Perish Every Fond Ambition

"Perish every fond ambition, all I've sought or hoped or known. Yet how rich is my condition - God and heaven are still my own." - Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken

My Bible study finished Hebrews last Sunday, and as we did it became very clear that one thing should mark the life of a believer: an active forsaking of everything here in order to gain Christ and our heavenly inheritance. We are told that the believers of old desired "a better country, that is, a heavenly one" (Heb. 11:16). Abraham was left all that he knew to follow God's commands because "he was looking forward the city that has foundations, who designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10). Moses chose to be mistreated with the people of God because "he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealthy than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward" (Heb. 11:27).

Then, in chapter 12, we are commanded to run our race with endurance as we look to Jesus. And in so doing, we are told to lay aside not just sins, but weights that slow us down. They aren't bad things - they are good things that are distracting from the best thing: Jesus. Then we are reminded of what we are running towards: Mt. Zion, which can never be shaken, angels in celebration, the Living God, the assembly of the righteous, and to Jesus. To Jesus - this is the most glorious part.

And finally we come to chapter 13. This is where it gets difficult.

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. - Hebrews 13:12-14

Let us go to Him, outside the camp, and bear His reproach. This is a call to intentionally lay aside our comfort, the good things of this earth, and our desires, to follow Christ wherever He leads. There are many things in my life that are precious gifts from the Lord - friends, family, experiences, travel. These are not wrong to enjoy! But sometimes we are called to move away from those things in order to run towards Christ.

The hymn Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken has been on my mind a lot lately, especially the line I have quoted above. This is my prayer - that I would be willing to give every desire that I have held so dear in order to know Christ and be found in Him. And that as I go to Him outside the camp, I would see how rich my condition is - the Lord is still my own. May that always be more than enough for us.

Book Review: Jesus on Every Page

A few years ago, I first had the opportunity to read The Jesus Storybook Bible, and I began to see how present Christ is in the Old Testament. Since then, I have struggled with how to see and find Jesus in all of Scripture. It's one thing to know that I should be able to find Jesus in the whole Bible; it's an entirely different thing to actually do so. I'm so thankful that I was recently given the opportunity to read and review David Murray's new book Jesus on Every Page.

Jesus on Every Page is concise, practical, as well as easy to understand and read. It is an introduction to studying the Old Testament in light of the work of Jesus; it is in no way a complete guide to doing so. But David certainly achieves his goal of equipping readers to study the Old Testament, and he does so in a helpful and engaging way.

The book begins with David's story of how he came to see Jesus in all of Scripture, and then moves into helping the reader see Christ in 10 different areas of the Old Testament:

1. Christ's Planet
2. Christ's People
3. Christ's Presence
4. Christ's Precepts
5. Christ's Past
6. Christ's Prophets
7. Christ's Pictures
8. Christ's Promises
9. Christ's Proverbs
10. Christ's Poets

Each chapter includes a myriad of Scripture references, principles for interpretation, and examples of specific ways that each principle is applied. The overarching theme that helped clarify so much for me was this: "Old Testament faith was shadow faith, but shadow implies at least some light." Jesus has always has been the hope of His people, whether or not they understood the fullness of who He was. Jesus on Every Page helps readers to see the light of Christ that the Lord gave in the Old Testament. 

While this book is both practical and clear, I benefited from more than just principles for studying the Old Testament. David does a wonderful job of giving his readers a view of the glory of Jesus through all time. I walked away from reading this book thankful for the gift of all of Scripture - a gift that demonstrates the greatness of God's plans, the greatness of Jesus, and the unity of Christianity. 

Jesus on Every Page is a valuable resource for any believer who wants to better be able to love Jesus by studying all of Scripture. I heartily recommend it! 

Purchase Jesus on Every Page on Amazon

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If you purchase this book before August 31, you can receive over $100 of free Old Testament Resources!

Book Review: Judges for You

A few months, I had the chance to review Galatians for You by Tim Keller, and I was really encouraged by it. So when I had the opportunity to review his new commentary Judges for You, I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed.

If you listen to Keller preach, it quickly becomes clear that two themes run through everything he says and does. First is the idea of gospel centrality - that not only is the gospel central to all of Scripture, but to all of life. Second is his contention that humans are, at our core, idolaters, and that our biggest problem relating to God is that we worship other things instead of Christ.

In Judges for You, both of these ideas are central themes. Judges is harsh and raw. It is not an easy book to read or to understand. Keller states his overarching theme early on: " Ultimately, there is only one hero in this book, and He's divine." It quickly becomes apparent how true this really is.

