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Four Ways We Can Grow in Discernment

We have more content readily available to us today than previous generations could have ever dreamed possible. We’re not lacking information, but we’re always in need of greater discernment. And that’s never more important than when it concerns our faith.

As you desire to grow in your faith, you need to be discerning about who you listen to. Whose books will you read for teaching and encouragement? Whose blogs and podcasts will you subscribe to? Whose Bible study material will you use in your small group? Whose preaching will you sit under?

Those questions really matter, because truth really matters.

John’s concern for the readers of 1 John 4:1-6 is that they would be careful of who influences them. When it comes to spiritual teaching, he says, we need to know what’s true and what’s false (1 John 4:6).

In this passage, John instructs us in four ways that we can grow in discernment.

1. Realize that there are false teachers

Beloved, do not believe every spirit… for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

John’s first point is simple: don’t believe everything you hear. There are people in this world claiming to teach truth—to speak by the power of the Spirit of God—who are actually teaching lies. Actually, there are many.

Jesus said that this would happen, and he gave two particular warnings regarding false teachers:

While false teachers often appear harmless, their intent is malicious.

Jesus warns in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Try to picture what Jesus is saying. A false teacher dresses the part. He says many of the right things and acts in the right ways. But, as he creeps into a position of influence, he comes to destroy people by leading them away from the truth.

While false teachers may appear to be successful, their work is destructive.

Jesus also warns us in Matthew 24:11 that, “Many false prophets will arise and lead many people astray” (emphasis added). This should give you pause any time you’re tempted to think that the size of the following validates the goodness of a teacher.

It’s possible for someone to be famous, well-educated, a New York Times Bestseller, have that coveted blue check-mark next to their name on Twitter, and use that fame to lead people away from the truth, and away from Christ.

2. Put all teachers to the test

John says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). John gives us two questions to ask about every teacher who claims to speak God’s truth:

Do they teach about Jesus?

1 John 4:2 says, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses…Jesus Christ…is from God, and every spirit that that does not confess Jesus is not from God.”

Someone who won’t tell you about Jesus is not speaking the truth about God. Jesus is the only way to really know God. So, if you want to know the truth about God, then you need to know about Jesus. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6).

Do they teach about Jesus’s saving work?

1 John 4:2 continues, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (emphasis added).

Central to John’s letter, central to Christianity is not only the teaching that Jesus came, but why he came. And John lays it out for us in 1 John 4:10: “God sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

A propitiation is a sacrifice that takes away wrath. Because of our sin, we deserve to face wrath—the just punishment of God. But in his grace, God sent his Son to suffer in our place at the cross, and take our wrath upon himself. In order for Jesus to take the sins of human beings upon himself, it was necessary for him to actually become a human. So he came “in the flesh.”

If we are going to grow in discernment, we need to steep ourselves in the Scriptures!
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When John says that true teachers confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, he means that they confess that Jesus Christ came to die and to bear the wrath we deserved—they proclaim the cross of Christ.

The cross has always been controversial. It’s the glaring declaration that you and I are sinners, making it undeniably clear that God takes sin seriously. And there are always people who will try and deny these truths.

But anyone who diminishes, denies, or despises the cross is ripping the heart out of our faith.

Put all teachers to the test. Do they speak about Jesus? Do they speak about Jesus’s saving work at the cross? If not, don’t believe what they say.

3. Ask God for help

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, John says, you are from God and you have already overcome false teachers. They hold no power over you. How is that possible?

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

In John 16:13, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of truth,” and said that “when he comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”

This is one of the things the Holy Spirit does in our lives. When we are in a position where we need to be discerning, and we need to put teaching to the test, God is at our side to guide and to help.

So a simple, but profoundly important way to grow in discernment is to ask the Spirit for help. God delights to answer that kind of prayer.

4. Listen to the Word

The Spirit of God will always help us discern the truth of God through the Word of God.

In the following verses John distinguishes the false teachers from himself and the other apostles: “They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us” (1 John 4:5-6).

He says that false prophets are from the world. But, he and the other apostles of Jesus are from God.

Like the prophets of the Old Testament, the apostles of the New Testament were uniquely empowered by God to speak God’s Word. So, when John says, “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us,” the application for us is to listen to the words of the apostles in our Bibles!

If we are going to grow in discernment, we need to steep ourselves in the Scriptures!

