The Ordinary Paths of Life

The Ordinary Paths of Life

I am teaching a class called ‘Women Mentoring Women’ and in preparing for my next class I was listening to Nancy Leigh DeMoss, http://www.reviveourhearts.com, and she quoted this from a 19th Century German Philosopher; “Show me your redeemed life and I might be inclined to believe in your Redeemer.”

This quote gave me pause. I thought, “Does my life look redeemed?” The answer is, yes and no. As I continue to walk on the ordinary paths of my life, I should like to be able to look back down the paths traveled and see areas in my life where the no’s have been transformed into yes’s. Oh, that I would adorn the Gospel of Christ more brilliantly day by day.

Only by God’s grace can this transformation happen. His Spirit in me focuses the desires of my heart to be fixed on Christ. Daily I ask the Lord to search my heart for defects rooted in sinful, fleshly desires. Why? Because, if I am to herald the same message as Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1, “For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ,” then I must render my heart to God for examination daily and sometimes minute by minute and thought by thought.

DeMoss was correct in her conclusion as to why women are not mentoring other women in the church. Stated plainly, women are not willing to mentor other women because they know they are not living out the Gospel. They know their lives are not being lived out in way contrary to biblical mandates. They know that they cannot teach others what they are not living out, or at least trying to live out.

This is especially true in formal mentoring relationships because these relationships are intensely personal. Formal mentoring relationships move past the surface and delve into the deepest parts of our hearts. These relationships make us vulnerable and call us to accountability. These formal mentoring relationships are the ones that take place in church between believers.

What can be said about the informal relationships that happen as we move through our ordinary paths of life? Dear Christian sister: How much more ought we to strive to live out the Gospel in front of those who have not bowed down before our Great King and Redeemer? As we interact with the mundane of life, are we not called to be ever mindful of the eyes that see how we walk, talk, and act? Further, are we not to be actively applying sound doctrine to all aspects of our daily life?

The world is not impressed by the teaching of God’s Word, because they have not the spiritual eyes nor the spiritual heart to receive the wisdom therein contained, but they are impressed and persuaded by the lives of others. Positively or negatively, our lives influence the world’s view of Christianity. Do I reflect Christ positively or negatively? Do I live in a manner worthy of Christ? On the ordinary path of life, does the world see me or Christ in me?

He fixed my choice on Him!

"I remember when I felt upon my finger the ring of infinite, everlasting, covenant love that Christ put there. Oh, it was a joyful day, a blessed day! Happy day, happy day, when His choice was known to me, and He fixed my choice on Him!" ~C.H. Spurgeon

Having just graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, reflection has naturally consumed my morning and evening time spent with my Lord. So, what is next? Because of God’s loving-kindness, He has directed my thoughts to the first days of my new life as a child of God free from eternal condemnation. Rather than straining to see what lies ahead, I have returned to the best day of my life!

The more I study the Word of God, the more I grow in awe that God would choose to save me. I can claim no redeeming quality. I have done nothing to merit His grace. For thirty-one years I lived in ultimate rebellion against God and His Lordship…loving only myself and clinging to my desires. The sinful nature into which I was born had me rendered incapable of turning my eyes and heart to God.

But God’s love conquers the greatest of sin! Christ’s death on the cross, His loving sacrifice was completely sufficient to cancel the debt of my sin. For there is no sin too great that our Savior’s love has not conquered! It is His victory, His work, and His love that made possible the salvation of my soul that beat with a heart dead in sin. There is nothing a dead heart can do to merit salvation. In light of perfect holiness, what could my sinful-dead heart offer God in exchange for life? My heart was made alive when by God’s grace He enables my heart to have faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God is the author of my faith. He is also the author of history. Redemptive history is the outworking of the Gospel of Christ which started before the earthly history. The beauty of redemptive history is that it surpasses our time. It stretches both backward and forward into eternity.

The atoning sacrifice of Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the grave made public His victory over death. His sacrifice was sufficient for all! However, the Bible makes clear that not all will be saved from eternal condemnation. Only those who repent of their sin and believe in Christ will be saved from the flames of Hell. There is but ONE way to God and eternal life, Christ Jesus.

