A Quick Thought on Pride

Pride has been called the root of all sins so I decided to draw attention to, and hopefully lessen the power of, two ways pride has worked in my life. The first way happened before my conversion and the second has happened after.

The first manifestation of pride finds itself in a mentality of works. Before I had a right understanding of the process of conversion and salvation I thought that it was based on human efforts. Like Augustine, I felt I could earn my way to God. This is pride because it elevates whatever good works we might accomplish to the level or being good enough to stand in the presence of a holy and righteous God, who hates the sight of sin. All of our humans efforts do not get us anywhere close to God, it's only through the perfect work of Christ that we can hope to enter the presence of God.

So now that I'm a Christian and I know that pride is wrong and sin before God, I should be perfect and not struggle with pride right? Ha. No. This is, in itself, pride. In the past I have read the Bible, seen the standards laid down by God, seen my own sin and fallen into condemnation about my failure to attain the perfection God requires. The purpose of God's law is to show us how utterly imperfect we are, but then it is meant to point us right to Christ, who's perfection does what we never could. When I fail and let myself feel condemned over it, I am elevating my standards above those of God, which is pride. God doesn't require perfection for me because I claim the blood of Christ. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The condemnation comes when I hold myself to a higher standard than the one God does. When we realize this and repent of it, it leads to a greater freedom in Christ, not to sin as we please but to praise Him for His work and His grace and blood, which cover all of our multitude of sins.

We are all adulterers

Recently I saw myself as something I had never thought of myself as before, unfaithful. I had,for all intents and purposes, cheated on a girlfriend that I claimed to love and sought to marry. While our paths have since separated, I have seen some of the effects my infidelity has had on her; she was devastated, questioning every single word I had said and I whether I truly cared for her all along. Her self esteem was all but destroyed as she reasoned it was only because I was not attracted to her and sought beauty elsewhere. She was hurt in more ways than I can see all because of my selfish and sinful actions.

But there was another more hurt than her and it was due to my infidelity to Him. God, the sovereign creator of the universe demands my love and praise and honor and when I turn away and sin, I am being unfaithful. The book of Jeremiah is chock full of vivid, descriptive language equating Israel's sins against the Lord to adultery. Through many metaphors and sometimes blunt descriptions, it is shown that sin is, in it's essence, adultery from the true love we have in God. Jesus called the church his bride and we, as his bride, have been whores.

We have turned away each to his own way and there is none perfect, no not one. Just as with my girlfriend God is grieved when we essentially sleep around, but he is not grieved in humans termed. His self esteem is not hurt and he doesn't lose self confidence. He is hurt because of His love. He knows that everything we need for life and Godliness is found in Him and when we turn away, we are turning away from what we really need. If we are truly saved then nothing can separate us from the love of God and when He looks upon us, He sees the righteous of Christ given to us, however sin does create a distance with God.

When we sin, we are not any less saved but the Bible teaches us that we are to confess are sins and that God is faithful to forgive them. This doesn't mean that if we die without confessing every sin then we are going to hell but is to say that we need to humbly come to God in confession to restore the relationship we once enjoyed. Sin affects our ability to pray and our ability to discern and hear God's voice. It is only through that humble confession, when we admit we were unfaithful, that God is faithful and just to forgive those sins.

Going back to my situation with my girlfriend, if I were simply to come to her now with a bouquet of flowers and a diamond necklace asking her to take me back, it would seem disingenuous and would probably be unsuccessful. I cannot buy back the love and trust that I lost through my sin. Neither could I come with many words, promising change without any difference in the way I was acting. In the same way, we attempt to buy or earn God's favor by reading more bible or going to church. Our actions and obedience can never do enough to regain right standing with God because our sin condemns us in His righteous eyes. As the Bible teaches, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Supposing I were to go to my girlfriend and humbly confess my sins, admit that I was wrong and ask for her forgiveness. She would probably respond better than my attempts to buy her love and forgiveness. Because of her real hurts she probably would not be quick to forgive or trust me but she would have the option. God shows His love for us, and sets himself apart from humans, by promising and delivering on that promise to forgive us every time we confess our sins to Him. He is faithful to take us back every time we turn our lustful eyes on other gods that ultimately will never satisfy us. He is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him. Even when we defile the proverbial marriage bed, He still hold out His loving arms.

Why? Why does He does this? Because of His love and because of the work of His Son, Jesus Christ. As I stated, our righteousness is not of our own doing but the work of Christ. We have turned to adultery more than enough times to condemn us to an eternity apart from a righteous God but God so loved the world that He sent his only son to die so that whoever believes in Him as their savor will not perish, but have eternal life.

Don't Read This Blog

I've realized something, I sound like I know what I'm talking about. The previous post on Psalm 51 was written like I had something to bring to the table, like I have everything figured out. Of course if you actually know me, then you laugh at the ridiculousness of that statement. I do not write this blog for my own honor or prestige or because I know what I'm talking about. I write to figure it all out. Writing stimulates my mind and my studies and forces me to come to grips with and defend what I believe. I write for my own benefit, hopefully to the glory of God, so please don't read this.

