Recently, we (husband and I) have been praying and thinking about our "theology." Some deep things to think over!
Today, the thought of "total depravity" was on my mind. Total Depravity means that, apart from God, we are completely sinful. John Piper (ck out http://www.desiringgod.org/ for things by him) talks about how there are two types of sin referred to in the Bible (my wording, not his). There are sins, and then there is sin. The first type is what you normally think of as sin - going against the will of God. Sins are things we continue to commit even after we are saved. "Sin," in contrast, is everything we do apart from God. Piper points out the following verses to make this point:
Romans 14:23 - Whatever is not from faith is sin.
Hebrews 11:6 -And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Romans 7:18 - For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is
present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
What he is saying is, before we are saved, nothing we do can truly be "good," even if it looks good in the eyes of the world. Why is this? As Paul says, ". . . nothing good dwells in me . . . " so, connecting the dots, nothing good can come out of us in our flesh. As Piper says, even building a hospital or doing some other great philanthropic deed, if done apart from faith in God, is sin because it does not please God for us to do seemingly good things apart from Him. This doesn't make sense from a worldly perspective - how can doing something good be sin regardless of whether or not God is involved. Perhaps it's because God's ultimate goal is not to make "good people" who do "good deeds," but to make humble people who know Him and have a relationship with Him. What is the ultimate goal of life - to be good? According to the Westminster Confession, "The chief end of man [is] to glorify God and enjoy His presence forever." Challenging!
I was reading James 3:13-15 today. Here it is: "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. " It's interesting to consider how negatively James portrays a life lived without true faith. He really makes clear how much of a stench all our "good works" are without the true, saving faith of God at work in our lives. Verse 13 implies that, witout wisdom (that comes from faith in God), we cannot live a good life, we cannot perform deeds in humility. We will have bitter envy and selfish ambition in our hearts because they are simply characteristics of "good deeds" performed without the wisdom of God. Think about it - why can't you do anything good without God's wisdom? Because your wisdom, which governs what you do, will - by nature - be sinful. It is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. I was a "good" person before I was saved. But I wasn't "good" in God's eyes because the wisdom that directed everything I did was evil! Even if it looked good from the outside, it wasn't because my heart was wrong. Understanding that makes it all that much more clear how precious God's grace truly is, how amazing it is. He saved a wretch like me because His grace is amazing - not because of anything I did right. I was the worst of sinners, as Paul says (1 Tim. 1:16), but God showed me mercy so that " . . . Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.." Wow.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Faith
I decided to break-up these two thoughts because they're really two different trails. "Faith" is a word you hear bantied around a lot in Christian circles. So, in my undying devotion to the true meaning of all things, I decided to look it up! Faith, according to the dictionary, means: "belief that is not based on proof; the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved; belief, trust and loyalty to a person or thing." Faith is to be contrasted with "blind faith," which is "belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination." Indeed, as my previous post suggests, if one has blind faith in God then his or her actions won't illustrate it. And so, such faith cannot and will not save. Another definition I found that I thought helpful was in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology (I know, a "biased" source! But, I figure it may actually give more of the meaning of a word in the Biblical sense, since the meaning of a word is influenced by its context). It says ". . . 'Faith is a spiritual attitude involving activity.' It is the actions that follow a declaration of faith which determine whether or not it is true." Faith might be something you can't see, and it might be based on something that can't be objectively proven, but it can be proven to be true by the resultant actions. It's almost like a backwards way at getting at "proving" God exists. If He is real and if He truly does change a person as He says in His Word, then a person who puts his/her faith in God should be changed. If you don't see a change, either the faith isn't real or the thing that a person has faith in is not real. I, for one, have seen the proof of real faith in my life - I am a different person, I do different things, than I did before I had faith in God. These changes are not things I could manufacture on my own, apart from God. How do I know this? I tried! Therefore, from what I can see, I know God is real.
