deliberately bitten off a HUGE project that gives us a massively challenging opportunity to practice trusting God. (George started orphanages in 19th century England and daily PRAYED in the money to keep them running.  He kept a diary and published a book to encourage average Christians like you and me to trust God as well.)

My husband Michael is retiring from Federal service next May with a small pension.  (Thank you, Lord!)  We could choose to stay put here in Virginia. It would be way ‘easier’.   We wouldn’t have to sell a house or give up my teaching job. Most likely, Mike could find a contracting job, making more than he earns right now as a federal civil servant.

But where is the adventure in that?  Where are the staggering opportunities to trust God?  In fact, if we didn’t want ANY stress, Mike could stay working for the Federal government.  He doesn’t HAVE to retire.  Next summer he GETS to retire

Why are we moving?  It’s simple.  We’ve always wanted to live in the hills. We have picked Asheville, NC.

And here are the ways we are venturing forth in this prayerful path of faith, a path into the unknown:

  • We have a house to sell, with all that entails, including timing
  • We need money to pay for moving costs
  • I need a teaching job in Asheville
  • Mike needs work that will bring in income (? How do you start a consulting business?  How do you find clients? )
  •  We will have to find a place to live

What we have going for us:

  • We have God as our ‘blessed controller’
  • We have tons of His promises to guide us and provide for us
  • He actually WANTS us humbly to cast our cares on Him, as a child would with his dad
  • We are of the same mind, Mike and I
  • We can encourage the other when fear and doubt attack
  • We have Christian friends who are praying for us
  • We have good health and no other mouths to feed but 3 felines

Deliberately choosing to practice trusting God should give us much evidence of the God who cares and comes through for His children.  We want to give Him the glory each step of the way and gain specific examples we can use to encourage other believers along the path.

What are you trusting God for in your life?  I’d love to hear.

More to come about the adventure as we walk in faith along this new road – and if you’d like résumés….just let us know

PS: I’m encouraged by the poem that follows

A poem quoted by Elisabeth Elliot
Do The Next Thing

“At an old English parsonage down by the sea,
there came in the twilight a message to me.
Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven
that, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven.
And all through the hours the quiet words ring,
like a low inspiration, ‘Do the next thing.’

Many a questioning, many a fear,
many a doubt hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from heaven,
time, opportunity, guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrow, child of the King,
trust that with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer,
do it reliantly, casting all care.
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand,
who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
leave all resultings, do the next thing.

Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
working or suffering be thy demeanor,
in His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
the light of His countenance, be thy psalm.
Do the next thing.”

What about Adam?

June 13, 2011

Maria Faith, Genesis , , , , 5 Comments

The June 2011 issue of “Christianity Today” features a provocative report about the churn among Christians over whether Adam & Eve were historical individuals as portrayed in the Bible.  Francis Collins who currently is director of a Senate-approved agency (National Institutes of Health) considers himself Christian and favors theistic evolution.  As director of the Human Genome Project (completed in 2003) Collins and colleagues mapped out gene sequencing in humans.  Collins has concluded from this study, as reported in a book he recently co-authored (The Language of Science and Faith), that “Adam & Eve as the literal first couple and ancestors of all humans do not fit the evidence”.

This assumption is disturbing on two accounts: First of all, those who support the findings and support theistic evolution minimize the impact of their assertions.  Second and more fraught with potential harm, is the implication for much of Biblical Theology and directly the trustworthiness of the Bible.  I will address the second of these issues.

The author of the “Christianity Today” article, Richard Ostling, correctly articulates what is at stake:

–      Humans’ unique status as image bearers of God

–      The doctrine of original sin and the fall

–      The genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3

–      Jesus’ teaching that all of the Old Testament points to Him (Luke 24)

–      Paul’s teaching that links the historical Adam with redemption through Christ

This issue is different from the debate among evangelical Christians who argue Old Earth vs. Young Earth.  In that arena, it is clearer that there are at least two possible interpretations.  The Bible refers to days (yowm) spent in creating the world.  In Hebrew ‘yowm/Strongs H3117’ can mean 24 hours, a year or a long period of time.  So the creation account is open to discussion without raising the trustworthiness of the Bible as an issue.

