Digging in

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God...Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
~Philippians 4:4, 6, 11-13

There is a ton to unpack in these five verses. I could start with the call to rejoice always, which is never easy. I could delve into making requests while trying to maintain a heart of thanks. I could go back and forth on how it's equally hard to be content whether we are in want or abundance. I could take verse thirteen and use it to empower me in my attempts to do everything (which isn't necessarily wrong, but not in keeping with the original context of the passage.

But to keep it short, each verse provides me with a quick reminder as I labor on. My trust is frequently being addressed in recent days. I am trying to look at each new circumstance as an opportunity to press harder into the arms of my heavenly Father. I want to keep digging in, burying my head deeper and deeper into his embrace. Unfortunately, I make it harder by constantly looking elsewhere.

These verses speak right to me exactly how I need them to. Rejoice. Trust. Pray. Be thankful. Learn contentment. Rely on Christ to do all these things.

approval ratings

I originally planned on posting about something altogether different, but I forgot when I stumbled upon this. Apparently, we think we have a right to give God our approval ratings. I wonder what might happen if He decided to give His approval ratings of us.

Oh wait, I think His ratings saw Christ stepping down from heaven to take on humanity, live out perfect obedience on earth, suffer and die a brutal death (physically, emotionally, and spiritually), and thereby remove our failed ratings and replace them with His perfect ratings now and forever. Otherwise, our failed ratings would have stuck to us for all eternity due to our inability and lack of desire to overcome them. Or to put it nicely, God's rating of our performance led to an abundant outpouring of His grace (see Romans 5).

The initial reaction I had was, how hilariously arrogant can we be? It's hilarious because we have no clue about anything outside our own little world and the small snippets we see on CNN. In fact, we don't even know what's going on in our own minds, let alone every place in every time as God, the Almighty. I read the survey results, and Job 38-42 directly springs to mind. In it, God tells Job to "man-up" (and that's putting it nicely) and answer God's questions pertaining to the workings of the entire universe to the tiniest detail. How do you think it would go if we really were in control like we think we are?

As I have thought on it longer, my response has evolved from a corporate analysis to an individual one. And the results don't look any better. While I would not fill out a survey evaluating God's work, I do something very similar within my heart. This week alone, not quite three days in, I voiced my displeasure on multiple occasions. Instead of being grateful for the multitude of blessings I have and a wonderfully successful start to seminary, I found it far better to whine about limited funds, still living as a dependent, and other trivial things God has complete control over. As embarrassing as it is to confess, my ratings probably wouldn't have been as high as our country's.

And this all reminded me of an email I recently received from one member of my band of brothers. We are no longer in close proximity, but I thank God often for the presence they still have in my life. He kept it simple, but it spoke volumes to a weary soul.


The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come
to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
The LORD is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.
~Lamentations 3:22. 

Psalm 62

vs. 5-8:

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress;
I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.


As humans, we wrestle over where our hope lies. We like the tangible things because their concreteness helps minimize our uneasiness. Unfortunately, every tangible thing fails to deliver every single time. They have failed all people over the course of human history. They will continue to fail all people as history continually unfolds. Everyone knows this full well, and yet we continually seek after the hopeless. It's why many around us are driven to despair whether they have everything or nothing.

In theory, I am exempt from this pandemic. I have Christ (by means of His grace and nothing of my own), and He is all the hope I need. Actually, there is no hope apart from Him. I am lost, stained, and condemned without Him, but loved, adopted, redeemed, and forgiven in Him.

So why do I wrestle over the location of my hope? Why is what I am freely given in Christ never enough? Why am I continually looking for more?

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

for my hope is from him.

God's answers

How do I respond to answered prayer? I hope with a heart full of gratitude and thanks. Even if the answer isn't my preferred choice, I hope there will be joy. Even if I begin to perceive what the answer will be, I hope contentment will reside.

Target missed.

Clarity has been a target of my prayers as of late. Recently I gained a clear answer from God which, to be honest, was not a surprise. But instead of being thankful and offering praise, I grew frustrated. I acted as if I am a bigger deal than I really am.

I've been listening to Matt Chandler's series on Habakkuk on my trips home from class. It's been both a Hebrew break and spiritual re-newer. In it he talks about how we tend to mimic Habakkuk by praying for God to move, and then complaining about the manner in which He does. It's safe to say I did just that.

I treated knowing God's plan on the same level as knowing God. He doesn't care whether or not I know what He's doing. I have nothing to offer Him on how to operate things (see Job 38-42). The only thing I can do is know Him more and more, which leads to deeper trust and joy.

For now I still don't know all God is doing. But I do know one thing He doesn't want for me at this point. I can be thankful for that and continue to trust in Him.

He hasn't failed me yet, and I know He's not planning on it.

when to call (to repent) and when to judge

Christians are given the authority to call for repentance and to judge. Neither is to be done in arrogance, but from a humble heart transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ. We can't call for repentance without being repentant ourselves. And we can't judge when our heart is filled with pride in seeing others fall.

1 Corinthians 5 speaks directly to these two responsibilities. In it Paul is addressing an issue of sexual immorality roaming free in the church in Corinth. Apparently, no one was willing to step in and call the brother out on his defiant rebellion against God. The problem was not his sin, for everyone in the church remains a sinner. The problem was his heart lacking any desire to repent and obey. Very clearly, Paul called the church to remove him for both the sake of the man and the church. Then Paul closes his address as such:

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” ~1 Corinthians 5:9-13

And from Paul's words two things can be made clear: we are to call both believers and unbelievers to repentance, but can only judge rebellious brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to do the opposite.

