Humble AND Gentle AND Patient AND Loving!?!?

I am reading Ephesians now. I'm making my way backward through GEPC (General Electric Power Company, God Eats Peanutbutter Cookies... yes, I know Peanut Butter is two words, but that is how my Young Life leader taught me... or just Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians/Colossians if you prefer to be traditional). I have been enjoying my time going through these books slowly, concentrating on just a few verses a day, and I have a bunch of posts on Philippians and Colossians partially written. I promise I will get them up soon.

But I thought for now, I would focus on today's reading, because today's reading helped me TODAY. Isn't is lovely how God's Word does just that? If we are faithful to read His Word, He is faithful to teach our hearts how to apply it. In Isaiah 55:11 it says: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. His Word does not return to Him empty. I think sometimes we think this verse just applies to sharing the Gospel with unbelievers. We know that God is at work in people's hearts when we share His Word, whether or not we see results. But the same is true in our own lives. When we read the Word or hear the Word preached, God is at work. Just because I am already a Christian doesn't mean that God's Word has any less of an impact on my life. And today was the perfect example of that.

This morning I read the first part of Ephesians 4, which reads:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. - Ephesians 4:1-3

Lately, I've been dwelling on this idea of living a life worthy of God's calling. Or at least I thought I had been dwelling on it, until today when my Bible footnotes convicted me of what a worthy life really looks like. The footnotes after this verse kindly pointed out that the life of one striving to love Christ will be marked by humility, gentleness, patience, and love for others DAILY.

Eeek. I happen to struggle quite a bit with some of those traits. Okay, all of them. Why can't it say be disciplined and generous (I'm far from perfect, but I feel like I have a better grasp on those two). But it doesn't say that. It says I should be humble AND gentle AND patient AND loving.  And it's not a grab bag. I can't work on being patient today and focus on loving tomorrow. We are called to be like Christ in His utter humility and His alluring gentleness AND His everlasting patience AND His undserved love EVERY day. Can you say "conviction?"

So I walked around campus today, thinking about this verse from time to time. (Because God, by His grace and power, was teaching my heart to meditate on His Word, even though I wasn't consciously choosing to do so....like I said His Word does not return to Him empty). And when I got home, God put me to the test. I went running after school and when I got back to our apartment around 5:30 I was hot and sweaty and anxious to jump in the shower. But I saw that Micah had just called me and seeing that it was his first day at a new job and we hadn't solidified our plans for the evening and he always gets on me for not answering my phone, I decided I should probably call him back. But my heart did not want to. Not because I didn't want to talk to him; I was very excited to hear about his first day on the job, but I didn't want to talk to him before I took a shower. I just wanted to take a shower and for him to come home while I was getting dinner started and then we could talk over dinner. That was my plan. It made sense. It was convenient. A phone call before showering was not convenient. But I called him anyway. However, I quickly became annoyed that we were talking on the phone when we could be talking in person in ten minutes, so I asked to get off the phone so I could jump in the shower. Even when I was off the phone, I felt myself annoyed. Annoyed that talking on the phone for five minutes delayed my shower for five minutes, which would undoubtedly delay dinner by five minutes which might throw off all our plans for the evening. Being way too transparent in my thought process right now... but that's what it was....controlling, selfish, sinful.

But then, thankfully, I remembered my verse. I took a deep breath and thought "I am supposed to be humble and gentle and patient and loving. I am pretty sure to be irritated when Micah gets home from his first day at a new job is the opposite of living a worthy life. It's funny (and sad) how I can get so upset over five minutes that don't go according to my plan. So I sucked it up and got over it. I welcomed Micah home with joy instead of frustration, because God is faithful to teach us how to apply His commands when we meet with Him and delve into learning His statues, His character, and His ways.

Something new...

I am going to break away from the usual purely Scripture focused posting and share a few blog postings that have been a great encouragment to me lately.

I have a million things to share from my own reading of Philippians combined with the Matt Chandler "Philippians" video series that we are going through with our Missional Community (is he okay with the fact that I call him "Matty C" and get excited that he slams us with convicting truth and application week after week?), but first I want to share these links with you. Plus, I have found that reading Christian blogs by amazing and faithful men and women STIRS my own affections for Christ (which is something Matty C. told us to search for in our own lives... what stirs your affections for Christ?). AND in Philippians, Paul tells us to "join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us" (Phil 3:17). The writers of these blogs are awesome Christian leaders to imitate...

