In all this political hub-bub, the one issue that will always get my vote is pro-life. I cannot with a clear conscience ever vote for someone who makes the most horrific injustice to the very most helpless, easier.
An exerpt from and article called The Choice Facade.
Abortion advocates don't want to talk about facts or science, but they love to talk about "choice". "This is America...We're free to choose...You can't legislate morality!" Nothing has so clouded and confused the politics of this debate more than the misconstrued application of this one little term. The bottom line is this. Choice is nothing apart from the context to which it is applied. Individual choices are either recognized or restricted based upon the circumstances at hand. That's how our laws work. You simply cannot talk about choice in isolation.
For thirty years, however, abortion advocates have sought to bestow upon choice a nobility all its own, a nobility it has no claim to. They refuse to be called "pro-abortion", but they gladly accept the label "pro-choice" (despite the fact that there are countless other issues for which they are decidedly not pro-choice). The fact is, laws against rape, murder, assault, theft, speeding, drunk-driving and even smoking are all "anti-choice". They take away legal protection from one particular choice in order to protect a more foundational freedom. All such laws are "legislating morality". That's the only way society can survive. Personal choices that infringe on the life or livelihood of another human being must be legislated against. Therefore, anyone who defends legal abortion by simply arguing that people must be free to make their own choices is either ignorant or dishonest.
Furthermore, in almost 99% of all U.S. abortions1, the woman having the abortion chose to have sexual intercourse in the first place. Therefore, it could just as easily be argued that these women already made their choice when they chose to engage in behavior that often leads to pregnancy. Ultimately, restricting a woman's right to abortion does not restrict a woman's right to not be pregnant. Abortion, after all, does not keep a woman from being pregnant. Abstinence does that. Abortion simply ends the pregnancy of an already pregnant woman by killing the embryo or fetus living within her.
In the end, we are only free to choose so long as that choice doesn't kill or harm someone else, and our government exists to take away those choices that do. Nobody argues that a man should be free to choose when the context is sexual assault. What a fool he would be to try and justify rape by saying, "My body, my choice." Why? Because rape is a violent assault which involves more than just one body. And so is abortion. The heart of the issue is not "choice". The real question is humanity, and nothing short of anarchy can guarantee the perfect freedom of choice.
1. Just over 1% of all abortions in the United States happen as a result of rape: Torres A and Forrest JD, Why do women have abortions? Family Planning Perspectives, 1988, 24(4):169-176.
read the rest of the artible here
My question is this: Is your baby precious because you think it is or because... it IS?
WARNING THE PICTURES YOU WILL SEE AFTER CLICKING THE LINK ARE INCREDIBLY DISTURBING.
But they need to be seen. They depict the bloody, dismembered remains of human embryos and fetuses after a surgical abortion. While these images are incredibly shocking, they are no more shocking than the act of abortion itself. And so long as this injustice is hidden, it will continue to be ignored. Millions of dollars are spent to keep you in the dark, to keep you from seeing what you are about to discover. Abortion isn't about choice, it’s about the systematic slaughter of innocent human beings. These photographs are real and untouched, depicting the brutal reality that daily occurs behind sterile clinic doors. Until you see what abortion does, you will never understand what abortion is. Naomi Wolf, one of the most celebrated feminists of the modern era puts it this way:
How can we charge that it is vile and repulsive for pro-lifers to brandish vile and repulsive images if the images are real? To insist that the truth is in poor taste is the very height of hypocrisy. Besides, if these images are often the facts of the matter, and if we then claim that it is offensive for pro-choice women to be confronted by them, then we are making the judgment that women are too inherently weak to face a truth about which they have to make a grave decision. This view of women is unworthy of feminism.*
It is thoroughly inconsistent for anyone who supports abortion to be unwilling to face the reality of what abortion does. Enough is enough. It’s time you knew the truth.