Psalm 51

Psalm 51 is one of the most well-known psalms because it is the response of a broken David following his affair with Bathsheba. It is the heartfelt pleas of a lowly man, humbled by God because of his sin but it can be helpful to study for any believer struggling with any sin, not just adultery. It lays out a helpful pattern for response to sin. To begin with, it is helpful but sobering to realize that David was a “man after God's own heart” who was coming off intense spiritual experiences, with the Living God, when he failed so miserably as to commit murder and adultery because of his selfish lusts. The remaining sin/power of the flesh is so great, even in believers that anyone is susceptible to it's lure, which should lead us to extreme care of our souls.

When we sin, which is inevitable, we can follow the example laid down by David in Psalm 51. Possibly the most important part of the Psalm is the beginning, when David does not try to “get his act together” and then come before God. He comes just as he is, and he appeal for forgiveness is not based on his own merits but the character of God. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. v2” David's worth is not even on his mind, in fact he's well aware of how unworthy he is, “For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. v3”

[6]Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

[7]Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

[8]Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

[9]Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

[10]Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

[11]Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

[12]Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

[13]Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

This section is vitally important to understanding our motivations for repentance. The emphasis is placed on the work of God in our lives and our primary motivation for asking God's forgiveness is a renewed and deep relationship with God. As believers our sin no longer condemns us before God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ but the effect of our sin is a change in our personal relationship with God. Paul shows us that we can “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 4:30) and “the Lord disciplines those that He loves” (Heb. 12). Just as an earthly father still loves his children when they disobey, our heavenly father continues in love and it is because of this love that He does not allow us to persist in our sins.

Therefore our main motivation is God turning His face back towards us and away from our sins but there are secondary motivations as well. In verse 10 David cries out for God to work within him for spiritual change. This same heart that was after God now needs to be made clean, but note that it is not David making it clean by his efforts or personal holiness but rather God's work in us that leads to a “right spirit”. Another attitude to be craved by believers is a credible witness to believers, as shown in verse 13. When God shows his faithfulness to us, we should use this as a way to witness to others and he promises to return sinners to Himself. We should crave the type of life that serves as a witness to non-believers but we can always extol the faithfulness of God.
Our confession of sin is not for self-abasement or flagellation but to return us to the joy that we have in the salvation of God. Verses 8 and 12 both speak of the joy that needs to follow the forgiveness of our sins because we can trust the promises of our faithful God that He will forgive our sins if we confess them. (1 John 1:9). This ties in to the final section of the Psalm:

[14]Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

[15]O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

[16]For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

[17]The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Our response to this forgiveness should always be the worship of God. We should see God's righteousness and forgiveness and “sing aloud”. The ESV Study Bible says, “The person who has used this psalm to confess his sins and to receive God's assurance of pardon is the one who can genuinely worship the gracious God of the covenant.”

David then again reminds us that God doesn't delight in our “sacrifices” aka our works but rather responds to our humility. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We cannot earn the forgiveness or grace but it is a free gift of God. He will not despise when we come humbly before him, admitting our failure and acknowledging our dependence on Him to grow, asking for His Spirit to change us for His glory and to being sinners to Him.

A Lonely Christmas

Something about the holidays makes me lonely. Maybe it's all the emphasis placed on togetherness and spending time as a family. Maybe it's just a time that you would make special with a significant other, so conspicuously missing from my life. Maybe I miss my father too much as we spend the holidays with his family. Whatever the reasons, ironically enough, I am not alone in my loneliness. A corporate coffee shop is currently running the slogan, “Holidays are best shared” which adds insult to injury for those who are alone. A friend of mine was just telling me about how she spent last Christmas alone because her family wasn't speaking to her.

It's really no wonder that some people hate Christmas, because it has always held bad memories and feelings of despair and loneliness. Ebeneezer Scrooge was a workaholic but, if the Muppets version is any indication, there was an element of unrequited love that led to his bitterness towards the holiday. Whatever the reason for their pain, there are millions of people hurting and lonely this holiday season and these are the very people that Christmas is for.

Why do we, as Christians celebrate Christmas? It's a commemoration of the birth of Christ. The image of the Invisible God, the Word made flesh. Matthew 1:23, in describing the “first Christmas” says, “ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).” We are celebrating that God is now with us. We the lonely no longer have a reason to feel lonely because the very Creator of the universe has condescended to appear in human form, lived a perfect life for us that we could not, died the death we deserved so we might live with Him forever, tore curtain and removed the space between God who sits on the throne above with the risen Christ at His right hand interceding for us as a mediator who is able to sympathize with our human weakness. God is with us every minute as the power that raised Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit, dwells and quickens our mortal bodies.

This is not to say there is no reason to be lonely, the Bible is very clear that it is not good to be alone and our families and relationships are given us by God to comfort and strengthen us, but this is not always the case. What I am saying is that we have reasons to rejoice and can seek comfort in the loving arms of the only Person who will never leave us, forsake us, fail us, hurt us except for our own good, who will grow us, strengthen us, comfort us, and, in the end, glorify us.

