UNTIL HE BRINGS ME HOME @changwinston-blog - Tumblr Blog

GOAT

HEALTHY EXERCISE

I commend solitude to any of you who are seeking salvation, first, that you may study well your case as in the sight of God. Few men truly know themselves as they really are. Most people have seen themselves in a looking-glass, but there is another looking-glass, which gives true reflections, into which few men look. To study one's own self in the light of God's Word, and carefully to go over one's condition, examining both the inward and the outward sins, and using all the tests which are given us in the Scriptures, would be a very healthy exercise; but how very few care to go through it!

- Spurgeon, June 7, 1896 (full text here)

why the call to love is a call to the voting booth

Turnout of voters among the VAP (voting age population) and VEP (voting eligible population) in the United States is famously low, especially compared to other countries. According to the Elections Project, just under 37% of the VEP voted in the 2014 midterms in November. Thirty. Seven. Percent. And turnout is particularly low among young people, which is pertinent here because I don’t think many not-young people are on tumblr very often.

More and more, this bothers me. It bothers me because we are citizens living in a country that has, since 1920, constitutionally protected the right of every single one of its citizens to vote. It bothers me because voting is as easy for the average person now as it is for Stephen Curry to score points in a basketball game. It bothers me because our lack of participation in the political process makes real differences in the real world.

Social and economic policies that get shaped in Congress, in the Oval Office, in the Supreme Court, and sometimes directly by us via referendum significantly impact the way every single one of us experiences life in this country. Our leaders make decisions about DOMA and California’s Proposition 8, affirmative action, restorative justice, welfare, healthcare, Planned Parenthood, firearm restrictions, environmental stewardship, education, and war. And these policies have real-world impacts. They impact gay couples who want marriage licenses. They impact soldiers who get shipped off on tours. They impact ex-convicts who need rehabilitation. They impact people below the poverty line.

These decisions are not to be taken lightly, because the impacts they have are not light. Members of Congress and our state legislatures, our governors, and the President make these decisions every single day. Therefore, the process by which we select these individuals is not to be taken lightly. It is not an understatement to say that people’s lives hang in the balance every single time we go to the voting booth -- or fail to.

If you are a Bible-believing Christian, then you ought to care about social policy because you believe there’s something called “sin.” You know that sin is a bad thing. You therefore know that sinning is not a good thing -- even for those who realize they’re doing it but don’t care, and even for those who don’t realize they’re doing it and wouldn’t care anyway. You therefore know that institutionalizing things that are sinful is not a good thing.

You must be involved in the political process to shape social policy.

If you are a Bible-believing Christian, then you ought to care about economic policy as well. This is because, while many of us can still put food on the table even if the income tax rate is particularly high one year, there are many people whose lives look very different with different laws in place. Affirmative action changes lives because it changes what schools you can get into. Healthcare reform changes lives because it changes what doctors you can see. Immigration policy changes lives because it changes where you can live. How are these not things that massively alter people’s lives? If they are things that massively alter people’s lives, then why are we not more concerned with if and how they’re being put in place?

When poorly made laws or expensive parking tickets affect us, or when politicians let us down or say things we don’t like, then all of a sudden we’re very concerned. When it comes to the political process, we very much look out for ourselves. How is this, then, not failing to love others as we love ourselves?

I understand that many of us are fortunate enough to be so well-off that if and how our government is handing out food stamps, handgun licenses, and green cards doesn’t change our experiences in this country all that much. But consider those without stable jobs, homes, and knowledge of where their next meal will come from -- or even the assurance that it will come.

You must be involved in the political process to shape economic policy.

People in my Christian circles don’t use phrases like “social justice” all that much. I think it’s because we believe -- correctly -- that God’s main concern is our faithfulness, and all our campaigning for social justice can sometimes detract from good theology, fighting idolatry, and preaching the Gospel in word and deed.

But I think this is a faithfulness issue. Consider what our Savior says to us:

Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

- Matthew 25:32-40 (ESV)

Of course, we know that Jesus does not mean that we get into Heaven by our charity. But it is significant that, to describe the fruit of those who are truly saved, he describes caring for the marginalized.