But if there is not a literal and historical Adam, then here are the implications:

-God did NOT decide as a Trinitarian unit to make man in His image, male and female (Gen 1:27)

-God did NOT have a conversation with Adam in Gen 2:16-17

-Eve did NOT talk with Satan as serpent in Gen 3:1-5

-Eve did NOT sin in Gen 3:6

-No sudden guilt, shame and cover-up happened in Gen 3:7

-No face-to-face encounter between God and the first couple took place in Gen 3:8-9

-Adam & Eve did not try to pass the buck, playing the blame game in Gen 3:11-13

-Gospel Hope was not first preached in Gen 3:15

-No penalty for sin was announced in Gen 3:16-19, thereby explaining what is wrong with our world

Given the above, I spent a sleepless night this past weekend.  I had to contemplate what it would mean NOT to trust that every word of the Bible is sovereignly breathed out by God. For 12-15 hours, I floated in a nightmarish free-for-all.  In that land, Jesus is no longer my living Rock (Psalm 18:46), no longer my reliable/faithful/true shield and bulwark/defending fortress that protects me (Psalm 91:4)   If I can’t count on God’s word as true, there is no truth.

But wishing doesn’t make it so.

How do we determine that the Bible is reliable and trustworthy as it is written?  What about scientific discoveries that seem to point to other conclusions?  I have no scientific background, but I am a bit more equipped to reason philosophically.  And that is the approach I want briefly to try out.  It is not enough to just say, “The Bible claims to be the true word of God, so it must be so.” That is circular reasoning.  We are trying to prove why the Bible is trustworthy.

For the purposes of this discussion, I am starting with the pre-supposition that God exists. Here is how it goes from there:

For God to be God, He has to be supernatural.  He has to be all-powerful and all-knowing.  And from everything I have witnessed in life, He is also all-good. What is my evidence? : my life, the lives of Christian friends, the accounts of dead ‘saints’ and the historical events of Biblical characters.  In all of these, there is evidence of God working through ‘bad’ circumstances in lives to bring about amazing results.  Having established that He is supernaturally all-good, He also has to be completely truthful and dependable. For someone who is good cannot lie or be wishy-washy.

So, if a transcendent god with these qualities were to ordain that a document be written for the benefit of his creation, would it not follow that this document would be a reflection of his character?   In our everyday life, what we say and do springs from who we are. It is only logical that the same would pertain to this god.   It is therefore ‘reasonable’ ( in the true sense of the word, i.e. logical) to assume that the Bible reflects the character of God.  If God is trustworthy and faithful and true, then so is His Word.  At this point, we can then add what the Bible says about itself.  There are many verses, but here are two that come to mind:

–      Psalm 19: 7-9 gives many adjectives about God’s written word.  It is PERFECT, SURE, RIGHT, PURE, ENDURING, TRUE and RIGHTEOUS

–      Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s word is ALIVE, ACTIVE, EFFECTUAL and FULL OF POWER.

Finally, Jesus who is God, Himself validated the entire Old Testament when He explicitly taught some of the disciples who had been walking to Emmaus.  Over a meal, He showed them how the Pentateuch (includes Genesis) and the Prophets all pointed to Him. (Luke 24:27)

Thinking this through settles the issue for me.  God’s Word IS true and reliable and worth centering my life on.  What about the Human Genome Project?  I don’t know.  I will trust God to sort that out.  I don’t dismiss scientific inquiry. Neither do I default to submitting to science.  I don’t have to have all the answers to trust God, to rely on the Bible completely. I can take my concerns to God and lay them at His feet and trust that He will instruct me.  God is my lodestar.  That is the decision I have to make daily, hourly.

PS:   bereft of my bedrock for those few hours has had the sweet benefit of making me love the Bible all the more.  How precious are its words!  May we taste and see that He who is the Word is good.

When faith is feeble

February 21, 2011

Maria 1 Peter, Ephesians, Faith, Hebrews , , Leave a comment

It’s not your faith! And that is good news.  If it were, then you might have cause to worry.  For if faith were all up to you, it might not be enough for the job.  We live as though we are the ones who have to generate our faith.  We fret and deconstruct his words, when Jesus claims that all we need is a tiny bit of faith, no more than a miniscule mustard seed.

