day no. 15,386: believe and obey; belief and obedience

"Only the believers obey, and only the obedient believe." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship

There is no tension between belief and obedience because there is no tension between good friends. Belief and obedience go hand in hand. They are part and parcel. 

Paul's great treatise on salvation by grace through faith in Christ's completed work alone in the book of Romans is book-ended by this idea.

Romans 1:5
To bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His Name among all the nations

Romans 16:25-27
Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

His purpose in life was to bring about the obedience of faith in Christ alone for as many as possible. This is merely an extension of the marching orders Jesus left His church in the Great Commission...

Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are obligated to believe in and obey Jesus. Faith is believing Him and obeying Him. Faith does not seek to separate the two. Faith understands the distinction between belief and behavior, but doesn't begin with it. Faith is belief demonstrated in obedience. Its obedience is evidence of its belief. Paul is opposed to dead works. James is opposed to dead faith. They both agree that dead things should be opposed. A living faith works both in the sense that it accomplishes its intended end (salvation) and in that it lives out what it says it believes (sanctification).

day no. 15,385: the way, the truth and the life of the party

Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

God is not an ol' fashioned fuddy, duddy, fun-hater. He is the life of the party. Quite literally. You may have seen the classic church billboard saying, "No Jesus, No peace, Know Jesus, Know Peace." That is true, but it is also true enough to say, "No Jesus. No party. Know Jesus. Know Party!" 

The path of life leads back to God.
The presence of His person is fullness of joy. (Acts 3:19)
The place at His right hand overflows with everlasting pleasures.

And who sits at God's right hand? 
Jesus.

(Matthew 22:44, Acts 2:33, Acts 7:55-56, Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:20, Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 10:12, 1 Peter 3:22, Revelation 3:21)

Jesus is the life of the party in whom all things were created and all things are sustained. He gives life and sustains life and the life He produces and upholds is abundant, vibrant, enjoyable to everlasting.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life of the party.

day no. 15,384: Atticus turns TWELVE!

Atticus,

Twelve years ago on this very day, God allowed your mother and I to welcome you into our family. You were the first to be added to our number. I'm so glad God picked us for each other. I love being your dad.

You are a good big brother. You love your younger siblings and regularly seek out opportunities to interact with them and condescend to their level in order to be part of their lives. You love leading and determining the course of action for a Saturday afternoon with your siblings. You love being outside and when the weather permits, you can often be found outdoors as much as you are allowed. You love spending time by yourself reading and reviewing photos and stories usually about pick up trucks or from past wars. You love tacos and trips to Kansas City to see the orthodontist.

You keeping getting taller and taller and regularly outgrow pairs of shoes before they are worn out. Your feet are growing faster than their ability to run around. Finneas is going to have some nice shoes waiting for him when he gets as big as you since your feet have moved on to larger boots before the old ones wore out. :) You like exercising and trying to do pull-ups on the bar we bought you last Christmas. You aspire to preach, to lead, to be a husband, to be a father, to leave a legacy, and to live faithfully.

I am proud to be your earthly father, your spiritual brother and your friend. I like you and I like being around you.

You are a fantastic artist. You are growing constantly in your ability to capture perspective on paper. You are a good student, working hard to gain knowledge and grow in wisdom. You always enjoy baptisms at church, remembering yours and wishing you could do it all again because of the joy of remembering your experience. You often raise your hands in genuine worship while gathered at the local church on Sunday mornings. You are passionate and have strong feelings but have yet to develop equally strong abilities to steer them. You are growing in this, however. You are learning as the Holy Spirit gives you the gift of increased self-control. You are a good son and I could not be prouder to be your dad. You often ask to carry my backpack after church, partially to help and partially for the feeling of doing something difficult that makes you feel manly. You enjoy wine on cheeseboard feast days and you enjoy participating in plays that you and your siblings write and perform for mom and me in the basement.

You take God and life seriously and are learning to take yourself less seriously. You are learning how to laugh at yourself and are finding life more enjoyable in the process.

If the years of you living in our home is to be approximately 18 in total, then you have just completed the second set of 6 years. 0-6 and then 6-12. This means you are embarking now on the final 1/3 of your 6 years under my roof. Years 12-18 will be a time of great change and development. You will continue to grow in wisdom, stature and favor with God and with those around you. I am praying for my abilities and wisdom in parenting to grow along with you. You will be the first 12 year old child I have ever had. You will be the first 18 year old young man I watch leave our home someday. 

I love you. I am grateful to God for you even now as I type this. My eyes begin to well up with tears of joy and gratitude in thinking about you. I have treasured these days and will continue to. I love having you as part of my life.

Happy birthday, my son.

Here's to turning 12 and to many more years to come.

I love you. Always have, always will. No matter what. Forever and ever. World without end. Amen.

day no. 15,383: lust is a sin not limited to man

"Life is different for men and for women—men love to want, while women desire to be wanted. It is not as though men have a problem with lust and women do not. The two sexes actually have complementary problems with this sin." -- Douglas Wilson, The Seven Deadlies

Men love to want, while women desire to be wanted.

Men like to look, while women like to be looked at.

When a man takes a second glance at a scantily clad young lady on the cover of a magazine, he is giving into temptation... and she already has. The invitation to appear barely-clothed on the cover of the magazine proved too tempting for her to withstand.

Lust is a sin that affects people and it affects them as the kind of people God created them to be. This means, that if God made you a man, you are tempted to lust, but your temptations look differently than if you were a woman. To be more precise, for a man the “look” is at a woman whereas the woman “looks” to see a man looking back.

day no. 15,382: good, hard, godly, established work

Psalm 90:17
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, 
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!

I want to give my hands to good, godly works and I want to receive the grace of seeing the works of my hands established for the glory of God, the good of my family and my own personal growth. God, grant me hands for hard work and good grace to see it established firmly for Your sake, amen!

day no. 15,381: we must be rich towards God

Luke 12:21
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

God requires a man to be rich toward God in order to be saved. Therefore, debtors should not find it surprising that they are left off eternal's life guest list. But even if God forgives our debts, we are still just broke people. We no longer have the weight of debt keeping us from being rich towards God, but we're still just broke. Having $0.00 is not being in debt, but it is being broke. So if God requires us to be rich towards Him in order to be with Him, we need more than just our sins forgiven, we need riches deposited into our account. And this is what Christ, by His vicarious, righteous life earned and offers to us.

2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Sinners have two problems. They are debtors and they are not righteous. God forgiving our sins, eliminates our debts, but still leaves us unrighteous and broke. So God gives us Christ's paycheck. God imputes our sins to Jesus and He imputes Jesus' righteousness to us. Thus, in one act, God eliminates the problem of our debt and provides the credentials required to enter into His eternal joy. 

day no. 15,380: doomed

Psalm 79:8-11
Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name's sake!
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!
Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!

We have no hope other than God doing for us what we could never deserve. The one on death row cannot demand a pardon, but he can beg and plead for one. That is the convict's only remaining move. We are that convict. Our iniquities have been tallied and we've been found wanting. Our only hope is appealing to God to discount our sins or count them against somebody else.