The Proof Is In the Pudding
First, let me just say - if anyone is actually looking at this (!) - that I'm sorry for not being consistent. I guess that's just how it will be. So, if you are reading this - I apologize, but at least it makes it easy to stay caught up! And, if no one is, then it works great as an outlet for me! So it's a win-win all around!
For some reason, random idioms like to float through my mind when I'm reading or thinking abou things! Sometimes it's song lyrics (usually kid's songs, so not very helpful!). Occassionally, it's something spiritual like a Bible verse! But most of the time it's something seemingly useless - like this. Today, however, I decided to look it up to see if it applied to what I was reading - and, amazingly, it did. The even cooler part (is that a word?!) is that it made some of what I was reading click even more! Apparently, the phrase comes from Don Quixote and is actually "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." It means, according to Ask Yahoo, ". . . the true value or quality of something can only be judged when it's put to use." So what was I reading when this little gem popped into my mind?! James 2:17 - "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." Often, I've heard this verse and related it to "being good." I figured it meant that I had to act in a certain way in order to be truly saved. I think a lot of people tend to thing it means that. But, in reality, what James is saying is that, if you are truly saved, you will act a certain way. You can't earn your salvation through your actions. Romans 3:28 says "For we maintain tht a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." We are justified - declared righteous by God - through our faith in God's promises and His Word, not through anything we do or say. So James says, simply, that if we are truly saved, our deeds should reflect that. The way we behave should reflect that we have been changed on the inside. The proverbial proof - the quality or value - of our faith will be found in the pudding - when it's put to use. Cool!
For some reason, random idioms like to float through my mind when I'm reading or thinking abou things! Sometimes it's song lyrics (usually kid's songs, so not very helpful!). Occassionally, it's something spiritual like a Bible verse! But most of the time it's something seemingly useless - like this. Today, however, I decided to look it up to see if it applied to what I was reading - and, amazingly, it did. The even cooler part (is that a word?!) is that it made some of what I was reading click even more! Apparently, the phrase comes from Don Quixote and is actually "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." It means, according to Ask Yahoo, ". . . the true value or quality of something can only be judged when it's put to use." So what was I reading when this little gem popped into my mind?! James 2:17 - "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." Often, I've heard this verse and related it to "being good." I figured it meant that I had to act in a certain way in order to be truly saved. I think a lot of people tend to thing it means that. But, in reality, what James is saying is that, if you are truly saved, you will act a certain way. You can't earn your salvation through your actions. Romans 3:28 says "For we maintain tht a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." We are justified - declared righteous by God - through our faith in God's promises and His Word, not through anything we do or say. So James says, simply, that if we are truly saved, our deeds should reflect that. The way we behave should reflect that we have been changed on the inside. The proverbial proof - the quality or value - of our faith will be found in the pudding - when it's put to use. Cool!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Works vs. Fruit
Ok, so I said I was going to get back to some of my favorite definitions - but that will have to wait for another day, when I don't have anything else I've been thinking about! I just finished some time in Galatians, and I wanted to share something that is just starting to make sense to me. I was reading Gal. 5:16-26, and was looking specifically at verse 19 and verse 22. Here's what they say:
Vs. 19-21 - "Now, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Vs. 22 - 23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Here's the thing that hit me - notice how, in verse 19, the word "deeds" is used, and it is plural. In verse 22, the word "fruit" is used, and it is singular. As I mentioned previously, I love words - and think God intended to use the exact words He used in the exact places He used them, in conjunction with each other (so, in other words, context is also key!). So why did Paul use a these two words? The word "deeds" refers to things we do (according to the concordance, the word used means "an act, deed, thing done - the idea of working is ephasised in opposition to that which is less than work"). The list which follows is not meant to be exhaustive, but simply an example of what we do in the flesh - what we do when we try to do things on our own. The same word is used when referring to "works" vs. faith. Left to our own devices, these are the types of things we do. We might do all of them, but we do some of them! However, in verse 22, the word fruit is used in the singular sense because, when the Holy Spirit works in you, you become someone new. You don't just do better things - you ARE better.
