ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

The road to faith passes through obedience in Christ's call. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A Delight in His Holiness

Jonathan Edwards once said, “A true love of God must begin with a delight in his holiness.” Wow, that might make some folks a bit uneasy by today’s standards. I can’t think of a time when I have had a comfortable conversation with someone about the holiness of God.

For many people the word’s God and holiness conjure up pictures of hard church pews, long liturgies, outdated music, and boring preachers. They are words that are not always used in the most positive manner in today’s culture.

So often when I hear the word God, it is connected to words like love, acceptance, or forgiving. Rarely do I hear God mentioned with words like sin, repentance, or righteousness. Yet I would argue that all the words I have just mentioned can be brought together in the word holiness.

If we are to truly claim we love God, we must also accept and even delight in his holiness as Edwards has stated. We cannot replace God’s holiness with a softer or more socially acceptable word or phrase. For the scriptures remind us that God is holy; and cannot be separated from his holiness for our comfort. When we acknowledge this we are also recognizing his make up, in a sense, the essence of who God is.

Yes, God is accepting, loving and righteous. Yes he forgives our sins and yes he calls us to repentance; but he does all of this from his holiness. It is because God is holy that he cannot tolerate sin, yet sought to save his creation. It is because God is holy that he opened the way of salvation through Jesus his Son. It is by his holiness that we are loved, forgiven, and accepted as heirs to his kingdom.

So let us, like Jonathan Edwards, celebrate our true love for God and take delight in his holiness. 

RefRev

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him. - C.S. Lewis 

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

I am the Way unchangeable; the Truth infallible; the Life everlasting. - Thomas A Kempis

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

The Christian Life is not about me discovering or re-discovering Jesus. Its about me turning away from my own selfishness and following Jesus, he never left me, I just chose to ignore him. - M.L. Herring

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

Joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian. - G.K. Chesterton

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

If grace does not make us differ from other men, it is not the grace which God gives his elect. - Charles Spurgeon

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without repentance; it is baptism without the discipline of community; it is the Lord's Supper without the confession of sin; it is absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without the living, incarnate Jesus Christ. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart. - John Bunyan

A Distorted View

Many Christians today have a distorted view of the Christian life. They believe that they must be kind and patient at all times and with all types of people. Even to the point of compromising beliefs they know to be true in order to avoid hurting the feelings of another. While I believe we are called to be kind and patient whenever we can, following our Lord's example as much as possible, I do not believe this behavior should be followed at all cost. Let me explain a bit more.

Jesus was the complete example of kindness and patience, but not at the expense of spiritual truth. The gospels are full of examples where he challenged others with the truth. As Christians can we do less? While kindness and patience are important virtues, so are commitment, passion, and tough-mindedness. I believe all of these parts build a more complete follower of Christ.

Today, the church, Christianity, and Christ himself are under attack by those who scream foul every time they are challenged. These people often equate honest discussion with getting their own way. They see a disagreement as a personal attack and then revert to name calling to reframe the discussion. All of a sudden we are unkind, impatient, self-centered, or unchristian, just because we have the audacity to ask a question or disagree with a conclusion that has been drawn.

As Christians we need to be kind and patient with people but we also need to know when to take a stand. A little toughness and passion mixed with kindness and patients goes a long way. To be tough, to be committed, does not mean we are in conflict with the teachings of our Lord, but that we hold his teachings to be true and eternal. In order for toughness to accomplish its task it must be paired with a sense of proper timing and always grounded in truth.

Here , so often, I think of these words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "The good is for us always only that which has been wrested from evil."

RefRev

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

Holiness is not exemption from conflict, but victory through conflict. - G. Campbell Morgan

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

The ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God. - D. Martyn Loyd-Jones

Counting the Cost

 The grace that comes with the Christian life is costly grace! Yes, it is transforming and powerful, but we must never forget it also came at a price. It is easy, in our circle of believing friends to talk about grace, but we very rarely speak how costly this grace is. Often someone will remind us that grace is a gift that God offers to all who will come to him through Christ, and this is true. But we must also understand that the giver paid a price for the gift, God's price was his Son.

A costly gift can also prove costly for the one receiving the gift. As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to live as his disciples. Our lives are no longer our own but belong to the Savior and here is where we experience the cost of the gift. Here is where we must understand that to follow Jesus we will pay a price. The bigger question is this, are we willing to count the cost?

Are we open to be challenged by friends or family over our new "religious views"? Are we strong enough to walk away from relationships that do not honor God? Are we able to stand up to the mocking of others? Yes, grace is a gift but following Jesus can prove to be it a costly gift.

We Christians are justified by grace through our faith in Jesus Christ. However, we must understand it is grace through Jesus Christ, not through any other association or any actions of anyone other than Christ. And let us remember it is costly grace. When I think about this costly grace I am often reminded of a phrase spoken by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book The Cost of Discipleship, "The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Jesus."

RefRev

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come. - A.W. Tozer

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

Without the gospel everything is useless and vain; without the gospel we are not Christians; without the gospel all riches is poverty, all wisdom, folly before God; strength is weakness, and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God. - John Calvin 

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go see one. – C.S. Lewis

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

He who denies the existence of God has some reason for wishing that God did not exist.”- Augustine of Hippo

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation. - C.S. Lewis

Ouch!

One of my greatest failings as a Christian is my ability to see faults in other people while not recognizing or acknowledging my own. On the rare occasion when I am being honest about my own areas of struggle I usually tell myself that my faults are not on the same level as those other people I know.

While I may find some comfort in this attitude it puts me in direct conflict with my Lord. Jesus addressed this very issue in Matthew 7:3 when he asks the question, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Ouch! But the question is relevant, even if I do not like its directness. Why do I do this? Or maybe even a better question would be, what gives me the right?

