The Big Lie is that you will find true happiness and fulfillment by violating God’s will. Now it’s true that you may find momentary happiness and partial fulfillment in violating God’s will. But it’s fleeting, and you’ll just keep chasing the wind. What you need to learn is to sacrifice those fleeting moments on the altar of praise to God. And this is where the battle for sanctification is most real. People can be willing to praise God, but not willing to give up their sin. However, the more you learn the true joy of God over the pleasures of the self, the more sanctified you will become in practice. And this is how you progressively find true happiness and fulfillment in God. It is a life of worship that is worth the self-denying sacrifice. The presence of God is greater than the pleasures of this world. Renew your mind.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Trust Takes Time
We need to make a distinction between being forgiven of something and being done with something. This is a matter of justification, regeneration, and repentance. Transformation is a process. Just because someone has been forgiven of their sins by God, or forgiven of a particular sin, by others, this doesn’t mean that the person doesn’t still have a sinful problem.
The power of sin is not instantly fixed through forgiveness. By virtue of justification, the eternal penalty for sin, and being guilty in the eyes of God, that is “fixed”. But there remain consequences in this life. Sinful patterns must still be dealt with. By virtue of regeneration, Christians do have the power to overcome sinful patterns, but they must endeavor to do it. It is not automatic. It takes time, effort, and commitment. Christians should forgive, but they should not act as if their forgiveness of a person, or even God’s forgiveness of a person, means that person is fully and finally healed of their sinful pattern.
There is a difference between repentance proclaimed and repentance proven. Repentance proclaimed (a confession) begins in a moment of time. Repentance proven (a conversion) happens over the course of time. When repentance is proclaimed, we forgive. When repentance has been proven, then we forget. To do otherwise is not wise. Trust takes time.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
You know the reason why
Why don’t people want to come to church?
It’s because it isn’t about wanting to come to church until it is about needing to come to church. In our neck of the woods, before the hurricane got near, people weren’t waiting all day in gas lines. But as it approached, people were scrambling all around this county trying to find anywhere that had gas. It was limited, it was running out, and people were running out of patience, and hope. Everybody was willing to wait in the gas lines then. People were up at all times of the night, looking anywhere and everywhere, hoping to see a tanker at a station, going from station to station, checking their GasBuddy phone app, and trying to get a good place in line. You needed gas to get your family out of town, gas for your generator, to hunker down, gas to drive, and gas to stay alive. You had to have it. People don’t come to church when they aren’t convinced that they really need it. But if you know you must have it then you will want it. And you’ll do whatever it takes to get it. People don’t want to come to church because they think they can be good with God without it. But that only proves they aren’t.
Why don’t people walk away from their sin?
Because when you know how sinful sin really is, what it is really doing to you, you won’t walk, you’ll run from it. When you aren’t convinced that it is really doing what it is really doing, you play with it, you tolerate it, and you relish it, instead of running from it. People don’t walk away from sin because you never walk away from sin. When it comes to sin, you don’t just need to see the light; you need to feel the heat. If you saw your sin as the monster it is, eating your soul, and then you saw God as your only protection, you’d run all right. When you see your God, and you see your sin, you’ll run to him.
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