First, thoughts on rest by Bob Glenn, one of the pastors who contributes to Desiring God. I have been struggling to truly rest lately and this was very convicting and encouraging.

Secondly, Carolyn Mahaney and her daughters have just started a series on biblical marriage over at their blog, Girl Talk. These two posts have encouraged me quite a bit as a newlywed. This first posting is a great reminder that God loves marriage (after all, it's the analogy He chose to describe the love of His Son for His church), and He is constantly at work in my own marriage, even when it doesn't feel like it. In this second posting, Carolyn reminds me that the world's ideal for marriage, and probably even my own sinful ideal for marriage, does not match up with God's plan for my marriage. She encourages me to read the Bible with a sense of humility and an eagerness to bring my marriage before the Lord and ask HIM how he wants to shape me into a Godly wife. It's not about me. It's  not about Micah. It's about God's glory.

Enjoy!

You know I'm bad, I'm bad - You know it...

So Michael Jackson got something right... we are bad. I am bad. You are bad. He was bad (I'm not even going to go there...)

This isn't my most uplifting post, but it is meant to be humbling...and when you are humbled, I hope you turn fully and joyfully to your Savior, Jesus. So I guess, in a sense, this post might be uplifting after all...

I just want to take a moment to remind you...and myself... that we are not good. Psalm 53 says: God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one (53:2-3).

Not even one. We are not good. We do not seek God of our own accord. We don't please Him. We don't have anything worthy to offer Him. Isaiah says that even our most righteous deeds are like a "polluted garment" or a "filthy rag" in the eyes of God (Isaiah 64:6). Apart from Christ, we are despicable in the eyes of a holy God and rightfully so.

So why do we spend so much time thinking we are good? Thinking we are right? Thinking we are entitled to certain things? A house, a car, a job, friends who love us, family who supports us, happiness, health, money in our savings account? That we deserve to be respected, loved, praised, admired, comforted or encouraged? We don't deserve these things. But admit it, even when you say that Jesus is your everything and acknowledge with your lips that you deserve nothing, you don't always live your life thinking that way. At least I know I don't....

The Bible is clear that we deserve death for our sins (Romans 6:23), and anything less than that is by the grace of God. Even the very air we breathe each day is an undeserved gift from a good God. However, I can say those words with my mouth, but I don't necessarily always live those words by the way I act and, especially, by the way I think...

Because when I am wronged, I think it's not fair. When I am frustrated, I want a fast fix to my problem. When I am sinned against, I want an apology. I want repentance. I want a resolution. I may say I don't deserve my health, my wealth or my happiness, but my negative, selfish attitude when things go wrong would indicate otherwise...

So stop for a moment today, and ask God to open your eyes to the truth. When you find yourself frustrated or feeling wronged and resentful, pause in prayer and ask God's Spirit to fill you with truth. Ask the Holy Sprit to overcome your fleshly ideas of entitlement and speak the Word of God to yourself, "there is none who does good, not even one."

But don't stop there. Think of Chirst. Who came. For you. Who died for you, even though you do not deserve it. Who suffered through a death that HE DID NOT DESERVE. He was entitlted. He belonged in heaven, yet he came to earth. He was supposed to wear crown and not one made of thorns. He deserved honor and instead he got a death sentence. Christ, who deserves every title of glory, praise, honor, and fame, became disentitled for you and for me.

What a beautiful gift. It is my hope that after you ponder, seriously, your own depravity, your own filth, your own incapability of doing anything good on your own, you will turn to Christ. And you will see His purity. His goodness. His utter holiness. And you will know that His righteousness is yours, not because of anything you have done, but because He came to make you new and clean. And that you will live and love and forgive joyfully because of the One who became disentitled to give you a new title... Child of God (I John 3:10).

