Sarah and I are so thankful for the wonderful support of our church, Truth Point Church, as we prepare to deliver our first baby, Elijah. Their wisdom, encouragement, and generosity about having children has been so incredible and they are a wonderful support net for us.
Today, many ladies from the church gathered together to throw a shower for my wife, and my awesome mother-in-law and sister-in-law also came to put their love into the mix. The ideas for the shower activities were so thoughtful and made us feel so special (I got this feeling second hand when Sarah told/showed me all about it). The prayer tree they did is so cool! All the ladies in attendance wrote a prayer for Elijah and hung it on little tree - so neat! One person wrote: "I pray that you will come to grasp and understand the love of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is our hope for Elijah as well. How cool it is to know that prayers like this are going up for our son.
And the gifts were incredibly generous- Sarah showed me each one and we are so thankful! We got a plethora of baby wipes, genius musical toys (you know a band director would like those), touching books, and even a deluxe (yes, deluxe) bouncer chair thing.
Last night, Elijah's Mimi (my mother-in-law) presented us with a recorded bedtime prayers book- like, she and my father-in-law recorded the audio to the book, and it plays when you turn each page- so cool!! Through this book, maybe Elijah will understand just a little bit more the love of God and the presence of God.
I know many of you can relate- it is such a blessing to receive love from others. And on top of that: to know that our son is surrounded by loving folks like these...it's pure joy.
Elijah's name means, "The Lord is my God." We named him this with the hope that his name will serve as a reminder for him: that the false gods this world offers are not true and that trying to make other things God in our life will only hurt us. Only the God of the Bible can give peace, joy, salvation, and true love.
Heavenly Father, thank you for our brothers and sisters in Christ who so encourage us, and thank you that you are looking on our precious son, even now. We ask that you would save Elijah through your Son, Jesus. Give him the grace to trust you in all things and do your Word. Thank you for reminding us through having children that we, like them, are helpless and in need of you. In the name of Christ the Lord, who is God, Amen.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Peace
Man, writing on a blog is really great: so relaxing and enaging at the same time.
I have been so encouraged recently by the book of Romans in the Bible. I have been memorizing some passages in chapters 5 and 8, and I hope to memorize 5 through 8 eventually.
In the process of dealing with these words for a good while, the Lord has really hit home some of their truth into my heart.
The apostle Paul, writing in Romans 5:1, lays out a big idea:
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (ESV)
The first several words,"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith" show the basis for the next statement about peace with God. These words show that Christians have been justified already. Christians don't have to wishfully think about possibly being justified in the future- this is what the ESV study bible (Crossway, 2008) calls the "objective legal standing of the Christian." Amen. I can know that, as a believer in Christ, that I am declared righteous (the definition of the Greek word translated "justified" according to Mounce, 2006) before God himself.
Make no mistake, only someone who trusts in Christ as their Savior is justified. This verse tells us plainly that justification before God is received by faith. This is in stark contrast to someone trying to earn God's approval by the good things that they do. The preceding chapter says:
"For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." (Romans 4:2-3)
So the Bible is saying that, even before the new testament, people were justified in this same way, by faith.
How does this faith in Romans 5:1 justify? A simple answer would be because it is faith in the right person, named at the end of the verse: "our Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus is the one who lived the perfectly righteous life. The bible says he was "made perfect" and "innocent, unstained" (Hebrews 7:26,28). Jesus is also the one who died for the sins of all who would trust in Him. So, when a person trusts in and identifies with this Jesus, Jesus's perfect righteousness is credited to their account. 2nd Corinthians 5:21 says it this way:
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
The passage just before Romans 5:1 points also to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead as important for justification:
"It will be counted to us [as righteousness] who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." - Romans 4:24-25
Now, back to the verse we are discussing: Romans 5:1 says that, because we have been justified, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Again, this book was originally written in Greek, so getting a sense of the original language is very helpful. In the case of the Greek word translated "peace" here in Romans 5:1, it is downright exciting.
The Greek word for peace in Romans 5:1 is described by William D. Mounce as denoting "euphoria coupled with security." (2006) Let that sink in: euphoria coupled with security.
That type of peace with God himself is what is available to us through Jesus Christ.
I have been so encouraged recently by the book of Romans in the Bible. I have been memorizing some passages in chapters 5 and 8, and I hope to memorize 5 through 8 eventually.
In the process of dealing with these words for a good while, the Lord has really hit home some of their truth into my heart.
The apostle Paul, writing in Romans 5:1, lays out a big idea:
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (ESV)
The first several words,"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith" show the basis for the next statement about peace with God. These words show that Christians have been justified already. Christians don't have to wishfully think about possibly being justified in the future- this is what the ESV study bible (Crossway, 2008) calls the "objective legal standing of the Christian." Amen. I can know that, as a believer in Christ, that I am declared righteous (the definition of the Greek word translated "justified" according to Mounce, 2006) before God himself.
