Who Do I Thank For This?

Have you ever had an experience where you benefited from someone’s generosity and you didn’t know who to thank? Maybe it was a party with a delicious spread. You loved the food and wanted to thank the cook. Maybe someone paid, unexpectedly, for your whole group. How did you respond? You asked, “Who do I thank for this?”

Well…have you ever enjoyed anything on planet earth? Did you enjoy or benefit from anything yesterday? Is your heart still beating today? Are you still breathing air that you don’t own? Have you eaten food just about every day of your life?

And if you are a Christian, have you, undeservedly, been rescued from the domain of darkness? Have you been qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light? Have you been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb? Have all your sins been paid for? Do you have a living hope that can’t be killed by anyone or any circumstances on earth? Can anything or anyone separate you from the love of God in Christ? Will God work all things together for good for you?

No wonder life should be characterized by "giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph 5:20). For "from him and through him and to him are all things" (Rom 11:36).

Affliction, A Servant

Do you resonate with Psalm 119:67?

"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word."

Has suffering ever been a servant to halt your wandering heart and get you back on the path of life?

John Piper comments on this verse and gives five good reasons why God sends affliction to help us:

1. Affliction takes the glibness of life away and makes us more serious so that our mindset is more in tune with the seriousness of God’s word.
2. Affliction knocks worldly props from under us and forces us to rely more on God, which brings us more in tune with the aim of the word.
3. Affliction makes us search the Scriptures with greater desperation for help, rather than treating it as marginal to life.
4. Affliction brings us into the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings so that we fellowship more closely with him and see the world more readily through his eyes.
5. Affliction mortifies deceitful and distracting fleshly desires, and so brings us into a more spiritual frame which fits God’s word more.

May the Holy Spirit give us grace to not begrudge the pedagogy of God.


And by the way, the above devotional (Thanks, Chuck B, for sending!) is one found on John Piper's daily devotional called Solid Joys. You can get it as an app, or have them sent to your email box. If you're looking for a good daily devotional, I'd highly recommend it!

How Should We Pray For ISIS?

Russell Moore answers the question: Should we pray for the defeat of ISIS, or their conversion?

Anti-Psalm 1

Ray Ortlund, Jr "translates" Psalm 1 in reverse:

Blighted is the man
who doesn’t stick his neck out,
doesn’t think for himself,
doesn’t revere anything.
But he laughs on cue
while watching TV day and night.
He is like everybody else.
In all that he does, he gets by.
The believers are not so,
they don’t move with the times.
Therefore, the godly will not stand
in the court of human approval,
nor the Christlike at the best parties in town.
For who’s to say what is right?
And doesn’t everybody go to heaven?

"To Jesus, Through Mary" -- Does This Sign Point The Way?

I love Roman Catholics. That doesn't mean I have to agree with them. In fact, love often requires that we speak the truth to question and challenge another's beliefs. This is not a matter of nit-picking-ly picking doctrinal fights. It's not a matter of winning arguments. It's a matter of what is good for us. Truth is good for us. Error has impact.

So I was provoked by this sign as I drove by recently. It simply isn't true. The Bible never leads us to pursue greater union with Jesus, or to approach Jesus, through Mary. This is an invention of the Roman Catholic Church. I'm not trying to be incendiary. I am trying to say clearly that the developed Mariology (theological study of Mary) of the Roman Catholic Church does not arise out of nor is it governed by the Bible.

The path and pattern in the Bible is "to the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit."

This is the way to God:

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

This is the basis of our access to the Father:

Ephesians 2:18 For through him (i.e. Christ Jesus - see 2:13-17) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

This is how we give thanks:

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We do not need to "consecrate ourselves to the Mother of God" (Pope Pius XII). We do not need the guidance of Mary to lead us to union with Jesus. She does not have the role of molding us into the likeness of Jesus. That is the role of the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

None of this is to say we should denigrate or ignore the mother of our Lord. Absolutely not! She was highly favored by God (Luke 1:26-33). We should honor her and emulate her humble, exemplary faith (Luke 1:38, 46-49)! She has joined the great cloud of witnesses that line the way of "the race set before us" (Hebrews 12:1-2). She is cheering us on, just like Abraham, Sarah, and Moses, to keep running with our eyes fixed on Jesus.