So, here's a summary of what I got - God doesn't want us to be simply good rule-followers. If that's all He wanted, He would have just given us the law and left us to our own devices. Instead, He wants us to be new people. And the only way that can happen is by the grace of God: Eph 2:8-9 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of WORKS (there's that same word as in Gal. 5:19), so that no one may boast." For years, I thought that if I did everything I thought God wanted me to do (not by following Old Testament Law, but by "being a good person" and not stealing or cheating, reading my Bible, praying, etc.), I would be saved. I was wrong - not only was I not "saved," I was miserable! Why was I miserable? Because the law only serves to condemn and bring about death. It only points out what I was doing wrong because, ultimately, that's all the law can do. But when I gave myself to God and asked Him to live inside of me, that's when I became truly free - and that's when I was no longer miserable! Because, when you give yourself to God, when the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and when you listen to that still, small voice, you are changed. You become a different person. And it is through no act of your own, so you can't boast about it in the least! So that's my insight for today . . .
Vs. 19-21 - "Now, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Vs. 22 - 23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Here's the thing that hit me - notice how, in verse 19, the word "deeds" is used, and it is plural. In verse 22, the word "fruit" is used, and it is singular. As I mentioned previously, I love words - and think God intended to use the exact words He used in the exact places He used them, in conjunction with each other (so, in other words, context is also key!). So why did Paul use a these two words? The word "deeds" refers to things we do (according to the concordance, the word used means "an act, deed, thing done - the idea of working is ephasised in opposition to that which is less than work"). The list which follows is not meant to be exhaustive, but simply an example of what we do in the flesh - what we do when we try to do things on our own. The same word is used when referring to "works" vs. faith. Left to our own devices, these are the types of things we do. We might do all of them, but we do some of them! However, in verse 22, the word fruit is used in the singular sense because, when the Holy Spirit works in you, you become someone new. You don't just do better things - you ARE better.
So, here's a summary of what I got - God doesn't want us to be simply good rule-followers. If that's all He wanted, He would have just given us the law and left us to our own devices. Instead, He wants us to be new people. And the only way that can happen is by the grace of God: Eph 2:8-9 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of WORKS (there's that same word as in Gal. 5:19), so that no one may boast." For years, I thought that if I did everything I thought God wanted me to do (not by following Old Testament Law, but by "being a good person" and not stealing or cheating, reading my Bible, praying, etc.), I would be saved. I was wrong - not only was I not "saved," I was miserable! Why was I miserable? Because the law only serves to condemn and bring about death. It only points out what I was doing wrong because, ultimately, that's all the law can do. But when I gave myself to God and asked Him to live inside of me, that's when I became truly free - and that's when I was no longer miserable! Because, when you give yourself to God, when the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and when you listen to that still, small voice, you are changed. You become a different person. And it is through no act of your own, so you can't boast about it in the least! So that's my insight for today . . .
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Words
Sorry I haven't been very consisten with posting things here - perhaps I should have tried to start this after the busyness of the holidays! Oh well! I only have a few minutes before kids get up from naps, but I had to write a little something here about words and how much I love them! Seriously. What I mean is - I love to know what things mean, and I try very hard to use the right word for the given situation. Often during my quiet times, I find myself researching what a particular word means in a particular setting. I think that's especially important to do when reading the Bible, since it was written in a different language. Sometimes, I think, the true meaning of a passage can get "lost in translation." Also, I really like to know what something means before I say I feel it or have it - things like faith, hope, salvation, forgiveness, righteousness, etc. I guess that's my little hang-up - I'll blindly follow any ridiculous rule given to me, but don't tell me I'm forgiven without telling me what that means (just kidding . . . to a degree!). Here are a few words I've researched in the past few weeks, and what I found they mean - in no particular order, and in abbreviated fashion!