Dare To Know
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Hazardous Haircolor
Well I last colored my hair 7 months ago with all natural henna dye and itwas a pain, on for 2 hrs, I felt like it colored my grays blonde and taht stuff is a bear to get out, it's like dried dirt and it pulled a lot of my hair out with it. Since thyroid issues, from both the imbalance and my med which can cause hairloss, gotta ask the dr about that, I lose way too much hair when I shampoo. And now my ponytail's about half as big as it was.... kinda scary, I used to have annoyingly thick hair, as in I bought my own thinning shears, and now it's I thinking, ok scary, I can wrap the rubberband around more than once here. So anyway after reading how the haircolor you buy at the store is HIGH hazard, pretty much all of it, otherwise I would've colored by now, I researched and found this ecocolors brand. Here is a blog entry I found interesting too while researching. http://organic-skin-care.blogspot.com/2006/06/ugly-side-of-cosmetics.html. So if you care about haircolor toxicity check out the info, I personally don't need anything harsh causing anymore of my hair to fall out. And just check the database in my fyi section and search haircolor if you want to know the ugly truth about the stuff on the shelves.
Congrats Dan and Bethany!!
All I have to say is I am blessed with great sister in laws!! ( I have four now and I couldn't ask for better) Dan(my youngest brother) made it official this weekend and we are so happy and excited for them!! Bethany is a sweetheart and I'm blessed to have her as another sister!
The wedding is Nov 30th. This Nov 30th in Texas. So it's going to be pretty crazy but exciting as well!!
In other less glamorous news, Christian continues to potty train like there's no tomorrow. I'm shocked, I can't take credit, he is just getting it. I thought it was going to be long and drawn out. Mom said Tom potty trained in a week and I couldn't fathom that. Until now, I'm amazed. He wore a pull up to church and told me he had to potty and he actually went on the toilet at church, and he was dry till we got home and he came home and used the potty, met me on the stairs with the potty bucket with a special poo present, he pooped on the pot again today and I'm so thankful!! I can't believe it and it's encouraging admist our busy life right that God's caused Christian to catch on. Oh did I mention he was dry saturday morning??? Maybe the difference is this time I prayed about it instead of forcing my agenda for a change... who would've thought.
Here is a random funny thing Christian said last week. He was at the table and kept throwing down his napkin and I was distracted and kept picking it up. Finally he was whining " my napkin!!!" I said, you threw it, you need to get down and get it yourself. " I'm not going to play anymore MOM! You're not FANCY!!!!"
Also he has retained something Mitch told him a month ago I guess and Mitch was impressed when he brought him one of hot wheels and said " it's a dodge charger" He loves cars way too much. It's definitely his thing. "see my race car? it's really fast."
Friday, October 24, 2008
Fall Leaves and Tinklings
First some really pretty trees from across the street, we can see them out our front window.