One of the things that I like most about this commentary is that Keller doesn't shy away from the difficult issues of Judges, such as how Deborah's judging should relate to our views of women in ministry or Jephthah's vow that ultimately led to the death of his daughter or the fact that God commands what we would call genocide. But while he Biblically addresses these challenging points, Keller never strays from his main point: that the book of Judges is intended to point us to Christ, the true and better Savior.

Judges for You is not hard reading, nor is it long. But I walked away after reading it with a fresh conviction of the sin and idolatry in my own heart and an assurance that is only found in Jesus. In my past readings of Judges, it has been easy for me to say that I would have acted differently than the Israelites. But the reality is that my heart apart from Christ is just as idolatrous as theirs. Keller's commentary helped me to see this, and then pointed me to Jesus.

Lay Aside Every Weight

In my Bible study, we are finishing up the book of Hebrews. I was struck last week by a verse in chapter 12: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which so easily entangles..."

Did you catch that? There is a distinction between weight and sin. Sometimes, we are asked to lay aside neutral or even good things for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God. Sometimes that means turning off that TV show to spend time with a lonely friend. Sometimes it means setting aside time with friends in order to spend time with the Lord. Sometimes it means choosing to not buy a new car so that you the opportunity to spend that money in other places. Sometimes it means you leave the place and people you love and move halfway across the world to preach the gospel to people who haven't heard it.

These weights look different for everyone. This isn't a formula. What this requires is to obey the command that follows: "looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." It is only when you look to Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. that you will lay aside every weight. When you look at Jesus, the only proper response is to count everything else as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.

Why Baptism?

I am so thankful for these beautiful truthes. 

Why Baptism? from Granger Community Church on Vimeo.

He Crushed Its Head

I am finishing the book of Numbers in my regular Bible reading, and I just came to the passage where the Lord sent fiery snakes to punish the Israelites for their disobedience. It reminded me of one of my favorite passages from Russell Moore's book Tempted and Tried.

In my nightly Bible readings with my family, I read a selected narrative in the canon, but every night my children beg me to read "the one about the snake." For some reason they love to hear about Moses combating the fiery serpents in the wilderness with the bronze serpent on the pole and about the afflicted finding healing when they look on the emblem of the very curse that's killing them. My little boys don't simply have a morbid fascination with venomous snakes among the wandering Israelites. In fact, they are never satisfied to end the story there. 

They wait in silence until we turn to what they call "the other pole," the picture of the cross of Christ. That's when I tell them how mysteriously this seemingly helpless, executed man confronted the snake of Eden right there on "the other pole" and finally did what God had promised since the beginning of history. He crushed its head. 

Praise God that He did.

He is Risen!

The Cup He Drank

Today is Good Friday; a sobering day for quiet reflection. The theme of my church's service tonight is, "He drank our cup that we might drink His." The Old Testament speaks often of the cup of God's wrath that the wicked will drink:

For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed,and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. (Psalm 75:8)

Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.’And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink! For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’ (Jeremiah 25:27-29)

But then in Isaiah 51, we are given the first glimmer of hope, the first hinting of the cup that Christ would later drink for us:

Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people: "Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more." (Isaiah 51:22)

And then, many years later, we find Jesus in Gethsemane, praying that the Lord would remove this cup from Him. He knew the fullness of the wrath that He would drink, and yet, His prayer was, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done" (Matthew 26:42).

And He did drink it, the cup of God's wrath. And when it was empty, he declared, "It is finished," and the curtain in the temple was torn in two, split from top to bottom.

The wrath that we could never satisfy was drained dry by the One who could never deserve it. And now we drink of His cup, an inheritance that Peter describes as "imperishable, undefiled and unfading". This is a glorious thing. 

Song: My Hope is Jesus

This song has the most plays of any on my I-Tunes account, for good reason. This is the perfect time of year to be reminded that our hope is only found in the Lord Jesus! 

Give Thought to Jesus

If you have read this blog for any time at all, you have probably figured out that I thoroughly enjoy reading anything by C.S. Lewis. While I by no means agree with his views on everything, he is one of my favorite writers. I spent some time this weekend reading through papers that I wrote during my senior year of high school and came across one about The Great Divorce. It was interesting to see what quotes have changed the way I think, even though I had forgotten about them. This was one:

There have been men before now who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God Himself…as if the good Lord had nothing to do but exist! There have been some who were so occupied in spreading Christianity they never gave a thought to Christ.

I struggle with this. I love knowledge and learning, and by nature I love rules - the structure that they provide is comforting and safe to me. But my desire always is that I would not just know about the Lord, but that I would know Him. I want to know Jesus, to boldly sing of His sweetness in all things, because I know in the deepest way the truth of His goodness. Defending the faith is good, but it is only good to the extent that it leads us to the Source of all truth and goodness.