Here is why we don’t have to worry.  Who or what is the source of your faith?  Certainly not you.  You don’t have to muster up faith and hope that it is enough.  You didn’t have any to begin with.  If you or I have saving faith in any amount, it is because we have been given it.  Consider the following texts:

  • Ephesians 2: 8-9  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
  • Hebrews 12: 2 …let us “…fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…”
  • And a long passage from 1 Peter 1:  …we are
    “protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last times. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while,  if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,  so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at )the revelation of Jesus Christ;”

I read this passage the other day and was astonished by what God revealed after a 2nd glance.  At first I panicked, “I don’t think I can be truly protected by God, because my faith is weak”.  But then the Holy Spirit reminded me that I am not the source or creator or originator of my faith.  If I have any faith in God it is because it has been given to me.  And God says that whatever size his gift of faith is, it is enough.  The trials Peter refers to are not to make me look bad, but to prove TO ME, that this blessing of faith is not only adequate and reliable but sufficient as well for whatever life throws at me.

Now when we go back and look at all the texts which talk about faith, we see it in a different light:  ‘the righteous shall live by faith”.  Who is that verse talking about?   It is those who have been awakened from the dead (i.e. born again), thanks to God. Once they have been enabled to see, they then realize, and with eyes wide open, the choices of life and death before them. They gratefully accept the gift of both a clean slate and imputed righteousness as well as a storehouse of faith.  They can NOW live by this faith that God has put into them.  So it is the born again (aka the ‘righteous’), who live by faith: faith in God’s character, in his past actions and in his future promises.  They don’t look to their abilities, gifting and experience.

Now we we can surrender the lament that sounds ‘oh, so modest’, but is truly a sign of pride and unbelief, “Woe is me, for my lack of faith!”  If you are a believer, you have been given sufficient faith.  Step out, rely on God.  You won’t fall – and if you do, his strong arms are there to catch you.  Promise!  (God’s word cannot lie).   Encourage yourself with the truth that this gift of faith will not leak out.  You might feel weak, but you just have to realign your thoughts with God’s word and trust this faith. If it is from God, it is adequate.  It’s like manna for the day. Remind yourself that as a new creation, you have new resources to go with your new nature.  The faith is now a fact, if you are believer.  And it can never leave you!

Now what was it that you are afraid to do?  What have you let yourself off the hook about?  Repent and ‘drive on all the way’, as my Infantry father used to say.  With God’s faith residing in you, it’s all good.

 

Following my own advice when discouraged

November 16, 2010

Maria 1 Thessalonians, Attitude, Faith , , Leave a comment

Rejoice always, pray continuously and in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for Christ. 1 Thess 5:16-18

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”, so goes the folk wisdom. Only in my case, what I’m preaching to my gander, I need to follow myself.

My beloved is depressed due to a job he can’t stand and much uncertainty surrounding it.  He feels stuck because he needs to endure 3 more years in this job to qualify for a small pension from the government.  His body reacts with physical symptoms due to his dark gray feelings. His body’s response deepens his depression.  It feels like a vicious circle.

I spend time searching scripture to encourage him with God’s word.  Verses like:

  • Ascribe to the Lord power and strength  (i.e. don’t build up the circumstances and make them seem insurmountable)  (Ps 68:34)
  • But as for me, I will look to the Lord and confident in Him I will keep watch; I will wait with hope and expectancy for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me! (Micah 7:7)
  • Though the fig tree does not blossom….. (my version – though life is REALLY HARD right now)….yet will I rejoice in the Lord.  (Hab 3: 17….19)
  • As a man thinks in his heart, so he becomes (Prov 23:7)
  • I can do ALL things through Him who strengthens me (Phil 4:19)
  • I pray that the eyes of Mike’s heart may be enlightened in order that he may know …….. his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead. (Eph 1: 18-19)

But when my husband doesn’t respond to my encouragement, I can fall into feeling down too!

But wait a second!  I’m being two-faced then.  Who am I to succumb to my feelings?  If I am called to be my husband’s Ezer, his companion to help him, then God has equipped me.   I don’t have to battle his depression on my own!  I don’t have to let it bring me down.

If I’m encouraging Mike to change his self-talk, then I need to listen to my own advice.  I need to talk to myself, tell myself Truth from God’s word and not listen to my feelings which are based on incomplete knowledge.  I need to rejoice that God has given me the power to encourage Mike.  Paraphrasing Paul in 1 Cor. 15 “I worked hard…yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me!”  When I feel weak like I can’t summon up any more encouragement for Mike, I MUST tell myself the truth. I don’t have to succumb to discouragement.   Yes there is trouble in life, but Christ is with me to fight on.  I might not sense that I have the resources or energy to be an encouragement tonight, but I CAN trust God that He will provide manna for the evening, not now, but IN THE MOMENT.  “As is my day, so too is the STRENGTH, the REST and the SECURITY that God provides” (Deut 33:25) I can count on Him to provide manna in the moment.

