Truth August 12, 2012

The theme verse this year at North Cobb Christian School is Psalm 86:11 – “Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth” (ESV). There has been much emphasis on the word truth. What is truth? Why is it important that we teach our students truth? So I find it no coincidence that the Lord led me to read the introduction to a book called “The Bravehearted Gospel” by Eric Ludy, which was written by Ben Davenport. He writes,

“The problem we have with truth is that it cares nothing for our feelings or preferences, and pays no tribute to our opinions or the sacredness of our dogma. Truth is about reality. It is concerned not with the way we believe things to be, or the way we would like them to be, but with the way things actually are. Truth is spun from the fabric of facts and therefore cannot bend to accommodate the wishes or sensibilities of the masses. Truth is not the product of a vote or a democracy and has nothing to do with the will of the people. It will not bow to the wealthy like a preening politician. It cannot be bribed. Nor can it, in the name of compassion, make exception for the aged or the unfortunate. It never has and never will enter into agreement with the proud or unbelieving and offers no parley to the religious and the self-righteous. Truth is what it is” (p. 9).

He goes on to talk about why men tend to hate truth: we do not like things over which we have no power or control. But it is important that we do not gloss over the truth, even if we encounter persecution or hatred. Jesus is the perfect example. While He was love, just as He is truth, He did not compromise one for the other. We can tend to temper the truth in an attempt to show the world love. “Could it be that we are trying to imitate only half a Savior, attempting to bring only His love to the world without boldly illuminating it with His truth?” (p 12)

Yes, Jesus held the little children and showed compassion to the lost and sick, but He also picked up a whip and cleansed the temple to ensure the eternal command of almighty God was obeyed. He was the perfect picture of love and truth.

Davenport concludes, “So press on to the mark! Lay hold of the prize! The King has called. Who will answer? The race has been set. Who will run? The bravehearted path is the path of our Master; it is a way of thorns and it is a road of glory, and those who run it must run it with all their might” (p 13).

May we at NCCS (and around the world) answer the call, run the race, and bring our Master glory by proclaiming His truth boldly.

What I’m Reading Wednesday August 1, 2012

Thorn in My Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs, Waterbrook Press, c2003

I’ve recently enjoyed reading Scottish stories, getting lost in the language (“ken,” “fey,” “roarie” – imagine a brogue Scottish accent), so I picked up this book not realizing that it is a re-telling of Jacob’s story from the Bible. It takes place in 1788 in the Scottish Lowlands and begins with Rowena giving birth to twins – Jamie and Evan. Rowena had been told before they were born that the younger would serve the older, and, just as it happened in Scripture, Jamie receives his father’s blessing instead of Evan. The story was slow going for me at first, as I wondered if it was going to mirror the biblical account so much as to be too predictable. But now that Jamie has arrived at Auchengray, where his cousins Rose and Leana live (a.k.a. Rachel and Leah), I am interested to see how he ends up marrying both Leana and Rose, as Leana is being courted by another man (a horrible man who leers at her), and Jamie is entirely taken with Rose, who, at fifteen, is too young to be thinking of marriage. Rose, instead, is trying to rescue her sister from marriage to her suitor by helping Leana impress Jamie. Somehow, I have a feeling Jamie will marry Leana solely to protect her from more unloving courtships, and as Rose matures, she will fall for him, and he will eventually marry her as well (if it continues to follow the biblical story). I don’t think it will take seven years per wife, as it did in Scripture, but I do foresee some kind of deception on Jamie’s part of his uncle Lachlan, as Auchengray is a sheep farm, and Jamie is helping with the breeding. (For the story of Jacob, Esau, Rachel & Leah, see Genesis 25-29)

You Follow Me July 27, 2012

I wrote this a few days ago:

I’ve been praying for a husband for awhile and it is a struggle not to be jealous of those who are getting married or having babies. I’ve been remembering John 21, where Peter focuses on John, wondering how his death will compare to his own – it no doubt was easy for Peter to say “This isn’t fair. How come John gets to live a long life & die naturally?” But Jesus said “What is that to you? You follow Me.” I could hear Him saying that directly to me, and I remember that whenever I feel jealous or like having a pity party. He says “What is it to you if they have had a baby or if she has gotten married? You follow Me.” And that’s all I can do. Follow Him, wait on Him, and He will strengthen my heart (Psalm 27:14; John 21:15-22)