We also assert -- correctly -- that more than they need food, water, and shelter, people need to be saved from their sin and reconciled to God. But consider this: Jesus forfeited his glory and riches, and he came to poor sinners like us to die for us -- even as we mocked and rejected him -- so that we might be redeemed from our hellbound races and reconciled to our savior and king (Colossians 1:20). Our aid to those in physical poverty is a picture of the Gospel -- and, importantly, oftentimes opens up opportunities to share the explicit Gospel that saves people from their great and terrible spiritual poverty (Romans 1:16).

The call to love God (with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind) and the call to love others (as myself) compel me to go to the voting booth. Let us go with compassion, clarity, and the desire that Christ be exalted in it all.

One of the first things you notice about Jesus is that his earthly life was one rejection and abandonment after another (Mark 14). If anyone should have felt empty and needy for acceptance, it was Jesus. Yet the insults and betrayals didn’t destroy him. How did he do it? His secret was simple. He loved the praise of God more than the praise of people. His desire was to love the Father and do the Father’s will more than it was to receive the affection of others. That was key for him.

Jesus loved people more than he wanted to be loved by people. Jesus needed to love people more than he needed love from them. For you, this means that true freedom in your relationships comes when the scales are always a little unbalanced. You want the weight to be more on the "love" side than the “be loved" side.

- Edward T. Welch, What Do You Think Of Me? Why Do I Care?, pp. 113-114

THE MANNA PRINCIPLE

For all my talk in college about reading the Bible and praying every day, I wasn’t very consistent with it. I didn’t keep track or anything, but I don’t think I ever went more than a couple weeks straight without skipping at least a day. And I know that, at certain points, I went a week or more without it. If anyone thought I was excelling in this area, I’m pretty sure it’s because “fake it till you make it” is basically my motto.

Fortunately, God has been recently exposing much of who I really am. Which is mostly a bummer, largely due to the amount of sin I’ve committed along the way, but he’s also been graciously helping my heart and actions catch up to my brain -- helping me live out the truths that have been, for the most part, only cerebral and true only on this blog. I’m thankful for that.

I started reading through the Gospels recently, and have been seeing the immense importance of consistent spiritual disciplines in the Christian life. If you have a moment, I’d love to share, so that you -- whether you’re still in school or not -- might be encouraged, too.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

- Matthew 4:1-3 (ESV)

My first question when I read this was: wait, why exactly is it a sin to command stones to become loaves of bread? Am I just missing the verse that says “thou shalt not yell at rocks until they become edible”?

But to better understand the nature of the temptation, it’s helpful to first look at Christ’s response to it:

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

- Matthew 4:4 (ESV)

Here, Jesus quotes what was said to the Israelites after they had wandered for 40 years in the wilderness:

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

- Deuteronomy 8:3 (ESV)

The temptation Christ faces here is about physical hunger. That makes sense. If I went 40 days without eating, a baby chimp could probably tempt me into eating the laptop I’m typing on. But, when faced with temptation, Jesus says something that points to needs bigger than our basic, physical, bottom-of-Maslow’s-hierarchy ones. He says, “Yes, I’m hungry, but it’s not just food I need for life. It’s God’s words, too.”

The manna on the ground teaches us to not only depend on God to meet our physical needs, but to meet our spiritual needs as well. Namely, we are to hang onto every word that comes from his mouth. And the means by which we access “every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” is by reading the Bible.

Jesus sees that he has a very real need to listen to and obey God’s words -- that his joy is contingent on it -- and that he must not betray that simply to fill his stomach. In other words, he shows us that our spiritual needs outweigh our physical ones in importance.

But, there’s more. Look at Exodus 16, which is where God introduced manna to his people:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.”

- Exodus 16:4 (ESV)

Notice that God commanded his people to gather only enough manna for the day. This taught the Israelites to trust that he would provide enough again the next day. This taught them to leave each day entirely in his hands. This taught them to rely on him each day.

In sum, we can gather the following:

1. Prioritize your spiritual needs

In a 21st century first world, I don’t worry too much about having three square meals a day. But I do worry about job security, professional connections, and saving up to buy a house. Recognizing that my spiritual needs take precedence, however, means that I need to guard my time in the Word, prayer, and fellowship more fiercely than I guard my time getting better at my job, networking, and budgeting.