Oh, what a humbling thing it is to reflect upon how Christ’s atonement was sufficient to cover all my sins. And even more humbling that by His grace He enabled me to receive the Gospel and so His atonement was applied to me efficiently. I did nothing to deserve His favor! By human standard, I was a chief of sinners! Why should have God applied the Gospel to me in the manner that plucked me from death’s hand, I shall never know! But, I shall never quit giving thanks!

God’s pursuit of me was uncomfortable. I resisted being confronted with my sinfulness and rebellion. I clung to earthly pleasures. I treasured my sin. For six months, my mind would not keep quiet. I could not do a thing to dull the call of God. He called me and offered His hand to me; I yelled back and slapped His hand away. I had no desire to submit to His Lordship and give up my life. I resisted until I didn’t; at the point of my salvation I resisted not. I willingly fell before my Lord and became alive with His love.

And now, today, just six years later, I reflect upon the day “He fixed my choice on Him.” With all assurance I shout praises to my Lord before Him and before the men and women on this earth! And, my assurance grows with each stretch of time that I persevere on this earth as a committed follower of Christ. Whether reflecting upon stretch of time that is a fleeting moment of temptation, a day of trial, a season of peace, my years as a Christian, or all redemptive history, I am filled with an ever increasing faith in God, who is the lover of my soul. Oh, to be wed to Christ…what a blessed and happy day indeed!

5 THINGS TO REFLECT UPON
ROMANS 8:28-39



1. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

2. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He [God the Father] who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

3. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

It is God who justifies.

4. Who is he that condemns?
Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

5. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Happiness v Joy

The Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.11.8
“Man's mind, full as it is of pride and boldness, dares to imagine a god according to its own capacity; as it sluggishly plods, indeed is overwhelmed with the crassest ignorance, it conceives an unreality and an empty appearance as God. To these evils a new wickedness joins itself, that man tries to express in his work the sort of God he has inwardly conceived.”

Happiness is a huge idol for many of us—for happiness is self-centered. Do not seek happiness when it is joy and peace Christ desires to grow in you. Only our total surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ can satisfy all desires. Happiness comes and goes, but joy only grows. Can happiness be experienced in sadness or grief? But can joy? Make Him your treasure remembering He is not a lost treasure you seek. Christ is with you always and the Holy Scriptures are His Word to you.

Blessings.

Let your unique light shine!

The Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.8.11

"Although most men are blind to their writings, yet the very heavenly majesty therein holds all men closely attached and as it were bound to itself. But this one fact raises their doctrine more than enough above the world: Matthew, previously tied to the gain of his table, Peter and John going about in their boats-all of them rude, uneducated men-had learned nothing in the school of men that they could pass on to others. Paul, not only a sworn but fierce and murderous enemy, was converted into a new man; this sudden and un-hoped for change shows that he was compelled by heavenly authority to affirm a doctrine that he had assailed. Let these dogs deny that the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles; or even let them discredit history. Yet the truth cries out openly that these men who, previously contemptible among common folk, suddenly began to discourse so gloriously of the heavenly mysteries must have been instructed by the Spirit."

This section of The Institutes of Christian Religion is concerned with the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, which are very weighty matters to be settled in every Christian’s mind if they are to apply themselves as teachable to the Scriptures. However, what struck me were these words "Paul, not only a sworn but fierce and murderous enemy, was converted into a new man; this sudden and un-hoped for change shows that he was compelled by heavenly authority to affirm a doctrine that he had assailed."

I thought about how Paul was incredibly educated and steeped in tradition—a Hebrew of Hebrews. His convictions lead him to slander Christ and murder Christians. Yet, at the moment of Paul’s salvation, Paul’s heart was forever changed with the Truth. The Truth was the Light and the Light shattered the darkness of deceptive thinking.

The Apostle Paul is the author of thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. Part of what made Paul such an amazing theologian was not just his knowledge of the Old Testament, but was his first hand knowledge of the errant lines of thinking of the Pharisees and Greek philosophers. Paul’s letters show us that he was intimately acquainted with both sides of the arguments. He knew what their stumbling blocks were because they were once his own!