The Apostle July 26, 2012

I have started reading “The Apostle” by John Pollock, a “dramatization” of Paul’s life story as seen in Scripture. As I read Acts 13 this morning, I read Paul’s address to the Jews in Antioch in Pisidia (on his first missionary journey): “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man [Jesus] is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (v. 38-39, NKJV). And I thought, not too long ago, Paul believed he could be justified by the law of Moses. He was on his way to becoming a prominent Pharisee, holding to the “tradition of the elders” (Mark 7:5-13). Pollock writes,

“He [Paul] had a black beard, since Jews scorned the Roman taste for shaving, and his blue-fringed robe and the amulet strapped to a turban-like headdress displayed his pride in being a Pharisee. As he strode about the temple courts, he wore the arrogance of a man whose ancestors and actions made him feel important. He carried out the unending cycle of ritual cleansings of platters and cups as well as his own person. He kept the weekly fasts – between sunrise and sunset – and said the daily prayers in exact progression and number. He knew what was due to him: respectful greetings, high precedence, a prominent seat in the synagogue. His days were consumed by his legal career and grooming himself for heaven…Paul considered Stephen’s arguments nonsense [Acts 7]. The Christ had not come yet. And the way to God was fixed forever: A man must belong to God’s chosen people the Jews, and try to obey the Law’s every detail” (p. 23-24, 25).

How incredible to think that the resurrected Jesus confronted Paul and turned his whole world upside down. He no longer had to earn his salvation – how freeing! I’m sure Paul was overcome with God’s grace and mercy as he spoke to the people in Antioch in Pisidia, people who were just like him before he came to know Jesus as Lord. You can hear the desire and passion in Paul’s voice for them to come know Jesus as he had. Instead, they “were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 13:45). What a reversal of roles. First, Paul opposed Stephen and watched as he was stoned. Now he was in Stephen’s place and the Jews persecuted him. What an amazing testimony!

A Covenant-keeping God August 17, 2011

“I washed you in water, yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, & I anointed you with oil. I clothed you in embroidered cloth & gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen & covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists & a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head…you were exceedingly beautiful.” Ezekiel 16:9-13

What a beautiful image of getting ready on your wedding day, of how God adorned Israel when He joined in covenant with them. His continual remembrance of His covenant despite Israel’s brazen harlotry is a wonderful example to us of how earthly marriages should be – a keeping of the covenant made to each other and to God no matter what.

“The gospel is the story of God covering His naked enemies, bringing them to the wedding feast, and then marrying them rather than crushing them.” Edward Welch

The Love of God May 5, 2011

I am reading J.I. Packer every night before I go to bed, and I, as I usually am, was convicted as I read. I was reading the chapter on the love of God not long after I experienced discontent and even anger at my current life circumstances. Packer wrote (from “Knowing God”):

“The statement that ‘God is love’ means that his love finds expression in everything that he says and does. The knowledge that is is so for us personally is the supreme comfort for Christians. As believers, we find in the cross of Christ assurance that we, as individuals, are beloved of God; ‘the Son of God…loved me and gave himself for me’ (Gal 2:20). Knowing this, we are able to apply to ourselves the promise that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). Not just some things, note, but all things! Every single thing that happens to us expresses God’s love to us, and comes to us for the furthering of God’s purpose for us. Thus, so far as we are concerned, God is love to us – holy, omnipotent love – at every moment and in every event of every day’s life. Even when we cannot see the why and the wherefore of God’s dealings, we know that there is love in and behind them, and so we can rejoice always, even when, humanly speaking, things are going wrong. We know that the true story of our life, when known, will prove to be, as the hymn says, ‘mercy from first to last’ – and we are content” (p. 122-123).

I sighed as I lay in bed and felt a burden for my sin of unbelief and pride, as well as awe and thankfulness that God, who has chosen to be my God, works everything for my good and His glory. Who am I to question my circumstances or insist I ought to have something I do not? It is not about me, but about Him and His glory. How I constantly need to be reminded of this truth!