1) Love - in the Bible, this is often an action more than it is a feeling. It is the greatest of all the things we do - if we don't have love, everything else is futile and worthless. It is even greater than faith and hope, and it does not fail. All other things will have an end or a fulfillment, but not love - it is eternal, never-changing, permanent.
2) Hospitality - meeting the needs of others. It is not about you having it all together, or about your home looking perfect - it is about you seeing and trying to meet the needs of another person. As one commentary noted (and I love this!), "hospitality can happen in a messy home."
3) Worthy - "having adequate or great merit, character, or value; of commendable excellence or merit; deserving." We are saved by grace (another definition here - "unmerited favor," meaning that we didn't earn our salvation), the Bible teaches - but we are called to live a life worthy of God's divine calling (Eph. 4:1). This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. How could we possibly live a life that is "deserving" of the great gift God gives? The only way we can is by committing ourselves to knowing Him and to imitating Him. God will not take our salvation away if we don't get this part right! But, it's kind of like why you try your hardest to be kind to your husband - your wedding vows implore you to do so, because you have professed undying love and commitment to your spouse (not because laws require you to and threaten to take love away if you don't measure up!). It's always important to consider context when looking at the definition of words. Looking at the context of the word "worthy" in Ephesians 4:1, you can see that the word is followed by several verses explaining God's love for us (". . . wide and long and high and deep . . . " - Eph. 3:18) . . .
There are children yelling through the vents - "can you come up here Mommy?" - so I need to cut this short! More later, since I have many more fun words to talk about!!!
1) Love - in the Bible, this is often an action more than it is a feeling. It is the greatest of all the things we do - if we don't have love, everything else is futile and worthless. It is even greater than faith and hope, and it does not fail. All other things will have an end or a fulfillment, but not love - it is eternal, never-changing, permanent.
2) Hospitality - meeting the needs of others. It is not about you having it all together, or about your home looking perfect - it is about you seeing and trying to meet the needs of another person. As one commentary noted (and I love this!), "hospitality can happen in a messy home."
3) Worthy - "having adequate or great merit, character, or value; of commendable excellence or merit; deserving." We are saved by grace (another definition here - "unmerited favor," meaning that we didn't earn our salvation), the Bible teaches - but we are called to live a life worthy of God's divine calling (Eph. 4:1). This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. How could we possibly live a life that is "deserving" of the great gift God gives? The only way we can is by committing ourselves to knowing Him and to imitating Him. God will not take our salvation away if we don't get this part right! But, it's kind of like why you try your hardest to be kind to your husband - your wedding vows implore you to do so, because you have professed undying love and commitment to your spouse (not because laws require you to and threaten to take love away if you don't measure up!). It's always important to consider context when looking at the definition of words. Looking at the context of the word "worthy" in Ephesians 4:1, you can see that the word is followed by several verses explaining God's love for us (". . . wide and long and high and deep . . . " - Eph. 3:18) . . .
There are children yelling through the vents - "can you come up here Mommy?" - so I need to cut this short! More later, since I have many more fun words to talk about!!!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Freedom from the law
Ha! Got your attention, didn't I?! I'm referring here to The Law in the Bible. So I'm continuing on with my observation that the law no longer applies to us once we accept Christ. There are several reasons Paul gives in Galatians:
1) We are saved by grace, not by following the Law.
2) When we claim salvation (by faith), we die to the law and to sin - meaning we are no longer bound to either one.
3) It's the Holy Spirit who works within us to sanctify us - which means that, once we are saved (by faith), we don't then turn to the law to "make ourselves better Christians." The Holy Spirit's work within us is the only work that can make us more like Christ ("better Christians").
4) The promise of blessing was given from the very beginning on the basis of faith, and not on the basis of our following the law (Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness).
5) We receive God's blessing because it is our inheritance as children of God. We become God's children when we identify ourselves with Christ - when we believe in Him and are baptized into Him.