The Grace to Endure

I just started reading a book by John Piper called Future Grace. I am only a little ways in, but it's good, as all John Piper's books are, of course. Briefly, this book is about what it looks like for Christians to live obedient, fruitful lives (a theme I am always wanting to learn more about if you haven't noticed yet). The premise of this book is that we are obedient to God, not because of gratitude, but because of love, and that we obey not becuase of his faithfulness in the past, but because we have faith in the grace he will give us in the future. Piper, of course, does not say that God's past grace is unimportant or that we should not be thankful. He only points out that we will never continue to be obedient in the future if we don't have faith in God's future grace that he will provide both on this earth and in heaven. Thankfulness for the past is not enough to stir morality is pitiful sinners. Like I said, it's good. I am giving you this intro on the book in case I share anything else from it over these next few weeks or months.

So I was reading Piper's chapter on anxiety in the book (because apparently my breathing troubles might be caused by anxiety...yuck...want to get that sin out of my life ASAP), and I stumbled across this beautiful, intriguing phrase..."the grace to endure." Piper was talking about the fear of public speaking that haunted him throughout his childhood and into college. It seems almost funny now, as he is one of the most well known pastors in America, but he was plagued by anxiety about speaking in public for years and years. Like shaky voice, shaky hands, all the kids in the class and the teacher felt bad for him kind of anxiety. And he said he prayed hundreds of prayers for help during those years and God only provided the grace to endure...

The grace to endure. What a humbling, intriguing idea. Sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers how we want him to or when we want him to. However, he gives us the strength to keep going despite our trials. Our very lives are a mark of God's grace, so if life is hard, and God gives us the strength to keep going and keep trusting in Him, despite hardship, that is God's grace in our lives. We don't deserve endurance.

This phrase led me to the Bible, where I read all I could about enduring and endurance. Here are a few of the things I found...

Luke 21:19 "By your endurance you will gain your lives." Jesus is telling his disciples about the hardships they will endure as his followers after he leaves earth. He says they will be mocked, hated, and possibly even killed, but their endurance in persecution is a mark of their salvation.

Romans 5:3-5 "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Love these verses. So not only do we not deserve to endure, but God uses endurance to strengthen and sanctify us. Endurance results in character and character produces hope. The result of endurance is hope in God - and his future grace.

I Peter 2:19-20 "Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God." The context of this verse is a command for slaves to be subject to their masters. But this is a truth for all believers. We are to endure suffering, even when we suffer for doing good. This is a mark of God's grace in our lives, because it shows that we are following the example of Christ, and God looks on this kind of endurance with favor and blessing.

Hebrews: 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Here our lives are compared to a race that must be run with perserverance all the way to the finish line. Anyone with running background knows that races are not easy. Race day means you push your body to perform at your maximum level. Races are hard, but it is exciting to finish them well. Here Jesus is, again, the example of the model racer. His race included a cross right before the finish line... He endured more than we can imagine and finished his race perfectly so the rest of us could finish our races with endurance as well.

How is God giving you the grace to endure today? How is this producing hope in your life?

No grudges allowed...

Thankfully, I have never been one to hold a grudge. It's not that I have never wanted to... my sinful flesh sometimes likes the idea of remaining bitter or even being vengeful when I have been hurt or betrayed. But thankfully God has made it impossible for me to stay mad at people for too long. In the moment, it seems annoying. I think "I want to be mad at you. You don't deserve my forgiveness." But for some reason, God has given me a heart that can't really hold a grudge, and it is a HUGE blessing, even when my sinful heart doesn't really appreciate it.

The Bible speaks boldy about grudges. They are not allowed in the Christian life. Colossians says the Christian life should look like this: "bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive." (3:13). It's not that we won't ever be hurt or wronged by a Christian brother or sister. We will be. The Bible is pretty clear that as we live in the flesh, we will be wounded by friends and family, even by people who love the Lord, but fall short at times.

What should be our response? To bear with each other's failings. To forgive. It seems like a difficult task, and it is, but it is also possible because of Christ. Jesus has forgiven our utter betrayal of him. He is perfect and loves us completely, yet we fail Him time and time again. But that cross of forgiveness is always there. Always prepared to bear our sins. So we too, with grateful hearts, should forgive those who sin against us.

There have been lots of Christian analogies about bitterness and unforgiveness. The first one that comes to mind is that bitterness is like a cancer of the soul. While this is not straight out of Scripture, the author of Hebrews does warn his readers to make sure "no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled." (12:15). Clearly, there is something poisonous about bitterness, and unforgiveness can be harmful to the church. So obey God today... bear and forgive...because you have a Savior who has done the same thing for you at a far more drastic price.