Lord Jesus,

Kill my envy, command my tongue, trample down self. Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable; to live for Thee and not for self; to copy Thy words, acts, spirit; to be transformed into Thy likeness; to be consecrated wholly to Thee; to live entirely to Thy glory. (from The Valley of Vision)  

Not Just a Coincidence March 16, 2011

I was reading my mom’s Prevention magazine, and at the end, there is an article about a woman named Nancy who always sees the positive side of any issue. The author said that when she was pulled over for a speeding ticket, she found it hard to find the positive side in it. So she called Nancy and asked her how to frame being pulled over into a positive light: “‘Oh, that’s an easy one,’ she says. ‘Anything having to do with cars – flat tires, dead batteries, traffic tickets – I always tell myself something like a big accident was going to happen and because I got delayed, the chain of events was disrupted.’ ‘Wow,’ I say. ‘That’s advanced.'” (Jeanne Laskas, April issue of Prevention)

I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather believe in a sovereign God who works all things out for my good and His glory than that a “chain of events was disrupted.” He is actively involved in every aspect of my life, and that includes the big and the small, the good and the bad. I’ve been reading  Trusting God by Jerry Bridges, and he says:

“According to Jesus, God does exercise His sovereignty in very minute events – even the life and death of an almost worthless sparrow [Matt 10:29-31]. And Jesus’ whole point is: If God so exercises His sovereignty in regard to sparrows, most certainly He will exercise it in regard to His children. While it is certainly true that God’s love for us does not protect us from pain and sorrow, it is also true that all occasions of pain and sorrow are under the absolute control of God…God is in control; He is sovereign. He does whatever pleases Him and determines whether we can do what we have planned…No creature, person, or empire can either thwart His will or act outside the bounds of His will” (p 30, 36).

While it may be true that getting pulled over kept the author mentioned above from getting into an accident, it wasn’t because of a disruption in a random sequence of events but because God so orchestrated for her to be pulled over at that moment. Though the reasons may be unclear, we can trust it is ultimately for our good and His glory.

Go to the Library! March 11, 2011

I came across this quote from Gladys Hunt and have been meaning to post it here for awhile:

“For many people in the world, a library is nothing short of a miracle. Imagine someone providing this incredible supply of books for you to explore! Don’t take it for granted. Pioneer people were most often book-poor. Abraham Lincoln once wrote, ‘My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.’ It was a fortunate family who owned a Bible. Even today in small towns and in the inner city, unless there is a persistent champion of reading, libraries may be dreary, poorly used facilities containing few books. Shout out a word of praise that we have so many treasures available to us in good libraries, free of charge.

But what good is a library if you never visit it?”

Amen! If you haven’t been to your local library in awhile, stop on by and check out what they have to offer. You may be surprised.

God You are Higher than Any Other January 12, 2011

“You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?” (Isaiah 29:16)

I read this almost two weeks ago and thought of it again while listening to “Our God” by Chris Tomlin in my car – the line that says “God You are higher than any other.” And I thought about how often we limit God – we regard Him as no bigger or stronger or better than us. We regard “the potter as the clay,” bringing Him down to our level, or denying Him completely as our Creator. When we refuse to trust Him or believe He is able to do as He says, we are limiting Him. He created us! Anything is possible with Him.

Then, last Sunday, our guest pastor at church mentioned that the sorry state of the church today is because we regard God in our own image. We don’t see Him as the holy, obedience-worthy God He is. Instead we call Him the Big Man Upstairs, the Biggie, or don’t acknowledge Him at all. We use His name in vain, as a curse. He is higher than any of us, capable of making something out of nothing. He sees the beginning, the middle, and the end, and He is working all things out for His glory. It’s not about us at all. He is worthy of our worship & our obedience no matter the cost.

Something to think about…

The Lord has Spoken this Word December 9, 2010

The above title is from Isaiah 24:3. It means that what He said will happen because He said so. It reminds me of Isaiah 55:11 which says, “so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

I have been reading from “Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus,” a collection of sermons and writings, during this advent season, and last night, I read an excerpt by Martyn Lloyd-Jones called “The Great Fulfillment.” It filled me with such hope as he explained how the very incarnation, the Word made flesh, proves that God keeps His promises. Think about the prophecies of Isaiah (“for to us a child is born,” “the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel”). Lloyd-Jones uses the promise given to Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3).

Lloyd-Jones says:

 “What God did when he sent his Son into the world is an absolute guarantee that he will do everything he has ever promised to do. Look at it in personal sense: ‘All things work together for good to them that love God’ – that is a promise – ‘to them who are the called according to his purpose’ (Rom. 8:28, KJV). ‘But how can I know that is true for me?’ asks someone. The answer is the incarnation. God has given the final proof that all his promises are sure, that he is faithful to everything he has ever said. So that promise is sure for you…He has said so, and we have absolute proof that he fulfills his promises. He does not always do it immediately in the way that we think. No, no! But he does it! And he will never fail to do it” (Guthrie, p. 47-48).

Praise God!