Michael Kelley's Blog, page 7

We Are Safe, Because the Lord Shut Us In

There are all kinds of questions that come about when you read the story of Noah in Genesis 6 and 7. Most of the answers are left to the imagination. For example:

Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah (Gen. 7:8-9).

They came to Noah? What was that like? Was it orderly? Were the animals friendly to one another? Lots of questions, but ones that the Bible is not particularly concerned with answering. The overall point seems to be that God told Noah it would happen, just as He did with the flood, and so it was.

Here is another moment in the same chapter that might cause us to wonder:

The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in (Gen. 7:16).

“The Lord shut them in.” What a wonderfully mysterious and imagination-stirring little sentence that is.

How did He shut them in? What did Noah and his family see, if anything? What did it sound like as the door was closed? We don’t know.

What we do know is that however it happened; whatever it looked like; whatever it sounded like – it was secure. Because the Lord shut them in. Sealed the door. And when the Lord shuts you in, you are in.

In the midst of all the tumultuous activity outside the boat – all the thunder and the rain; all the wind and the waves blowing the boat this way and that; all that noise and shaking as the water rose and rose and rose… surely it was a comfort to those inside to know that it was the Lord who shut the door. And because the Lord shut the door, it was secure.

What a wonderful thing it must have been, in the midst of all the fear and apprehension and anxiety about what was going on around them to know that God had shut them in. It must have been gloriously comforting… and it still is:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

How secure are the sheep? How safe are those who have been claimed by Jesus? We are firmly within His grip. And even if there was some power strong enough to grasp us out of the hand of Jesus, the Father’s hand is closed around His. God has shut us in. Here again:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13-14).

How secure are those included in Christ? They are sealed – shut in – by the Holy Spirit who lives within us. Feel it today, friend – feel deeply the comfort of knowing that you belong to Jesus. Though all hell might break loose outside, though you might be attacked and assailed on many sides, though you will inevitably face trials of many kinds – you are safe. God has laid claim to us, and we are His.

He has shut us in.

No Matter What’s Going Wrong, There’s Always Something Going Right for the Christian

It seems like bad things come in bunches, doesn’t it?

You have a car break down only to find that the air conditioner has gone out only to find that the water heater is leaking.

Or you get crossways in a relationship only to find that you are overburdened at work only to find that one of your children didn’t make the sports team.

And so on. Life happens, both good and bad, and at least from our perspective, it can seem that those things happen in streaks. That’s true at a personal level, but it’s also true when we look outside our own lives. There are seasons in the world when it seems like there is a relative amount of peace, prosperity, well-being, and agreement. But then again, there are seasons when it seems like the hits just keep on coming.

Maybe they will. But then again, maybe they won’t. In either case, though, there will be seasons that will at least remind us of this one – times when it seems like circumstances just keep piling on. For the Christian, though, it’s a good and right thing to call to mind that no matter what or how much is going wrong, there are still some things going right. Hear the words of the prophet from the Old Testament:

I remember my affliction and my wandering,
    the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
    and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind
    and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him” (Lam. 3:19-24).

Surely everything was going wrong for Jeremiah. He had been mistreated, neglected, abused, and maligned when he faithfully warned the people of coming judgment. And then the judgment came – the city of God was besieged and the people of God were in dire trouble. Jeremiah wept for the people, wept for their sin, wept for the judgment they were undergoing. Everything was going badly. But even when everything was going wrong, something was still going right –

The Lord was still compassionate. His presence was still with them. God was still faithful, even when His people were not. These are the things Jeremiah had to call to mind – he had to make an effort to remember what was right in the midst of everything that was wrong. And though our circumstances might not be the same degree of “bad” or “wrong” that Jeremiah was experiencing, we still must do the work of calling to mind what is going right.

So what good do we call to mind today, especially if it seems like all is going wrong? The answer is similar to what Jeremiah testified. What’s going right is still the Lord’s grace. His compassion. His care. His advocacy. Here is what we call to mind, and therefore we have hope:

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:31-39).

Yes. This is what we call to mind. This is what we work to believe in the midst of circumstances that are going terribly wrong. In the midst of all that’s going badly, Jesus is going right. And we are still in Him.

One Phrase That Clarifies the Nature of Faith

What is faith?

