I post these quotes, not because I live them, but because I need them …
“…it is difficult to imagine that someone who has taken the first steps toward loving God with heart and soul and mind and strength (Mark 12:30) would not want to absorb as much of God’s Word as possible.“
(D. A. Carson)
Original Post from joannekerr
“I am amazed when I consider here the humility of the Father. For, though the Father is supreme … yet He chooses to do His work in many cases through the Son and through the Spirit …
In Ephesians 1 (verses 3-12) … Paul goes on to show us that every one of those blessings – every single one of them – comes to us in Christ … the Father has designed that every one of those blessings, without exception, comes to us in and only in His Son. How kind of the Father to shine the spotlight on His Son, to the praise of the glory of His grace.
…Despite His supreme authority, He chooses to work so that another, not Himself, most fully manifests His (the Father’s) own glory. A profound divine humility …
In many ways, what we see here … extends into His relationship with us. Does God need us to do His work? … The answer is an emphatic no … Recall the words of Paul in Acts 17:25, that God is not ‘served by human hands, as though He needed anything’.
…He calls us into a service that He doesn’t need because He wants so very much to share with us. He’s generous. He loves and delights in giving a portion of His glorious work to others and empowering them to do it …it is as if He says, ‘I want you to participate in the privilege and pleasure of my work. I want you to be a part of what I am doing, to share in what I am accomplishing – a work that I do through you, a work I could do myself without you, but a work you’ll share in for all eternity.’
…he delegates a portion of His meaningful work to others, and He rejoices over their participation. Surely this is a model of how we can and should understand the “work of the ministry” in the body of Christ …”
(Bruce Ware)
Original post from joannekerr
Remember, today, to:
1. speak more to the Lord than I do to myself.
2. listen more to the Lord than I do to myself.
Originally Posted to martha_martha by Sarah Fullerton
“As creatures of God we are totally dependent upon him for everything. We are dependent not only on the continual rule or providence of God in nature for the production of food and other goods, but also for every moment of our existence. We draw the next breath, our hearts beat the next beat, we are conscious of the next moment of our existence only because God goes on sustaining the very substance of creation. There are no laws of nature that are self-sustaining. If God were to withdraw for a split second his powerful word, the universe would cease to exist in that same split second. That is why man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deut 8:3; see also Ps 104:24-30). So Christ, as the creative Word of God, sustains ‘all things by his powerful word’ (Heb 1:3), and ‘in him all things hold together’ (Col 1:17).”
-Graeme Goldworthy, According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible
These thoughts gave me a new insight into Jesus’ quoting of Deuteronomy 8:3 when the Devil tempts him to turn stones into bread after 40 days of fasting (and serious hunger!). I’ve always thought of this response as meaning that man can’t just survive on physical sustenance, but also needs the spiritual food of meditation on God’s written word to grant him life. That is certainly a true biblical idea, but what Jesus is saying here is, in the words of William Hendriksen, “Tempter, you are proceeding upon the false assumption that for a man, in order to appease hunger and keep alive, bread is absolutely necessary. Over against this erroneous idea, I now declare that not bread but the creative, energizing, and sustaining power of my Father is the only indispensable source of my, and of man’s, life and well-being.” (Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew
Hendriksen goes on:
“The expression ‘every word that comes out through the mouth of God’ refers to the word of his power. It is God’s omnipotence exercised in creation and preservation. It is his word of effective command; for example, ‘And God said, Let there be light, and there was light’ (Gen. 1:3); ‘By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made’ (Ps. 33:6).”
The point is this: Man can eat as much bread as he can get a hold of and yet, if God withdraws His sustaining word, such a person will die that very instant. Conversely, man can be without any bread due to circumstances beyond his control–and by God’s mercy, even circumstances WITHIN his control– and yet, by God’s sustaining word that man will go on living.
This doesn’t negate human responsibility (more on that in another post), but places our responsibility squarely UNDER God’s sovereign dominion and care. We live and move and have our being only because God continues to speak His sustaining word that commands us to go on living. And what a relief this is to the anxieties of daily life!
As I drive back and forth from VBS this week, logging 500 kms just in multiple short trips, I am aware that the reason I have yet to drive off the road or hit another car is not merely the good condition of our van or my ability to stay alert and focus on the road (anyone who’s ever had 4 kids in the back of their van knows it couldn’t possibly be that!), though these are agents of God’s care. I have yet to die on the road because God continues to speak His powerful words of existence for me.
If you are fighting illness, or you worry every time your child acts out crazy kid-antics on the jungle gym, or things are so tight that you literally don’t know where tomorrow’s meal is going to come from, trust that God’s word will speak sustenance until the very moment HE has appointed for the end. It is not bread, or health or helicopter parenting that keeps us all going. And “which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matt. 6:27) Man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God, and His powerful word will never cease to command and carry out his good, pleasing and perfect will.
This post is originally from joannekerr
“…Immediately (Jesus) made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…“
In reading this, this morning, I was reminded that prayer time seldom just falls into our lap. Usually, we have to intentionally carve out time for it.
It was tempting, 20 years ago, when I had a 4 year old, a 2 year old, an almost-1 year old (and another “as yet unknown” to follow a couple of years later) to believe that “later” there would be more time for prayer and study of God’s Word.