The next update has to do with big breakthroughs in potty training. Tuesday I thought I would try the naked buns techinique. I'm not crazy about the idea but I thought I would try that with Christian since he seems to not want to potty onthe carpet. So I put a potty in the livng room and in the basement for easy access. The first day he had one pee accident and he pooped beside the potty ont he floor.....progress though. The next day was grocery day so it was diaper for the shopping and he pottied int he diaper and pooped in the diaper as soon as we got home, but after that cleanup, we were back to naked buns. No pee accidents for evening and he pooped on the potty, not IN the potty, but on it, the little turd was on the rim. We're getting closer lol. That night he was not able to relax to go before the bath ( he has many time sitting on the potty with nothing) he told me he wouldn't potty int he tub, and when he got out, he said he had to go and he did!! yea!!! Last night he did the same thing, holding his potty through the bath, dont' ask me how, but pottied after getting out. No pooping yesterday and he had one pee accident. He kept saying he had to go poop which I could tell but he didn't relax. I expected poo in his diaper this morning after he woke up. But no... so far today no accidents and we are still naked bunsing it. AND he pooped in the potty like 20 minutes ago!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!! I don't know how it will be once we put on pants but this is a lot of progress for us!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Baby Steps in Pottytraining
I can't remember which morning it was this week, but at 2:37 am Christian woke up in the night to try to get in bed which he often does, I took him back to bed to hear him cry again once I get in bed. I go back to the room, " I have to go potty" I think, hmmm sounds like a ploy to me.. but ok. He went right in, sat on his little potty and went! So at 2:40am we're headed to the kitchen for 2 m&m's. Then in the morning, he was dry and Isabelle helped him go in to potty and he went again! That was it for the day but, progress. And last night he actually told us he had to go before he went, usually it's " I pee peed on cinderella" which he does say pee pee now insteadof poop. :) Anyway, encouraging.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Surviving Along
Life is busy. Mitch worked 59.5 hrs the week before. I don't think he's had less than 50 hrs all summer, except for our TX trip. We had one date this summer, to Chicago. One date in September. Christian doesn't nap. Our toilet leaked under our lanolium and reaked of urine so this would-be recovery weekend turned into Mitch tiling our bathroom floor. He was up till 2:30 am Friday. And if you know tileing, he finally was done around 6 pm on saturday night,he mowed the front lawn after that, he still has the trim to put back up. Church this morning, which was worth going to forsure, mowed the back lawn, raked leaves, but then yippee a business meeting tonight at church, which I don't go to because we end up getting home at 9:30, with kids... then he has to go to a church library meeting tomorrow night that I'm begging him to get out of, it's a half hour drive to church. so we are both beat, Mitch is run into the ground and I feel like a single parent when he works so much. So pray for us as we consider what God would have us to do to shift into a more simple life and have my husband home more so he can feel like he isn't living to work. NOBODY works harder than this man, nobody. If there was a give it your all, all day, all evening trying to squeeze in time with the kids, still bring your wife flowers guy, he's it, but nobody can stay on a pace like that, it makes us all tired. So we're looking into options and I will update as updates become available, I just want to be right where God wants us and living within the funds that a regular human who works 40 hrs or heck even 45 can provide. Souls last, people last, we'll never get this time back with the kids and there is so much more to life that always working to get more because when you die, you won't think, gee I had a lot great stuff. Give me the simple life any day. A nice supper at the end of good days' work, relaxing and enjoying family time.
Through all the possible changes and current stresses though, God is so faithful and the peace He has given me is wonderful. I want to look at the whole mountain but I try to remember the wisdom that Jesus spells out in Matthew 6, the Lord knows you need these things, sufficient for the day is it's own trouble, who by worrying can add one day to his life's span?? It has helped not to unnessessarily overburden myself with future things and things that may not happen. Do I plan?? Heck yeah! Do I obsess? I try to reign my natural tendencies in. The past couple months I've had a couple small anxiety attacks that were short lived, about an hr in the middle of the night and they've been during my period. Naturally when they occur, I want to start worrying, because everything seems overwhelming when you just don't feel right, but trying to take my thoughts captive and think ok, I wasn't worried about this during the day so I'm not going to worry about this now. I know it's corny but I visualize gathering up my pressing issues that concern me and giving them over to the hands of Lord. We sang In Christ Alone, not the one you'd think, it was written in 2001, anyway that song made me cry today to in church when in the first verse it talked about peace because I'm so thankful to the Lord for the peace He's given me.
In other news, Isabelle wrote her name this week, as in, really good, in a line, and I didn't have to tell her what letter came next. It's a big deal for us anyway!! She loves doing school lessons and we've done one so far this year... one... sigh... oh well, getting it one way or another still make s a difference I can tell, she loves one on one attention. I told Mitch if she could scoop poo with you she'd love it because she's doing it with you.
