St. Augustine was famous for his struggles before embracing the Gospel and the Lordship of Jesus for being a wild man, a partyer and a philanderer. In his spiritual quest he investigated all sorts of different "options" before surrendering to Christ. Towards the end of that journey he prayed a very honest prayer that is recorded in his autobiography called Confessions. He prayed that God would change him, but in reality he didn't want to change. This is what he wrote:
I had prayed to you for chastity and said 'Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.' For I was afraid that you would answer my prayer at once and cure me too soon of the disease of lust, which I wanted satisfied, not quelled. (pg. 169)
"Not yet." I wonder how many times I would have to pray that same prayer if I was honest. For example, instead of wanting my anger to be quelled, I really want it to be satisfied by letting someone have it or getting them back. I would certainly never say this. I may not even think it, but in reality - deep down - it may be what I really want.
Why is that? If I believe God's way is really the best way, if Jesus is really the best example for how life should be lived, then why do I run after many other options before I finally turn to His? I am ashamed to think about how often this has been true in my life.
I think the only way to victory is twofold:
1. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9. I need to honestly, simply and straightforwardly confess my sins to God. Doing that acknowledges the whole truth of the sin problem to the God who already knows it and brings it from the darkness into the light.
2. "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." - James 5:16. I need to do the same to another person or persons who I can trust, who want God's best for me. If I don't have someone then I don't get to skip this part. I need to find someone - and fast. This kind of confession also brings the sin into the light.
Sin cannot survive in the light. It only lives in darkness. The "not yets" keep sin alive in the darkness or our lives. Only confession and repentance brings it into the light and robs sin of it's power.
What do you think? Are there any "not yets" in your life? How do you think you will gain victory over them?
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
What I can become
Famous Notre Dame Football coach Ara Parseghian once said, "A good coach will make his players see what they can become rather than what they are."
I am not a coach; I am a pastor. However, I need to be reminded to see myself not as I am right now, but what I can become in Christ. In his letter to the church at Colosse, Paul wrote, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved . . .” (Colossians 3:12). Before he spelled out the virtues and qualities of a holy life, Paul reminded the people who they were.
He wasn’t telling them what they should be if they worked real hard or if they got lucky. He was telling them who they ALREADY were in Christ. They were God’s chosen, holy and loved people because of what Jesus had ALREADY done in them and for them. From beginning to end it was God’s work and not their own.
What a perspective! I have to remind myself all the time that God is working in me to make me like Jesus. Yes, I have a role to play in submitting my heart and my will to God, but the power to make the changes comes from God. It’s not my doing. I also have to remind myself that God didn’t make that promise to a select few people who were a cut above spiritually from where I am. No, that promise was made to all people and all people includes me.
It includes me on my best days, when my heart burns with love for Jesus and for people and when I naturally do what is good and right and loving. And it includes me on my worst days, when I do the exact opposite, when selfishness and pride rise to the top. How do I know this? Because God chose me, made me holy by the grace and mercy of Jesus and loves me as I am and not as I should be. The Bible screams that message over and over again. He knew what I would be like on my best days and my worst days and He chose me anyway.
When I am freshly aware of that truth something happens inside of me. I am inspired. I am encouraged. I am challenged. And, most of all, I know how loved and cherished by God I really am. That awareness, coupled with my desire to love God back, helps me see who I can become. Then by the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of me I can begin to actually reflect Jesus' character and countenance more and more. I can do the things that Jesus did and say the things that Jesus said.
That can be your reality to . . . You are a part of “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.”
When you hear that phrase spoken about YOU, what response do you have?
I am not a coach; I am a pastor. However, I need to be reminded to see myself not as I am right now, but what I can become in Christ. In his letter to the church at Colosse, Paul wrote, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved . . .” (Colossians 3:12). Before he spelled out the virtues and qualities of a holy life, Paul reminded the people who they were.
He wasn’t telling them what they should be if they worked real hard or if they got lucky. He was telling them who they ALREADY were in Christ. They were God’s chosen, holy and loved people because of what Jesus had ALREADY done in them and for them. From beginning to end it was God’s work and not their own.
What a perspective! I have to remind myself all the time that God is working in me to make me like Jesus. Yes, I have a role to play in submitting my heart and my will to God, but the power to make the changes comes from God. It’s not my doing. I also have to remind myself that God didn’t make that promise to a select few people who were a cut above spiritually from where I am. No, that promise was made to all people and all people includes me.
It includes me on my best days, when my heart burns with love for Jesus and for people and when I naturally do what is good and right and loving. And it includes me on my worst days, when I do the exact opposite, when selfishness and pride rise to the top. How do I know this? Because God chose me, made me holy by the grace and mercy of Jesus and loves me as I am and not as I should be. The Bible screams that message over and over again. He knew what I would be like on my best days and my worst days and He chose me anyway.
When I am freshly aware of that truth something happens inside of me. I am inspired. I am encouraged. I am challenged. And, most of all, I know how loved and cherished by God I really am. That awareness, coupled with my desire to love God back, helps me see who I can become. Then by the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of me I can begin to actually reflect Jesus' character and countenance more and more. I can do the things that Jesus did and say the things that Jesus said.
That can be your reality to . . . You are a part of “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.”