While there was some truth to that, the realities of “later” are that when it finally arrives, there are a new set of issues to face:
…Now that you “have more free time” you find that you have less energy (and mental capacity!).
…You may feel more pressure (inwardly, or outwardly) to involve yourself with people or activities that you were not able to before because of other responsibilities and priorities.
…And, 20 years ago, who would have dreamt of the amount of time the average person would be using the Internet; Facebook; cell phones; commuting …! There will no doubt be things 20 years from now that we will be saying, “Who would’ve known!”
In reality, no one – at any season of life – has more legitimate demands on his time than Jesus did. He was surrounded by real people with very real needs. Constantly. Yet He regularly pushed “Pause” and physically removed Himself, in order to spend time in prayer.
How much more should I.
Jesus provides the example. He is sympathetic with our weaknesses. With Him, we find mercy & grace to help us to prioritize prayer, no matter what our season or limitations.
View the original post here
Have you ever had this experience?: You post a status on Facebook about something that just made you die laughing. An hour later, you check back in–no one’s liked it yet. “Oh well,” you think, “everybody’s been off doing something else. They’ll like it when they check their news feed in a bit.” You wait another hour and check in–still no likes. You think, “Where is everyone?” By the next morning, when you realize that there are still no likes and no comments, you are inwardly crushed. “What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they think it’s funny? Don’t they think I’m funny? See if I bother posting anything funny again!”
Or maybe you’ve had this one: You post a status on Facebook about something that just made you die laughing. Almost immediately, a friend clicks “like”. Within the hour, 15 people have liked it and several have even commented. By the next morning, you have 73 likes and 14 comments. You are ecstatic. “Yes! I gave them all a good laugh! They think I’m funny! I can‘t wait for the next time I come across something that hilarious!”
All forms of social media have some way of gauging how many people have interacted with what you post. With Facebook, you can count your likes and comments. With Twitter, you can count your followers and who’s retweeted your tweets. Youtube tells you how many views you have, and allows for comments, too, although I assure you, only about 0.00001 percent of them are worth reading. Blogs will tell you how many page views you have, and from which sources, at which times, in which countries, and even what browser they are using (tell me how many ordinary people care). I don’t use Pinterest, but I’m told you can track your followers there, too.
Now this can be a good thing. We share things on social media to a large extent because we want others to enjoy what we’ve enjoyed, in order to make our joy greater. We share things because we want others to grieve with us in our grief, in order that we may have sympathy and comfort. We share helpful links or raise awareness of causes because we want others to be encouraged and spurred on. We write blogs because we want others to benefit from things we’re doing or learning. And knowing you’ve been heard, having others interact with you about these things, is what social media is about. At face value, there is nothing wrong with this.
The problem with these kinds of gauges in social media is that they tempt us to pride. And we need to be aware of this so that we will be on our guard against the temptation. Whether we are posting out of pride or not is evidenced by our reaction to how others respond to us. It is one thing to post something so that others will share your joy. It is quite another to be angry or wounded when they don’t react the way you had hoped, or to place your confidence in how many people like your status.
Maybe I’m a little dense, but while I’ve been on Facebook for many years, it’s taken getting back into blogging for me to become aware of my own pride in this area. Perhaps because you invest more time in a blog post than in a Facebook status, or perhaps because you can track so many more details with a blog, I quickly became aware of how much I was inwardly captivated by the numbers. When they were up, I was happy and confident. When they were down, I was tempted to think poorly of people who weren’t “taking advantage of such helpful thoughts”. And when I noticed it with blogging, I realized that it extended to Facebook posts as well. In fact, part of the drive to be on Facebook so often was to check who was interacting with my posts. If I had a recent post, I’d be on quite frequently. If I hadn’t posted anything for a few days, I was less eager to check in. In short, my motives weren’t as altruistic as I thought. I wanted others to share my happiness or the things that I was learning, but what I also wanted was the flattery of man, the stroking of my ego.
One of the reasons I’ve decided to schedule my Facebook check-ins is so that I will be less able to give in to the temptation to constantly check on my own posts. It also means I don’t post as frequently, because if something occurs to me after I’ve already had my one visit, I have to wait until the next day, and by then, it may well not seem as important or worth sharing as it did in the moment. And when I do post something, either on Facebook or on the blog, I always need to come back to it with my humility guard up.
I must remember that my approval does not rest in how many likes or comments or visits I get. I don’t deserve any of them. I deserve only to have the full disapproval and hatred of all people, and especially of God. But because Christ stood in my place at the cross, I undeservedly have God’s full approval, and that can’t be changed even one bit by how many people do or don’t appreciate the things that make me laugh or cry or leap up and down!
So when I post something, whether on Facebook or on this blog, I want to do it humbly, thanking God that He gave me something so helpful, or joyful, or hilarious, and that even if no one else cares, I’m secure in my approval in Christ. And if many others find it helpful, or joyful, or hilarious, then I need to immediately stop and give the glory back to God.
Living for “likes” is, to use C.S. Lewis’ well-known illustration, like being content to make mud-pies in the slums when we have been offered a holiday at the sea. Will we be pleased with the paltry flattery of other people, or will we instead hand the glory to God, to whom it rightfully belongs, and receive the reward of infinite joy He offers us in the good news that we do not deserve His approval and yet we have graciously been given it in Christ?
Posted to martha_martha on 6/18/2012