Make no mistake, only someone who trusts in Christ as their Savior is justified. This verse tells us plainly that justification before God is received by faith. This is in stark contrast to someone trying to earn God's approval by the good things that they do. The preceding chapter says:
"For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." (Romans 4:2-3)
So the Bible is saying that, even before the new testament, people were justified in this same way, by faith.
How does this faith in Romans 5:1 justify? A simple answer would be because it is faith in the right person, named at the end of the verse: "our Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus is the one who lived the perfectly righteous life. The bible says he was "made perfect" and "innocent, unstained" (Hebrews 7:26,28). Jesus is also the one who died for the sins of all who would trust in Him. So, when a person trusts in and identifies with this Jesus, Jesus's perfect righteousness is credited to their account. 2nd Corinthians 5:21 says it this way:
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
The passage just before Romans 5:1 points also to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead as important for justification:
"It will be counted to us [as righteousness] who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." - Romans 4:24-25
Now, back to the verse we are discussing: Romans 5:1 says that, because we have been justified, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Again, this book was originally written in Greek, so getting a sense of the original language is very helpful. In the case of the Greek word translated "peace" here in Romans 5:1, it is downright exciting.
The Greek word for peace in Romans 5:1 is described by William D. Mounce as denoting "euphoria coupled with security." (2006) Let that sink in: euphoria coupled with security.
That type of peace with God himself is what is available to us through Jesus Christ.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
You know that you are a teacher when...
Okay, I simply have to share this very revealing moment from the past week.
At the school where I teach, we are allotted $200 per year for school supplies from Office Depot. How it works is that you submit an order form to your department chair, and then they send it off.
As I filled out my order form during the first week of school, it felt fairly routine. I had also waited until the last possible hour to do it and so I even felt a little rushed.
Well, this past week, my department chair hand delivered the bag of office depot stuff to my room. It was a large, pudgy bag, and so I began to get a little more excited and grateful for this gift.
Then I looked in the bag and, seeing it's contents, I became enamored. Bright colored boxes of blue, black, and red Bic pens caught my eye. There was a huge box filled with countless Manila file folders and the bag was oozing with Expo dry erase markers. A healthy box of wooden pencils sat side by side with a box of mechanical ones, for the times when you can't get to a pencil sharpener. Two working pairs of scissors seemed to be undeserved and a package of recycled, yet beautiful Post-it notes captured my imagination with their colorful surfaces. I was practically drooling over these school supplies!
I thought to myself in that moment: this is when you know you are a teacher. :)
At the school where I teach, we are allotted $200 per year for school supplies from Office Depot. How it works is that you submit an order form to your department chair, and then they send it off.
As I filled out my order form during the first week of school, it felt fairly routine. I had also waited until the last possible hour to do it and so I even felt a little rushed.
Well, this past week, my department chair hand delivered the bag of office depot stuff to my room. It was a large, pudgy bag, and so I began to get a little more excited and grateful for this gift.
Then I looked in the bag and, seeing it's contents, I became enamored. Bright colored boxes of blue, black, and red Bic pens caught my eye. There was a huge box filled with countless Manila file folders and the bag was oozing with Expo dry erase markers. A healthy box of wooden pencils sat side by side with a box of mechanical ones, for the times when you can't get to a pencil sharpener. Two working pairs of scissors seemed to be undeserved and a package of recycled, yet beautiful Post-it notes captured my imagination with their colorful surfaces. I was practically drooling over these school supplies!
I thought to myself in that moment: this is when you know you are a teacher. :)
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Escape From Prison
Hello everyone, It has been far, far too long since we posted here. Things would get confusing (or at least long) if I tried to explain everything that Sarah and I have experienced in the last year. However, I would like to share one common thread.
Last summer (summer 2011) and fall, with the help of some faithful friends and the conviction of God's Spirit, I began to see more clearly some underlying issues in my soul that were causing a variety of problems. The problems could be summed up like this: I had for awhile been experiencing unwanted and anxious thoughts regularly about relationships, responsibilities, and even salvation. As a result, I found myself lacking peace and joy in my daily life. Sometimes, the thoughts felt like a prison, and I couldn't see a way to break out. God's passageway to break out was so counterintuitive. The escape route was a command from Scripture.
By the grace of God, I began to recognize that it was the idolatry of my heart that was causing the anxiety. In other words, I was giving God-like value to things that weren't God. I recognized my two primary idols as: 1. Approval from other people and 2. Control over my life.
So- and stick with me here (as I often say to my high school students)- in trying to win the approval of others and in trying to grip my life fiercely in order to exert control over it, I was imprisoning myself. Let's face it, if you try and have complete control over your life, you are trying to do God's job. Now those are some big shoes to fill! God's role of sovereign responsibility and care is more than enough to cause any human a lifetime of anxiety, should they attempt to take it on. My pastor often reminds us of this truth: Anxiety is stepping into God's role and quickly realizing that we don't have God's resources.