2. Get your spiritual needs met daily

We must read even when we think we’ve learned much already, because a relationship -- and a restored relationship with God is precisely what Christ bought for us at the cross -- needs daily work. We must pray even when our hearts are cold, because that’s when we especially need him. We must stay in fellowship even when we don’t want to be around people, because we are part of a larger body. We must do these things not to earn God’s favor, but because we are desperately dependent on him and his means of provision.

A few years ago, when I was still in college, I bumped into a buddy of mine named Brian at a party. Brian had graduated from college a couple years before. I asked him, “If you had one piece of advice for someone who’s still in college, what would it be?” He answered, “Get good spiritual disciplines and habits now.”

At the time, I had two thoughts: first of all, duh, Brian, and secondly, that’s easy stuff.

But the paramount importance of consistency in the Christian life is not always apparent to us. And it’s not always that easy. I wish I’d taken Brian’s words more seriously. I wish I hadn’t been so proud and ready to overestimate myself.

But, there’s grace. The manna principle is that we must come to God in trust to receive provision every single day. And it’s not too late to start.

What is the purpose of marriage? The Bible’s answer to this question starts with the principle that marriage is a friendship...

There are two features of real friendship--constancy and transparency. Real friends always let you in, and they never let you down. A writer once described a relationship that united these two things. She spoke of:

the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person--having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.

However, there is a third quality to friendship, and it is not as easy to put into a single word. The right word, literally, is “sympathy”--sym-pathos, common passion...

While erotic love can be depicted as two people looking at one another, friendship can be depicted as two people standing side by side looking at the same object and being stirred and entranced by it together... The paradox is that friendship cannot be merely about itself. It must be about something else...

Spiritual friendship is the greatest journey of all, because the horizon is so high and far, yet sure--it is nothing less than “the day of Jesus Christ” and what we will be like when we finally see him face-to-face. The apostle John writes,

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

...What, then, is marriage for? It is for helping each other to become our future glory-selves, the new creations that God will eventually make us.

- Keller, The Meaning of Marriage*

*but a lot more than marriage

YOU TELL ME

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how the Bible shows us that living faithfully gives us clear consciences. I’ve been reading through 1 Thessalonians and as I look at Paul’s life, this becomes patently clear. I just feel like Paul slept pretty well at night without needing much Ambien. Here are two observations about clear consciences in 1 Thessalonians 2:

1. Paul’s conscience is clear because he has the right motives -- and he can call on God as his witness

but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.

- 1 Thessalonians 2:4-5 (ESV, emphasis added)

First and foremost, Paul lives for God. He knows that God looks at the heart -- a person’s motives and desires -- and not just the actions. In verse 4, He writes that his ultimate goal in his preaching of the gospel is “to please God who tests our hearts.” In verse 5, when Paul tells us that he wasn’t motivated by greed, he calls on God as his witness. He lives Coram Deo, before the face of God. He plays for an audience of one.

Of course, at the end of the day, Paul knows that he has no righteousness of his own that would gain him acceptance before a holy God, and that he therefore must appeal to Christ for the forgiveness of his sins. Ultimately, Paul’s conscience is clear because he knows that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).

But this isn’t just about being saved vs. not saved. Even for those who are saved, we can live with consciences that are clear and light, or live struggling with guilt and shame brought on by sin, or live somewhere in between.

Here we see that Paul, knowing his own motives, can confidently say that he’s driven by a desire to please God and not by greed. Because he knows that his motives are God-honoring, he has a clear conscience.

For me, this plays out in two ways:

Sometimes, I do stuff that seems really great to onlookers, but I know in my own heart that I’m doing it for the wrong reasons. So I’m convicted when I think about God’s omniscience -- the fact that God tests our hearts. This is a call for me to live with integrity.

Other times, I’m not doing too hot when it comes to how I treat people or how good of a job I’m doing at work, but I feel like my “heart’s in the right place.” I know that I’m being motivated by a desire to please God, and I’m really trying here, I really am! If only you knew!

But this brings us to the second observation:

2. Paul’s conscience is clear because he lives well -- and he can call on other people as his witnesses

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.