Is it a feeling? Is it based in intellect? Is it a gift? Is it a choice? “Faith” is one of those words that we use frequently, but it’s often difficult to actually define. Fortunately, the Bible does that defining for us:

“Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). That’s the definition. But couched in that definition is the recognition that faith is only as good as the object of that faith. I read at one point Tim Keller describing a scenario like this:

“The faith that changes the life and connects to God is best conveyed by the word “trust.” Imagine you are on a high cliff and you lose your footing and begin to fall. Just beside you as you fall is a branch sticking out of the very edge of the cliff. It is your only hope and it is more than strong enough to support your weight. How can it save you? If your mind is filled with intellectual certainty that the branch can support you, but you don’t actually reach out and grab it, you are lost. If your mind is instead filled with doubts and uncertainty that the branch can hold you, but you reach out and grab it anyway, you will be saved.

Why?

It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.”

This quote clarifies the nature of faith. Faith does not guarantee a certain outcome in a given situation, because ultimately faith is dependent on the object of that faith. For the Christian, faith is about trusting God and His character to do what is good and right and true, even if that outcome does not appear to be good and right and true to us.

There is a phrase, from a story in the Bible, that further clarifies the nature of faith. This single phrase moves us past thinking of faith as triumphalism where if we believe strongly enough then we will get the outcome we desire.

Here’s the phrase:

“Even if He does not…”

Remember the story? Let me take you back to the scene where thousands upon thousands of loyal subjects bowed before a golden statue, either because they revered their leader, or they feared the proclamation he had made – that anyone who did not bow before his idol would be thrown into a furnace.

Three figures stood apart, starkly visible in the midst of the crowd of those who has prostrated themselves. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not bow, and they were called on the carpet for it. After being given one more chance to change their minds, and knowing the consequences of their stand (literally), they responded with that statement:

“Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question. If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up” (Daniel 3:16-18).

“Even if He does not,” they said. And with those 5 words, the three faithful Hebrews pointed out that ultimately, our faith is not dependent on our circumstances; it’s dependent on the character of God. That we trust not so that we can achieve a certain desirable outcome, but because we believe God is trustworthy and will do the right thing on our, and His, behalf.

This phrase reminds me of another moment in time, with another faithful Hebrew, who also knew that faith was grounded in God’s character. This Faithful One knelt before His Father, knowing that He, too, would soon face His own circumstance of pain. And kneeling there in the garden, He prayed for deliverance – that the same God who allowed not one hair on the heads of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be singed would once again intervene. But at the same time, He expressed His unwavering faith in the God who does what is right, all the time, knowing that even if He does not, the outcome would still be the best. So Jesus, too, prayed:

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me—nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

And so it was that God, once again, did what was right. Jesus went to the cross. In so doing, He showed us that faith is founded in God’s character, not our preference, and that He always does what is good and right and true, even “if He does not…”

4 Reasons Why I’m Glad God Doesn’t Change His Mind

“God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19).

God does not change His mind. The theological term for this is God’s immutability – that His character, His will, or His promises are firmly planted. They will not change. The human term for this is stubbornness, and we don’t think highly of people who are so immovable. We consider them to be hard-headed, arrogant, and unwilling to listen to reason or persuasion.

Surely you’ve known(or perhaps been?) that person so convinced of their own opinion, their own position, or their own preference that it’s like they have cotton stuffed into your ears. Someone can come and present with logic or emotion or both the reason why they should reconsider your actions, positions, preferences, or opinions, but it just doesn’t matter. They think what they think, do what they do, behave how they behave, and in their own eyes, they are right no matter what anyone else says.

It’s infuriating. But lest we take that same approach with God – that He is a deity of stubborn arrogance, we should reconsider. Much as it might be frustrating to see that characteristic in others or ourselves, the fact that God doesn’t change His mind is a good thing for us. A very good thing in fact. And here are 3 reasons why:

1. It means God has no new knowledge.

One of the reasons why we might change our minds, as humans, is simply because we are presented with new information about something. There is something we didn’t know about a circumstance or a person or an issue, and based on this new information, we are compelled to change the way we think about it. But if God never changes His mind, it means there is no new information to Him.