Christian pottied on the potty once this week, our pastor's wife said she just sits her little boy on the potty 4 times a day or so and I thought well i 'll just sit Christian on a few times a day and expect nothing. So once is better than nothing. He will tell me, " I poo pooed (which means all pottying and stinky means poop to him, don't know why) on tweety bird mommy. I poo pood on cinderella."(can you tell we're using Isabelle's old pullups??) He answered me today with " yes, definitely" Other quotes " you're the best mom, you're the best" " stop it Mom" stop it Isabelle"I quit!!!!" " do you want to play with me mommy?" ok..."you do?" " I want some bacon, that's what I like"
"Mommy, hold me, I scared"
what are you scared of?
" I scared the train"
why?
"it's looking at me"
"waaaaaaaaaa" I laugh at him he says " I crazy Mommmy"
And the words to In Christ Alone:
In Christ alone my hope is found;He is my light, my strength, my song;This cornerstone, this solid ground,Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.What heights of love, what depths of peace,When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!My comforter, my all in all—Here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,Fullness of God in helpless babe!This gift of love and righteousness,Scorned by the ones He came to save.Till on that cross as Jesus died,The wrath of God was satisfied;For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay,Light of the world by darkness slain;Then bursting forth in glorious day,Up from the grave He rose again!And as He stands in victory,Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;For I am His and He is mine—Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death—This is the pow'r of Christ in me;From life's first cry to final breath,Jesus commands my destiny.No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,Can ever pluck me from His hand;Till He returns or calls me home—Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.
awesome
Through all the possible changes and current stresses though, God is so faithful and the peace He has given me is wonderful. I want to look at the whole mountain but I try to remember the wisdom that Jesus spells out in Matthew 6, the Lord knows you need these things, sufficient for the day is it's own trouble, who by worrying can add one day to his life's span?? It has helped not to unnessessarily overburden myself with future things and things that may not happen. Do I plan?? Heck yeah! Do I obsess? I try to reign my natural tendencies in. The past couple months I've had a couple small anxiety attacks that were short lived, about an hr in the middle of the night and they've been during my period. Naturally when they occur, I want to start worrying, because everything seems overwhelming when you just don't feel right, but trying to take my thoughts captive and think ok, I wasn't worried about this during the day so I'm not going to worry about this now. I know it's corny but I visualize gathering up my pressing issues that concern me and giving them over to the hands of Lord. We sang In Christ Alone, not the one you'd think, it was written in 2001, anyway that song made me cry today to in church when in the first verse it talked about peace because I'm so thankful to the Lord for the peace He's given me.
In other news, Isabelle wrote her name this week, as in, really good, in a line, and I didn't have to tell her what letter came next. It's a big deal for us anyway!! She loves doing school lessons and we've done one so far this year... one... sigh... oh well, getting it one way or another still make s a difference I can tell, she loves one on one attention. I told Mitch if she could scoop poo with you she'd love it because she's doing it with you.
Christian pottied on the potty once this week, our pastor's wife said she just sits her little boy on the potty 4 times a day or so and I thought well i 'll just sit Christian on a few times a day and expect nothing. So once is better than nothing. He will tell me, " I poo pooed (which means all pottying and stinky means poop to him, don't know why) on tweety bird mommy. I poo pood on cinderella."(can you tell we're using Isabelle's old pullups??) He answered me today with " yes, definitely" Other quotes " you're the best mom, you're the best" " stop it Mom" stop it Isabelle"I quit!!!!" " do you want to play with me mommy?" ok..."you do?" " I want some bacon, that's what I like"
"Mommy, hold me, I scared"
what are you scared of?
" I scared the train"
why?