- 1 Thessalonians 2:9-10 (ESV, emphasis added)

In verse 9, Paul’s talking about how hard he worked on behalf of the Thessalonians. But he doesn’t leave it at “guys trust me I really was motivated by a desire to see Christ magnified in my hard work.” He actually worked hard, night and day, and he did this so consistently that he says to the Thessalonians, “For you remember.” In other words, it is so obvious that he was working hard in his ministry that he doesn’t have to say anything -- he knows he can just say, “You tell me.” Same thing when he’s talking about his conduct in verse 10. He doesn’t just say “In my heart I was driven by a love for God’s glory, which led to good behavior on my part.” He writes that the Thessalonians are, in fact, “witnesses” to “how holy and righteous and blameless" his conduct was.

This describes me basically not at all. I feel like I so often can conceptualize (read: daydream about) what faithful living looks like, and even strongly believe that it’s a very good idea to live faithfully, but I don’t think I can really say, as Paul does, “I have lived faithfully -- but don’t let me tell you that. You tell me.” In other words, I don’t always carry out in my actions what I know in my mind.

Paul, on the other hand, is such a stud. His conscience is clear because he has lived faithfully -- so faithfully, in fact, that he knows other people would confirm it in a heartbeat.

I want to live with integrity. I want to be driven by the right things in my heart: a love for God and a love for others. But I also want to live in a way that displays what’s in my heart, via actions and not merely good intentions. I have so much growing to do as a roommate, employee, member at church, friend, son, brother, etc. I hope and pray that God would give me grace to live faithfully and with a clear conscience in every area of my life.

(Title is a link)

Christine Terasaki on the devastation of idols.

Relevant because I’m also a mother! not really, but because I’m also a sinner in need of grace.

On a related note, Jesse Terasaki is a lucky dude.

REFLECTIONS ON MOUNT HERMON SENIOR HIGH 2015, PART 1/3

If you’re wondering “but what the heck is Mt. Hermon,” click here.

This year, I got the opportunity to serve as a keeper of zoo animals cabin leader for high school dudes at a Christian camp called Mt. Hermon for the second year in a row. When I did it last summer, I came back thinking that it had been one of the best experiences of my life. When I did it this summer, I came back thinking that last year had nothing on this one. I could talk forever about how amazing it was, but I’ll just highlight three things.

1. God glorified in my heart.

I get what people mean when they say “don’t bring your baggage up to camp as a cabin leader.” What can and needs to be dealt with at home so we can get to camp with undivided hearts and focus, we should deal with. Amen amen.

But Romans 7:13-25; the human heart is a factory of idols, and we take it with us wherever we go on this side of the grave. And you know how they say if you want to know if something’s an idol, see how you feel when it gets taken away from you? (Actually... I have no clue who “they” are, but I think I’ve heard someone say this at one point.) Well, a couple weeks before Mt. Hermon, that’s what happened. I lost something I deeply treasured. And in losing it, I realized that I’d been replacing God with it on the throne of my heart. An idol, which I’d never even known I had, got exposed. And it turned out to be deeply, deeply rooted.

You know how they say emotions make for awful guides but good windows into your heart? (Someone besides me has said this, I promise.) During those weeks, my emotions were up and down like some kind of sine curve on drugs. At my lowest points, I experienced overwhelming hopelessness and sadness -- like, borderline/subclinical depression -- in a way I’d never, ever experienced before. I was undergoing biblical counseling, blubbering nonstop to my close friends (the best homies this fool could ever ask for), getting into Scripture for hours on end while praying desperately that its truths would sink into my heart, and fighting to flee to Christ at every moment... and there was definitely improvement every day, but it was slow. So when the time to make the long drive to camp rolled around, I felt like it was the worst timing ever. I knew that traveling all the miles in the world would not let me escape the still-alive idol I carried in my heart. I felt I could have used at least a couple more weeks. Only a negligent Providence, I sometimes thought, would arrange it this way. In the end, my only recourse was to bank on Romans 8:28-30 and pack my bags for camp.

At Mt. Hermon, before the kids show up and camp actually starts, the staff has a couple days of team building. And I tried to focus at team building -- man, I promise I tried really, really hard to focus -- but it was tough to want to be there at all that weekend. The last night of team building was the worst. I remember going to my room and getting on my knees and half-screaming, oh my God, how massive is this idol? how deeply do its roots run? why am I still so blinded? what is it going to take for the joy of my salvation to be restored? And I remember going to sleep just praying for grace to make it through the week without falling into pieces.