As Paul states, God is the one who judges the lost (outsiders). Our job is to echo Peter's words in Acts 3:19, Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out. This is all we can do. We can tell them what they are doing is wrong, and plead with them to turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and new life. We are not to condemn, rain down curses upon, or decide punishment for them (unless their sin is prohibited by law). We call them to repent, share Christ with them, and pray for God's Spirit to work His saving grace in their hearts.

For unrepentant believers, Paul tells us to judge. Obviously this comes after multiple callings for repentance (Matthew 18:15-17). If they should go ignored, the church is permitted to judge and administer discipline. And this can also be said individually as well. If friends or loved ones are unrepentant, removing them from our sphere of influence is not intolerant. According to Paul, it's loving.

Earlier in chapter five, Paul goes into detail how one rotten leaven can spoil the entire loaf. Removing the bad piece will save the rest. Again, it's not that the church is perfect. It is still filled with sinners saved by grace. However, unrepentant sinners are dangerous to repentant sinners. Removing the unrepentant loves them through discipline. Hopefully absence from the body will call them back to Christ. It loves the body by protecting it.

We hear a lot about churches being intolerant. People come in and don't feel welcomed because of their lifestyle and/or beliefs. As the church we should step back and consider the reasoning. Are we accepting of those whose lifestyles and/or beliefs are within the bounds of Scripture despite being different from our own? If not, we need to repent and ask for forgiveness, because we are, in fact, being intolerant.

But what becomes frustrating is when people want to join or be a part of a church as they are. (Let me first say, yes, people start in the church where they are. You don't have to change to be welcomed in) However, those in Christ will acknowledge they are in a constant state of flux. God's Spirit is at work in the lives of each and every heart every single day. You can't be the same person from week to week let alone over the course of a lifetime.

So when addicts (of all kinds), sexually immoral (which covers just about everything outside of sex between one man and one woman in the covenant of marriage) thieves, liars, abusers, gossipers, slanderers, murderers, and every other sinner receives God's saving grace they won't want to be the same. They won't leave a church because it calls them to repent, and holds them accountable. They won't say "stop judging" or "you're intolerant" because they will see the church as treating them with the love of Christ. Instead, they will wonder why their church is fine with their unrepentant heart. They will thank God for His mercy poured out through His church.

widows and orphans

Prior to the beginning of Hebrew (the weekend before in fact) I joined a team of individuals to partake in a project. Our project was to come to the aid of orphans by coming to the aid of widows. It developed out of James 1:27 where James tells us clearly what God expects from those who love Him and do His Word.

To summarize the day you can watch the video below. To summarize the concept, we care for orphans widow by spending a day to fix up her home. We care for the orphans by having people sponsor our work, and all the sponsors going to a family (our pastor, his wife, and two daughters in this case) trying to adopt a child. Obviously the money we raise won't pay for the entire adoption, but every little bit will help bring an orphan into a home where Christ is exalted and His grace is ministered.

And it's not too late to help out if you should be so inclined.

a matter of perception

Around two weeks ago I read this verse from Nehemiah 6:16, And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

At the time I was doing another character study of Nehemiah, particularly his gifts as a leader. The verse was a nice conclusion to all the work put forth to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Prior to completion, it seemed to be an impossible task for anyone. By God's grace, Nehemiah led the people to complete it in merely fifty-two days. And that was with intense opposition from numerous enemies.

Right now I feel as though I am building a wall. My Hebrew class is two weeks in with roughly six still to go. I am enjoying the content, but the work is draining. My life is consumed with studying and the few gaps I have are filled in with eating and sleeping. Anything else I am able to do is simply a blessing from God.

But through it all I have been reminded of Nehemiah 6:16. In the end all the work is God's accomplishment through me. Without His strength I would have dropped out after day two. God is and will continue to help. And by helping, I am learning to rely on Him more and more. When I need rest, I find it in Him. When I need strength, I ask for His. When I need wisdom, He grants it abundantly.

I am positive I have never studied as hard as I have the past two weeks. I am also positive this will continue until the end of August (and quite possibly beyond). However, I am just as positive my reliance upon my God and Savior has never been as emphasized as it is right now. There is no room for pride, and I pray I would maintain such humility through the power of God's Spirit.

a welcomed escape

I spent the extended weekend here:

We go ever year for the 4th of July weekend. I like it for a variety of reasons.

• God's creative work is on full display every morning and evening
• The stars that far removed from the bright lights are something to behold
• Quiet mornings with plenty of solitary places to study, read, and pray.
• I love my family including the "extendeds"
• Swimming, skiing, floating on rafts, and other water ventures are wonderful.
• The water is clean, clear, and fresh
• Eleven people (3 of them under the age of two) staying in a 2-and-1/2-room-with-1-bathroom-cottage is full of adventure
• Lots of food for every stomach and taste-bud
• Seneca Farms ice cream
• Bonfires every night with or without cheap fireworks/flares.

This year was a bit different seeing as I spent of good portion of weekend studying Hebrew. Regardless, it was another wonderful weekend filled with fellowship along with physical and spiritual refreshment.

A great start to a soon-to-be very busy July.