"it's looking at me"
"waaaaaaaaaa" I laugh at him he says " I crazy Mommmy"
And the words to In Christ Alone:
In Christ alone my hope is found;He is my light, my strength, my song;This cornerstone, this solid ground,Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.What heights of love, what depths of peace,When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!My comforter, my all in all—Here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,Fullness of God in helpless babe!This gift of love and righteousness,Scorned by the ones He came to save.Till on that cross as Jesus died,The wrath of God was satisfied;For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay,Light of the world by darkness slain;Then bursting forth in glorious day,Up from the grave He rose again!And as He stands in victory,Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;For I am His and He is mine—Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death—This is the pow'r of Christ in me;From life's first cry to final breath,Jesus commands my destiny.No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,Can ever pluck me from His hand;Till He returns or calls me home—Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.
awesome
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Holiness By Grace
Mara gave me this book as part of our bridesmaid present. I had finished Loving God With All Your Mind, and I wondered what I would read next, then I got this. I really love it so far. It talks a lot about the co-existing doctines of a wretch saved by grace, (we have nothing to offer before or after salvation, yet if we love Christ we keep His commandments) and obedience to God only by His grace. I also love that this book reminds me that even the "works" we continue to do don't gain us merit or higher standing with Him. Any merit we have is Christ alone and that means after salvation too. God is not impressed by our works before or after and he is not obligated to bless us or react to our obedience, or bless us in the way we would think of a "blessing". Yet we are blessed if we obey Him. Makes sense right??!! :) I must admit I never thought of the obedience that we do after being saved as really not impressing God. We think, oh God is pleased with me, I did this, whether it be in outward action or inward thought. Which really God judges the heart behind this anyway. Ok so after my probably confusing description of the intro, and first chapter, I'll put some quotes in here that say it better. If you can endure till the end of all these, it's worth it!!! :)
GRACE. God's Riches At Christ's Expense
Belief in this provision of grace, wherby God chose to view us as his beloved through no good of our own, becaome the greatest joy of our souls. What robs many believers of this joy, however, is a misunderstanding of how God continues to view us after we have received the grace that justifies us. ( either by meriting favor with our "accomplishments" for him or having our stocks drop when we fail spiritually)
We race in the confidence that his grace does not cease just because we have faltered. Grace becomes not only the means by which God once justified us, it is also the means by which we are continually encouraged and enabled to serve him with undimished delight.
For is we cannot lift our eyes from an earthly perspective, then we wil so focus on our weaknesses and stumbles that the race to please God will be misery. But if we remember that God is the lifter of our heads, then we will raise our eyes to see the afffection in his own.. When we see that his regard for us does not waver, then his grace will quicken our steps. strenghthen our hearts and delight our souls to carry on. (reminds me of the verse, even when we are faithless , he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself)
(the intro goes to talk about the balance between license, do whatever you want cause hey I'm saved by grace and legalism, boundaries that aren't always bible based of what a "christian" should be like)
Still, it is not enough for the advocates of grace simply to react against legalism. We must also respond to the license that always tempts Christians when preaches say, " God will love you no matter what". Legalism makes believers think that God accepts them on the basis of what they do. Licentiousness makes believers think that God does not care what they do. Both errors have terrible spiritual consequences.
Jesus said, " if you love me, you will obey what I command" John 14:15. Grace should not make obedience optional. When God removes good works as a conditon for his acceptance, he does not remove righteousness as a requirement for life. The standards of Scripture glorify God and protect his people from spiritual harm. We cannot undermine the legitimate standards of the bible without grave consequences.
God does not love us because we obey him, but we cannot know the blessings of his love without obedience. Thus, a grace focus that undermines Christ's own demand for obedience denies us knowledge of and intimacy with him. This is not grace.
Grace that bears fruit is biblical.
Resting on God's grace does not relieve us of our holy obligations: rather it should enable us to fulfill them. As the assurance of God's love allows us to cease striving to please him for our own benefit, our good works will begin relfecting more of the selfless righteousness that is truly holy.
God's glory andthe good of others increasingly replaces self-centered motivations. And, as our obedience becomes a gratitude response to God's grace rather than an attempt to bribe God for blessings, holiness more and more characterizes our actions. We increasingly and forever serve God in the holiness he grants by HIS grace, making the pursuit of HIS holiness our delight.
We will see how a grasp of biblical grace both releases from leagalism and rescues from license.