Then, camp started. And the speakers got up on that pulpit and faithfully preached the Bible. And together, the guys in my cabin and I walked through passages like Isaiah 6:1-4 and Isaiah 48:11 to understand the holiness and glory of God, passages like Jeremiah 2:9-13 and Romans 3:9-20 to understand our sin against him, and passages like Ephesians 2:4-10 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 to understand our great salvation. And I listened as the other cabin leaders shared about their victories and struggles, and God’s grace through it all. And we encouraged one another and prayed together. And I got incessantly nailed by the clowns in my cabin with shaving cream and water that we were supposed to be conserving because of the statewide drought.

And all week, the gospel was proclaimed; it was preached and lived out and cherished and taught -- and proclaiming the gospel isn’t just about telling a story, it’s about meeting a person, for it’s the gospel of the glory of God and the news about his work in reconciling sinners to himself -- and with each passing hour that week, as my eyes were fixed on him, everything else began to fall into place.

I’d known it before -- heck, I’d even preached it before -- but Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us what the Christian race hinges on, and I again realized how simple it is. Look always to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Just fix your sights on Christ.

I’m not saying Mt. Hermon was the only place I could do that. In our cabin, we spent some time studying the anatomy of the infamous “spiritual high,” and concluded that it’s all about beholding Christ -- in his Bible, prayer, and fellowship -- which is something we can do no matter where we are. But God did some amazing things in my heart this past week. Namely, he continued to show me how amazing he is -- for my joy, and his glory.

It’s not about how great Mt. Hermon is. It’s not about how great the speakers are. It’s about how great God is.

Just sayin’ though. Mt. Hermon is pretty great.

Amazing grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost But now I'm found Was blind but now I see

Oh, I can see you now Oh, I can see the love in your eyes Laying yourself down Raising up the broken to life

Praise God for Mt. Hermon Senior High 2015. A taste of Heaven, as always. Counting down the next 51 weeks!

musing about the parents

1. STARTS WITH MY HEART I used to hate my parents. I thought they were always in my way, out of touch, completely irrational, and utterly useless (besides the part about them rather usefully paying for everything in my life). I talked to them only if I needed something, we fought often (physically, on occasion), and if the front door was locked when I came home at 3AM I’d just break in through a window. But now, as I compare how things were to how things are, it’s like night vs. day. And it’s not so much that they changed. It’s that God intervened, and changed me. As God taught me about himself in college, helped me understand the Bible more clearly and thoroughly than I had before, and caused me to truly grasp the gospel of grace, my heart began to change. It was all him. He molded me. He grew me. And of course, it didn’t happen overnight. And he’s not done with me, yet. But by increasing degrees, as he makes me more like Christ, I grow in my love, honor, and appreciation for them -- and thereby my joy in my relationships with them. We think so often that our problems and sadness are rooted in our circumstances, when in fact they are rooted in our hearts. But delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

2. WHAT’S CHANGING - As God grows my love for him, and therefore my love for my parents, I become more interested in who they are as people with souls -- what they think about things, the problems they struggle with, things they like and dislike, their joys and sorrows, how I can pray for them, etc. I’m learning to ask them how they’re doing and remember them in my prayers. They are, after all, two more members of the body whom I hope God can bless, encourage, and strengthen through me. - As God makes me more like Christ, he shows me how much joy there is in identifying my parents’ needs and doing my best to meet them. Helping around the home when I visit by picking up chores, giving them massages, and cooking meals become joyful tasks. - As God grows my parents and shows me how much I can learn from them, the nagging feels less like nagging and I proactively ask for advice more often. With time, our conversations become two-way streets in which we can teach each other and grow together. - As God increases my understanding of and love for his Word, he helps me talk about him with more clarity and conviction. This comes out when we pray together at mealtimes and do Bible studies together. Sometimes this also means I feel the need to confront them, but even when we disagree about things, methodically and patiently walking through the Word together is always a blessing.