So that's what I was doing, essentially. I thought things like: "My marriage needs to be successful so that others will respect me", "I need to make absolutely sure that I have crossed off every checklist item in the Christian faith to be sure that I am in fact a Christian," and "I need to make sure that nothing goes wrong in this relationship." Again, in trying to do the impossible, I was setting a prison up for myself to dwell in. But God had a special passageway for me out of the prison and it was somewhat counterintuitive. Sometime in the fall (I don't remember the exact day) I read this in Luke, Chapter 4:
"It is written,'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'"
This is Jesus quoting Scripture to Satan in the wilderness - wow. In reading this, I realized that this passage could be a powerful weapon for me to us in the fight against idolatry, which was (and still is many times) the source of my anxiety.
How does this weapon work? In the bible, God commands his people to worship only Him, and no one/thing else. This straightforward command that Jesus quotes in Luke was so simple, yet so powerful for me. In this verse, I learn that I must worship God alone, not my own power, nor my image. When I remind myself of this verse, God reminds me that he is God and that I should consider Him to have ultimate worth. When I turn from my idolatry in those times and truly believe that God is God, I am not anxious, because I am entrusting myself to the only person who can take care of the whole world, including all the needs of my life. I experience so much more peace in my heart, though my heart is, of course, not perfect.
So a command to submit to the ultimate Authority is what broke me out of prison. This is why I say it is counterintuitive. The way to experience true freedom is to submit to the truth.
Thanks be to the only true God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son to live, die and resurrect by the Spirit in order to make a true way for us to know God. By personally trusting that Jesus lived perfectly submitted to the only God, that he paid the penalty for all of the false gods that we have, and that he was raised from the dead, we are rescued out of all of our worship prisons to experience forgiveness and freedom with God forever.
Jesus, while on Earth, told us: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
Last summer (summer 2011) and fall, with the help of some faithful friends and the conviction of God's Spirit, I began to see more clearly some underlying issues in my soul that were causing a variety of problems. The problems could be summed up like this: I had for awhile been experiencing unwanted and anxious thoughts regularly about relationships, responsibilities, and even salvation. As a result, I found myself lacking peace and joy in my daily life. Sometimes, the thoughts felt like a prison, and I couldn't see a way to break out. God's passageway to break out was so counterintuitive. The escape route was a command from Scripture.
By the grace of God, I began to recognize that it was the idolatry of my heart that was causing the anxiety. In other words, I was giving God-like value to things that weren't God. I recognized my two primary idols as: 1. Approval from other people and 2. Control over my life.
So- and stick with me here (as I often say to my high school students)- in trying to win the approval of others and in trying to grip my life fiercely in order to exert control over it, I was imprisoning myself. Let's face it, if you try and have complete control over your life, you are trying to do God's job. Now those are some big shoes to fill! God's role of sovereign responsibility and care is more than enough to cause any human a lifetime of anxiety, should they attempt to take it on. My pastor often reminds us of this truth: Anxiety is stepping into God's role and quickly realizing that we don't have God's resources.
So that's what I was doing, essentially. I thought things like: "My marriage needs to be successful so that others will respect me", "I need to make absolutely sure that I have crossed off every checklist item in the Christian faith to be sure that I am in fact a Christian," and "I need to make sure that nothing goes wrong in this relationship." Again, in trying to do the impossible, I was setting a prison up for myself to dwell in. But God had a special passageway for me out of the prison and it was somewhat counterintuitive. Sometime in the fall (I don't remember the exact day) I read this in Luke, Chapter 4:
"It is written,'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'"
This is Jesus quoting Scripture to Satan in the wilderness - wow. In reading this, I realized that this passage could be a powerful weapon for me to us in the fight against idolatry, which was (and still is many times) the source of my anxiety.
How does this weapon work? In the bible, God commands his people to worship only Him, and no one/thing else. This straightforward command that Jesus quotes in Luke was so simple, yet so powerful for me. In this verse, I learn that I must worship God alone, not my own power, nor my image. When I remind myself of this verse, God reminds me that he is God and that I should consider Him to have ultimate worth. When I turn from my idolatry in those times and truly believe that God is God, I am not anxious, because I am entrusting myself to the only person who can take care of the whole world, including all the needs of my life. I experience so much more peace in my heart, though my heart is, of course, not perfect.
So a command to submit to the ultimate Authority is what broke me out of prison. This is why I say it is counterintuitive. The way to experience true freedom is to submit to the truth.
Thanks be to the only true God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son to live, die and resurrect by the Spirit in order to make a true way for us to know God. By personally trusting that Jesus lived perfectly submitted to the only God, that he paid the penalty for all of the false gods that we have, and that he was raised from the dead, we are rescued out of all of our worship prisons to experience forgiveness and freedom with God forever.
Jesus, while on Earth, told us: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
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