Book Review: Galatians for You

I was excited to have the opportunity to review Tim Keller's newest book, Galatians for You. As many of you know, my Bible study recently went through the book of Galatians. This was the perfect follow-up in helping me to expand upon and apply what I had learned during that study.

Keller devotes two or three chapters to each chapter of Galatians. Each chapter has two parts, with the first part addressing the more technical and theological issues relating to the text, and the second applying the passage to issues around us. Keller's goal is that we, like Paul in Galatians, would see the gospel not only as the starting point for the Christian life, but as the center point of our entire walk with the Lord. He says, "We are not only justified by faith in Christ, we are also sanctified by faith in Christ. We never leave the gospel behind."

And that is really what this book does - helps us to not leave the gospel behind in any area of our lives. This book is Keller doing what Keller does best: applying the gospel to everything. How does the gospel influence our work? Our view of race? Our interactions within the church? Keller answers each of these questions, and many more, using the book of Galatians.

One of the best parts of this commentary is its simplicity. While Keller doesn't shy away from any difficult or controversial issues, he addresses them in a way that is easy to follow and easy to understand why those issues matter. The content is engaging, but doesn't move away from the text.

At one point, Keller quotes an old hymn, which says:

Lay your deadly "doing" down -
Down at Jesus' feet.
Standing in Him, in Him alone -
Gloriously complete. 

Ultimately, I think that is what Galatians for You helps to accomplish. By pointing us continuously to the completed work of Christ on the cross, Keller helps us to see what the Lord's words are to us through Galatians: find our sufficiency in Christ alone. It is a glorious theme.

Just His Work, Please

I stopped at Starbucks to get a cup of a chai tea this morning after an early hike with a friend. Most people, it turns out, order chai lattes rather than plain tea. When I ordered tea, the lady behind the counter said, "A chai latte?"

I said, "No, just the tea, please."

She smiled and said, "Oh, would you like it misto?" (Misto, I was thinking - what is that? Tea with steamed milk, apparently. Clearly I don't stop at a coffee shop very often.)

"No, thank you. All I want is the tea bag and some water." She said, "Oooooh, ok." A few minutes later, she added, "Would you like honey with your tea?" I said, a little frustrated now, "No, I would just like tea, please."

Finally, I received my cup of plain chai tea - just a tea bag and hot water. Certainly, like black coffee, plain tea is an acquired taste, and apparently not one that many Americans have based on my experience. We love to add sugar and milk to make something a little more interesting or tasty.

I wonder if we often choose to do this to the gospel. I see it my own heart. Like the Galatians, I want Jesus. But I want my work to count for something too. Tea with milk and honey; the gospel with Jesus and my obedience. You know - if I read my Bible, that means the Lord is more pleased with me and more likely to listen to my prayers, right? But the gospel is Jesus only, not Jesus and anything else. My standing, our standing, before the Father is based solely on His work. My works are because of Jesus and because of my standing, not to earn them.

And praise God that it is, since our work isn't very impressive anyway, and is only a result of His grace. So may we not ask for our gospel with anything else - no milk or honey to make it sweeter to our ears. Today, may our prayer be, "Just Your work, Jesus, and none of mine. May I know the Father's satisfaction through Your life and death, not my own."

Psalm 8 is Our Destiny

I was reading through this sermon from John Piper as I was preparing for Bible study on Sunday. His conclusion was so full of hope of the gospel in the midst of all of life's trials that I had to share it.

What then shall we do? Put your faith in the promise of this great future grace—that what you see in Christ today will someday be your portion. 

Fix your eyes on Christ, not on the pain and futility and frustration and sickness and death of this age. They will not have the last word. Christ has conquered death and all the sin and pain that leads to death. 

Think on him. Consider him. Look to him. 

And say to cancer and paralysis and sightless children and airplane-eating Everglades and child-shooting fathers—say to every unsubjected enemy— 

"Psalm 8 is my destiny! In Christ Jesus all things will one day be put under my feet, and I will rule with him in glory forever and ever." 

Believe that and say that—in the face of every calamity and every frustration in life. 

Because it is true.  

Jesus has made it true.

Rejected for Us

This past summer, I went through a season where I felt very left out of a several friend groups that I had previously been really close to. I dealt with a lot of bitterness and anger, but it forced me to make the Lord my sufficiency. There were no longer friends to fill the emptiness that I felt. But this past week, some of the bitterness that I haven't felt in quite a while showed up again in my heart.

As I was laying in bed feeling sorry for myself and just thinking about how rejected I felt, the Lord reminded me of Isaiah 53.

