day no. 16,726: a softball question

"Bret Harte tells the truth about the wildest, the grossest, the most rapacious of all the districts of the earth—the truth that, while it is very rare indeed in the world to find a thoroughly good man, it is rarer still, rare to the point of monstrosity, to find a man who does not either desire to be one, or imagine that he is one already." — G.K. Chesterton, Varied Types

A good man may be hard to find, but a man who wants to be good is hardly rare. Furthermore, a good man is a hard man. He is hard for his people. A bad man is soft, effeminate; but make no mistake, he is hard on his people. He has conquered his fear of failure by celebrating his shame. He calls attention to his courage in embracing his cowardice. And modern man has, in the process, accomplished what Chesterton warned... he has become a monster.

"If you think tough men are dangerous, wait until you see what weak men are capable of." — Jordan B. Peterson

day no. 16,322: you cannot grow godliness by using godless manure

Galatians 3:2-3

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

You cannot be so good as to graduate from the material to the spiritual. You cannot receive the Spirit of God as a paycheck. No one has ever gotten so good at being good that they spontaneously combusted into spiritual flame. No one ever baptized himself with fire. You cannot receive a gift as a wage. If you earned it, it's not a gift. The giver is merely being honest, not generous, in paying what they owe. 

So, if salvation was received as a mere gift, how could it be kept by sheer grit? That is dumb. If you began by saying, "I can't do it on my own," how can you keep going on by saying, "I just know that I can do it!" You cannot continue by pride what began in humility. You cannot build up by merit what was laid down in grace.

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

You cannot be Christlike without Christ as a reference point. You cannot be unChristlike in the name of Christ. You cannot live in unbelief because you are a believer. There are no worldly wisdom classes once admitted and enrolled in the college of Christian wisdom. You cannot grow in godliness by using godless manure.

day no. 16,297: outside in

Luke 11:39-41

And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?"

Despite what many have come to think, Jesus did not say that the outside of cups and dishes do not matter. What He implied is that everyone understands the value of the outside of the dish. Just ask any engaged couple picking out plates for their registry. They are not so much concerned about the insides of the bowls as they are with the patterns on the outside and what impressions they imagine they will make. Granted, they are looking at brand new, clean cups and dishes and don't have to concern themselves with the insides yet. That comes later, after love and marriage, but before the baby carriage (for those playing at home)

Functionally, the inside of the bowl is far more important than the exterior. When it comes to eating, the outside is less important than the inside. The food goes on the inside and that is what needs to be cleansed from the last food that was eaten in the bowl. But even then, hand me a bowl clean on the inside but still dirty on the outside and I'll still have a hard time finding my appetite.

We are well acquainted with the process of putting lipstick on a pig. We know how to make things look good, which is to say, better than they really are. We come equipped with the ability to put on a favorable face or to telegraph a good impression. We do not need to be trained in this deception. Yet, we do need to be reminded not to throw the outside of the dish out with the dishwater. Yes, the inside counts as Jesus points out and we should never forget or minimize this, but Jesus never meant for us to forget or minimize the outside. His teaching could be summarized as saying: the inside of the dish matters too. Everything matters, inside and out.

In summary, do not neglect what things look like or what they are like under the surface. Hold on to them both. Concern yourself with both. Understand how and when they may be played against each other and from where pressures and temptations may come to prefer one when the other is required or to settle for the other when the one is demanded.

day no. 15,897: good works... except when it doesn't

"We are not saved by our labors, but it is most certainly the case that our labors, along with us, are also saved (1 Cor. 15:58)." -- Douglas Wilson, Nancy Rust, RIP

Our labors cannot save us. They, like us, are damnable. They are filthy rags and refuse. They are unable to make pure because they are, themselves, defiled. But they, like us, can be redeemed. They can be saved and sanctified by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ on our behalf. And if we are saved, our works must be as well. God doesn't save us in part. He doesn't leave anything left unsaved of that which is saved. If you are to be saved, all of you is to be saved: mind, body, soul, word, thought, and deed.