So, this is how you can grow in discernment: Realize there are false teachers, put all teachers to the test, ask God for help, and listen to the Word.

[Photo Credit: Lightstock]

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God is Worthy of Your “Wow”

There have been a few memorable moments of my life which I’ll call “Wow” moments.

I remember the summer before my Junior year of high school working at a camp in northern Minnesota. One clear night I was walking to my cabin and was struck by the millions of shining dots in the non-polluted sky: a stretched canopy of twinkling stars. Incredible. “Wow.”

I remember seeing my wife for the first time in her wedding dress. “Wow.”

I’m sure you have some similar “Wow” moments in your life.

But how often in a church or ministry setting do we stop and say, “Wow”? I’m talking about stopping and saying, “Wow” at the absolute majesty and breathtaking beauty of God.

The Psalms do this often. But are you like me, sometimes coming to church interested only in information? “What can I understand about God? What can God give to me? Tell me facts about God, preferably facts that fit what I want him to be. Then I’ll maybe think about saying “Wow.”

Think of the many ways that God has shown up in your life, and praise Him.
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Psalm 117 is a model for the remedy to this sad impulse within us. Psalm 117, the smallest Psalm in Scripture, bursts at its tiny seams with praise and worship of God.

How is this relevant to you and me? The Psalm tells us: the praise of the Lord is to be done by “all nations,” given from “all peoples” (Psalm 117:1) Praise, worship, honor and glory is to be given to God whether you are old or young, rich or not rich at all, smart or not as smart, an emotional person or an analytical one, a hipster or a hippie, or anyone else. We are to worship God irrespective of our place or personality. It is for everyone and commanded of everyone.

A Focus for Worship

Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! (Psalm 117:1)

Before we start shouting praises all over the place, we have to have a focus. Who are we to give this praise to? The object of our worship is God. Psalm 117 commands us to “praise the Lord” (emphasis added). God is to be the focus of our praise and joyful worship.

Everybody worships something. Yet our praise-focus often gets diverted to places other than God, doesn’t it? Sometimes the focus of our worship turns inward to ourselves. We might be struggling with this if we’re spending too much time looking into a mirror. Sometimes the focus turns outward towards others. This might look like spending more time in People magazine than in Scripture. And other times the focus of our worship turns outward to stuff, like purchasing every new gadget as it goes on the market.

We are people of worship, and if it is not turned towards God it is certainly turned towards something other than him. Psalm 117 implores us to turn our praise upward towards God.

Our Fuel for Worship

For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. (Psalm 117:2)

A space shuttle can plan a detailed trajectory and have a specific destination, but if there is no fuel in the tanks, there will be no lift-off, let alone an arrival. Therefore we must ask of this Psalm, “What is it about God that is to propel my praise heavenward?”

1. We praise the Lord because of his steadfast love toward us.

The fullest weight of this incredible love of God is brought to bear on Jesus and his cross. God’s love was sent “toward us” packaged as his Son, Jesus. In the greatest act of love the world has ever seen, Christ died on a cross for your sins and for my sins. 1 John 4:9-10 says:

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

2. We praise the Lord because of his faithfulness that endures forever.

We live in a culture where so few things are faithful and enduring, aren’t they? Yet God is faithful. Think for a minute about the three words used in the above clause: faithful, endure, forever. All three of those contain elements of each other; it almost seems a little redundant. Faithful means something like fidelity. Endurance means you’re in it for the long haul. And forever—well—means forever. So here in this verse, we learn that God is a triple dose of fidelity. Not just faithful. Not just enduring faithfulness. But enduring faithfulness forever.

A Decree to Worship

Praise the Lord! (Psalm 117:3)

We know our focus. We have our fuel. So what are we to do next?

Praise the Lord!

Make praising God the first thing you do in the morning, the thing you habitually repeat during the day, and last thing you do before you go to bed. What if you were to read a chapter of your Bible before bed and right after your shower in the morning? What if this habit replaced checking your email or social media?

We can praise God in the in-between moments of life.

Cooking dinner? Thank him for the food and flavoring as you mix and sauté. Getting the kids dressed? Together, thank God for how great he is. Walking the halls between classes? Think of the many ways that God has shown up in your life, and praise Him.

We can praise God in the hard moments.