3. THANKFUL In the end, my parents are far more than I deserve. I don’t take it for granted that both of them are still alive and married to each other, because I know that many people don’t get to have that. I’m thankful that they’re always down to listen to me and give me counsel. I’m thankful that my mom always knows what her convictions are and is immediately ready to express them (she passed that on to me), and that my dad takes plenty of time to think before offering straightforward advice more rational than the numbers he works with, or whatever it is that people who have doctorates in math deal with (unfortunately, I inherited neither the willingness to think things through nor ability to do math... but seriously, why would anyone go to graduate school for math). I’m thankful for how much they sacrifice every day to provide us with security and an incredibly comfortable lifestyle, AKA I’m spoiled soft. Above all, I’m thankful that God has saved them, brings truth into my life through them, and in them displays grace upon grace for his glory.

the Christian life is gain

REPENT

if you are a Christian

even if you feel unmoved when you look at Jesus dying in your place, because you have made your heart so callous with your sin

even if your eyes are still powerfully drawn to your idols, because the scales on them blind you to the glory of Christ

even if the prayer you pray must be half-hearted, because it comes from lips that have been defying God and telling him he can take his commandments elsewhere

remember he loves you as much today as he did before you did this to him, when you mocked his reign and broke his heart

remember he will provide you with grace to get better and sin no more

remember he forgives you for this, too, because Christ has suffered in your place and counts his righteous life to you

if you would but flee to him, trust in him, and lean on his saving work

as far as the east is from the west is how far he has taken his sins from you, and there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ

so even if it’s with only a fraction of your heart that you must repent

repent

so even if it’s like emerging from a haze, waking up from sleep, or opening up your eyes

emerge, wake up, and open them

so even if the fire of your affections for Christ are weak and puny compared to the blaze of your offerings to your idols

attend to that fire

and put all the other fires in your heart out

and get back to the Bible, prayer, and fellowship with your brothers and sisters

get back to good exegesis and accurate theological thought

get back to communing with God, intimately and with devotion

put yourself in positions where you may receive more grace

where you may behold the glory of Christ better

where he may again captivate you, be the center of your universe, and retake the throne of your heart

so that you can flee temptation

so that you can sin no more

so that you can do good works and please your God

this is for our joy

and for his glory.

HOLD YOUR CARDS WITH OPEN HANDS

You might be familiar with the card game Bang!, more commonly known as the best game of all time, and/or the card game Monopoly Deal, more commonly known as the worst game of all time. Even if you’re not, it’s okay. Keep reading.