"The grace of God which saves Christians and the good works that Christians do are two things that exist in a necessary relationship. But it is crucial that we get that relationship right because it is the relationship of cart and horse. We must know which is the cause and which is the effect." -- Douglas Wilson, Nancy Rust, RIP

Our good works must follow our salvation by necessity and in that order. They must follow. They cannot lead. They must follow. They cannot be absent. They must be there, right behind, exactly where they belong. If there are not good works behind you, it calls into question what's ahead of you.

All that to say, we are saved from good works and saved unto good works. Our belief in our good works is something we need to be saved from. So, we don't need to be saved out of doing good works, but from trusting in them. And once we've been saved from them, we are safe to do as many of them as possible for the glory of our God and the good of our neighbor.

day no. 15,890: thanks-having

"I do not, in my private capacity, believe that a baby gets his best physical food by sucking his thumb; nor that a man gets his best moral food by sucking his soul, and denying its dependence on God or other good things. I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” — G.K. Chesterton, A Short History of England

Experiential knowledge is not ultimate. A man is not an expert on himself for the same reason, his only experience is in being a man. No one and nothing is immediate. No one has access to God on his own without mediation. No one has access to his neighbor on his own. No one even has access to himself without God's help. Nothing is immediately known.

Knowledge itself is a gift from God which must be received. Nothing is apprehended without help. Everything that can be known comes from without and must come through something else in order to get into us.

1 Corinthians 4:7
For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Chesterton concludes that gratitude is grandiose -- thanksgiving in its highest form. We give thanks because we've been given much so that our thanksgiving is for our thanks-having.

"Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

What a glorious way of phrasing it. God's grace is a wonder. It comes from without and comforts within. It rushes in and flushes out. It fills up and spills over. It nourishes the soul and flourishes the man.

day no. 15,245: an immoral standard of morality

"The majority of people have their morality well within their own grasp, they have no sense of need of the gospel. It is God Who creates the need of which no human being is conscious until He manifests Himself." - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest


In other words, most people are moral by their own standards. They are not perfect and they know that, but their standard of morality does not require perfection. They do not hold themselves to a "be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" standard of morality. They grade on a curve. 

We need God to convict us of the state and standard of our morality. In other words, we do not need to merely repent of being immoral by God's standards, but for having an immoral standard of morality to begin with. This very standard is what keeps us from seeing the extent of our immorality and our need of mercy and grace in order to obtain a declaration of righteousness over our lives. 

day no. 13,401: tough choices‏

Romans 9:16

So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

We do not choose God.

He chooses us and then we choose Him back, if we choose Him at all.

We do not work hard enough at being good to get God.

He worked perfectly hard on our behalf so that we might rest in Him.

day no. 13,332: your hopes will accuse you‏

John 5:45

“Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes."

If you have set your hopes on being a good person, or at least a person who is good enough compared to others and assume that on that basis you will enter eternal rest in Heaven with God, you will find yourself falling short of the very standard you are trying to leverage to your aid.

The Law REQUIRES perfection.

You either are perfect or you fall short.

It is A+ or nothing.

Even if you muster up a B+, it won't pass.

Only perfection.

If you appeal to being more good than bad as the reason you should get to go to heaven, the very logic you are employing to your aid will be the very standard by which you are condemned.

day no. 13,318: graceless, godless moralism‏

Job 42:7-9

7 After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has. 8 So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

Moralism makes God angry!

Job's friends offered many solutions to Job's situation and ALL of them involved Job DOING something to save himself from his circumstances.

That is Gospel-less moralism.

And God HATES it.

It elbows Him out of the picture and suggests that we can force the hand of God by our goodness.

In the end, Job's sufferings qualify him to offer a sacrifice on behalf of his graceless friends.

The very sufferings that those same friends assumed were a scar of disgrace on Job's life, were in fact the very badge of grace of God's continued presence and fellowship with Job.

Jesus suffered perfectly so that He could not only offer something in our place, but that He could offer His very Self in our place.

He is the perfect Mediator.

He goes between to incur the wrath and provide the perfection required for graceless people like you and me to be in God's presence.

day no. 13,316: never beyond grace‏

While listening to a sermon on the book of Job from Tullian Tchividjian the other day, he dropped this gem,

“Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.”― Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace: God's Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness

Christ is our life.

