Suffering as a Christian…

Tonight my wife and I watched The Hiding Place, a movie about the life of Corrie Ten Boom and her family.  The movie told the story of the Ten Boom family who hid and cared for Jews trying to escape Nazi persecution in Holland during World War II.  This portion of the story showing Christian love for neighbors is inspiring in and of itself.  However, I was more awestruck by the second half of the movie which portrays how the Ten Boom family glorified God in their terrible suffering.

In the second half of the movie, we are shown how Corrie and Betsy Ten Boom are arrested and forced to serve in a German concentration/work camp.  There, the women were terribly treated; the living conditions were deplorable, food was scarce, disease was rampant, and mistreatment was abundant.   Yet in this deplorable estate, these women struggled with,lived out their faith in Jesus Christ, and glorified God.  I was struck and admonished by how these women cherished the word of God.  But I was even more touched by the way they continued to trust God’s goodness in such horrible conditions. 

These women understood something that we, in our immaturity; find hard to understand.  They understood that suffering does not equal an absence  of God, nor does it negate God’s goodness or omnipotence.  Rather, Corrie and Betsy Ten Boom saw their suffering as an opportunity to see God’s provision and his faithfulness. 

The height of the movie comes when,  in the midst of all the sin and degredation around her; Corrie Ten Boom reads the words of  the Apostle Paul who writes to the Roman Christians :

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Lord, you are gracious and full of love, and your loving-kindness does endure forever.  You are always faithful toward us, and you always do what is just and right.  You are good in all situations, and are always worthy of my trust.  Please forgive me for my immaturity and my lack of faith in you.  Help me to always remember that if you were willing to give your own Son up for me, how much more will you be willing to hear my prayers and be my strong help in time of need.  Thank you Lord, the life I live in the flesh is yours.  Help me to live it so as to glorify you.

For a great sermon on this topic, check out  Travis Rhymer’s sermon Why?, and David King’s Sermons on Romans Chapter 8.  You can find them both here.

3 years and still a gem…

I have been reading “Knowing and Doing the Will of God” for the past three years.  The book is a 365 day devotional  that is a compilation of exerpts from the works of J.I. Packer.  Packer is eloquent, theologically sound, and pastoral in his writings, and it shows in this work.  He is not campy or shallow as some devotionals are apt to be.  Everyday, I am encouraged to be more faithful, and built up in my knowledge and love for God.  Buy a copy, and read it for yourself.  I promise that you will be built up by Packer’s work as well. 

Read today’s devotion for yourself:

He quotes Romans 1:16 and then says:

No heart is too hard for the grace of God.  You yourself, since you became a Christian, have been learning constantly how corrupt and deceitful and perverse your own heart is.  Before you became a Christian, your heart was worse; yet Christ has saved you, and that should be enough to convince you that he can save anyone.  So persevere in presenting Christ to unconverted people as you find opportunity.  You are not on a fool’s errand.  You are not wasting either your time or theirs.  You have no reason to be ashamed of your message, or half-hearted and apologetic delivering it.  You have every reason to be bold, and free, and natural, and hopeful of success.  For God can give his truth an effectiveness that you and I cannot give it.  God can make his truth triumphant to the conversion of the most seemingly hardened unbeliever.  You and I will never write off anyone as hopeless and  beyound the reach of God if we believe in the sovereignty of his grace.

Taken from Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God p118.

Eat, Drink, & Be Merry for tomorrow we die…

I came across an interesting article today @ Be Thinking.  I have mulled this gist of this article around in my head for some time now.  This line of thinking was focused somewhat when I saw Ben Stein’s “Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed.”  And now, I believe God is wanting me to give some serious thought to the apologetic idea that: without God, life, morals, etc are all meaningless.

William Lane Craig has put forth this article to discuss how we might help non-believers come to believe in God (and hopefully the Gospel) by talking about the significance of human life.  In the article Craig explores the logical conclusions of atheism.  He notes that if there is no higher being then human life is futile with no purpose and no life eternal.  He notes how morals have no foundation if God does not exist.  He also speaks to the fact that there would be no aesthetics/beauty and that life would have no meaning without God.

The article is well written, repleat with historical explanations of “The argument from humanity’s predicament” and application of the apologetic.  I realize that man’s best argument will never open the eyes of a man’s soul unto repentance and salvation, but this article and apology will certainly cause any honestly thinking non-believer to consider the truth that God does exist. 

My Favorite Passage from the article:

Man, writes Loren Eiseley, is the Cosmic Orphan. He is the only creature in the universe who asks, “Why?” Other animals have instincts to guide them, but man has learned to ask questions.

“Who am I?” man asks. “Why am I here? Where am I going?” Since the Enlightenment, when he threw off the shackles of religion, man has tried to answer these questions without reference to God. But the answers that came back were not exhilarating, but dark and terrible. “You are the accidental by-product of nature, a result of matter plus time plus chance. There is no reason for your existence. All you face is death.”

Modern man thought that when he had gotten rid of God, he had freed himself from all that repressed and stifled him. Instead, he discovered that in killing God, he had also killed himself.

For if there is no God, then man’s life becomes absurd.

If God does not exist, then both man and the universe are inevitably doomed to death. Man, like all biological organisms, must die. With no hope of immortality, man’s life leads only to the grave. His life is but a spark in the infinite blackness, a spark that appears, flickers, and dies forever. Compared to the infinite stretch of time, the span of man’s life is but an infinitesimal moment; and yet this is all the life he will ever know. Therefore, everyone must come face to face with what theologian Paul Tillich has called “the threat of non-being.” For though I know now that I exist, that I am alive, I also know that someday I will no longer exist, that I will no longer be, that I will die. This thought is staggering and threatening: to think that the person I call “myself” will cease to exist, that I will be no more!