Sin is always difficult to discuss because I have become so adapted at rationalizing my own sins while judging the severity or depth of the faults I perceive in others.  This will always put in direct conflict with the faith I profess – with the Christ I claim to follow.

A true recognition of sin starts with the reality that I am a sinner. My faith should encourage me to take a good look at myself, for it is here changes must be made. I must remember the famous words of John Newton, “I once was blind but now I see,” and realize my blindness is caused by my sin but grace has rescued me. I must understand that to acknowledge my own sin is to confirm that the Spirit of God dwells in me.

RefRev

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

The walk of a disciple is gloriously difficult, but 
       gloriously certain. - Oswald Chambers

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

First of all, the evangelical is one who is entirely subservient to the Bible. This is true of every evangelical. He is a man of one book; he starts with it; he submits himself to it; this is his authority. -  D. Martyn Loyd-Jones

The Complete Truth

People love to talk about the importance of truth. We look upon truth as a commodity to be greatly admired and desired in others. However, it is an area of life where our greatest struggles take place. We all know how difficult it can be to open our lives and our hearts up to others, even those we love. Yes truth is something we all greatly seek but it seem so elusive.

Yet here is where I would like to make an observation with regards to the truth we all long to for. It has been my experience that there is no greater realization of truth than when I open my struggles up to God and confess them honestly to him in prayer. In prayer my sins of omission and commission can be laid before him. Here in my embarrassment, my struggle, and my pain, I can rediscover this life's greatest truth. Yes, I know I am a sinner, but the greatest truth is not found in my sin. It is found in the fact that through Jesus Christ I am a forgiven sinner.

God is holy and his holiness brings all my sins into the light. But I must never forget that because of my relationship with Jesus Christ I am forgiven. In prayer, as I open my life up to God, I experience life's greatest miracle, the exposure of my sins and the forgiveness of my God. Forgiveness in the fullest sense because Christ died for me.

So let the struggle for truth continue, let it rage in the deepest recesses of my heart. Yet let not my heart be troubled, for Christ died for me. That is the truth, the complete truth, and it has set me free.

RefRev

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

"Complete truthfulness is only possible where sin has been
  uncovered and forgiven by Jesus." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

“The soul that feeds on tainted truth cannot grow fat and healthy.”  William Gurnall

Something to Think About

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in 
  all circumstances, for this is God's will for you 
     in Christ Jesus.  - Thessalonians 5:16-18

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons. -  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Test Me!

Some phrases in the Scriptures make me uncomfortable! Yes, the Scriptures speak to all, even ministers, and certain phrases more than get my attention. One of those passages is Psalm 26:3 where David says, “Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.” I believe David is asking for more than just a test of his faith here, much more.

If we as believers really want to know whether our faith is real then we must look to the place it should occupy in our lives. It is not enough to know the truth and believe the truth; there is more required. It is still possible to know the truth yet still be wrong in God’s sight.

Right now you might be thinking that this pastor is not swinging in the right tree, but hear me out. People put forth a public faith all the time. They sing and say ‘Amen’ in worship. They know the language of faith and God always seems to be on their lips. Yet, this is not true faith; it is nothing more than a superficial faith. It is religion at its best but it is not a relationship with God.

Faith, if it is authentic, flows from our relationship with Jesus Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit. It runs through our heads but rests in our hearts. It takes hold of our very being and influences our choices and decisions. It will occupy our hearts and resonates in our soul. It will allow us to look truthfully at our sin yet help us understand that through Jesus Christ we have been freed from the power of sin. It is a real faith, it is an authentic faith, and it begins and ends with our faith in Jesus Christ.

It is a deep-seated faith that will produce repentance, hope, love, humility, kindness, and unselfishness. It is alive, it is active, and it abides in our hearts. So it might be that David is not being over- confident in his request, just a bit more honest than I would be. Maybe he is saying Lord test my faith, measure it honestly, and I will not flinch because it flows from my heart and the deep recesses of my soul. It has been birthed out of the truth that you love me and it is in that truth I will abide.

Maybe there is more comfort in David’s words than I originally thought. Maybe I should call out to God with a similar request: Lord test my faith, I want to know if my heart is where it should be. Do it now, the sooner the better!

RefRev

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

Prayer, in many ways, is the supreme expression of our
    faith in God. - D. Martyn Loyd-Jones

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life
       wholly yielded to him. -  Andrew Murray

The First Divine Service of My Day

Prayer is the heartbeat of the believer’s life. It is talked about and written about more than any other subject in the Christian faith. Yet it is an area of struggle for most of us if we are being honest.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian, once wrote “Prayer is the first divine service in the day.” Most of us would wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Yet our struggle with prayer continues.

Within my own heart I know that prayer should never be peripheral in my life as a believer. It is essential and must stand at the core of my relationship with God. So I continue to struggle but I also continue to pray.

It is true that much of my prayer life is self-centered and even petty at times. However, I continue to rest on the fact that my God knows me like no other and that also includes my deepest desire to push past my own selfishness and seek him. As I pray I am reminded of the sacrifice of my Lord Jesus Christ. The indwelling of the Spirit moves me and I am able to push past my own struggles and focus on my relationship with the one, true, living God. So I continue to pray, not because I have mastered this spiritual discipline but because my need is so great. And in my great need I meet my great heavenly Father who embraces me as his child.

So I continue to pray, not because I have to, but because I need to. Not because it is a requirement in the Christian Life but because I have found it to be a necessity in my life and the first divine service of my day.

RefRev

ReformedRev's Quote of the Day

We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the 
            difficulties.  -  Oswald Chambers