This week will bring many situations in which you’ll have to decide between obeying God or disobeying him.  Perhaps this means saying you’re sorry and asking for forgiveness from someone you’ve wronged. Perhaps it means having a difficult but necessary conversation with your kid about being a man or woman of God. Maybe it means sharing Christ with someone. None of these are easy situations. Choose to obey Christ, and do them anyway. In doing so, you are praising Jesus.

God is worthy of your “Wow.” So how will you praise him this week?

[Photo Credit: Unsplash]

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The post God is Worthy of Your “Wow” appeared first on Unlocking the Bible.

Bible Q&A: Where Is Our Visual Focus In Prayer?

Q: When we pray to the Lord, where is our visual focus?

A: “To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master… so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us” (Psalm 123:1, 2).

 The Bible does not typically offer us a visual focus for prayer, but instructs us to focus on the character and deeds of God. However, in Psalm 123 David directs our attention to (1) the throne and to (2) the hands of God.

Consider God on his throne.

The throne speaks of God’s power and authority.

The best way to get your mind off your problems is to ponder the throne of God: His power, authority, and eternity.

If you ever have the opportunity to come to Chicago, you will want to visit Navy Pier. Standing on Navy Pier, you can look up at the giant Ferris wheel that towers over the surrounding buildings. But then if you were to go for lunch in the Hancock building on the 95th floor and look down at the Ferris wheel, it would seem almost insignificant!

Fix your eyes on Jesus and you will grow in faith.
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The problems that look so vast to us look very different from the throne of God. Fix your eyes on his throne. Your Lord is seated there. What seems so massive to you looks entirely different to him. He sees the end from the beginning. He can see how the trauma you may be experiencing now will play out through time and into eternity. And he knows how he’s going to deliver you and weave what is happening into his eternal purpose. And, you can trust him.

Consider God’s hands.

You cannot think about the hands of God, without remembering that when God came to us in Jesus, his hands were pierced. God has not stood aloof from you. He has entered your suffering, bearing your grief and sorrow in Jesus Christ. There may be times when you question God’s love, but how could you do that when you are looking at his hands?

God’s throne speaks of his awesome power, and his hands speak of his amazing love. As you lift your mind to the throne and to the hands of God, your faith will grow. Seeing God’s power and his love, you will have confidence to come and ask him for what you need.

Faith grows by looking at Christ. Fix your eyes on your problems and you will grow in worry. Fix your eyes on yourself and you will grow in pride or despair. But fix your eyes on Jesus and you will grow in faith, and that faith will give you the confidence to ask God for the help that you need.

[This article is an excerpt from the booklet written by Colin Smith, Praying in the Spirit, 2005.][Photo Credit: Unsplash]

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Screwtape’s Advice on How to Attack a Man’s Faith

My dear Wormwood,

Necessity compelled me to write. I hear that your man suffers from disappointment and unwanted circumstances, and I have only to say this: Take full advantage of your opportunity.

Likely, he is weakened in faith because his situation has not afforded him the luxury of resting upon the Enemy’s sovereignty. But an attack of this nature is not what we are after. (It’s quite easy to believe the providence of the Enemy, who makes the human’s little world go round and—to our repulse—delights to raise up their sun each day, no matter how ignorant they are.)

No—we are after the Enemy’s goodness.

Deceive Your Man

Fingerprints are best seen under a microscope, so don’t let your man closely consider his surroundings. The Enemy’s goodness is printed all over their earth, so it’s a great challenge to get around it, but you’d better try your best.

The key is to magnify something else, something worse. It’d be a whole lot better for us if the Enemy hadn’t made beauty like roses. But we have the curse on our side. So when your man runs by a rose, draw his mind to the thorns. When it rains, make him pity the wetness, rather than think on the growth of his tomatoes. When he sees the roaring sea the Enemy has bound by shores for the man’s enjoyment, the display of His power, remind him of the disaster it has wrought around the world.

We cannot rid creation of the grooves of God’s goodness, but we can overshadow them by rumination on its temporary ruin. We can deceive.

The Enemy even snuck His whole story in the seasons. Ugh, the knack! Don’t awaken your man to the hope written in every fallen leaf, that life will take its place not a few months later. Don’t let your man think on the whiteness of snow, a picture of death engulfed by purity and beauty from the sheer grace of heaven. When the snow is gone, stick your man’s foot in many a mud puddle, that it may muck up his ideas of new birth in spring, that mirrors the Enemy’s miracle in human souls.