Putting on my belt of truth and lifting up my shield of faith in Christ to ward off the fears and doubts with which the enemy so delights in barraging me.

“Your faith has saved you; go in peace”– or whose faith is it?

November 9, 2010

Maria Faith, Forgiveness, Luke Leave a comment

First some context : Here is the tail-end of Jesus’ remarks in Luke 7:50 to the Pharisee who invited him to dinner      Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”  The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

I’ve been learning about what faith is and what it is not.  In the above story one could commend the woman for having faith.  After all, Jesus refers to it as HER faith.  Something she possesses.  But did she originate the faith?  Should she be praised for something that she stoked, nurtured and exercised in seeking out Jesus?

What would we think of a person who enters a marathon in a wheel chair and completes it entirely thanks to someone who pushed him?   Would we say, “Congratulations!  Your fast finish has qualified you to place!”

No, we would clearly see that his finishing the race was entirely due to this other person.

So it is with the faith of the ‘sinful’ woman.  This pistis (Greek) or faith was given to her by God.  That is what regeneration is, what being born again is all about.  It’s when God opens our eyes and ears and deposits faith in our soul.  Then we can see the need and feel the compelling desire to repent; then we can feel safe in approaching Jesus.

What is remarkable is that since WE ourselves don’t generate this faith, we don’t have to fear losing it.  It is a gift placed in us by God. Furthermore, He deposits the Holy Spirit in us, to assist our use of that gift.  If you have faith no bigger than a tiny seed, it is enough.  Imagine nuclear power and the miniscule fission process that spontaneously occurs.  But the outcome is huge.  So it is when God makes us alive, gives us faith and provides the Holy Spirit as a helper.

I’ve been meditating on Jesus’ prayer to His Father in John 17.  He commends the disciples as those whom the Father gave to him and men who obeyed God’s word.  We quickly think of Peter and his denial of Jesus and the brothers James & John who were concerned about their right-hand positions in the Kingdom and the fearful group in the boat faced with the threatening waves.  Do these actions qualify as obeying God’s word?   Of course not.   So what could Jesus mean?

I think Jesus is referring to the fact that the disciples retained their faith.  They continued to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, God’s son.  Their actions didn’t always comport with the behavior one would imagine of a proper disciple.  But in God’s book, they were men of faith and that is the grid through which He judges us.

But….it’s a rigged system!  We can’t possibly fail!  God gives us faith.  He gives us supernatural help, guaranteeing our success exercise of it.  Finally, He commends us for keeping this faith.  It’s a win-win situation!

There’s a verse in Jeremiah 31: 6b where God promises His people that, “…. your work will be rewarded……”    We have the best deal possible.  What God requires of us, we can’t possibly fail to do, because His constant resources, although invisible, are a guarantee that we will please Him.  On top of His approval, He will also reward us.

The supreme work we are to do for God is to believe Him, to exercise the faith with which He gifts us.  All else is subsumed underneath that raw trust.  We have to get the order correct.  Believe, rely on Him and do what He commands, trusting that He will enable us to please Him.  We can’t measure the outcome and determine if we have pleased Him, if we have exercised faith ENOUGH (whatever THAT means!).  But we can trust that what warms His heart and makes Him rejoice and beam as a proud Father is our toddler-like stabs at faith. Picture Him applauding us for walking in faith while our hands are being held by the Holy Spirit.  Selah!

Letter to a son – what we failed to teach you

September 28, 2010

Maria Faith, Gospel, Peace, Sanctification, Thinking , , , , , , Leave a comment

Dear Son –

Dad and I were so blessed by your phone call last night. Your transparent accounting of what you struggle with at age 22, both as a newly married man and a recently commissioned Infantry lieutenant, convey trust and love for us and a longing to grow.  These two changes in your life are major, in and of themselves.  Together they provide a lot of stress; even if they are circumstances you have chosen and for which you have mentally prepared.    You’ve faced difficult challenges before, since you’ve been a Christian for 6 or so years and have experienced pruning and growth. But new developments have peeled away a comfort layer and revealed more sin for your Father to address.  Your attitude and reaction to some of these feelings raised have caught you by surprise.