We never blow it so bad that we can be unadopted if we are in Christ.

We never kill it so well that we can be children of God without Christ.

Christ is our life.

day no. 13,297: over our heads at the end of ourselves‏

2 Corinthians 1:9

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Turns out God DOES give us MORE than we can handle.

Good thing too.

If He didn't show us we were over our heads every once in a while, we may never come to the end of ourselves and to the beginning of greater dependence upon Him.

Praise God that He loves us enough to bring us beyond our own ability to manage or we might spend the rest of our lives managing our little kingdoms with little to no thought of His greater, eternal heavenly Kingdom.

So let's get beyond the "God never gives you more than you can handle" cliches and begin giving glory to God for the fact that it is our very good to be in over our heads at the end of ourselves.

day no. 13,175: emptying the cross by our clever coolness

1 Corinthians 1:17

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize — not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect."

It is easy to empty the cross of Christ by adding our coolness or cleverness to it.

People don’t need to think that you’re cool.

They don’t need to think that you’re clever.

They need to worship Jesus for the fullness of what He has done for us.

Do not take away from the completed works of Jesus by adding the stumbling block of your coolness and cleverness to it.

Let the stumbling block of the Cross be enough to trip others up.

day no. 13,106: two heart attacks

You cannot fix your own heart - even if you are extremely talented and gifted.

No matter how good you think you are.

No matter how good others think you are.

No matter how impressive your credentials are.

You cannot do heart surgery on yourself.

Even the best heart surgeon in the world is not so good that they could perform their own open heart surgery.

…

Your heart is not sick beyond fixing – even if you’ve done everything wrong.

No matter how bad you think you are.

No matter how bad others think you are.

No matter how damning your rap sheets are.

You are not beyond restoration.

Even the worst and most broken heart in this world is not so bad that it could not be renewed and regenerated by the Great Physician Jesus Christ.

day no. 12,896: the Spirit says, "let them rest from their labors"

Revelation 14:13

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: The dead who die in the Lord from now on are blessed.” 
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!”

Are you laboring?

Working hard to give God glory?

Are you actively engaged in the daily work and war of faith in God’s righteousness for you in Jesus?

If your life is defined now by rest and leisure there remains no rest for you on the flipside. 

You have your reward like a man boasting of his generosity to God. The applause of men is his aim and men turn and look as he shouts his own praises. He has his reward. The same can be said for the one who worships comfort and rest and centers their life around doing the most comfortable thing for themselves that they can imagine. They have their reward.

But those who trust in God’s rest and desire to sit down only when in His presence will in this lifetime labor and toil and work hard; and our works will follow us to our reward: Jesus.

We will have the aim of our efforts.
 
He is happy to give Himself to us forever.

Do we want Him?
Do you want Him?

Does your day testify that what you want most is your best life later?

day no. 12,810: empty to receive or filled to achieve?

Oswald kicked things into gear this morning when he said,

The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying,
“. . . love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He is saying,“I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable—it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.

You cannot force God into your heart.
You cannot will your heart to love God.

We must receive Him and His love into us.

When we labor and toil and clamor to grasp it, we end up empty-handed.

What we do with our empty hands determines everything:

Do we lift them up to receive or fill them up to achieve?

day no. 12,779: a perfect holiday‏

Chambers fired this bad boy off the other morning,

You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating.

If your heart takes a break, you die.

You cannot take a moral holiday and remain moral.

If your morality takes a break, your morality dies.

Have you ever acted immorally?
Ever?

If you have, you are not a moral person.

You may be moral more often than not, but moral more often than not does not a moral person make.

The moral person acts with perfect morality.

I know we know that no one is perfect which is why we have a tendency to believe that morality is being more moral than immoral, but that is a compromise fitted to the spirit of our age.

You either have the Spirit of God or you have the spirit of our age.

One requires perfection, the other merely progress.

You cannot work your way back to perfection after missing the mark earlier.

Receive perfection or die imperfect and suffer the consequences thereof.

day no. 12,776: by faith or by froth?