God knows every circumstance down to the molecular level. There is never a moment when He’s caught off guard or surprise; never an instance when He is shocked or dismayed. For us, who are constantly becoming aware of new bits of circumstantial information, this is a very good thing, because it means among other things that God is simply not surprised at that which is most shocking to us. Everything in your life right now, though it might be surprising to you, has not left God in a state of shock. Far from it, in fact.

2. It means God never learns anything new about Himself.

Sometimes we, as humans, change our minds because we learn something new about our intent, our motivation, or our feelings. The human heart is a confusing, mixed up, and twisted sort of place. As a result, when we reflect on our decisions and opinions of the past, we almost always realize that though we thought we were acting for one reason, there was actually something else going on inside of us at the time.

Not so with God. God knows Himself, and He always acts in accordance with His perfect character. He never second guesses His motivation in making a certain decision because He is entirely self-knowledgable all the time. Unlike us, God isn’t on a road to maturity where their actions and motivations can be fully aligned, but instead is completely honest and self-aware right now. That’s a good thing for us, especially when you combine point 1 and 2, because it means, among other things that God isn’t going to suddenly realize He’d made a mistake by loving us once. He knew us then, and He knew Himself then… and we are loved through Christ now and forever.

3. It means God never acts out of proportion.

One of the reasons why I might change my mind is because in a given moment I might be overcome with some emotion that causes me to act in a certain way. I might be overcome with anger, with sentiment, with nostalgia, or whatever, and because I am overcome in that moment, I act disproportionately to what I should. Instead of a measured and wise course of thinking and action, I am hasty and overblown. Not so with God.

God never has to change His mind because He was “too” something earlier. He was never too loving, too patient, too angry, too judging – He’s not “too” at all. He’s just right, and always in accordance with His perfect character. Oh, the freedom that comes from knowing this truth. For we can live in confidence that God will not go back on His Word, having pronounced that Word in a moment of weakness. We can know that He will indeed punish evil. He will indeed keep His children to the end. He will indeed cause His church to overcome against the gates of Hades. He will indeed complete the good work He has begun in us. And He will indeed never let anything in all creation separate us from the love of God in Christ.

4. It means God cannot be manipulated.

This is the dark underbelly of our own human flexibility with our opinions or actions. Sometimes we change because someone has manipulated us. In the worst case, it means we have succumbed to having our palms greased or out pockets filled or some other benefit that will come our way if we just lean this way or that. So we find the promise of some reward to us, something that will make us, in our minds, more comfortable or happier, and so we compromise.

But God cannot, and will not, be manipulated. His purposes will stand. He will not lower and cheapen Himself so much as to make some kind of cosmic trade whereby we bring Him something in exchange for some benefit He can provide to us. Of course, that’s not to say our prayers are not effective – they certainly are. But this is not us manipulating God for our own ends; rather, it is Him acting in accordance with His will in response to our prayers, which were also in accordance with His will. And thank goodness that’s the case. Thank goodness God is not withholding from us His greatest blessings only to proportion them out to the highest bidder. Thank goodness He cannot be swayed by bribery. Thank goodness there is still justice in the universe, and still a righteous Judge who sits above it all.

This is our God. Not the kind of God who can be manipulated, acts on a whim, is on a journey of self-discovery, or is knocked off His throne by new bits of information. He is the God who was, and is, and will be. Forever.

3 Diagnostic Questions to See If You Have an Idol

John Calvin once wrote that the human heart is an idol factory, and that is indeed true. Now when we think about idols, we might be tempted to picture actual, physical idols – something made of wood or metal that we bow down and worship. And while that might be the case, idolatry can be much more subtle.

In fact, many times we might have an idol we aren’t even aware of. It could be anything – money, power, notoriety, or a vision for our own lives. What’s more, it can actually be a shrunken down version of God we have fabricated in our own minds. This is potentially the most dangerous kind of idolatry because while we are still paying lip service to the God of the Bible, we are actually bowing down before a version of God that meets our own ends. But how do you know if you have done that? How do you know if you have manufactured that kind of image in your own heart? Let me give you three diagnostic questions to ask.