Distract Your Man

I am ashamed I must mention the next strategy; for, you’re no true devil of hell if you have forgotten it! Don’t let him settle on the cross. There, the fingerprint of the Enemy’s goodness resembles a crater, the hole left by His heavenly fist punched through death and into their hearts. (Remember how the ground shook that day!)

Next, crowd your man’s mind with distraction, disillusions, divisive thoughts, discouragement, his fears, and his failures. Self is the key. We want him thinking about his life, his frustrations, and his problems. When he lifts his eyes to the Enemy, we’re in trouble. For the Son of the Enemy was lifted up—we need to keep your man’s eyes down. As soon as he looks up, he’ll see how his existence is not about himself, but his Lord.

Funny, how the Enemy did suffer for those that belong to Him—your man included. You know King Jesus suffered for their ultimate joy, and He takes delight in them, giving them fullness of life. By golly, He wept over them, and more than once! Make men and women? I might have. But had they shook their fleshy fists at me the way they did their King, I’d have destroyed them. Die for them? Absolutely not.

We look through labyrinths of tasks to earn God’s favor, rather than have Him as He offers Himself.
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Right now, we can only prod and pick at the redeemed ones for sport; there’s nothing for us to win in the end. He will have what He made. He won’t let humanity go to rot, though they’re born more rotten than their ignorant selves know! See, He would plant a new seed, create some anew. How? The Son of God wouldn’t stay on his throne, but became one of them—and an ugly one at that! All so they’d one-day crawl all over his place and share in a wealth they don’t know the half of now.

They’ll worship Him again. (Try to make your man think this is arrogance, on the Enemy’s part, to desire worship. It will keep your man from happiness in Him). They go around worshiping their spandex-covered athletes, though the game will be forgotten tomorrow; their spouse, though she will grow old; their new this or that, when next year it’ll be old; and they waste their affections when they could have Him.

Discourage Your Man

The Enemy made it far too easy: He can reach your man’s heart, you know, far better than we ever could. The Enemy puts faith in his people. They look up and see him clearly. Our task is to keep your man’s eyes level, looking through labyrinths of tasks to earn the Enemy’s favor, rather than have Him and see Him as He offers Himself.

We don’t want your man asking for what the Enemy freely gives—we want him anxious over how to earn the free gift. We don’t want him looking at the Giver, but livid over his failure to provide for himself. Our task is to blind him to the goodness of the Enemy that surrounds him, lest he respond in joyful worship.

That is all for now.

Your mentor,

Screwtape

[This article is styled after C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters.]

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Key Connections (November 24, 2017)

A Beautiful Table and a Bitter Heart (Melissa Kruger, The Gospel Coalition)

As we quiet our hearts before the Lord, offering up the sacrifice of praise for his goodness in our lives, we prepare our hearts to experience the joy of giving thanks. Counting our blessings instead of counting our bitters allows us to to experience the truth of Proverbs 15:15: “The cheerful of heart has a continual feast.”

The Most Repeated Command in the Bible (Jon Bloom, Desiring God)

Don’t move past this too quickly. Let it sink in: more than anything else, God commands us to be happy. God wants you to be truly, deeply happy. Not just in heaven someday. Not when circumstances take a turn for the better. Not when the sorrow or the darkness finally lifts. God wants you to taste real joy today. Now.

Don’t Let Me Give Way to Despair (Kristen Wetherell, Revive Our Hearts)

Father God, the sum of Your Word is truth! And I want to believe all of it. You speak to me so I would know who You are and believe what is true. Father, protect my mind from lies that come during trials, and guard my heart from acting on these lies. Your truth and character are steadfast, sufficient, and strengthening! Help me believe Your truth! Don’t let me give way to despair, but lead me to my Hope, my Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen.

Become a Murderer in Five Easy Steps (Tim Chester, The Good Book Blog)

David didn’t decide to murder Uriah in a single moment. He was drawn into sin step by step. Even if your path doesn’t end in murder, it may end with the destruction of your soul. For, one way or another, sin leads to death. James says, “After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:15). This is a life-and-death issue.

Why Christians Should Not Get Angry with the Lost (Colin Smith, Unlocking the Bible)

Blaring the horns of condemnation may give vent to Christian frustrations, but it does nothing to solve the human problem. People who are blind, bound, and dead need a Savior who is able to open their eyes to the truth, set them free from the powers that bind them, and raise them up in the power of a new life—and this is precisely what God offers to all of us in Jesus Christ.