Grace overwhelms us with God's love, and as a result our heart resonates with the desires of God. His purposes become our own.....True grace produces joy and promotes godliness.
And that was some of my favorite stuff from the intro. Are your eyes tired yet?? cause my wrist is...
My favorite points from chapter one:
Read Luke 17:7-10
This parable troubles us. The character Jesus uses to represent the divine perspective seems so unsympathetic. Not only does the master not invite the hardworking sevant to his table, Jesus also says the master OWES the sevant no thanks....we should learn that even when we have done all we were told to do, we hsould still say "we are unworthy servants, we have only done our duty. (God is not moved by the deeds we do)
Because of the great disproportion between our best works and God's true holiness, we are unable to trade our righteousness for God's favor. Our bargaining chips of good works have no currency with God. God will bless according to his purposes good works done in obedience to him, but we cannot bind him to our definition or preferred degreee of his blessings. God's blessings, for instance may come in the form of difficulites that bring us closer to understanding his heart by allowing us to share in Christ sufferings (phil 3:10)
Rock of ages verses:
Not the labors of my hands can fulfill they law's demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me Savior or I die.
Many of us regularly sing these words with the thought of our intial salvation in mind. We rejoice that God made us right with him apart from any goodness in us.. But health and vigor will be added to our spritual service as we understand that this song applies to us at every stage of our Christian lives. To grasp fully the grace that daily restores out confidence in His love, we must keep our hands empty of any claim that God must bless us on the basis of our goodness. For if he loves us because of what is in our hands, then the day will come when we will believe that his affection has diminished because our works are small, or that his care has vanished because our deeds are wrong.
When I face the reality of the inadequacy of my works to merit God's favor , then I recoginize that I must depend on his goodnes and not on mine....I recognize the true character of my good works. According to scripture even my best works are "filthy rags" There is too much of human imperfection and mixed motives in my best deeds to have them obligate God to do as I wish. John Calvin : To man we may assign only this: that he pollutes and contaminates by his impurity those very things which are good. For nothing proceeds from a man, however perfect he be, that is not defiled by some spot. Let the Lord then call to judgement the best of human works: he will indeed recognize in them his own righteousness by man's dishonor and shame.
such words should not cause us to think that God never desires or blesses our goodness. Walking in God's ways is itself a blessing. ( as in the natural consequences of being honest, faithful to spouse, honoring ones parents etc;) Still no degree of human goodness will lock God into a path of blessing according to our choosing, as though we had become his master through our merit.
God promises to bless obedience by using it for his purposes. The blessings that result, however , should be seen less as credit for our goodness and more as evidence of his faithfulness to his purposes.
...the difficulties we face that lead us ( and those who observe our faith) to greater dependence on, and satisfaction in, God alone. In such trials God still truly blesses our faithfulness to him but these blessings can as well involve the mercy of removing us from the grasp of this world's pleasures as rewarding us with worldly delights.
THus we cannot guarantee that his care will flow according to our plans simply because we conform to some degree to biblical standards. Our works do not obligate God to care for us in a way that WE think is best. We cannot put God on a leash through our goodness, nor obligate him to our wishes by our deeds. God blesses according tot he wisdom of his eternal mercy rather than in proportion to our works of earned merit.
BB Warfield :
We are sinners, and we know ourselves to be sinners lost and helpless in ourselves, but we are saved sinners, and it is our salvation which gives tone to our life- a tone of joy which swells in exact proportion to the sense we have of our ill-desert. For it is he to whome much is forgiven who loves much and, who lovingly, rejoices much.
our best works are not worthy of God's favor
If our teaching of grace causes us to make light of sin, or to slight the requirements of the Savior, then we have really not understood either the monstrosity of our sin or the greatness of the heart that forgives it.
When we truly percieve how great is the heart that pardons us, then our hearts begin to beat in harmony with that heart. Honoring God becomes the joy of our lives, and love for him becomes that power that fuels that joy.