When you hear that phrase spoken about YOU, what response do you have?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The End I Live For
"Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You were made in the image of what you desire." - Thomas Merton
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." - 2 Corinthians 4:6
The Bible says that humans were made in God's image (Gen. 1:27). Since I am human, that means I was made that way too . . . and so were you. That image was but a reflection of who God was, but even that image was darkened and covered by the stain of sin - not just sin in the world, but the sin I was a part of personally.
Jesus changed that though. By faith, I live now as a person who is transformed by Jesus Christ and being made new, renewed in God's image. And I reflect that image the more the Holy Spirit has control of my life.
That shapes the end that I live for. That makes me a person who reflects Jesus and a person whose life endeavors to "bring heaven to earth" (Rob Bell). Because I desire this and more and more fashion my life in this direction, the "glory of God in the face of Christ" is made evident in me.
To borrow a line from an old hymn, "This is my story, this is my song . . . "
Does that mean the goal for my salvation is eternity in Heaven? Yes. But that isn't the only goal. In fact, in many ways the focus of my life is to have my face reflect Jesus NOW, not because it makes Heaven more likely, but because it makes Heaven present NOW.
How do you react to this?
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." - 2 Corinthians 4:6
The Bible says that humans were made in God's image (Gen. 1:27). Since I am human, that means I was made that way too . . . and so were you. That image was but a reflection of who God was, but even that image was darkened and covered by the stain of sin - not just sin in the world, but the sin I was a part of personally.
Jesus changed that though. By faith, I live now as a person who is transformed by Jesus Christ and being made new, renewed in God's image. And I reflect that image the more the Holy Spirit has control of my life.
That shapes the end that I live for. That makes me a person who reflects Jesus and a person whose life endeavors to "bring heaven to earth" (Rob Bell). Because I desire this and more and more fashion my life in this direction, the "glory of God in the face of Christ" is made evident in me.
To borrow a line from an old hymn, "This is my story, this is my song . . . "
Does that mean the goal for my salvation is eternity in Heaven? Yes. But that isn't the only goal. In fact, in many ways the focus of my life is to have my face reflect Jesus NOW, not because it makes Heaven more likely, but because it makes Heaven present NOW.
How do you react to this?
Friday, October 2, 2009
Can sin be JUST SIN?
"Eikons" are the term given to humans in Genesis when it says we are made in God's image. It means then that we are made good and that we are made to reflect Him. But sin gets in the way.
Scot McKnight, in his book A Community Called Atonement writes:
God is the One against whom humans act when they sin. Sin begins in rebellion against God and, like kudzu on the southern slopes and buckthorn in northern prairies, it spreads into other relations. Sin is the hyperrelational distortion and corruption of the Eikon's relationship with God and therefore with self, with others, and with the world. (pg. 23)
This means that sin is not, and can never be, JUST SIN. It can never just be an act that we do, a word that we say, or a thought that we entertain. It has far reaching ramifications for us and for every relationship we have.
The problem is that we act as if we can isolate sin in one area of our life and continue on in other areas as if everything is OK. We delude ourselves into thinking that this is possible, but it isn't. Sin, if ignored or indulged, will consume every part of our life and destroy us from the inside-out.
I know growing up I was taught that sin was simply a bad act. All those bad acts were equal in God's eyes and needed to be avoided. Some sins hurt others, but some just hurt me, yet all the sins, in and of themselves, were separate. They weren't seen as tied together and they weren't systematically destructive.
I don't think that anymore. I believe first of all in a SIN POWER that manifests itself in actions, words and thoughts against God's will and way (missing the mark). The ultimate SIN POWER is defeated by Jesus in His death and resurrection. Romans 7-8 makes clear that a new power, the SPIRIT POWER, gains control of my life and makes me right with God. As I submit to the SPIRIT POWER I become more and more aware of God's loving acceptance of me, of His transforming grace and of the power I need to overcome the remaining influence of the SIN POWER in my life. This is a lifelong journey I am on.
How do you see it?
Scot McKnight, in his book A Community Called Atonement writes:
God is the One against whom humans act when they sin. Sin begins in rebellion against God and, like kudzu on the southern slopes and buckthorn in northern prairies, it spreads into other relations. Sin is the hyperrelational distortion and corruption of the Eikon's relationship with God and therefore with self, with others, and with the world. (pg. 23)
This means that sin is not, and can never be, JUST SIN. It can never just be an act that we do, a word that we say, or a thought that we entertain. It has far reaching ramifications for us and for every relationship we have.
The problem is that we act as if we can isolate sin in one area of our life and continue on in other areas as if everything is OK. We delude ourselves into thinking that this is possible, but it isn't. Sin, if ignored or indulged, will consume every part of our life and destroy us from the inside-out.
I know growing up I was taught that sin was simply a bad act. All those bad acts were equal in God's eyes and needed to be avoided. Some sins hurt others, but some just hurt me, yet all the sins, in and of themselves, were separate. They weren't seen as tied together and they weren't systematically destructive.
I don't think that anymore. I believe first of all in a SIN POWER that manifests itself in actions, words and thoughts against God's will and way (missing the mark). The ultimate SIN POWER is defeated by Jesus in His death and resurrection. Romans 7-8 makes clear that a new power, the SPIRIT POWER, gains control of my life and makes me right with God. As I submit to the SPIRIT POWER I become more and more aware of God's loving acceptance of me, of His transforming grace and of the power I need to overcome the remaining influence of the SIN POWER in my life. This is a lifelong journey I am on.
How do you see it?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)