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Thankfulness in the Mud Pit

Are you, or is someone you know, in a season of trial this Thanksgiving Day? In times of despair, Scripture is medicine for the soul. God has also gifted the church with worship hymns that are biblically motivated from the hymn writer’s personal experience. Both inspired Scripture and spiritual songs can provide comfort in hardship. They also serve to correct our dependence upon the false assurances of this life.

Psalm 40 provides solace for the hurting soul, recounting David’s deliverance from troubled seasons. David’s song is his thanksgiving declaration from a mud pit of despair.  The contemporary hymn, “This is My Father’s World”(Maltbie Babcock) also provides helpful instruction for the hurting soul. Stanza three speaks that we should not forget the graceful hand of God in difficult seasons:

O let me ne’er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong

God is still the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s World.

Let’s look at how we might apply Scripture and spiritual song to mud pit seasons of despair.

Crafting a Song in the Mud Pit

In Psalm 40, David is delivered from a horrible pit experience in which he is able to praise the God of his deliverance. Other scholars see the Psalm as public worship (vv. 1-10), a cry for help (vv. 11-15, 17), and an exhortation to worship (v. 14). Similar verses of deliverance are also seen in Psalm 70. I am going to focus on the first stanza (vv. 1-10).

A Song That Recounts Our Troubled Circumstances (vv. 1-2)

“Tho the wrong seems oft so strong,” as sung in Babcock’s hymn, can be a difficult statement to swallow. Yet, faith reminds us that troubling circumstances can be a foundation for thankfulness. David waits on the Lord to deliver him from his troubles. Yet, waiting on the Lord and trusting that he will deliver us from our troubled circumstances can be a painful and teary process (v. 1).

David waits on the Lord through difficult surroundings (v. 2). His surroundings were not pleasant. David further describes his predicament as trouble in miry bog (v.2).

Where should we turn in despair, we ask? The victory for me is found in “waiting on the Lord.” However, I feel my troubled circumstances as very strong during times of hardship. While “the wrong seems oft so strong,” the Lord gives me a secure foundation (v. 2). God answers the cry of David and Babcock. Babcock wrote, “Jesus died and shall be satisfied when heaven and earth are one.”

David stated that God heard his cry about his difficult surroundings and became a “refuge” in the time of the storm.  “He has set his feet upon a rock, making his steps secure.” God’s secure footing is our refuge from present circumstances.

A Song That Is New (vv. 3-8)

Writing a new song can only come through God’s enabling grace and by trusting his character (vv. 3-4). God’s grace is a window that awakens the senses to behold his beauty. As the hymn writer states, “All nature sings and round me rings, the music of the spheres.” The hymn continues the “morning light, the lily white.” Such praises are similar to David’s song of being delivered from a mud pit and being placed “upon a rock.”

Jesus Christ is the reason believers are able to sing a new song, even in the pit.
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The new song declares God’s character (v. 5). The psalmist declares God’s work, thoughts, and wonderful works in times when the “wrong feels oft so strong.” David praises God’s wondrous deeds and thoughts (vv. 5-6) of deliverance. The song yields a new perspective about God and himself.  

David’s testimony is a song about the coming Messiah who would “save” the world. David speaks prophetically: “Then I said, ‘Behold I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me’” (v. 7). Christ has written in the “scroll of the book.” He is the one who does the will of God, yielding his life as a ransom for many. He is the reason believers are able to sing a new song, even in the pit.

A Song That Declares God’s Character (vv. 9-10)

During seasons when the hymn writer’s phrase is real and “the wrong seems oft so strong,” the believer can meditate on the glad news of the gospel. The glad news reveals God’s salvation through Christ, our true evangelist of redemption.

So, David reveals his sufferings while reflecting on God’s character. A song saturated in God’s character can push us forward to remain vigilant, strong, and faithful during seasons of tumult. The faithful testimony of verse three shows the reader that God delivers David from the pit of despair. His rescue from the pit keeps him from being silenced.

The aspects of God’s character are too numerous and plentiful to count. Spend some writing down a few and meditating on them today.