The Lord Jesus was rejected too, for my sake.

He deserved none of it. He did not have to experience it. But He choose it. For me - for us! He was despised and rejected by men and God that I, that we, might be accepted by God. While He experienced no good thing from the Lord on the cross, I experience only good things from God.

Amazing grace, these words:

"Despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief."

Praise God!

Such a Great Salvation

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?  (Hebrews 2:1-2 ESV)

We just started reading through Hebrews in my small group at church. Last night we discussed the beginning of chapter 2, which can be a notoriously sticky passage for a variety of reasons. Sometimes I get so caught up in understanding the controversy that I miss the most important part of a passage. I realized as I was preparing for our discussion that I had done that with Hebrews 2.

Such a great salvation. We truly have a great salvation - an infinitely glorious and holy God who sent His Son to bear the wrath that we could never bear so that we might receive grace and mercy. We have been pursued by a God not because we are worth anything or deserve anything, but simply because He delights to display His glories. We have been saved, redeemed, justified, adopted, and we will be sanctified and glorified. These are good and great things.

And yet...the author of Hebrews has to remind us to pay much closer attention. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. I see it in my heart. Such a great salvation, and I am prone to drift away.

I was reminded last night of how much I need Jesus. I don't see the works of the Lord without the work of Christ on the cross and the Spirit's application of that work to my heart. Even with that applied work, I am prone to drifting. The only remedy is to fix my eyes on Jesus, who is both the author and the perfecter of my faith, to pay much closer attention to His all-satisfying glories. I don't want to neglect such a great salvation. And so this morning, I look to Jesus.

Liminality

I was a communication major in college, and one of the theories that we learned about was the theory of liminality, or the state of being "betwixt and between", according to Victor Turner. We often talked about how college was a liminal stage, a stage where your life was lived in this artificial environment that would only last for a few years.

More and more, however, I'm realizing that I feel more "in-between" now than I ever did in college. My heart is torn between so many different people and places - my family a few hours north, my job, friends and church here in San Diego, and now Thailand, halfway around the world. I'm done with school, but I don't yet have a family. Wherever I am, I am missing people who are somewhere else. I don't feel settled or like I really belong anywhere.

Life won't stay this way forever, at least I hope it won't. At some point, I have a feeling that everything will settle into more of a routine and there will be a place that is most definitely "home" to me. That said, I think I am realizing that maybe all of life is more liminal than I had ever imagined. Really, for the Christian, our time here is best spent looking forward to our true home with Jesus. Yes, we are here for now and are called to live to the fullest.

But...

But at the same time, while it is possible to feel more or less at home here on this earth depending on circumstances, I think it is my sinful heart telling me that the next stage will satisfy my longings to no longer be in between, to be settled, to belong. There is nothing on this earth that will perfectly fulfill these desires, which means that the desires really aren't about this earth anyway.

They are about Christ. We are hidden with Him in God (Colossians 3), and that is where our true home is (2 Corinthians 5). Until we reach that place, we will always be in a state of liminality, betwixt and between.But that is where the Lord has us, and it is good, because it is in these liminal stages we realize that He is the only who satisfies these desires.

We are restless until we find our rest in Him alone.

We Have Seen a Great Light

Sorry it has been a quiet week. Life has taken over and there has been little time to blog. I thought I would share something I wrote a few years ago about Christmas, and what the Lord was doing in my heart. I have gone through a similar process this year, so it feels very appropriate.

Even taking into account that it's the Christmas season and all, I've been thinking about Christmas a lot lately. Somehow this year, the story that I've heard a thousand times has taken on new meaning as I've been reflecting. The story that I've glossed over time and time again has suddenly grasped all of my attention.

Will we ever understand the beauty of what happened more than two thousand years ago? Will we ever truly understand its power, and how absolutely unbelievable it is?

All too often, I think, we let the story we've heard all our lives lose its mystery...its wonder. We cease to stand in awe at what truly is the beginning of the most wonderful thing that has ever happened.

Will we ever understand the mystery of God became man?

Think about what our God chose to do--to take upon Himself. He left a place of splendor and wonder to be born among cattle. I know the disdain in which I would look upon living in a stable. I know how I would feel if I had to go from my life to a place where no one knew and recognized me for who I really was. But God, in Christ Jesus, gave it all. He left the most perfect and beautiful place that could ever exist to come down to a world broken and twisted by sin and filth. He left a place where He was given all the glory He truly deserved to come to a world where "He was despised and rejected by men."

And He did it for you. For me. That we might come to Him.

Will we ever understand the sacrifice He made?

He gave up everything. How many kings have given up everything for you? How many men have left their homes for your salvation? If your life is anything like mine, you can't name any earthly person who has done that.

