Second hand faith?

I am still processing a blog post I read yesterday by Jonathan Parnell at Desiring God. His post was titled We Don't Want to Live at Second Hand. The main idea that Parnell shares is that it is very easy for us to ascribe to the concepts of faith and grace that we read about, but it is an entirely different thing to actually own them. Thus, we in essence are relying on second hand faith.

"The mind moves a little faster than the heart. It's easier for us to intellectually apprehend truth than it is for us to actually embrace it. This creates what Thielicke calls the hiatus between the arena of spiritual growth and what we already know intellectually about this arena (11). In other words, many of us could talk the day lights out of justification, getting the concepts down and the order right, but never really living in the fullness of what it means to be justified."

The sad reality for me is that this is often true. So much I read, so much I hear simply flows through the sieve of my mind and never gets anchored down. Parnell has two good recommendations:

1) Pray - It is God who will empower us to embrace what we read and hear

2) Apply - As Parnell states, "We want to be able to take what we've consumed and reproduce it through our faith in action.  Nothing is happenstance. God, in his sovereign grace, has made it so that you read and watch and hear all that you ever read and watch and hear."

To God Alone be the Glory

A Call to Prayer (and to Weep!)

“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.” (Psalm 119:136)


"This is what I am writing for. Not political action, but love for the name of God and compassion for the city of destruction." - John Piper

It is hard to write or to speak against something.  On top of that, there is that old cliche "We should be known for what we are for, not for what we are against." Yet, at what point does one say "Enough"?

John Piper has a thought provoking and, dare I say, spirit provoking blog post today. I would encourage everyone to prayerfully read it here

I feel compelled to highlight this post for a couple of reasons. First and probably foremost, I have a sense that most of the American church is like a frog in a kettle of water. If a frog is dropped into boiling water, it will jump right out. But if it is dropped into cool water and the temperature is slowly raised, the frog will simply swim around until it is dead. Friends, we are in the kettle and we don't even know it!

Second, Piper's post raises the questions of response. Not how should Piper respond. Not how should the church respond. Rather the question is: How should I respond? And this is not a one issue, one concern, one downward trend assessment. No, this is a whole life, entire world view consideration.

Read Piper's post. Then look around, and pray, and weep. Then perhaps the Spirit will guide us to the heart of Mt 9:36 "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd ."

To God Alone be the Glory

Justice - Seeking it; Giving it

"The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it." - Oswald Chambers

One of the hardest aspects of walking with Christ is the whole idea of giving up our rights. It is amazing how ingrained it is in us to think the we deserve something, whatever the situation. And perhaps in worldly, earthly terms we do. But in Christ's economy, all of the rights belong to the King. So what's "fair" or what's "just" take on new meanings and have higher, broader goals.On top of that, as we straddle the fence between this fallen world, with all of its short comings, and the coming new world, with all of its perfections, we must not get confused in our expectations. We must not expect perfect justice to be executed here. Strive for it? Yes. Grieve over its lack? Yes. Expect that it will fully and completely present itself? No.

As we operate by Jesus' upside-down, inside-out principles, we must remember we are swimming upstream. Everything in this present age is warring against what Christ has called us to believe and to do. Yet we must believe it and do it. Thus the difficulty. Yet Jesus has promised to be with us and Holy Spirit is with us. And both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are interceding for us right now. So we can believe the unbelievable gospel and live out the un-doable life of a disciple of Christ.

To God Alone be the Glory

Worse Than Broken

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." - Eph 2:1-3

I ran across an excellent post on the Gospel Coalition blog yesterday. Its challenge to me coincides with my working through the book Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.  In essence through both the book and the blog, God is strongly reminding me that sin is serious and dealing with it is a here and now expectation of all believers.

Here's an excerpt from the blog:

"For believers, the word [broken] doesn’t go deep enough to move us forward in sanctification. God describes our sin many ways—almost all of which are far worse than “broken.” We’re rebellious, idolatrous, lost, enslaved, disobedient, adulterous, and—in case the point wasn’t pressed far enough—dead. If we see our sin as mere brokenness, our repentance and abhorrence at sin won’t push us in the opposite direction hard enough. And our appreciation of the cross as the only cure will be replaced with self-effort and legalism."

Read the whole thing here.

To God Alone be the Glory

God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

I couldn't state this any better so I won't try. You can read the whole blog at Desiring God.

2. God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

This truth comes from the same phrase in verse 9: "Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." We are not by nature smarter or wiser or more courageous than those who remain in darkness. The difference is that God exerted toward us an absolutely undeserved and compelling kindness: he called us. Paul put it like this in1 Corinthians 1:23-24, "We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." It was the omnipotent call of God that wakened us from the spiritual sleep of death and opened our eyes to the power and wisdom of God in Christ. Let us never forget: Free and powerful grace alone is the decisive reason that we are able to see the darkness of our culture and be free in some measure from it.

To God Alone be the Glory

To Serve You With What Little I Have

I ran across this quote from John Bunyan on Justin Taylor's blog as he referenced Tony Reinke. Bunyan's word resonate with me because they put credit where credit is due.

If thou findest me short in things, impute that to my love of brevity.

If thou findest me besides the truth in aught [any respect], impute that to my infirmity.

But if thou findest anything here that serves to your furtherance and joy of the faith, impute that to the mercy of God bestowed on thee and me.

Yours to serve you with what little I have.

—John Bunyan, Note to Reader, “Saved by Grace,” in The Works of John Bunyan, 1:336.

To God Alone be the Glory

I'm no saint

What follows is a challenging excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. You can read the full devotional here.

I don't know if much commentary is necessary, except to say I find myself oscillating between a kite-like view of sanctification (God will do whatever He wants with me and He knows what's best) and a Pharisaic view of sanctification (I need to do this and this and this and...). The truth is in the middle, but the reality is that there should be movement toward the goal and God, by His grace, will make it happen as we work it out.

"For you to say, “Oh, I’m no saint,” is acceptable by human standards of pride, but it is unconscious blasphemy against God. You defy God to make you a saint, as if to say, “I am too weak and hopeless and outside the reach of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.” Why aren’t you a saint? It is either that you do not want to be a saint, or that you do not believe that God can make you into one."


To God Alone be the Glory