Mud pits become the tool of God’s grace to awaken our hearts. And when the feelings of the hymn writer’s words emerge in our minds, “the wrong feels oft so strong,” remember that God is the ruler yet. Hold on to God’s character, and he will deliver you from the mud pits of despair.

[Photo Credit: Lightstock]

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Expecting Perfection or Explaining Grace?

“You expect perfection.” My mom’s well-timed words stung, but I knew she was right. I stood on the brink of “losing it” with my oldest daughter at the local fast food joint. I was struggling to maintain a calm exterior. Inside I was screaming.

My mom’s words melt deeper into my heart, while the whispers of the Holy Spirit grow louder, telling me that my desire for perfect children is not only misguided, but also harmful.

See, what my perfectionist heart really wants is control. I proudly take these pieces of clay into my hands, thinking I am the potter. I believe that if I can bend, shape, press, and turn my children enough, then I can rescue them from their own sinfulness. I work from the outside, expecting my fiery pressure to change them on the inside.

But the Word of God from Isaiah reminds me:

But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

Don’t Expect Perfection.

Yes, I have high standards for my kids. I expect them to show respect, kindness, and obedience to the house rules, etc. But, having standards is not the same as having expectations. And, no expectation I hold over them should include their perfection. Such impossible expectation leaves me frustrated, and them hurt. I run the risk of rejecting the warning in Ephesians while neglecting its parental plan.

Fathers [mothers] do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)

Thankfully, my gracious Lord calls me to raised hands rather than raised expectations for my kids. I am slowly learning to pursue a new set of expectations, one that reflects the gracious heart of the Lord Jesus.

My children are sinners.

In young families, milk will spill and voices will often be louder than necessary. Children are not born knowing how to manage every impulse of their tiny, spontaneous bodies. Instead, they are defined by their energy and their need—for direction, instruction, and discipline. I expect obedience and respect, but I should also expect them to lose control and act like children, as they are.

My gracious Lord calls me to raised hands rather than raised expectations for my kids.
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When we set realistic expectations, we’re likely to face a whole lot less disappointment. The reality is, my children are sinners. So, I should not be surprised when they sin.

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

I’m a sinner too.

Raising children is like looking in a mirror. While parenting, my own sinful tendencies are on full display in the reflection of my girls.

I wonder why they are so selfish while I make decisions that make my life easier at their expense. I tell them they need to have a good attitude when I won’t control the scowl on my own face. When I see one lose her temper over a tiny toddler heartbreak, I remember my reaction when my husband loaded the dishwasher the “wrong” way.

They are sinners. So am I.

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5)

Ordained Opportunities

In God’s grace, He gives me plenty of opportunities to train my girls while I learn to reframe the way I look at their mistakes. Rather than inconveniences or embarrassments, these moments of their disobedience and childishness are opportunities to teach, redirect, share the gospel, and point my children to Jesus.

“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul…You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-20)

In his miraculous plan for parenting, God ordained these imperfect moments as gifts to point little eyes towards the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus that meets us right where we are. God offers eternal forgiveness and grace for my anger and for my girls’ disobedience. He draws them to relationship with him and reminds me of the relationship I have with him regardless of my own imperfection and sin.

Explain Grace

I can’t convict my children of their sin, only the Holy Spirit can do that. However, when they mess up, I can tell them that Jesus was perfect because they couldn’t be. I can remind them that God wants nothing more than to forgive them of their sins. And I can tell them that in his great grace, God delights in everyone who comes to him in repentance.

This great grace is not only for my children, but also for this perfectionist parent learning to let go of my sinful expectations. The Lord tells me to anticipate their sin and repent of my own, seeing each one as an opportunity to shine a triumphant light towards the redemption offered through Jesus Christ at the cross.

[Photo Credit: Lightstock]

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The post Expecting Perfection or Explaining Grace? appeared first on Unlocking the Bible.

Bible Q&A: Why Are We Called to Repentance If We Remain Sinners?

Question: Pastors tell us to repent, but then they also say that we all sin.  So, which is it – repent or sin?

Answer: That is a very good question! Notice what the apostle John says:

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9, NIV)

Our relationship with sin

When a person is born again, the evidence of their new life will be seen, not only in the pursuit of righteousness, but also in turning from sin. If sin is your friend, God is your enemy. If God is your friend, sin is your enemy.

James says “Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). If sin is your friend—if it’s welcome in your life, if you want to hang onto it—then God is your enemy. When God becomes your friend, sin becomes your enemy.