But our God did.

Will we ever understand how filthy and despicable we are without His sacrifice?

We have broken God's law. We are fallen, rebels against a most gracious God. We foolishly choose our own path over and over again, ignoring the consequences.

Will we ever understand why God loves us in spite of ourselves?

Yet in our brokenness and dirt and pain, the God of the universe, rather than pouring out His wrath upon us as we deserve, chose to come in the form of a man. To live in our dirt. To feel our pain. To bear our punishment. And all so that broken rebels might have life in His name.

And it all started here, in a stable in Bethlehem, where the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in a tiny baby who would one day prove that our God is indeed a God who saves.

It is the most wondrous story ever told! We were living in the land of the shadow of death. We deserved nothing but wrath from God, and yet He chose to love us anyway, enough to send a substitute for us. 

It's captivating. Riveting. Enthralling.

This Christmas, let's choose to expectantly anticipate what is the beginning of the most beautiful story that ever has been and ever will be told. Let's be purposeful in seeking the One who gave Himself that we might have life to the full.

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined." - Is. 9:2

Remembering

November 15 was eleven days ago. And I realized this week that, sadly, this was the first time in 5 years that it had not been a day of great meaning for me.

Five years ago, on November 15, my family got a phone call. It was a Thursday afternoon at about one o'clock, and the debate practice tournament was that Saturday. I can still picture exactly where I was sitting (in the loft) and what I was doing (putting all of our printed evidence into my binder).

My mom was sitting by the computer, and answered the phone, like usual. It seemed like a normal conversation, until I heard her say, "Yes, I'm sitting down." That's when I began to wonder. And worry. I don't remember the rest of what was said, but I do remember exactly what my mom said when she hung up. "I have cancer." Those were devastating, life-changing, scary words.

I knew that those words should have made me cry, and made me scared. But they didn't. All the adrenaline that comes with preparing for a tournament stopped those words from impacting me the way they should have. That is, until Sunday morning, after the tournament adrenaline had worn off.

That's when the full weight of what was happening really struck me. I have such vivid memories about that Sunday, even down to what song we sang for choir, and how it seemed perfect for my situation:

In prisoner's chains, with bleeding stripes,

Paul and Silas prayed that night,

And in their pain, began to sing.

Their chains were loosed, and they were free. 

'I bless Your name. I bless Your name.

I give You honor, give You praise.

You are the Life, the Truth, the Way,

I bless Your name. I bless Your name.' 

Some midnight hour if you should find

You're in a prison in your mind

Reach out and praise,

Defy those chains

And they will fall in Jesus' name.

 I remember sobbing during worship that morning, and then sobbing some more alone in our bedroom that afternoon, questioning the Lord and His purposes. Didn't He know that I needed my mom? I dug into Scripture that day like I have at no other time. And then something changed. Hope came into view. I will never forget the power that Psalm 18 had that day:

"You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop ; with my God I can scale a wall...For who is God besides the LORD ? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect."

It's been five years, and other than that one day where hopelessness reigned, all I can remember is God's goodness.

His goodness when I could no longer stand.

His goodness when the storm raged.

His goodness when it was all I could do to face another day.

His goodness to provide exactly what I needed when I needed it.

The cancer is, by His grace, gone for now, and has been for four years. What remains is memories of who God is and the great things He has done. My mom's journey through cancer was a time when I knew the goodness of God in the most powerful of ways. It was not easy, but it is a time that I look back towards with great joy because I was so desperate to know the truth of Jesus. And He was so very sweet.

For that reason, I am sad that I did not remember November 15 this year. That day has always been one of the biggest reminders of His faithfulness and grace. It is a good thing to raise our ebenezer, to remember that it was He who has helped us thus far and it is He who will bring us safely home.

May we always remember His goodness to us! If He loved us, rebels against Him in every way, enough to give His own son to die in our place, how can we not trust Him through the pain? Trials will come in this broken world, but in the storm, let us seek His goodness, His grace and His strength.

We will find Him faithful.

And may His faithfulness bring us to our knees in worship.

Remember How It Ends

It's easy to forget that what we are experiencing right now is not indicative of what is to come on that day when our precious Lord will make all things, all things, new.

Though we do not know see Him, we love Him and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)

By His work, in His grace and for His glory, we look forward to how it ends.

He Grips Our Soul

Another gem from Samuel Rutherford.

"And withal, consider how, in all these trials (and truly they have been many), your Lord hath been loosing you at the root from perishing things, and hunting after you to grip your soul. Madam, for the Son of God's sake, let Him not miss His grip, but stay and abide in the love of God."