Oh that this might be said of me…

I was reading Dr. Mohler’s blog on apologetics for the postmodern world when I came across this quotation.

The famous skeptic philosopher David Hume was once observed on his way to hear George Whitefield preach one of his five o’clock morning messages on Christ. The observer chided Hume: “I didn’t think you believed in God.” Hume replied, and referred to Whitefield: “I don’t. But I am convinced this man does.”

I encourage you, live a bold faith in God and in his Son!  The lost will see it and long for it.

A balm unto my soul…

This is Thomas a Kempis, the author of, “of the Imitation of Christ.” I have been reading this devotional style work, and found it to be a challenge, and a balm unto my tired soul. I want to encourage you to read some of the classics of Christian literature. These venerable old writings keep us in contact with the Saints of old, showing us the faith as it was years ago. They remind us that the faith was “delivered once for all to the saints,” and that if we stray too far from our ancient and future faith; that we need to check ourselves. They keep us from the “McDonaldization” of our faith. The classics also open for us the great learning and experiences of the Saints that often speak to our life situation. a Kempis has done this for me. He has spoken to my soul.

Piper and Lewis have also spoken of the importance of reading the Christian classics. C.S. Lewis said that for every modern book on Christianity, we should read two Christian classics. Piper whole heartedly agreed, and said it would help keep you from error.

a few quotes from a Kempis

“The greatest, and indeed the whole impediment is, that we are not disentangled from our passions and lusts, neither do we endeavor to enter into the perfect path of the saints. When any small adversity meets us, we are too quickly cast down and turn to human consolation.”

“At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read but what we have done.”

Brothers & Sisters we are not professionals

I have been reading John Piper’s: Brothers, We are Not Professionals. In this book, Piper calls all pastors/leaders to: “abandon the secularization of the pastorate and pursue the prophetic call of the Bible for radical ministry.” It is a call that I plan to embrace, and encourage you to do so as well. But that is not the point of this post. In his work, Piper quotes C.H. Spurgeon on the devout prayer warrior Jerome. Spurgeon says:

That was a grand action by Jerome, one of the Roman fathers. He laid aside all the pressing engagements and went to fulfill the call God gave him, viz, to translate the Holy Scriptures. His congregation were larger than many preachers of today, but he said to his people, “Now it is necessary that the Scriptures be translated; you must find another minister: I am bound for the wilderness and shall not return until my task is finished.” Away he went and labored and prayed until he produced the Latin Vulgate, which will last as long as the world stands. So we must say to our friends, ” I must go away and have time for prayer and solitude.” And though we did not write Latin Vulgates, yet our work will be immortal: Glory to God.

I want to encourage you, make time for prayer. It is the only power we have to effect the change of heart in other’s lives which we wish to see. It is the only way that we can bring Christlikeness to our own hearts, and to the hearts of those in our congregations. And after all isn’t that what people need, and deep inside want? Piper said it this way: Are not our people really yearning to be around a man who has been around God? From my experience, that is just what they are looking for, and just what they deserve in a pastor; a man who has been near God.

Whether in Hell or on the Cross

Too often I take things into my own hands, even so far as stepping into God’s role. I was reading Piper last night when he stepped on my toes about this habit of mine. Piper was writing about humility, when he said: “Humility does not feel a right to better treatment than Jesus got.” You see, much of the time, we feel as if we that right to not be treated poorly. We have the right to everyone fulfilling our needs, whims, etc. We feel like we have a right to good service, a right to be treated with respect, a right to not be talked down to, the right to be treated well, etc. But you know, no servant is greater than his master, and our master Jesus Christ, was treated horrendously. Who are we to think that we deserve anything better? Piper went on to say that we should assume that we will be mistreated, and that we should not be indignant when we are treated poorly. This is Christlike humility, that we do not think too highly of ourselves, and that we esteem others more highly than ourselves.

So what do we do when we are wronged and treated horribly? After all, none of us like to be disrespected. Piper answers that question by pointing us to God and his greatness. Piper gives us this advice: “Peter (1Pet. 2:1-23) and Paul (Rom 12:19) give us great moral assistance in this difficult task by reminding us that God will settle all accounts justly and that temporary injustice will not be swept under the rug of the universe. It will be dealt with – on the cross or in hell. We need not avenge ourselves. We can leave it to God.” So the next time that person speaks to you condescendingly, leave it to God. The next time you are reviled and put down for your beliefs, leave it to the just and righteous one. The next time your girlfriend or wife says something that “insults your intelligence” remember that the Son of God, the I Am through whom the world and wisdom was created was treated the same way; and let God handle it on the cross or in hell. p.s. This thought of all of our hurts being taken care of on the cross or in hell really should force us to our knees in praise and thankfulness to God that our sins have been taken care of on the cross. But it should also send us to our knees in repentance for the lack of care we have towards those whose sins will be taken care of in hell. May it be that when we are sinned against, we see a sin and a sinner whose transgressions might be accounted for in hell. May this knowledge compel us to tell them to flee God’s wrath against sin, and run towards salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

Norma Normans Non Normata…

Norma Normans Non Normata, the latin phrase meaning: The Norm of norms which cannot be normed.  Al Mohler recently used this latin phrase to remind us of the reformers’ belief that God’s word norms us, and not vice versa.  I believe that in  our Post Modern world & way of thinking, we’ve forgotten that it is the Bible that norms what we think, and not our culture.  I want to use this site as a resevoir where I might store the ideas that run through my mind about various topics.  If you stumble across this site, feel free to comment and offer any wisdom that God has given you.