Get Sweeter As You Get Older

"And let the Spirit's gift of joy color all your life. As you mature remain a happy person in Christ. Get even sweeter as you get older. Sour old people are a pain." These words captured my attention as I read the letter that the late Ray Ortlund wrote to his family. I recommend you read this short and simple letter from a godly husband and father. It was very kind of his family to share it.

Like I said, this statement popped out at me. We have all probably seen what he is talking about when he says that sour old people are a pain. We all have seen and have probably experienced the effects of pride and bitterness as it saps the life - the joy - right out of us. We forget, at least I forget, that mature God loving people are filled with an abundant joy. This joy ought to result in a sweet spirit.

If I have indeed tasted the goodness of the Lord through His great gospel, how can that goodness, that savory grace not have a joyful affect on my life? Is that obvious in my speech and demeanor?

Oh how I should rejoice in my Lord Who gave Himself for me.

Ephesians 2:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

²in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

³Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

⁵even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

⁶and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

⁷so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

⁹not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Amen, Hallelujah!

May I never forget the grace granted me and may I grow sweeter as I grow older in the Lord; may I never turn sour!

God's lovingkindness

I read Psalm 33:22 recently and it meant alot to me.  This verse is:  "Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us according as we have hoped in You."

 

This verse stuck out to me that day because I was having a bad day and I was worried about a certain family situation.  I had prayed about it but I realized that I didn't really believe that He would help me.  I felt so bad that I often times call out to Jesus, but in my heart I doubt that He will show me His lovingkindness.  Why had I lost my hope in Jesus? 

 

 I had to go back and remember all of the ways God has taken care of me in the past.  I think about the last few years of physical trials and how He has helped me to endure and perservere.  He provided good health insurance for us and it appears right now that He has healed my leg.

 

I had stopped seeing God's blessings in my life.  I needed to repent of this sin and change my thinking.  I needed to trust that God was working in my life and He indeed did hear my prayer and would help me. 

 

I'm glad that the Lord used this verse to show me sin in my life so I could  repent and change.   

Do I love God more for God or for His gifts?

I heard a sermon recently where the pastor was going to speak about prayer. However before he started the main point of his sermon he quoted John Piper from his book "God is the Gospel". In his book John Piper asks the question that if we could have all of Heaven with all of it's benefits, blessings and good things...but without God, would we be happy? Would we agree to that? Then the pastor went on to give an example. He spoke of a scenario where he comes home to find that the house is all immaculately clean. It smells wonderful. There is a plate of freshly baked cookies on the kitchen table with a fresh pot of coffee. Everything is just perfect in the house. He walks through and admires the completion of all things that were out of place or unfinished in the past. He enters his bedroom and his bed is made and smells of fresh linens and all of his dress shirts are pressed and hung neatly in the closet. There are lovely flowers on the dresser with a loving note from his wife. However his wife isn't there. She's not home and she's never going to be there again. She's disappeared. He asked how we thought he would feel. Would he shrug and carry on enjoying the cookies and the coffee? No - of course not. He would be filled with sorrow and would not be able to enjoy any of the blessings that his wife left behind because he could not enjoy her with them.

This morning while I was driving I got to thinking about this again. Would I be content to enjoy the gifts of God if I could no longer have God? Would I give a shrug to my loss of relationship with God so long as I could continue on living a happy healthy care-free life? Honestly, what if I could live with the assurance that everything would be pleasant and wonderful for the rest of my life here on earth and I would still get to go to heaven and enjoy all of the peace and joy that it holds, but without God...would I be okay with that? Is God my lover or just my provider and problem solver? Why do I love God? Is it because He is so amazing and wonderful or it is because He meets my needs (both spiritually and physically). The things that God does are not merely what makes God wonderful but rather God is wonderful and so he does those things: whether it is sending Jesus to die on the cross or healing our child or providing for us when money is tight. Those acts of love and faithfulness are the overflow of who God is and they are meant to draw us in a circle right back to God to see and know Him; they are not meant to sweep us away from Him in the tidal wave of His generous gifts.

I can say that after thinking about all of this for awhile that I have a lot more thinking to do. But this I know: I want to love God for who He is, not just for what He does for me. I am praying that He will help me to love Him more because He is worthy and I am confident that He will help me, because He has drawn me faithfully to Himself thus far. To that end I think I am going to go back and read John Piper's book "God is the Gospel" again.

To God be the glory!

Respectable Sins - Part 5

Today I am going to briefly discuss doctrinal judgmentalism. It is very easy for us to get so caught up in having correct doctrine that we can find ourselves becoming judgmental towards others who either disagree with us or who are maybe not as well taught as we are. I do not at all want you to take away from this that having and defending good doctrine is anything less than very important. However, we must be able to do this with humility knowing that however much we 'know' there will always be people out there who know more. We must have humility knowing that apart from God's grace we would know much less than we do. We must have humility knowing that it is possible for us to be wrong. We must show love to our brothers and sisters and not risk sinning by becoming prideful of our better doctrine.

I believe that this is particularly relevent to members at our church. We have been so very blessed by a pastor and elders and Sunday School teachers who take their jobs very seriously. We have been well taught. We know the Scriptures. We know our doctrine. We have taken theology classes and biblical decision making classes and parenting classes and prayer classes. It is easy for us to believe that we have arrived. It is easy for us to look down on others who are not as knowledgeable as we are.

Sisters, we do not know the Bible as well as we think we do. We do not know our doctrines as well as we should. We have taken all the right classes, but may I suggest that perhaps we have not perfectly retained every lesson taught?

Having correct doctrine matters little if we are unable to live out that doctrine. When asked, Jesus said that the most important commandments in all the Bible were to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We cannot believe that we love othes as ourselves if we are lookind down on them in pride over our superior knowledge.

I would like to end with a quote from John Piper in his book God is the Gospel: "Gospel doctrine matters because the good news is so full and rich and wonderful that it must be opened like a treasure chest, and all the treasures brought out for the enjoyment of the world. Doctrine is the description of these treasures. Doctrine describes their true value and why they are so valuable...And all the while, doctrine does this with its head bowed in wonder that it should be allowed to touch the things of God. It whisperes praise and thanks as it deals with the diamonds of the King. Its fingers tremble at the cost of what it handles. Prayers ascend for help, lest any stone be minimized or misplaced. And on its knees gospel doctrine knows it serves the herald."

Witty Wednesday

This one came from Betsy...it made me laugh!