Why the deep thoughts . . .

I've been asked, either through posts or in conversation, why I'm bothering to think about some of the things I'm working through here. That's a very valid question. For years, I've thought it's a waste of time to think about the things I'm posting! So do I just have a lot of time to waste now? Absolutely not - as I type, I'm constantly checking the clock because one of my two small children is bound to wake up soon! I'm thinking through these things now because I've realized it is essential, it is important, and it is biblical. Someone (Mark Talbot) much smarter than I explained it this way: Why do we study the deep questions about God?

(1) Because we're commanded to love God with our whole mind, and this is the greatest commandment ("Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind . . . " - Luke 10:27).
(2) We are told to search for knowledge, wisdom, understanding. Prov. 2:2-4 - ". . . turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." All of the phrases used here, in relation to wisdom - turn your ear, apply your heart, call out, cry aloud, look, search - all imply an active search for knowledge and understanding about God. If you look at Job 28:1-11, it explains how hard it is to search for silver - man searches in the farthest recesses, in the balckest darkness, far from where people dwell, in places forgotten by the foot of man . . . man's hand assaults the flinty rock and lays bare the roots of the mountains . . .. THIS is the way we are to go about seeking wisdom and understanding, knowledge of God!
(3) God wants us to understand Him so we can give Him adequate glory.

That last point is the crux, really. If I'm seeking God and asking questions just to acquire knowledge, I'm missing God and puffing myself up. BUT - if I am seeking God so that I can give Him adequate glory, that glorifies God! Want to know the exciting thing? The more I learn about God and learn about what the Bible says about how He works and who He is, the more I want to just drop to my knees and worship Him. If I ever reach the point where I don't have that reaction, I'll stop asking questions. And if I ever get to the point where I think I fully know and understand God, I'll stop asking questions and repent! But, for right now, I feel closer to God than I ever have, and I feel more excited than ever before to tell other people about Him because He is real and He is so much more powerful than I am! So, for now, I think I'll keep asking these questions - and keep digging and searching for understanding.

Cool hymn

I didn't write down the name of this hymn, but I heard this stanza and had to share it. Wow!

When through fiery trials your pathways shall lie
My grace, all sufficient, shall be your supply
The flames shall not hurt you
I only design your dross to consume and your gold to refine.

Praise God He knows which parts to consume and which parts to refine!!!

Loving our children

I've had a trying and convicting few days with my children, and wanted to share what I was just convicted of (in the hopes that, in making it public, it will stick with me more!). I was reading 1 Peter 4:8 and wondering how this applies to our children. It says:
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
First, I like to start with definitions. So, here are some keys:
"Covers over" = "to hinder the knowledge of a thing." It is also translated "veil."
"Sins" = "an act, the violation of, or want of obedience to the revealed will of God; a state, absence of righteousness; a nature, enmity toward God."

So, how does this apply to our children?
(1) We should love our children constantly, continually, perpetually - whether they are "loveable" or not (translate: even when they are throwing a monster temper tantrum and "accidentally" kick you in the face!).
(2) We should take no notice of offense (and with children, there are many!).
(3) We should not "aggravate" their sins or "spread them abroad." We don't walk around airing the sins of our Christian brothers and sisters - why do we air the sins of our children?
(4) We are to forgive them as Christ forgave us - not holding our child's sin against them and immediately restoring our relationship with them.

I think #3 hit me the hardest. As 1 Cor. 13:5-6 says, " . . . Love . . . keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." How often have I sat down with other moms and aired the sins of my children, internally keeping a record of wrongs so I could share how "tough" my day was? How often have I shown delight in evil by recounting all the ways my child wronged me? It's amazing to me how I keep coming back to this point - the foundation of the Law is that we love one another. I think Mommy needs to seek someone's forgiveness today . . .

We are God's workmanship

I just had one of those "wow" moments studying the Bible, and I had to share what hit me. I'm sure, like most things I post, this is something most of you have realized before. For some reason lately, I seem to be relearning a lot of "basics" of the Christian faith! Perhaps, as I often learn, it's because I never really understood them in the first place . . . !