The way you described what God has been teaching you was well articulated.  It’s not a first-time lesson nor is it unique to you.  The choice before all Christians is to walk/abide in our human flesh or to walk/abide in Christ.  The first choice is more comfortable because we have developed personal coping mechanisms to deal with daily unpleasantness.  The second option works far better, but either doesn’t always occur to us and/or doesn’t appeal.  Our pride/stubbornness leads us to default to the shortcut, even if we can accurately predict the outcome. We are used to failure, self-condemnation, our own excuses and concomitant spewing over onto those we love.

Here are some observations from your parents who are 31 years older than you.  However, we have really only been growing as Christians for the past 10 years.  So you, your brother, Dad and I are really about the same age as God’s Kids.

Dad and I DID NOT teach you the following: (we have been learning these realities ourselves in recent years, since you left for college)

  • The reason we were born is to glorify God.
  • The nature of life on earth is brokenness and  warfare
  • Because of Christ in us, we can have purpose and joy beyond measure, but they have NOTHING to do with comfort or circumstances.  They have to do with the Cross.

First – the purpose of life is to glorify God.  Relentlessly, the world tells us that life is all about us.  Hear the constant litany – “our comfort, our desires, our bodies, our accomplishments, our purposes, our stuff, and our rights.”   We have to intentionally choose to live moment by moment, breath by breath for what magnifies and makes most of God, not what exalts us.  John Piper exhorts us not to waste our lives on ourselves, no matter how much we beguile ourselves with our own self-worth.  Self, self, self!

Second – because of the Fall, life is hard.  Because of Satan, we are in a war.   John Piper calls us to adopt a warfare mentality.  That’s not bad.  You were mentioning that a good soldier always has a plan and is prepared to fight.  Our enemy is not just terrorists from another land, fellow humans.  All they can do is kill us.  Our real enemy is far worse. He can deceive us into believing that God doesn’t exist, or in inventing our own version of God, made in our image.

So even though we Christians know how the story ends, we have to be alert and on guard.  The American dream in both the active working years and in retirement is a major ploy of Satan’s.  He has lulled us into thinking that this life is all there is and we had better enjoy it.  Meanwhile, he is behind our lines as a 5th column, beguiling the ‘innocent’.   Be mad!  Get righteously angry, but not at fellow humans, but at the Father of Lies.

My 3rd point is worth more discussion than I have time right now.  But I don’t think you need convincing of the possibility of lasting joy and purpose in Christ.  We are comforted and assured by God’s Word that, even now on Earth, we have eternal life.  Furthermore, God be praised, we are blessed with brief glimpses of joy even while wearing these perishable bodies.

Yet, as your chronologically older sister and brother in Christ, KNOW that this painful lesson of choosing to abide in Christ, rather than working out of your flesh/ your dominant side is a lesson you will have to RELEARN, time and time again.  I’m sorry to tell you that.  Were it otherwise!  But that’s reality here on Earth.  I still struggle with complaining and a poor attitude. I have to be pulled up short, daily.  I’m even doing what I love, teaching French.  Still I grumble, because of lack of perceived comfort, time, and choice circumstances, all the ME- desires.  Your father is blessed to sing with a quality chorus as a hobby.  He still struggles with the insidious temptation to work alone out of his own strength, thus experiencing frustration or to be yoked with Christ and enjoy rest.  How simple the choice seems with distance.  How blind we are.

So be prepared to fall again and again. We thank God for your wife, a godly woman who loves you and will hold you accountable.  And you will do the same for her, when she fails to remember the way life is.   Repentance is a blessing and the Father’s arms are never shut.  Fly to him frequently.

Love,

Mom & Dad

How to hold firmly to our faith

June 22, 2010

Maria 1 Corinthians, 2 Peter, Faith, Gospel , , Leave a comment

Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 1 Cor 15: 1-2

How do we hold firmly to the Word?  Before we get there, let’s look at what happens when we don’t hold on. If we don’t actively retain a grip on truths in the Bible, it’s as though we never heard any of them.  They don’t do us any good!  How can that be?  Doesn’t everything we hear/read/learn affect us?

Realistically, we retain very little of what we hear. Think about your years at university, or sermons you have listened to.  What do you recall?  Hardly anything.  So if we want to retain some information, some truth, we have to do something with it.  This is what Paul means by holding on firmly.