The tears of confession and the joy of pardon are required to produce the gratitude that empowers the Christian life. Biblical grace neither minimizes the guilt of our sin nor grants libery for it's expression. We know grace in its fullness when we are broken to the point of tears over our shame of our sin. We, in fact, strive to see our wrongdoing in all its horror and betrayal of our Savior: for when we do , the marvel of God's graces becomes all the more profound and mobilizing.
this belief in God's unmeritied grace will transform our lives by unleashing us from the peformance treadmill of trying to gain God's affections (or other people's) by our deeds or despondency. When the confession of our hearts is, "everything that is right about me, Jesus did." then the power of heaven's joy comes to earth for us.
GRACE. God's Riches At Christ's Expense
Belief in this provision of grace, wherby God chose to view us as his beloved through no good of our own, becaome the greatest joy of our souls. What robs many believers of this joy, however, is a misunderstanding of how God continues to view us after we have received the grace that justifies us. ( either by meriting favor with our "accomplishments" for him or having our stocks drop when we fail spiritually)
We race in the confidence that his grace does not cease just because we have faltered. Grace becomes not only the means by which God once justified us, it is also the means by which we are continually encouraged and enabled to serve him with undimished delight.
For is we cannot lift our eyes from an earthly perspective, then we wil so focus on our weaknesses and stumbles that the race to please God will be misery. But if we remember that God is the lifter of our heads, then we will raise our eyes to see the afffection in his own.. When we see that his regard for us does not waver, then his grace will quicken our steps. strenghthen our hearts and delight our souls to carry on. (reminds me of the verse, even when we are faithless , he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself)
(the intro goes to talk about the balance between license, do whatever you want cause hey I'm saved by grace and legalism, boundaries that aren't always bible based of what a "christian" should be like)
Still, it is not enough for the advocates of grace simply to react against legalism. We must also respond to the license that always tempts Christians when preaches say, " God will love you no matter what". Legalism makes believers think that God accepts them on the basis of what they do. Licentiousness makes believers think that God does not care what they do. Both errors have terrible spiritual consequences.
Jesus said, " if you love me, you will obey what I command" John 14:15. Grace should not make obedience optional. When God removes good works as a conditon for his acceptance, he does not remove righteousness as a requirement for life. The standards of Scripture glorify God and protect his people from spiritual harm. We cannot undermine the legitimate standards of the bible without grave consequences.
God does not love us because we obey him, but we cannot know the blessings of his love without obedience. Thus, a grace focus that undermines Christ's own demand for obedience denies us knowledge of and intimacy with him. This is not grace.
Grace that bears fruit is biblical.
Resting on God's grace does not relieve us of our holy obligations: rather it should enable us to fulfill them. As the assurance of God's love allows us to cease striving to please him for our own benefit, our good works will begin relfecting more of the selfless righteousness that is truly holy.
God's glory andthe good of others increasingly replaces self-centered motivations. And, as our obedience becomes a gratitude response to God's grace rather than an attempt to bribe God for blessings, holiness more and more characterizes our actions. We increasingly and forever serve God in the holiness he grants by HIS grace, making the pursuit of HIS holiness our delight.
We will see how a grasp of biblical grace both releases from leagalism and rescues from license.
Grace overwhelms us with God's love, and as a result our heart resonates with the desires of God. His purposes become our own.....True grace produces joy and promotes godliness.
And that was some of my favorite stuff from the intro. Are your eyes tired yet?? cause my wrist is...
My favorite points from chapter one:
Read Luke 17:7-10
This parable troubles us. The character Jesus uses to represent the divine perspective seems so unsympathetic. Not only does the master not invite the hardworking sevant to his table, Jesus also says the master OWES the sevant no thanks....we should learn that even when we have done all we were told to do, we hsould still say "we are unworthy servants, we have only done our duty. (God is not moved by the deeds we do)
Because of the great disproportion between our best works and God's true holiness, we are unable to trade our righteousness for God's favor. Our bargaining chips of good works have no currency with God. God will bless according to his purposes good works done in obedience to him, but we cannot bind him to our definition or preferred degreee of his blessings. God's blessings, for instance may come in the form of difficulites that bring us closer to understanding his heart by allowing us to share in Christ sufferings (phil 3:10)
Rock of ages verses:
Not the labors of my hands can fulfill they law's demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me Savior or I die.