1. How do you approach the Bible?

As Christians, we believe this is God’s Word. We believe it is inspired by God, and it is the source of all truth because it reveals the nature and ways of God to us. So what attitude do you have when you come to God’s Word? If you find yourself opening God’s Word looking for ammunition to back up the opinions you’ve already formed, then you very well may have manufactured an image of God. That is not the way to approach the Bible. We should instead approach the Bible open-hearted and open-handed. We should be prepared to receive the correction we need from His Word rather than looking to it to confirm what we have already thought or planned.

2. Does your version of God ever disagree with you?

The good thing about these poor representations of God is that they will always tell you exactly what you want to hear because these idols are fashioned around our own preferences and desires. They will tell us that we are right. That everyone else is wrong. That our sin is no big deal. That the best thing we can do in life is pursue that which will satisfy us at a given moment, no matter what it is.

Furthermore, these idols will tell us that we are the most important thing in the universe. Our idols will affirm our belief that because we are at the center, then anyone who doesn’t align with our desires or opinions is simply wrong or out of touch. Further, our idols will bolster our belief that because we are central, it’s perfectly fine for us to see others as a means to our own ends. They will support our “use” of other people to gain whatever they can offer us.

3. Does following your God cost you anything?

Because it should. Jesus reminded us that if anyone wants to follow after Him, it means taking up our cross to do so. That means dying to ourselves – our preferences, our hopes, our desires, and our dreams – is synonymous with following Christ. If your representation of God costs you nothing, then it would be wise to take a second look at the God you claim to be following.

The good news is that we don’t have to settle for representations of God we have fabricated in our own minds in order to suit our own desires. We have the real thing in Jesus:

He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him (Col. 1:15-16).

Look to Jesus and you will find the real God.

3 Warning Signs You Might Not Be Taking Your Calling Seriously

When you think about the Old Testament character of Samson, what comes to mind? Long flowing hair? Rippling muscles? Larger than life and able to physically do things no person should be able to physically do?

In many ways, what we picture with Samson is the equivalent of a professional wrestler. But what about his character? Well, when it comes to character, he’s much less impressive. And though his flaws were many, perhaps you could sum it all up like this:

Samson never really took his calling seriously. And he was indeed called. This is what the angel said about his birth in Judges 13: “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazarite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

Samson was called to be a Nazarite. Separated for God. And there were visible tangible signs of that separation. Not only so, but he was called for a purpose – not to be the Old Testament version of a professional wrestler, but to begin to save Israel from the Philistines. And yet time and time again, we see that Samson never took this calling seriously.

Like Samson, we too have received a calling. Though there are many places in Scripture that talk about this call, here is a particularly vivid passage from 1 Peter 2:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light… Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.”

This is a serious call. It is an all-encompassing call. It is a call that surpasses your vocation, your station, or your position in the community. If you are a Christian, then you have a call on your life. But also like Samson, we might be taking it seriously enough. But how do you know?

Let’s return to Samson and find three warning signs in Judges 16, the story of Samson and Delilah.

1. Warning sign number one is your primary influences.

We don’t know much about Delilah, but we do know that it didn’t take much convincing for her to agree to betray Samson (Judges 16:4-6). Though it took several attempts, she eventually wore down Samson’s resistance and discovered the secret to his strength. This was who Samson had chosen to let into his heart and life.

Friends, it takes a great deal of hubris to think that we can surround ourselves with ungodliness and not be influenced by it. If we, like Samson, look around and see that the primary influences in our lives are not intentionally spurring us on toward Jesus and good works then it is a warning sign that we are not taking our calling seriously.

2. Warning sign number two is our commitment to holiness.

Part of your calling, as a Christian, is to be holy. That is, to be pure. To be set apart in issues of morality. If you aren’t taking that commitment to holiness seriously, then it is a warning sign you aren’t taking your call as a Christian seriously either.

Samson didn’t. His Nazarite vow meant he was to be set apart for the Lord, and that separation included that he would have no contact with a dead body. But notice Samson’s first answer when Delilah asked him the secret of his strength (Judges 16:7). He told her that if he were tied up with seven bowstrings that had not been dried, his strength would fade. Now what are these bowstrings? Well, literally, they were animal tendons. And, they were fresh. So Samson’s first answer to her request was a direct violation of his Nazarite vow that he would not touch a corpse. The apparent glibness with which he gives his answer seems to indicate that holiness? Being set apart? Is the furthest thing from his mind.