I know this raises all the old Protestant / Roman Catholic issues and divides. I have a decent understanding of where we disagree and why. I'm not trying to take on Rome. But I would love to engage more often with my Roman Catholic friends in peaceful, yet serious, dialogue about what the Bible says, and what it means. Maybe you do too. Maybe this sign could point the way to doing just that.

50 Shades of Grey is Not A Grey Area Issue

If you're tempted to see it, view the trailer, read the book, etc., read this good word from Kevin DeYoung.

Monday Morning Grace

As you head off into another week, here's what you're doing, and why you're doing it. From The Institute For Faith, Work & Economics:



Colossians 3:23-24:

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

HT: MP

The Drop Box Documentary

Unwanted children are abandoned on the streets of South Korean with heart-breaking regularity. One pastor decided to do something about it. Some of you may remember this story about "The Drop Box." I posted a video about it two years ago.

Thanks to Justin Taylor, I just learned that a full-length documentary called "Dropbox" will hit 700 theaters March 3, 4, & 5. It just so happens that the Regal Brandywine Town Center Theater will be showing it. I think we need to see this. We need to let it break our hearts, and then see how God might use our broken hearts to reach out to other broken hearts.

Here is the teaser trailer:



And the full trailer:



You can learn more at The Drop Box Film site.

Stories From The Salt Shaker

I was really encouraged to read this post this morning. In it, Kathleen Nielson (the author of our upcoming women's Bible study on Nehemiah) shares two brief stories of saltiness. Saltiness? Yes, saltiness.

Matthew 5:13

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

Colossians 4:5-6

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

What does that saltiness look like, sound like, smell like? I hope you read her whole post, but here's an excerpt from one of the two stories:

Recently I had lunch with a new friend, whom I loved getting to know as a sister in the Lord. When you meet someone for the first time, you’re looking to learn all you can—by observing, by listening, by observing how she listens…

Let me tell you what offered the clearest window into this woman’s heart and mind. … It was her interaction with a young man who came to fill our water glasses.

That’s what threw open the window and revealed her heart. He was not a terribly noticeable guy—kind of pale, slightly stocky, with reddish scruffy-thick hair and beard—and with sleeves rolled up enough to reveal tattoos on each forearm. My friend leaned over to read the arm closest to her: a short sentence, something about fighting off foxes. As she tried to decipher it out loud, our waiter haltingly explained it was inspired by a line from an Eudora Welty story—“you know,” he said, “that woman from the South who was a really good writer.” …

In response to my friend’s continuing quizzical look and encouraging smile, our waiter explained those words remind him of the hard things we have to fight, the dark things we all face, the “foxes.” But my friend wasn’t done. Her next quick question was: “Well, on the other side of the hard things, what’s your hope?” This young man stopped, looked her in the eyes, and said, “Nobody ever asked me that before. Lots of people ask why the tattoo. Nobody ever asked that.” This led to his rather frank explanation of how he was “raised Christian,” rejected religion, but now chooses to believe there’s a God out there who made everything—a pretty extensive conversation for a guy who was supposed to be pouring water.

Good follow up to our consideration of 1 Cor 9:19-27 this past Sunday in the Renewing Disciplines series. Would you pray that the Lord would make you salty like that woman? Would you pray that Bethel will be filled with droves of such salty people?

He Did Not Like Playing For Safety

Commenting on the lukewarm Laodiceans of Rev. 3:14-22, Hugh Martin wrote: 

Jesus loved the enthusiast, the man who knew what side he was on and threw himself whole-heartedly into the struggle. He liked energetic action, as in the men who climbed the roof and broke a way through for their paralyzed friend, or in Zacchaeus who forgot his dignity and swarmed up a tree. He loved the generous giver. All four Gospels quote His saying, 'He who loves life loses it; he who spends keeps.' It sums up His attitude to life. He praised the man who banged on the door till he got an answer; He wanted men to show that kind of determination in the affairs of religion. He praised the widow who badgered the unjust judge into doing justice. He did not like playing for safety or burying one's talent. It is the peace-makers rather than the peace-keepers whom He blesses. Goodness is a positive active loyalty.”

The Seven Letters: Christ's Message to His Church (London: Carey Kingsgate, 1956), 107

HT: Ray Ortlund (in one of his messages I listened to recently)