As I was studying all this about the law, I began to wonder - why is it that, even after we are saved, we try to continue to live under the law? It's not a very comfortable place to be -the law makes us recognize our own sinfulness and, indeed, condemns us (that was it's purpose from the very beginning). So why, when God says we are free from the law when we believe in Him, do we continue to put ourselves under the law? I can think of two reasons that at least apply to me:
1) It's easier to pay attention to an external set of rules than it is to allow the Holy Spirit to refine us, to change us, to trust our growth and development to something we can't see, touch, feel, or - sometimes - hear very well.
2) The enemy wants us to feel condemned. He wants us to try to make ourselves better because he knows we can't do it. He wants us to feel bad about ourselves - even though God has already told us that we did not earn our salvation and we cannot sanctify ourselves.
You know what's interesting? It seems like the more I learn about God, the more I learn that I need to let go! It's weird because usually the more I learn about something, the more in control I feel and the more I try to control things. I guess this is just one more of those instances where God's wisdom and my "wisdom" don't match up!
1) We are saved by grace, not by following the Law.
2) When we claim salvation (by faith), we die to the law and to sin - meaning we are no longer bound to either one.
3) It's the Holy Spirit who works within us to sanctify us - which means that, once we are saved (by faith), we don't then turn to the law to "make ourselves better Christians." The Holy Spirit's work within us is the only work that can make us more like Christ ("better Christians").
4) The promise of blessing was given from the very beginning on the basis of faith, and not on the basis of our following the law (Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness).
5) We receive God's blessing because it is our inheritance as children of God. We become God's children when we identify ourselves with Christ - when we believe in Him and are baptized into Him.
As I was studying all this about the law, I began to wonder - why is it that, even after we are saved, we try to continue to live under the law? It's not a very comfortable place to be -the law makes us recognize our own sinfulness and, indeed, condemns us (that was it's purpose from the very beginning). So why, when God says we are free from the law when we believe in Him, do we continue to put ourselves under the law? I can think of two reasons that at least apply to me:
1) It's easier to pay attention to an external set of rules than it is to allow the Holy Spirit to refine us, to change us, to trust our growth and development to something we can't see, touch, feel, or - sometimes - hear very well.
2) The enemy wants us to feel condemned. He wants us to try to make ourselves better because he knows we can't do it. He wants us to feel bad about ourselves - even though God has already told us that we did not earn our salvation and we cannot sanctify ourselves.
You know what's interesting? It seems like the more I learn about God, the more I learn that I need to let go! It's weird because usually the more I learn about something, the more in control I feel and the more I try to control things. I guess this is just one more of those instances where God's wisdom and my "wisdom" don't match up!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Why I Want To Study God's Word . . .
I was going to post some cool things I learned in my Bible study the other day, but instead, I decided just to think about why I want to study God's Word. A friend was sharing an insight on her blog site about a verse she had always misunderstood because she hadn't really studied it for herself, in context. And that's when it hit me - I want to study the Bible so that I know what God says for myself. How else can I defend or explain what I believe? How else can I train my children? How else can I provide wise counsel to my husband or to my friends? I have always known it's important to study the Word. I've often seen it like a letter from a friend who lives far away (and doesn't always have the best phone connection - only, in God's case, it's not because He doesn't talk but because I don't always do a great job of listening) - you read the letter to get to know the friend better, to spend time with the friend, to feel like you're close even when you're far away. But recently, I've been struck by more than just the relational importance of reading my Bible. I must read the Word if I expect to become the woman God wants me to be, and do the things God wants me to do. It amazes me, when I study the Word, how there are so many things I thought I understood but didn't really. And it amazes me further that I can go back to those same passages and learn an even deeper truth every time I look at it. I don't think there's ever going to be a time while I'm here on earth when I'll know God perfectly. But I do think it's my responsibility as a Christian wife, mother, and woman, to know God as best I can while I'm here. So that's why I'm going to study the Word. And hopefully grow in the process!
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