3. Warning Sign number three involves our assessment of ourselves.

Samson lived his life treating his calling like a toy. He seems to have thought that no discipline would ever come upon him for doing so – that he was above things like that. That he was untouchable. And this is visible in his interactions with Delilah. As she asks him questions about the source of his strength, he moves closer and closer to the truth. He eases up next to it, as close as he can come, until he finally tells her to cut his hair.

“Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall,” says Proverbs 16:18. If that is true, then we should all have a very healthy distrust of ourselves. Problem is that we often look at those around us – whether in the news or in our personal relationships – and see their struggle with whatever, and we tend to think that we would never do that “thing” they have just done. That somehow we are above it. We think a very, very dangerous thing – I could never do that. It will never happen to me.

But a wise person doesn’t think that highly of himself. A wise person knows what he is capable of and puts guardrails in place around it. Samson didn’t. He played around with his calling. And the results were disastrous for him, and they will be disastrous for us.

Friends, we have been called. Let’s learn from the failure of Samson and take that calling seriously.

Don’t Trade What Doesn’t Fade for What Does

There are lots of great things about your kids getting older. You are able to have deeper conversations. You’re able to tell real jokes and see how they are growing in their intellect and personality. You don’t have to carry kids on your shoulders any more when you’re on a hike. But one of the difficult things about your kids getting older is that Monopoly becomes more difficult.

Now that might not make sense because, after all, the rules of Monopoly are the rules of Monopoly. But in our house, we always play that layered on the top of the basic rolling of dice and buying property, there is the negotiation. Players can work to buy or trade for property that has been acquired by other players. When our kids were young, this was a lot easier. I could trade for Park Place with a package of Smarties. But now? Well now it’s much more problematic because the kids have grown in their ability to spot what is a good trade and what’s not.

Life, in a sense, is all about tradeoffs. You might make more money, but you have to work longer hours. You might have a larger house, but you have a smaller monthly budget. You might enjoy that package of bacon but you’ll raise your cholesterol. Life is about tradeoffs.

Our spiritual lives are about tradeoffs as well. But as Christians, we must deal with the near constant temptation to trade what doesn’t fade for what does.

Because there are lots of things in our lives that DON’T fade. We have an inheritance in Christ that will never spoil or fade. We have a birthright, thanks to the gospel, that makes us co-heirs with Jesus. We have the promise that God is not only with us, but is actually FOR us, working all things together for our good.

These are things that don’t fade. And yet the things of world – those things that DO fade – are a lot more visible. They seem sometimes to be more real, or at least more immediate. And so we are tempted to trade what doesn’t fade for the things that do.

To trade the eternal for the temporal.To trade the “then” for the “now.”To trade what eternal joy for momentary pleasure.

We are not alone in this temptation, and we aren’t alone if we give into it.

We turn back to the story of Jacob and Esau in the book of Genesis and find that Esau was willing to trade his birthright for a bowl of stew. We find Moses, the great leader of Israel, willing to trade his leadership into the Promised Land for an outburst of anger. We see David willing to trade his integrity for a sexual encounter with Bathsheeba.

And then we come to Jesus who warned us very directly about this very thing: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

There will always be the temptation to make that trade just as so many have done before us. To trade what doesn’t fade for what does. We must recognize this danger and heed this warning. But as we are heeding this warning, let us also remember the good news – the good news is that if you are a Christian, then you are a beneficiary of the greatest trade. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. Do you see the trade?

Jesus got our sin; we got His righteousness.Jesus got our punishment; we got peace.Jesus was forsaken; we were accepted.Jesus became poor; we became spiritually rich.Jesus got death; we got eternal life.

This is the message of the gospel – it is a great exchange that has been offered to us. Let that truth be the wind in your sails this morning as you are daily confronted with the choice to make trades of your own. Don’t trade what doesn’t fade for what does.

Christians Don’t Escape. They Persevere.

A select few Christian virtues seem to get all the press. Love, joy, hope, faith – we often talk about these characteristics that should pervade the Christian life, and we should. But there are other characteristics, too, that are also important, but ones that don’t seem to get nearly as much play time.