Many of us regularly sing these words with the thought of our intial salvation in mind. We rejoice that God made us right with him apart from any goodness in us.. But health and vigor will be added to our spritual service as we understand that this song applies to us at every stage of our Christian lives. To grasp fully the grace that daily restores out confidence in His love, we must keep our hands empty of any claim that God must bless us on the basis of our goodness. For if he loves us because of what is in our hands, then the day will come when we will believe that his affection has diminished because our works are small, or that his care has vanished because our deeds are wrong.
When I face the reality of the inadequacy of my works to merit God's favor , then I recoginize that I must depend on his goodnes and not on mine....I recognize the true character of my good works. According to scripture even my best works are "filthy rags" There is too much of human imperfection and mixed motives in my best deeds to have them obligate God to do as I wish. John Calvin : To man we may assign only this: that he pollutes and contaminates by his impurity those very things which are good. For nothing proceeds from a man, however perfect he be, that is not defiled by some spot. Let the Lord then call to judgement the best of human works: he will indeed recognize in them his own righteousness by man's dishonor and shame.
such words should not cause us to think that God never desires or blesses our goodness. Walking in God's ways is itself a blessing. ( as in the natural consequences of being honest, faithful to spouse, honoring ones parents etc;) Still no degree of human goodness will lock God into a path of blessing according to our choosing, as though we had become his master through our merit.
God promises to bless obedience by using it for his purposes. The blessings that result, however , should be seen less as credit for our goodness and more as evidence of his faithfulness to his purposes.
...the difficulties we face that lead us ( and those who observe our faith) to greater dependence on, and satisfaction in, God alone. In such trials God still truly blesses our faithfulness to him but these blessings can as well involve the mercy of removing us from the grasp of this world's pleasures as rewarding us with worldly delights.
THus we cannot guarantee that his care will flow according to our plans simply because we conform to some degree to biblical standards. Our works do not obligate God to care for us in a way that WE think is best. We cannot put God on a leash through our goodness, nor obligate him to our wishes by our deeds. God blesses according tot he wisdom of his eternal mercy rather than in proportion to our works of earned merit.
BB Warfield :
We are sinners, and we know ourselves to be sinners lost and helpless in ourselves, but we are saved sinners, and it is our salvation which gives tone to our life- a tone of joy which swells in exact proportion to the sense we have of our ill-desert. For it is he to whome much is forgiven who loves much and, who lovingly, rejoices much.
our best works are not worthy of God's favor
If our teaching of grace causes us to make light of sin, or to slight the requirements of the Savior, then we have really not understood either the monstrosity of our sin or the greatness of the heart that forgives it.
When we truly percieve how great is the heart that pardons us, then our hearts begin to beat in harmony with that heart. Honoring God becomes the joy of our lives, and love for him becomes that power that fuels that joy.
The tears of confession and the joy of pardon are required to produce the gratitude that empowers the Christian life. Biblical grace neither minimizes the guilt of our sin nor grants libery for it's expression. We know grace in its fullness when we are broken to the point of tears over our shame of our sin. We, in fact, strive to see our wrongdoing in all its horror and betrayal of our Savior: for when we do , the marvel of God's graces becomes all the more profound and mobilizing.
this belief in God's unmeritied grace will transform our lives by unleashing us from the peformance treadmill of trying to gain God's affections (or other people's) by our deeds or despondency. When the confession of our hearts is, "everything that is right about me, Jesus did." then the power of heaven's joy comes to earth for us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)