Anyway, I was looking at the idea that God's effectual calling overcomes our resistance to the Gospel (a point made by John Piper - and others, I'm sure!). As a reference, he provided 1 Cor. 1:22-24, which talks about how Christ's crucifiction is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but TO THOSE WHOM GOD HAS CALLED it is the power and wisdom of God. So that got me thinking - who does God "call"? And that's where I stumbled on this little gem - God calls all those He predestined to call (Rom. 8:30). Put another way, I was created so that God could call me to Himself. The whole purpose of my existence is to glorify God (hmm, I think I've heard that before!) BECAUSE that's the purpose I was created for. Eph. 2:10 says: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." In the previous two verses, Paul points out that we are saved by grace through faith, a gift of God and the result of no works on our behalf. We are saved BECAUSE we were made to be saved. Why did God make us as His creatures? To do the good works he prepared in advance for us to do. Here's the kicker - I am not saved so that I can be happy or fulfilled or at peace with my circumstances (although these are certainly beneficial "side-effects" of salvation!). I AM saved so that God can use me to do the things He needs accomplished on this earth. Wow. That is both humbling and awe-inspiring.

Does God "cause" or "allow"?

In reading over a comment from someone on one of my previous posts, my husband and I got talking about whether God "causes" or "allows" bad things to happen. After talking around it for about 3 hours, we decided to go to bed - and I promised him I would use this blog as an outlet for my continued thoughts (because I probably could have kept talking the rest of the night!). Now, before you continue reading, let me warn you - what I'm suggesting will come across as offensive. But, as my dear friend, Jenn, always points out, God is constantly offending us - and I don't think that's a bad thing! With that said, though, please read my whole post before you decide I've jumped off the deep-end here! Ok, here goes - and please, tell me what you think on this!

Here's what I believe: God causes bad things to happen (versus allows). (NOTE: I'm discussing here whether you should use the word "cause" or the word "allow" - I'm not saying "cause" is necessarily the best word to use in this sentence. See, you need to keep reading!)

Here's what I'm assuming when I say that:
God is perfectly good, and there is no evil in Him (1 John 1:5).
God does not enjoy causing bad things to happen (Psalm 5:4).
God has good purposes in everything He does (Romans 8:28).
We are held responsible for the evil things we do because our purposes are not always good.
"Cause" means: to bring about. It implies a purpose.
"Allow" means: to permit something to happen or exist. It does not imply a purpose.

Why do I think it's important to say God causes bad things, verses God allows bad things? Saying God causes something to happen shows that He is in control. If was say He simply allows things to happen, I think it demonstrates a lack of control on His part. If I allow the door to remain open, I don't know what is going to happen as a result. If I cause the door to be left open, I do it to bring about a purpose I have already decided upon. There's a whole lot more I could say right now but, in the interest of keeping this first post readable, I'm going to stop there!

Having said that, let me tell you something I just discovered, as I tried to figure out how best to word this - a lot of people who are A LOT smarter than me have been discussing this very topic for centuries! Specifically, how do we deal with God's role in the occurence of evil. John Frame, in his book The Doctrine of God, says this about how we've dealt with this challenge in the past: "Some initial possibilities: authors, brings about, causes, controls, creates, decrees, foreordains, incites, includes within his plan, makes happen, ordains, permits, plans, predestines, predetermines, produces, stands behind, wills. Many of these are extra-scriptural terms; none of them are perfectly easy to define in this context. So theologians need to give some careful thought about which of these terms, if any, should be affirmed, and in what sense." Point well-taken - this is not an easy question to answer. While I'd like to fill in the blank in the following sentence - "God ______ bad things to happen"- the "blank" is apparently not very easy for us, as humans, to fill. If theologians through the centuries have not been able to decide on a specific term, I don't think I'm going to figure it out in one blog post! For me, the key is something else Frame says: "Somehow, we must confess both that God has a role in bringing evil about, and that in doing so he is holy and blameless. . . . God does bring sins about, but always for his own good purposes. So in bringing sin to pass he does not himself commit sin. "

What's my point in all this - God has a plan. Nothing happens by accident. And I am very glad to serve a God who is the ultimate authority on all things, good or bad.