We can stand this Christmas and say with the Psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” celebrating the fact that we will never be alone again because our Immanuel has come, God is with us. If you don't know this love, what better time is there?

More than Conquerors

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

(Romans 8:31-37 ESV)

I've been considering what it means to be more than a conqueror in my own life. This chapter begins with the awesome truth that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” and this passage is a completion of that thought. When sin comes to rob me of my joy and tell me how horrible and worthless I am, I look to Him who loved(s) me. I can either stop and dwell on my sin and fall into spiritual depression and condemnation, or I can acknowledge the problem of my sin, confess it to God and have it be removed from me, no longer presenting a stumbling block in my relationship with God.

The way I am more than a conqueror in this situation is to take what would have caused me to become depressed and use it for joy. If I can remind myself that this is merely one more thing that I am saved from, and the blood of the Lamb covers even this sin, that God's grace is greater that any sin I could sin, have sinned or will sin, than this is cause for incredible thanksgiving and praise of God. Turning our occasions of sin into worship of God is being more than a conqueror. Obviously, we should not pervert this and sin under the guise of an occasion to worship.

Another way to be more than a conqueror is alluded to in the text. We are going to be buffeted and rocked by the enemy of our souls. We may bask in the sunlight one moment and be shattered upon the rocks the next. Sometimes he will succeed in shaking us, but overall we will be victorious. In those moments of failure we can rejoice because God is redeeming it. He is using it to build us. An anonymous author once wrote the lines “How He hammers [us] and hurts [us], And with mighty blows converts [us], How He bends but never breaks, when [our] good He undertakes.” God can use even the attacks of the devil and our failures to strengthen us. We can be more than conquerors, through Him, in the midst of trials and failures, persecution, famine, or death.

This is by His Grace alone, through His Love alone, by His Spirit alone.

A Green Christian?

"Is that even possible?” I thought, as I considered the possibility of being environmentally conscious while being a conservative Christian. For my entire life, being a Christian seem irreconcilable with caring a smidge about the earth; granted I hadn't tried very hard and generally scoffed at anyone who used the now trendy “green” tag about anything

Had anyone challenged my beliefs I would have opened up the Bible to the first page and said that God has clearly given us dominion over the earth and given us every plant and tree. I would have said that after the fall we were told to subdue the earth. This might have shut them up but, again, this never happened and I continued to persist in my former thinking, but things began to change during a drive through Scotland.

Having never been to Scotland before I was unprepared for the gorgeous, sweeping countryside. It was breathtaking and almost caused me to drive off the road as I craned my neck to see the high mountains or green rolling hills or majestic vistas. Every few miles there was a parking area and I used quite a few to pull over and just take in the scenery. Then a thought struck me; what would this look like leveled with several high rises on it?

I have a yearly tradition to visit New York City around Christmas and we inevitably end up in Times Square. Times Square is a place to see if you have never been. There are towering electronic screens on almost every building, not to mention people from many nations and states all enamored by the spectacle. A few years ago my visit to Times Square left a peculiar taste in my mouth. None of the tiny colored lights advertising Broadway shows, cars or beer had as much beauty as a single sunset. On a related note, none of Times Squares directed the viewers towards God. It is a testament to man, mostly to our pleasures and vices. I'm sure some people can look at something like Times Square or a city skyline and see the beauty and praise God for giving us our gifts of invention and the ability to create but there is something about enjoying nature that can never compare with man's creation.

God's creation will always trump anything our human minds can think of and create and nature testifies to so many of God's character traits. For starters, creation testifies to the existence of a Creator. The book of Romans states that the knowledge of God is in all men because of the creation around them. The complexities and beauties one finds in nature cannot help but lead one to believe in a loving Creator; the next of God's traits expressed in nature. We have been given an entire planet to enjoy and use for our good and survival. Only a loving Creator would supply our needs so fully.

Why then has the church and environmental movements traditionally clashed in ideals and beliefs? Because environmental movements with God become idolatry. If “saving the earth” is your ultimate goal, then it is your God. However, one can seek to glorify God above all and still be concerned about environmental pursuits. Man has been given so great a gift in our earth, however we have not been given it for us to wantonly waste it. We are still required to be good stewards of the gifts given us, and this includes our natural world.

There are many environmental movements that elevate the rights of animals above that of humans. This is a perversion of God's created order. Man is the pinnacle of God's creation, created in his very image, and given dominion over all the animals. However we must remember as Psalm 50 teaches, “All animals belong to God.” Jesus taught that God cares for every animal even the smallest sparrows. The biodiversity present in the vast spectrum of created life points to God's creativity and glory. Dominion does not mean wasteful destruction. Clearly we are not to abuse or destroy animals as Christians, however this prohibition does extend to hunting or using animals for food.

I have every faith in the sovereignty of God and believe that man cannot “break” the earth unless it is part of the Lord's plan, but that he will work even our wasteful sins for our good. I read somewhere that a portion of the vivid sunsets we enjoy is actually due in part to pollution in the atmosphere refracting the light to make brilliant colors. God will redeem our mistakes but maybe we should think before making more.