I teach French and know that my students will truly only acquire a phrase if 3 things happen 1) they understand what I am saying  2) they are interested and 3) they hear it at least 75 times.

What is true about learning a foreign language is true for any content.  So how do we truly digest and ‘own’ what we hear? – By repeating it to ourselves over and over again in a meaningful way to us.  Teaching others and using the content in different but related contexts are also helpful.  In short, plain ‘ole’ messing around with the material is what is required.  I think of kneading bread.  How do you get bread to rise?  You put your hands in the goopy flour, salt, yeast and water mixture and work the 4 ingredients well – for about 10 minutes.  We have to do the same thing with meaningful input – work with the material.

Here is an example.  My license plate says ‘SOLA FID’. (In Virginia, we can use up to 7 letters/digits for a personalized plate.)  Those seven letters refer to one of the doctrines of reformed theology – sola fide.  Someone once asked me what my license plate meant and I stumbled all over myself.  I knew inside, sort of, but couldn’t articulate it.  You can bet that I have practiced my explanation many times now, so that I am ready:

Sola Fide means that we are justified by God and made right with him only through our faith in what Jesus has done on the cross. What did Jesus do?  He took on himself God’s entire wrath that was due us AND gave us all the benefits and credit of his perfectly-lived life.  His sinless life and righteous deeds count for us.  These two transactions come to us by a faith that we don’t produce – the faith is even a gift from God.  So God gets all the credit and glory and we get all the benefits!

So when Paul says that we are saved by the Gospel and that we have to hold on firmly to what we heard and received for it to be effective, I take that to mean that I have to remind myself daily, hourly of the truths of the Bible, the gospel promises.  Else I forget and they have no effect on me.  Peter warns his readers that if we don’t make every effort to develop qualities based on the promises God gives us, we will be like a man who looks in the mirror and then forgets what he looks like.

2  Peter 1: beginning with verse 2 – “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.  10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

This then is what Paul means by holding firm to the Word, to the truth.  We don’t work at this in order to be justified, but we certainly work at it to continue to possess our inheritance, yet…..God’s grace is such that he won’t let us go.  Nonetheless, if I don’t remind myself continually, then my joy drains away and the world becomes more real.  And that is depressing.  So let us be active in rehearsing our faith.

Sola Fide – what exactly IS faith?

March 9, 2010

Maria Ephesians, Faith Leave a comment

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

I’ve been listening to RC Sproul talk about what Sola Fide means.  I finally ‘got it’ – that FAITH is the instrument by which we are saved.  It’s this FAITH itself that is a gift of God.  I’m thinking that there must be two kinds of faith.  We all have natural faith that is borne out of experience.  I usually trust my car to start in the morning.  That sort of faith is an ‘expectation’ that is backed up by weeks of reliable service.  But faith to take God at His Word, trust that all our guilt has been shifted onto Christ, that His righteous deeds have been credited to our account, that kind of faith is nothing for which we have any experience.  So God GIVES that faith to us, by making us wake up to true reality (as He defines it).  We learn that the stakes are ENORMOUS and way beyond our ability to ‘decide for Christ’ or ‘live a life good enough to get into heaven’.

Without God opening our eyes, we will never understand or appreciate the gravity of the spiritual war roaring and swirling around us.  Yes, we can all see that He exists by looking at the world.  No one is off the hook for not knowing about God and His nature.  But more is at stake than just knowing that God is real.  The demons know that!  Our very eternal souls are at stake.  It’s Satan or God who is our Father and laying a claim to us.  Those whose names are written in God’s book before the universe was created receive this supernatural faith to believe.

This is actually very good news for those of us who might be inclined to fear that our faith is weak.  It might be weak, but Jesus assures us, that if it exists at all, it is sufficient.  Not the size or quantity of the faith, but the one who gives it and anchors it matters.  After all, a small bit of nuclear energy is sufficient to create a huge explosion.  Either we have received this supernatural faith or we haven’t.  What comforts me is that we don’t have to muster it ourselves.

Nonetheless, like raw talent or muscles one is born with, faith will grow stronger as it is used.  This is a life principle.  We feed our faith and gain ultimate true peace by growing in the knowledge of the Lord.  The more we know about God and his character, the more we trust what He says.

So go ahead and thank God for the gift of faith.  And exercise it!

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