John 5:44-47

⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

The very "goodness" that many people assume about themselves is the very thing that will accuse them before the Father of failure.

Good people do not go to Heaven. Moses and the Law God handed down by him will guarantee that. The very thing in which people place their hope is the thing that will destroy them and accuse them before the Father.

How tragic the scenario that finds one rejecting revelation in order to cling with confidence to speculation.

Do not set your hope in what you have done or what you have not done or never would do. That claim will itself condemn you. The boast of your tongue will be the evidence against you. You are leaning on a sharp stick. You will get stuck.

Jesus is the end of the Law.

Receive righteousness that is by faith.
Reject righteousness  that is by froth.

just think‏

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

We live most of our lives in a sense of “must think” rather than“just think” as articulated above.

Oswald Chambers speaks of it this way,

“Our Lord says to be careful only about one thing-our relationship to Him. But our common sense shouts loudly and says, ‘That is absurd,I must consider how I am going to live, and I mustconsider what I am going to eat and drink.’Jesus says you must not.”

This is what Oswald was referring to Jesus as saying,

Matthew 6:25

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

When we typically think of justice, we tend to think of us getting the good things we think we deserve and bad people who do bad things to us getting the bad things they deserve for being bad to us.

More often than not, this is unbelief generated by “must think”rather than “just think.”

We typically hesitate, if ever at all, to consider justice being others getting the good things their goodness deserves and us getting treated badly for the bad things we’ve done.

Justice works every which way.
Not just your way.
But always His way.

To “do justice” is to seek it for others and not merely yourself.

To “love kindness” is to speak it to and on the behalf of others and not merely yourself.

To “walk humbly” is to acknowledge the injustices you have committed and the unkindness you have harbored in your thoughts and unleashed with your tongue.

These constitute “good.”

Listen to what He has said.

Do what He has said.

This is “just” think.

but with God...

Matthew 19:25-26

²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible,but with God all things are possible.”

I love a little Q&A.

So let’s have at it:

Q: Who can be saved?

Great question disciples.

A: No one.

------

Q: Who is worthy enough to deserve it?
Q: Who is capable enough to achieve it?
Q: How can I have it?

Again, great question disciples.

A: No one and you can’t.

Shucky darn!

It is impossible for a man to save himself, let alone another man.
It is impossible for a man to be worthy of being saved, let alone grant that worth to another.
It is impossible for a man to wrestle salvation to the ground by sheer will power, let alone corral enough to share with another.

With man this is impossible,

Shall I continue beating this dead horse or do we got it?
Good.

I thought I was going to have to get all Dostoevsky on your punk butt.

Speaking of but’s.
(that segue rivals weird al’s)

but with God…

(that is a beautiful big ol’ but by the by, isn’t it?)

God CAN.
He is capable of any and every thing.
He makes worthy those unworthy.
He gives by gift what could not be earned by grit.
He DID.

but with God all things are possible.

That is Good News!

John 19:30

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said,“It is finished,”and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

snapshot salvation

The Chambers of commerce profited a strong yield today when he pointed out that.

 

Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God.This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, “Look to Me and youare saved,” not “Youwill be saved someday.” We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, “Look to Me, and be saved."

 

We get mad at God because we cannot be the good Christian people we imagine we should be. We think being a Christian means becoming a Christian. We hold up Christians around us as targets on which we set our sights. We often fall short of our aspirations; but even if we accomplish them and become the Christian we always wanted, we have not yet entered into the rest of salvation.

 

Becoming a Christian is not something we do.

 

We receive our Christianity because of and solely on the basis of whatChrist has already done.

 

When we focus entirely on becoming better Christians, we end up pissed at God for making the ceiling so high, the rules so unbending, the standard so unreachable, the lion’s den so dark, the clouds so untouchable, the Goliaths so large and perfection so impossible. We can even begin to hate God for His good standards.

 

Observe…

 

Romans 8:7-8

 

⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

 

Our hope is not in achieving the resume’ of those to whom we look up.

Our hope is that God will forgive our inadequacy and find us in Jesus.

 

When we receive Him, we receive rest.

When we worry about the rest, we work up only more worry.