Not in The Least Bit Inconsequential

Recently, Tim Challies has been calling for bloggers to continue their personal blogs or to pick up and try again if they've given up. He posted some comments today from readers with their reasons for continuing, or having given up, why they were drawn back to it. While many of the comments are from those who blog on ministry sites, Challies encourages all of us to write for the sake of the gospel.

I'm one of those who started for a year, gave up for several years, then began again a few years ago. Sometimes consistently. Most often not. One of the reasons for inconsistency or even giving up is that writing is work and takes time. Words do not come easily to me, although thoughts are constantly bouncing around in my head. I don't always have the time to sit and focus on those thoughts, to bring them from my mind through my fingertips onto the keyboard in coherent discourse. It's definitely a discipline much like exercise and too often left unattended.

Adding to the time issue is the feeling that there are many other bloggers out there saying things in a much more compelling way than I possibly could. Their experiences seem so much more alive and interesting than my own. Yet, I know, too, that what is familiar and perhaps mundane to ourselves can be new and interesting to others. Perhaps it's the turn of words, the slight nuance that helps someone see things in a slightly different light, or the connection of one's life to another's experience.

My thoughts may be simple, but I've been reminded that if anyone is reached with the truth of the gospel, if anyone is encouraged by thoughts that are eventually formed into sentences and paragraphs with gospel meaning, then I have at least had a small (but never insignificant) part in encouraging the call to Kingdom life.

And that is not in the least bit inconsequential.

Hanging on to Bitterness

Sharing a thought with you today as I've been studying the assignment for our Bible class at church. I'm not very familiar with the minor prophets, so I signed up for that class, and this week we were to read through the book of Jonah. Among other aspects of the book, we were to read with a view toward the gospel--how is the gospel seen in the book of Jonah?

The book is not really about Jonah. It's about God, about how He extended His universal grace toward all of mankind--even the most wicked of the wicked, the Assyrians who lived in Nineveh and had been barbaric toward the nation of Israel. Jonah was to go and warn them of God's judgement. A scary mission, to be sure, but God was calling them to repentance, and wanted Jonah to be His messenger. 

Jonah was extremely bitter toward the Ninevites, a bitterness rooted deep, deep in his soul, to the point of preferring death over the possibility of their repentance. He wanted them punished for all the wickedness they had done to his own people. He didn't want any possibility of good coming to them.

In His abundant loving kindness, though, God was relentless in pursing Jonah as well as the inhabitants of Nineveh. He was merciful towards both--the wicked and the righteous. Remember, Jonah was a prophet of God.

Forgiveness was offered to both. It's interesting to me that the wicked Assyrians were the ones who repented. The book closes with Jonah still a bitter, angry man. The gospel has the power to save us from our sin, but we are called to release the sin in our lives, turn from it toward God, and accept His forgiveness. That frees us to return to relationship with Him. The Ninevites accepted. Jonah held onto his bitterness and hatred.

Bitterness can dig deep into the soul and drive the events of our lives. It propels us away from God. It takes us where we do not want to go, and soon we wonder how we ever got into the churning, convulsive belly of a fish in the great deep that engulfs us.

If you're struggling with unwanted feelings toward a situation or a person, and wonder if it's bitterness or something else, I recommend this book by Rebecca Davis that might help untangle your thoughts and emotions. Click the image and it will take you to Rebecca's website. 

Painting ~ An Elegant Lady Reading Under A Tree, Karl Raupp 1837-1918

This Drew Me to Him

Today was the last week in this quarter's Sunday School class. This session, My Beloved and I took a class for prospective members and a primer of the gospel. Our homework for this week was to write a poem reflecting what we had studied. Everyone read theirs in class this morning, and I can't help but think that they were a sweet aroma to God as we offered our sacrifice of praise.

Sharing the poem with you today that I wrote. This was the first serious poem that I've ever written that I can recall. As is typical with me,  the words didn't come easily.  Some in the class said they had written more than one. For some, words just fall from their tongue or flow through their pen. For me, words must be ferreted out. Nevertheless, here's my attempt at my sacrifice of praise.

                   This Drew Me to Him

The glory of God, mere words cannot tell,

For words falter and fail—my tongue knows too well.

Yet my heart sings His majesty, His justice, His love,

His faithfulness, goodness—all I come short of.

These drew me to Him, my heart to reveal.

These drew me to Him, and draw me still.

He fashioned the planets, the mountains, the beasts,

And gave life to man, who was not in the least

Able to justify the thing that they did.

From this glorious God, they cowered and hid.

Hid from the One so loving and kind—

Their Father, so ready to heal and to bind

The wounds from the Fall…

The wounds of us All.

Their sin. My sin. Blatant. Disguised.

Kept me from seeing the guilt that lies

Hidden, misshapen, deep in my heart,

Keeping me broken. From God—far apart.

Apart from the One seeking to save,

To rescue me, wrest me from being a slave

To sin that entangles, entwines and chokes

The joy out of life. Sin rages, provokes.