By way of example, think about perseverance. We don’t talk about that one nearly as much, and no wonder – if we want to talk about perseverance, then by necessity we must also talk about difficulty. That is, after all, what perseverance is – it’s continuing on in the face of struggle. Pain. Anxiety. Depression. And it’s continuing on, oftentimes, in a none too exciting way. Rather, it’s just putting one foot in front of the other.

Perseverance is plodding forward through difficulty. That’s the picture you get from James 1:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).

The context of the verse is hardship. In this case, the hardship is persecution. These Christians were facing trials like this, and James wrote telling them that even if they don’t feel it, they can “consider” or “count” the facing of those trials as joy. And why?

It’s because the field of difficulty is where perseverance most readily grows. Or, you could say it the opposite way – no difficulty, no perseverance.

Now this is hard for us because we do not live in a culture that values perseverance. Oh, we might say we do, and we might like movies that show stories of it, and we might share quotes about it, but we have trouble living it. That’s because we live in a culture of escape. We live in a culture that doesn’t like persevering; we live in a culture that likes escaping. People escaping to amusement, fathers escaping responsibility, mothers escaping boredom, employees escaping the daily grind – it’s a culture bent on escape.

Interestingly, if we look back at James 1, the origin of the word translated as “perseverance” means “standing under.” Now that’s a powerful image. Imagine, for a moment, that you are holding a rock over your head. Not a big rock, but not a small one either. At first it’s pretty easy to stay under it, but as the minutes drag by, it becomes heavier and heavier, and all you can think about is how light your life would be if you could only get out from under that burden.

From that pressure.

From that responsibility.

From that difficulty.

It would be so much lighter if you could just escape. But Christians don’t escape – they do the opposite. They stand under, and they persevere.

Now it’s at this point we should be careful, because frankly, there are some situations in which we need to escape, and it’s the good and right thing to do. An abusive relationship, for example, is something we most certainly do not need to stand under. Or a church that has drifted from centering itself on God’s Word. Or a situation in which we continually find ourselves tempted toward sexual immorality. These situations are the right time to flee; they’re the right time to escape. But those situations are comparatively few compared to most of the everyday difficulties we face. And we ought to be careful that we aren’t trying to escape from under something heavy just for the sake of our own comfort.

No, Christians aren’t those who escape. We are those who persevere. So I wonder, today, what situation in your life feels heavy? What are you trudging through at the pace of a turtle? When are you plodding? Yes, of course, it feels heavy, but that’s how strength is made. Don’t look first for the escape hatch, Christian. Look first to the road of perseverance.

The Love of God is Not Naive

Every first time parent is a bit naïve. I know we were.

Sixteen years ago, there were many firsts. First cry; first bath; first dirty diaper; first feeding; first sneeze; first outfit. It was amazingly cute at every moment. Pictures were taken to memorialize every one of those instances and more. Sitting in the hospital for those first 48 hours, it seemed like we were born to be parents (never mind the fact that some wonderful people would come and take the baby away from us for a while when we needed to rest or eat dinner and then bring him back when it was time for him to be precious again).

And then we went home.

Fast forward about 2 weeks, and both my wife and I were walking around in some post-childbirth haze, zombie parents who couldn’t remember whether it was Tuesday or the color purple. And suddenly all those cutesy parts of parenting that captured our attention in the early hours weren’t so cute any more.

Instead, they were replaced with things like irrational diatribes to an infant offering them everything you own if they would only stop crying at 2:30 am.

I suppose that’s how it happens with most parents. No matter how many books you read, how many classes you go to, or how much advice you get – no matter how prepared you think you are, it’s impossible to approach parenting realistically. You are, of course, going to be somewhat naïve.

It’s like that with marriage, too. There you are on your wedding day, and you say the vows, making the promises about better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health – but in your heart, you sort of believe it’s really always going to be the better, richer, and healthier than the opposite. Again, you are going to be somewhat naïve.

But not God.

There is no divine naiveté there. He knows exactly what He’s getting from before the word go. Long before the word go actually:

“For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that he favored us with in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6).

With full knowledge of the future, full knowledge of every wrong and right, every wise and foolish move, every act of devotion and every act of betrayal, the Lord chose us in Him. He has never had that moment, Christians, where he looked at that little bundle of a spiritual baby in His arms and in His frustration wondered what He was thinking.