What struck me is this: God uses us not in spite of our past, but uses us and even our past. God could have saved Paul at a young age or before he became a feared persecutor of Christians, but He didn't. Paul's life prior to his conversion uniquely equipped him to be a mighty extension of God's arm! God continues to use Paul's teaching and preaching to save souls from Hell's grasp.

Your errant lines of thinking prior to your conversion have uniquely equipped to minister to those caught in the same deception and to warn others not to become deceived. Your testimony is NOT your own! Every Christian is a trophy of God’s grace! Jesus said, “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light (Luke 11:33).”


Praise God for saving us exactly when He did! Praise God salvation came not a moment too soon nor a moment too late! Praise God who is sovereign and who is able to use sinful people like you and me to further His Kingdom! What a mighty God we serve!

Let your unique light shine!

Scripture

Here are a couple of quotes from The Institutes by John Calvin Section : 1.6.1-4 pertaining to Scripture, which is God’s special revelation. Special revelation is different from God’s general revelation, which is creation itself. While creation does indeed speak volumes about God and thus makes all men aware God exists; only God’s Word can save man. In seminary it is said like this, “general revelation is enough to condemn man but it is not enough to save man. Only God’s special revelation is salvific.” A thorough reading of the Romans 1 will get you there.


“Just as old or bleary-eyed men and those with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words, but with the aid of spectacles will begin to read distinctly; so Scripture, gathering up the otherwise confused knowledge of God in our minds, having dispersed our dullness, clearly shows us the true God. This, therefore, is a special gift, where God, to instruct the church, not merely uses mute teachers but also opens his own most hallowed lips. Not only does he teach the elect to look upon a god, but also shows himself as the God upon whom they are to look. He has from the beginning maintained this plan for his church, so that besides these common proofs he also put forth his Word, which is a more direct and more certain mark whereby he is to be recognized.”


“For by his Word, God rendered faith unambiguous forever, a faith that should be superior to all opinion.”


“And it is therefore no wonder that those who were born in darkness become more and more hardened in their insensibility; for there are very few who, to contain themselves within bounds, apply themselves teachably to God's Word, but they rather exult in their own vanity.”


“For errors can never be uprooted from human hearts until true knowledge of God is planted therein.”


In reflection…Am I and are you applying my/your-self as teachable to God’s Word? Do we go to the sacred texts with our own agendas and attempt to conform Scripture to ourselves or do we approach the Scripture and allow it to convict us of sin, usher in repentance, rejoice in forgiveness, humble us in adoration, and embolden us to share Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection with the world?


Christians do not fear being wrong in the face of God being right, because they have already submitted to Him being right. God is Lord, He is right, He is perfect, and His Word is perfect! Thank you God for your written Word, for your Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, and for your Holy Spirit who illumines the Truth of Scripture in your children.

Best paragraph I have read in a while...dangerous to many!

This paragraph is from Dr. Heimbach's book "True Sexual Morality," page 343.

"This means, therefore, that anyone who explodes with angry emotion towards God's moral standards on sex for fear of being exposed as wrong cannot possibly be a Christian. Reacting in this way and being a real Christian are completely incompatible. Both cannot exist at the same time. So, if someone fears that God is right and responds by covering that fear with anger rather than repentance, it indicates that he does not know the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, that he bears his sins alone, and that he hears admitting he is wrong because it means facing the wrath and judgment of God."

That paragraph holds true for any sin, not just sexual sin. I can say that this is true of my own life. Before God saved me...I responded to His truth with much anger. I was combative, defensive, and was trying to gain acceptance from the world. Following my conversion, I responded with complete repentance of my sexual sin and was freed from that bondage completely and irrevocably.

Today, I seek to be made aware of all areas of sin in my life. Sin will manifest in different ways today and tomorrow, but as I continue to walk with the Lord and mature in wisdom and knowledge I am quicker to identify these sins and less resistant to be repentant (turn away from sin).

Praise God for the conviction of the Holy Spirit who reminds me of the Truth, the Way, and the Life! And praise God for the forgiveness of sins through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.