Bishop Ryle describes the change that regeneration brings in a man’s life. Before the man was converted, there was…

…no quarrel between him and sin—they were friends. [The man is comfortable with his sin. But, now that he’s converted], he hates sin, flees from it, fights against it, counts it his greatest plague, groans under the burden of its presence, mourns when he falls under its influence and longs to be delivered from it altogether.

The Christian is never wholly free from sin in this life. Indeed anyone—including any Christian—who says or even thinks he is without sin, deceives himself (1 John 1:8).

Notice that John says “The person born of God will not continue to sin. The person born of God cannot go on sinning.” Jesus came to destroy the work of Satan (I John 3:8), so how can you continue in it?

Rebirth

The reason why the Christian will not and cannot continue in sin is because he is born of God, and God’s seed remains in him. The new birth makes continuing in sin impossible.

A remarkable illustration of this can be seen in the amazing change that takes place in the birth of a child:

When a child is in the womb for months, that life is surrounded by water. The child lives in the water. But as soon as the child’s first breath is taken, the nature of its life is changed. From the moment of birth, the child can no longer live in the water. The child has a new life that has to be lived in the air.

The child can go in water, swim though water, and even go under the water. You can hold your breath and stay under water for 30 seconds or a minute, or even more. But you cannot continue under the water after you’ve been born.

What once was your life is no longer possible for you. You cannot go back to it. Being born has changed the nature of your life. What used to be natural has now become not just difficult, but impossible. You cannot do it. You cannot live under water.

That’s what it is like when you are born again. You cannot continue in sin. There will be times when you fail, but you cannot live there.

The sinner is comfortable with sin. It doesn’t bother him. But when you are born again, your conscience is activated. You can’t settle with something that you know is wrong in your life. You can’t sleep. You can’t rest. Holding onto a sin, for a Christian, is like holding your breath under water. It takes a great effort and you can’t do it for long.

Repentance

In the new birth God becomes your friend, and sin becomes your enemy. You can’t live with sin like you did when sin was your friend. You turn from it. And when you fall into it you turn from it again.

Repentance is a life long process. Here is a helpful definition of repentance:

Repentance is turning from as much as you know of your sin, to give as much as you know of yourself, to as much as you know of God.  

That is a lifetime pursuit! And it begins with the new birth.

[This is an adapted excerpt from Colin’s sermon “ Signs of Life – Part 1 ” from the Regeneration  series. Photo Credit: Lightstock]

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The post Bible Q&A: Why Are We Called to Repentance If We Remain Sinners? appeared first on Unlocking the Bible.

Three Practical Steps to Pray Without Ceasing

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17)

To “pray without ceasing” means to have our minds always on the things of God, to be in constant communication with him, so that every moment may be as fruitful as possible. How can we learn to “pray without ceasing?” Here are three practical steps.

1. Plan times for prayer.

Striving to have an attitude of prayer can seem overwhelming. To understand and develop the mindset of continual prayer, we must start with developing the habit of intentional prayer.

At meals

If the practice of praying at meals is not something you were taught or do right now, I recommend it as an easy way to pray more. For those of us who follow this practice, it is likely that we quickly thank God for our food and get on with eating. However, being more mindful in our prayer takes little time and can immensely increase the effectiveness of it.

When reading Scripture

Pray whenever you have time in the Scriptures. Start your daily Bible reading with prayer for God’s Spirit to give insight and clarity as you read; end your reading with a prayer inspired by what you’ve read. Recite Scripture as you pray, and elaborate on how it speaks to you of what God is doing or wants to do in you. Do something similar when you sit down to do in-depth Bible study. Make any time you meditate on Scripture a time of prayer.

At the start and end of the day

When you wake up, dedicate the day to God in prayer. Praying at the start of the day focuses your mind on prayerfulness that will help carry you through the day, while developing the habit of constant prayer.

When you get ready for bed, thank God for his provision, and pray through your day. This will help quiet your mind and heart as you give over the things of the day to Jesus.

If you prayed at all these times, even for just a minute or two, you would pray at least six times a day. That may be more than you pray now, but it fits relatively easily into an existing schedule, and none of those times need to take too long initially. The first step is to develop a habit of regular prayer.