Total Depravity, Part II

I’m reading a sermon series by John Piper on the 5 points of Calvinism. I know I’ve written on this topic before, but I had to share a further revelation. I was trying to explain recently to a friend why I was so excited about understanding this idea of my complete, utter sinfulness. As I talked, I realized that it is really hard to put into words how exciting it is to realize you are a complete sinner! Let me borrow something from Piper to try to explain why this is so exciting, and why it is so awe-inspiring. He says, in concluding his discussion on total depravity:
“In summary, total depravity means that apart from any enabling grace from God, our hardness and rebellion against God is total, everything we do in this rebellion is sin, our inability to submit to God or reform ourselves is total, and we are therefore totally deserving of eternal punishment.
It is hard to exaggerate the importance of admitting our condition to be this bad. If we think of ourselves as basically good or even less than totally at odds with God, our grasp of the work of God in redemption will be defective. But if we humble ourselves under this terrible truth of our total depravity, we will be in a position to see and appreciate the glory and wonder of the work of God . . . “
It has really hit me recently that God is a God of absolutes. You are either for Him, or you are against Him. You are either a sinner, or you are saved by grace. There is no quantification in His book. I am not a better person than anyone else – I am a sinner of the worst kind (because there is no other kind!). The awesome part of that understanding is that, despite my complete “wrongness,” God reached in and He decided to make me “right.” It isn’t because He looked into the future and saw I was going to be a good person anyway so He might as well save me . . . I am full of sin, but God, in His infinite mercy and grace, decided to save me. That just brings me to my knees . . .

Why is prayer powerful?

I'm currently studying the book of James. I was amazed to find that I have taken a lot of verses from the book of James out of context. I think other people do, too (or maybe I've just heard people wrong in the past - I've found that happens way more often than I care to admit!). I think it's easy to do - James is written, as my study Bible points out, in the same format as Proverbs. It is filled with one-liners of wisdom! But, something I've realized is that you don't truly understand what the "one-liner" means until you read the other verses around it, consider where James is coming from and who he wrote this letter to, and consider what the Bible as a whole has to say about what he's writing. I know, novel concept here! But you can walk away from James with a lot of well-meaning, wise sayings that are just totally unbiblical and not at all what James meant! Poor James!
So, here's what I've discovered about prayer, in reading James 5:13-20. I'm going to put the whole section here because I'm sure, if you're anything like me, you won't take the time - while reading a blog - to pull out your Bible and look it up for yourself! Here it is, then:
"13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. 19 My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."

Here's where I was wrong. I got all caught up in the ways to pray to bring about healing (or so I thought) and I missed the example James is giving. His examples are key, really. Elijah is an excellent example of someone uttering a powerful prayer - and the reason why such prayer is so powerful. Here's why:

1. Elijah was a "man like us." He wasn't someone who was extra-special (although we may beg to differ - he was in the Bible, after all!); he didn't have an "in" with God that made his prayers more effective than ours. He was normal, a sinner.
2. God sent Elijah, as his representative, to King Ahab to say it would not rain in the next few years (1 Kings 17:1) and then God sent Elijah back to King Ahab when God was going to make it rain again (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah didn't pray that it would stop raining or start raining on his own accord - he was doing what God told him to do. So, when our prayers are in line with what God wants, we can believe they will be answered.
3. God always brings wholeness and forgiveness in answer to our prayers - that's what James means when he says " . . . pray for one another so that you may be healed." Healing in this context means wholeness and restoration. Look at the example of Elijah - Elijah prayed, and God brought back the rain. He restored the land.

Prayer is powerful because God is powerful - not because we're righteous enough, we use the right brand of oil, or we've confessed every sin we could think of. A lot of the book of James can be misinterpreted as what we need to do to make things happen. But, really, if you look closely, you'll see that the book of James is all about how we are powerless to do anything apart from God. You want to have true faith? You want to tame your tongue? You want to receive what you ask for? You want to see someone healed? Humble yourself - "Come near to God, and He will come near to you" (James 4:8). It's amazing to me how, the more I understand the Bible, the more humbled I am and the closer I want to be to God. I guess that's the point!