God drew me. He wooed me. He made my heart break.

I was severed, disjoined, and I couldn’t make

My guilt go away, my standing made clear.

I needed some way for God to come near.

He knew that. He planned that. It’s already done!

The answer I learned was found in His Son.

My burden He bore. My freedom He gained.

He satisfied justice. My soul was reclaimed.

Redeemed. Reconciled. Set right with my God,

Who chose me. Who drew me. Who now that I laud

Because of His life and sacrifice spent.

His plan, so amazing! Satisfied. Content.

What greater love can anyone show

Than to give up His life and ask me to go

Straight to the cross and into His arms.

Sheltered and safe, and free from alarm.

Rescued from self, from sin and set free.

Freed to seek Him because He sought me.

Freed from the chains of sin’s sordid self-glory.

Freed to make Christ my forever life’s story.

This drew me to Him, my heart to fulfill.

This drew me to Him, and draws me still.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, 

and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.  

 2 Corinthians 2:14

 Painting ~ Penning A Letter, George Goodwin Kilburne 

1839-1924

Where Mulling It Over Led Me

I've been mulling over the phrase "the fullness of God" after coming across it a few days ago. I was reading in Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 14-21. The phrase itself is found in verse 19.

"and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."

In our Sunday School class, we've been talking about the power of the gospel, how it changes our hearts and minds and influences how we choose to live our lives. As I was reading, the phrase 'the fullness of God' caught my attention. What is the fullness of God? And is there a connection with that and 'the power of the gospel'? That thought struck me since I desire for the gospel to permeate my whole being, and I also desire to be "filled up to all the fullness of God," whatever that might be, especially since the scripture says so. I know about being filled with the Spirit, but is being "filled up to all the fullness of God" a bit different?

As I read the brief passage over and again, I began to see the connection with that and the power of the gospel. It was easier for me to see by starting with the phrase there in the latter part of verse 19 and working backwards, sort of like this....

Being filled up to all the fullness of God (v19b) is a result of being able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge (v. 18-19a). So the question begs itself... how do I "comprehend and know the love of Christ"? Surely that is incomprehensible, for his love is beyond understanding. Well, I may not be able to reason it out or explain it, but verse 17 tells me that it's "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." It isn't through any reasoning, but an outgrowth of faith in Jesus Christ. And as I keep moving backward in this passage to gain an understanding, I find in verse 16 that Christ's dwelling in my heart is through His own strengthening.

Coming full circle, I realize that the fullness of God is found in Christ's strengthening of my heart. He exercises my faith. The power of the gospel! Nothing that I have to do to get more of God. Simple faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and satisfies God's justice in his death, burial, and resurrection. He reconnects us to God. Sweet contemplation.

He wants us all to comprehend that. I do hope you do. He wants you to.

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,

that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Ephesians 3:14-21

Painting ~ Woman Reading, Pierre Auguste Renoir 1841-1919

True Light

Doing some homework this morning from a Bible class and being reminded why so many people have lost their way in common sense and decency. And, sadly, who further degrade themselves into perversion and don't even realize it. They have been blinded by the god of this world.  "...the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4).

My take away from my study this morning--

I need to let the light of the gospel shine in my own life so others might see and glorify God the Father (Matthew 5:16). The gospel is their only hope out of debauchery. To do this, I must "walk in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7). Jesus has said, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life" (John 8:12).

That light is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I find this gospel in the Holy Scriptures. By meditating on God's Word, the gospel can permeate my life, so that others might see the gospel lived out. And so that the god of this world cannot blind my own mind as well. For sometimes we are willfully ignorant.

Photo ~ via Pixabay CC0 Creative Commoms

Sunday Ponderings ~ Who Is It About, Really?

Pondering a thought this afternoon from our pastor's exposition today of Luke 24:1-12, the account of the resurrection of Christ. His resurrection, of course, is the crucial foundation of Christianity. Everyone dies at some point, but Jesus is the only person who ever walked out of the grave of His own volition. Christianity celebrates that supernatural act on Easter, what we often refer to as Resurrection Day. Resurrection is the key element of our faith.

Pastor brought up the point that there is more focus on Jesus's crucifixion and death than on His resurrection, though. Why is this? We are, indeed, eternally grateful that Jesus gave Himself for our ransom, that He endured that horrific cross and all that went before it so that we could be reconciled back to the God of the universe. But does our gratitude for that act of love focus more on us than on Him — what He did for us rather than who He is?

Jesus was able to walk out of the grave because He is deity. He is divine. He is God's Son. He is our ransom. His resurrection proved that the ransom was paid. He gives us eternal life because He has eternal life Himself. He is our creator. He will be our judge. He is our advocate before the Holy God.

What was it that transformed the disciples who then spread the news of the gospel, news that continues to be spread around the world?  It was the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. 

So, I'm pondering the thought —

Do I love the gift more than the giver? 
Is it more about me, or is it all about Him?

Print ~ The Power of the Resurrection