2. Start short and simple.

There are people who are gifted in prayer. They have regular, lengthy times of personal prayer and are able to stay vigilant and focused. Others seem to have a way with words in prayer. They know how to lift up praise and supplications to God with faith and confidence that he hears and is pleased.

Like many people, I struggle with prayer. First, I have a history of getting stuck on myself in prayer. Second, I struggle to stay focused. I am an avid and accomplished daydreamer, which is often an enemy of long, focused prayer. I may start well, but within a few minutes, I’m thinking about what I would have done differently if I had been the hero in that movie I saw last night. Or something that comes up in prayer reminds me of a Duran Duran lyric, and then I’m wondering what Simon Le Bon (the lead singer) is up to these days. During corporate prayer, I compare myself to other people, which often makes me not want to pray out loud—but then I fear what people will think if I don’t.

Prayer is not primarily about us; it’s about God.
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In my private prayer time, I’ve found that more frequent, short times of prayer usually work better than long periods of prayer. I can only be quiet for so long. I know that when I attempt longer periods of prayer, I need to constantly refocus (which is a useful skill to develop in prayer and life, but takes time and effort), and often I will not be able to sit still.

So don’t worry if your prayer times are short. Our Lord is not limited by our limitations; he is exalted in them. Only our great God could glorify himself through such frail vessels as us. If we come to him in humility, for his glory, and to bear fruit through him, he will lovingly take whatever we have to offer—even if it is but a trifle. Jesus died to reconcile us and bring us into relationship with God. To keep that relationship flourishing, we dedicate ourselves to time with God through his Word and through prayer, even if we stumble through it at first. God’s Spirit will expand our capacities, but we must trust him and faithfully take faltering steps into prayer.

3. Pray according to God’s will.

Prayer is not primarily about us; it’s about God. While God wants us to come to him with our concerns, we must understand as fully as possible what his concerns are.

When a man asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is, he answered by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:36, 39). Jesus died so we would have the freedom and capacity to love God with all we are, and to love each other.

First, seek to love God with everything you are through and in prayer. Then, seek to love your neighbor through prayer. In this way you seek God’s will in every aspect of your prayers, as you include the concerns, requests, and needs for the people God has put around you.

Pray for your literal neighbor. Pray for those in your church and the missionaries that you know. Pray for family. Pray for strangers you’ve interacted with recently. Pray for your pastors and your politicians.

Pray for all of them as you do for yourself—with God’s will paramount in your prayers for them.

Through your times of active prayer, the Spirit will begin to cultivate an attitude of unceasing prayer—and this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

[Photo Credit: Unsplash]

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The post Three Practical Steps to Pray Without Ceasing appeared first on Unlocking the Bible.

Key Connections (November 17, 2017)

The Flesh is Weak: Pastoral Reflections on Self-Control (Aaron Menikoff, 9Marks)

It’s good to remember the fight for self-control. I must fight more. But the fight isn’t the whole story. Self-control is both a call to action and a gift to be received. Self-control is a piece of the fruit of the Spirit. Until this fact is understood, and understood deeply, we’ll never go to God for help. We’ll never live with the confidence he’ll provide.

Christianity is a Crutch for the Weak (Matt Chandler, The Village Church)

We didn’t pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. That’s not the gospel. We were rescued and saved by grace alone through faith alone while we were still weak. God alone gets the glory.

The Main Ingredient in Personal Growth (David Mathis, Desiring God)

We grow in grace not by moving on from this good news that was preached to us, but by going deeper and deeper into that astonishing message. Christians mature not by moving on from the gospel into “deeper truths,” but by sending our roots deeper and deeper into the simple and unfathomable gospel of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness toward us.

Tragedy in Texas: Christian Testimony in the Face of Evil (Albert Mohler, AlbertMohler.com)

Christians have learned that sometimes we have to wait for an answer, and sometimes that wait goes beyond any answer we can get in this life. Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher of the 19th century in London stated this beautifully: “When we cannot trace God’s hand, we are simply to trust his heart.”

God Will Give You More Than You Can Handle (Sophie McDonald, Unlocking the Bible)

When we’re crying into our coffee and feeling burdened beyond our strength, we recognize we need a Savior, from sin andfrom all the human weaknesses that accompany it. That’s when we feel what’s true all the time: We are helpless on our own. We need a strength beyond our own to rescue us. If we were enough, there would be no reason for Jesus.

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