day no. 15,703: ashamed of what we can't help

“I felt ashamed."
"But of what? Psyche, they hadn't stripped you naked or anything?"
"No, no, Maia. Ashamed of looking like a mortal -- of being a mortal."
"But how could you help that?"
"Don't you think the things people are most ashamed of are things they can't help?”
― C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

It is an error to assume that we can and should only be ashamed of those things which we had something to do with. On the one hand, if you are tall or short, white or black, young or old, you have nothing to be ashamed of. It is not a sin to be what you are in that regard. But on the other hand, if you are alive, you are a sinner by nature and by choice and for both of those you should feel shame if you are not in Christ.

We didn't choose our face, our age, our height, or our complexion and yet we can be ashamed of them as though we did. Though we know we had nothing to do with choosing them, we still can feel ashamed somehow that our unfashionable flaws have chosen us. And not being able to help it is no security against feeling embarrassed about it.

We ought to be ashamed of the flaws we have helped cause, but what about those we haven't? To be alive is not a sin, but to be alive is to be a sinner. To be a Son of Adam is not a sin, but to be a Son of Adam is to be a sinner. We are sinners by nature and by choice. But why should we be ashamed for something we had nothing to do with? Because we need to be saved not only from what we do, but from what we are.

"According to the Augustinian understanding, moral obligation is created by the Word of God. Morality is defined by the law of God. If Scripture says not to do something, then doing it is sin. Pretty straightforward.

But according to the Pelagian understanding, moral obligation is defined by our abilities. Put another way, there is no moral responsibility that can be assigned to inability. According to Pelagianism, sin is not sin unless it can actually be avoided. Sin is always a function of free choice, and hence cannot be grounded in our nature. There is no such thing as a constitutional or natural depravity.

The Augustinian answer to this, of course, is a raft of Bible verses. We are by nature objects of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Evil men make choices in accordance with their evil hearts (Matt. 12:35). We are slaves to sin (Rom. 6:17). We are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-2). We could make a much bigger pile of verses if you wanted.

What this means is that the Augustinians believe that the free offer of the gospel is presented as a way of saving us from what we are. We do of course receive forgiveness for the things we have done, but that is downstream. God does forgive us for the dirty water, but He also redeems us from having been a filthy font from which that dirty water came." -- Douglas Wilson, Emoting Like Pelagians

day no. 15,702: righteousness from Him and for Him or without Him and away from Him

Acts 10:1-5
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter." 

Some people's good works are signs that God is already drawing them near in order to invite them further upward and inward, while other's good works are signs that they are drawing away from God in order to attempt to be right without Him and away from Him. They don't want the alien righteousness that Cornelius or Paul wanted, that righteousness which is from Him and for Him; rather, they want an achieved righteousness that Cornelius left behind and that Paul threw away.

Philippians 3:4-9
I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

It is imperative to aspire to the right kind of righteousness. The wrong kind of righteousness settles for being right in its own eyes. The right kind of righteousness strives to be seen as righteous in God's sight. This striving is one of looking out to Christ rather than inside to self.

day no. 15,701: labor and deliverance

Hebrews 11:13

These all died in faith

"Dying in faith looks into the future. They fell asleep, affirming that the Messiah would surely come, and that when he would in the last days appear upon the earth, they would rise from their graves to behold him. To them the pains of death were but the birth-pangs of a better state." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Life begins and ends in similar fashion. Great travail is the prologue to every novel. New life begins by the labor pains that produce it. Conversion is accompanied by great dread and terror descending on a person that produces fear and trembling prior to being raised to new life by grace through faith in Christ. And finally, at death, if one is given the opportunity to see it coming, it is attended by fear and terrors similar to labor pains. There is new life waiting in the wings and in the works, but it must first endure the difficulties of labor before they give way to delight and relief that consumes all the terrors that preceded it.

Pangs are a necessary precursor to rebirth. Without pain, there cannot be new life.

Acts 14:22

Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

day no. 15,700: faith by which to live and die

Hebrews 11:13

These all died in faith

"Faith is as precious to die by as to live by." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

The righteous die in the same way that they live, that is to say, by faith.

Habakkuk 2:4
The righteous shall live by his faith.

There is no way to be righteous in life or in death but by faith. Without faith no one can please God. No one can be righteous but by living in faith. And the one who is righteous in faith will live. He will enter into the eternal life of knowing the Father by faith in the Son through the power of His Spirit. And this changes the way they live out the rest of their days and how they close their eyes on their last one.

Heidelberg Catechism
Q1: What is your only comfort in life and death?

A1: That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.

The righteous do not merely trust Jesus to save them from death when they die, they trust Him for life as they live. Faith is precious in life and in death, in living and in dying, in striving and in sowing, in waking and in sleeping.

day no. 15,699: hardihood

While reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the word, "hardihood." It's a good word and seemingly self-explanatory, but I looked it up anyways to see if there was any nuance that I may be missing. 

This entry in the KJV Dictionary was helpful:

DARE, v.i. pret. durst. To have courage to any purpose; to have strength of mind or hardihood to undertake anything; to be bold enough; not to be afraid; to venture; to be adventurous.

It then provided this example:

"I dare do all that may become a man." -- Shakespeare

A man must handle himself with hardihood. It is the ability to sustain initiative in the face of adversity. Hardihood hangs on when it gets hammered. Hardihood invites the right kind of trouble into its life. It does not shrink back from difficulty. It endures those which God ordains and invites those which God encourages.

day no. 15,698: difficulties are divine errands

In reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the following quotes,

"Difficulties are God's errands." -- Henry Ward Beecher

God wants you to get into trouble. So much so, that if you don't go looking for it, He will bring it to come looking for you. It is good for us to have difficulties. God wants us to do hard things. They conform us to the likeness of His Christ. They accomplish God's desires for us by conforming us to His designs.

Romans 8:28-29
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.

The chisel strike is difficult to bear, but it shapes us into the likeness of the One who bears with us.

day no. 15,697: His yoke is easy, not unyoked

While reading the John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership, I came across a message by Paul Washer titled The Great Commission as a Theological Endeavor where he said,

"The Great Commission is didactic. It is a theological endeavor. It is not about sending missionaries per se; it is about sending the truth through missionaries -- to teach all to observe the truth. The Great Commission is not just about gnosis, it is about praxis; it is not just about orthodoxy, it is about orthopraxy. This is very clear in the teaching of Christ when He says, 'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me' (Matthew 11:29). The two ways always go hand in hand. To learn from Him is to submit to His sovereignty." 

If we want to learn from Jesus, we must submit to His yoke. He promises to bear the majority of the burden, but it still requires you to shoulder up next to Him. His yoke is easy, not unyoked. His offer presupposes that your current yoke is heavier and weightier and that you must bear it all by your lonesome. In addition to being heavy, it is cloaked in darkness and dimwit. You cannot learn unless you link up with Jesus. And when you are yoked to Him, He is not plowing co-pilot. He takes the lead. He teaches. You submit to His yoke and you learn.

Humility submits its body and mind to Jesus. It places its shoulders under His authority and its mind under His teaching. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot be taught if your body is not under His yoke. You cannot be shoulder to shoulder with Him if you are not willing to also learn from Him as you walk together. To be plowing with Jesus is to be growing in Him, next to Him, from Him and through Him alone.