In these games, there are cards that let you randomly select a card from someone else's hand and steal it for yourself. It's great when you're the one doing the stealing, but being the victim sucks. Because there's always that moment when you're holding the card that's about to win you the whole game... and someone gets to randomly steal a card from your hand... and you're begging God and the universe and the laws of probability and your poker face to not fail you... and you're thinking "pick a card, any card, except for that one!"... and then they freaking steal The Card. The one card you desperately wanted and needed to keep. And your whole world comes crashing down and you have nothing left to live for. I can't be the only one who goes through this, right?! Anyway, here's what I'm clumsily trying to illustrate with a really lame analogy: We all have things and people we treasure. But sometimes, something or someone comes along and it's really special. I mean really, really, really special. Like, I-need-nothing-else-for-the-rest-of-my-life special. But sometimes, those things get taken away. Maybe because of a mistake you made. Maybe because of circumstances outside your control. Whatever it is, you end up begging on your knees to be allowed to keep that one thing -- take anything else, literally anything else, just not this one thing, please, dammit, please. We'd happily trade every other card in our hand, just to keep that one card. It seems so cruel that even if we play the game the right way, we can lose it all because of chance. We think about them constantly, we miss them so badly, everything reminds us about them, nothing else is beautiful anymore, and we feel like we're dying inside. I can't offer any silver bullet to end the pain -- if I did, I wouldn't be right there with you, badly hurting. But here are a few of the things that have been helping me: 1. In the Gospel, we hold onto the win-it-all card. If we truly believe that God's love is better than life itself (Psalm 63:3), that he is our fountain of living water (Jeremiah 2:13), and that we can count all things as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8), then we must believe that having a relationship with God is our singular great need. And if we believe that in his perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection Christ was reconciling us to God (Romans 5:10), then we must believe that Christ has met our singular great need. And if we believe that nothing -- nothing at all -- can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:31-39), then we must believe that we can't ever lose it, and that we are indeed more than conquerors. That thing/person that got taken away from you -- I know it was special. It felt like everything you could have ever wanted and better than you could have ever wished for. It was splendid, wonderful, beautiful, incredible, delightful. I know the feeling, I really do. But we must see that no matter how absolutely glorious it was, Christ is more glorious. The more you believe that the phrase "Jesus loves you" is not trite, the more you are not blasé about what he did on the cross, and the more you understand his character from his Bible, the more well-equipped you will be to see everything with the correct perspective. Believe the Gospel of his glory. The goal is not to diminish the beauty of the cards that get taken away from you. The goal is not necessarily to "get over it." You do yourself no favors by trying to trick yourself into believing that something that's good isn't actually so good after all. If it's beautiful, then it's beautiful. Don't deny it just to make yourself feel better. The goal is to see that Christ is your ultimate good. He is the treasure in a field. He is the only one worth selling everything for. 2. God is sovereign. The counsel of God stands, and he accomplishes all his purpose (Isaiah 46:8-11). In other words, he gets what he wants. That means that it's not the laws of probability governing our wins and losses. There's a God in control. He's in control over the hearts of the people who wrong us. He's in control over natural disasters and diseases. He's in control over corporate structures and bosses we work for. He's in control over your mistakes and failures, plus the consequences that follow. This is where we so often struggle -- why the question of theodicy exists -- because in our limited understanding we cannot for a moment see how getting this card taken away is a good thing. We feel like we did everything the right way. We sought biblical advice and prayed about our decisions. We checked our hearts and committed to fighting our idols. So how is this fair? In tandem with sovereignty, therefore, we must keep love in mind. 3. Suffering is not meaningless; God is loving and cares more about what's in our hearts than what's in our hands. Most of us have heard that God is love (1 John 4:8). But to understand how loving he is, we have to understand the Gospel. Paul suggests in Romans 8:32 that the thing we can look to when we need to be reminded that he loves us is Christ's death on our behalf. If you're a Christian, Jesus loves you literally to death. And just as in our salvation our greatest need is met (a restored relationship with God), for the rest of our lives God continues to work in us to grow us in our relationship with him. He increases our faith in him. He makes us more holy. God's will is our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3) -- that we would be set apart for him and made more like Christ each and every day. He works in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). This indicates that God cares more about what's in our hearts than what's in our hands. He cares more about our holiness, joy, freedom from sin, and worship of him than he does about our circumstances, and will therefore work all things in our circumstances so as to increase our holiness, grow our joy, liberate us from sin, and bring us to worship the one whom we were created to worship in the first place.

Our task, therefore, is the same: love God, love people, and make disciples. Put your sin to death. God does not steal cards from our hands; he lovingly removes them because he knows exactly what we need and when we need it. God is not the thief of joy, but the ultimate source of it. Suffering is not meaningless. _________________________________________________ Take him at his word. Even if we can't see why God could allow certain things to happen, or why he wouldn't let us hold onto at least that one card, or how it's okay for him to take away that thing or person, we have to just trust him with a childlike faith. Maybe one day we'll get that card back. Personally, I hope every single day that I do. Or maybe we won't. But it's all good. Because God builds -- in our ashes and ruins -- beautiful, beautiful things. I'm fighting to trust him on that. I hope you will, too.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

- Matthew 6:25-33 (ESV)

yep, they hired this fool. yep, I’ve lost all faith in the educational system, too.

yep, I negotiated as I promised I would, and they were super generous. yep, God is good.

nope, I’m not Jewish. yep, the Messiah has already come! his name is Jesus.

God’s providence is the single greatest hindrance to the floods of sin that would otherwise gush out of our sinful hearts. If it were not for God’s care and preservation, even we Christians would be far more sinful than we dare imagine. If it were...

If it were not for God’s gracious interference, our best efforts in holiness would not be enough to keep us from drowning in sin and heaping contempt on the name of Christ. God takes far better care of us than we do of ourselves.

Title is a link.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

UNTIL HE BRINGS ME HOME