Never. Because none of it takes Him by surprise.

Ever.

Again, here is the apostle on the subject:

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:6-8).

This is not some Saving Private Ryan kind of moment in which someone makes a tremendous personal sacrifice and tells the beneficiary to, in light of that sacrifice, “Earn this.” Rather, the amazing grace of God is extended in the sacrificial death of Jesus with the full knowledge that we will not, and cannot, “earn this.” And the sacrifice is made anyway, with eyes fully open to the truth of our past, present, and future.

While we might look at others in our lives with doubt, thinking something like, “If they only knew,” we never need do so with God. He knows. He knows even better than we do. And yet He has proven His love for us even still.

4 Reasons Why Gratitude is Good for Your Soul

Back in my seminary days, a seasons Old Testament and Hebrew professor stood before our class of students and shared this nugget with us:

“Remember, students – seminary is really just the process of moving from unconscious to conscious ignorance.”

It wasn’t particularly encouraging, but it was very wise. And very true. I left those days of schooling more aware than I’d ever been about just how much I didn’t know. And the pattern has continued not just intellectually, but emotionally for me. It’s astounding to me at least that I am the age I am and yet still can still be so easily deceived and swayed by my emotions. Mercifully, as we grow in Christ, our feelings actually become more and more sanctified as well, but we have a mighty long way to go, don’t we?

We know we shouldn’t get angry at this thing, or be happy about that thing, or be frustrated about this occurrence – but we just can’t help ourselves. Many times – maybe even most times – our emotions conflict with our faith. It’s in those moments when we have to choose to act contrary to what we feel. We do this in faith, believing that we are doing what God desires even though we might not feel it in the moment. But this becomes particularly difficult when it comes to things that we know we should feel. Things like gratitude, for example.

We don’t always feel thankful. But here is where we must remember that gratitude is not a so much an issue of emotion as much as it is an issue of obedience. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”, says the apostle (Phil. 4:4). This is not a suggestion; it’s not a helpful hint for happiness. This is a command. Similar commands can be found throughout the Bible, each one telling us, not suggesting to us, that we give thanks.

For the Christian, then, thanksgiving becomes a discipline to practice on those days and during those seasons when we don’t feel particularly grateful for anything that’s happening at the present. When we choose to obey the command not just once but over and over again, we will find that our souls will be lifted and our emotions will follow. Gratitude is very good for our souls. It is so for at least these four reasons:

1. Gratitude is an active way of pursuing humility.

Humility is an elusive thing. The moment you consider yourself humble, you have begun to take pride in your humility. So how can we pursue a characteristic like this? We do it through active means like gratitude. When we start expressing our gratitude both to God to others, humility rises inside us because we are recognizing someone else as a provider for something we needed or wanted. We are honoring the one who has given to us, and therefore are putting ourselves in a second position.

2. Gratitude reminds you of the good character of God.

Our lack of gratitude is not because of lack of reason; it’s only because of lack of awareness. The sun came up this morning. Our hearts are still beating. We are still in the faith. This is all because of our good Father who, in His grace, sustains us and everything else. When we start to actively practice gratitude, we are reminded to look beyond what present circumstance might be making us feel ungrateful and are reminded of God’s good character.

3. Gratitude guards against materialism.

Everywhere you turn you will see someone who has something that you do not have. And many times, our hearts will tell us that we are entitled to that same thing. This sense of entitlement is one of the roots that bears the fruit of materialism. If we don’t want to drift this way, one of the most practical safeguards we can put in place is a commitment to giving thanks for who God is, what He has done, and how He has chosen to provide particularly for us.

4. Gratitude refocuses your gaze appropriately.

To revisit where we started, we often can’t control how we feel. But we can control where we look. And very often our hearts will follow our gaze. Maybe this is why there are so many biblical exhortations to focus our eyes, to look, to behold – when we look to the right place we will begin to feel the right things. Practicing gratitude forces our eyes off of what we perceive we are lacking and onto the goodness of God most clearly displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Gratitude is good for our souls. Ironically, God’s command for us to “give thanks” is not just about giving Him the honor He is due; it’s about His commitment for us to live in the fullness of His joy. Our gratitude is as much for our sake as it is for His.