There is a question that lurks at the back of our minds, niggling, scratching, attempting to penetrate our consciousness. We keep it at bay with busyness, distractions, vanity, and ambition, but it still scratches. The question is this: What is the purpose of life? What is the point of it all? What will remain of me when I take my last breath? That is the question that has scratched at the brain of every thinking person from the start.

Albert Camus wrote about the character of Sisyphus, who is found in Greek mythology. He was condemned to roll a stone up a hill until he was ten paces from the top, and then let it roll back down again only to roll it up again and repeat ad infinitum.

Life sometimes feels this way: eat, sleep, work, repeat. What is the point? Bertrand Russell said we are nothing more than an “accidental collocation of atoms destined to end in the heat death of the universe.” He went on to say, “Only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.”

Dawkins said we live in a universe of “blind, pitiless indifference.”

If human beings are here by a biological accident, then what is the meaning of life?

Do we live and breathe and die all for nothing? Is there any arc to our story? Or is it a plotless existence that simply happens and then ends?

Many of the great thinkers of history have embraced this idea of material meaninglessness. Steven J. Gould argues that we must “construct our own meaning,” but what gives our “construct” any meaning? Who determines it? By what standards do we measure whether or not we have been successful?

If God is not a reality, then we can be our own master. We can do as we please. We can construct our own meaning. But without God, none of it means anything; life has no ultimate purpose. Our “freedom” becomes utterly meaningless.

Aldous Huxley said very honestly:

“I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; and consequently, assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics. He is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do. For myself, as no doubt for most of my friends, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom. The supporters of this system claimed that it embodied the meaning – the Christian meaning, they insisted – of the world. There was one admirably simple method of confuting these people and justifying ourselves in our erotic revolt: we would deny that the world had any meaning whatever.”

This is an interesting and honest quote. To be a free, moral agent, we must remove God, but if we remove God, we lose our life’s meaning and purpose. Here Huxley acknowledges that total human, moral freedom comes only when we “deny that the world has any meaning whatever.” This is a high price to pay, and we are seeing the consequences of it throughout our world today. The void of meaninglessness is eating at people’s souls.

Anxiety is at an all-time high in the West, as we leave young people to face the void alone.

The temporary distractions of our imminent frame – social media, Netflix, pornography – can only temporarily keep the abyss at bay. In reality, in the face of eternity, we need God standing with us.

Albert Camus argued that, “If my freedom has no meaning except in relation to its limited fate, then I must say that what counts is not the best living but the most living. It is not up to me to wonder if this is vulgar or revolting, elegant or deplorable. Once and for all, value judgments are discarded here in favour of factual judgments.” According to Camus, because nothing matters, we should spend our lives in pursuit of pleasure. In a meaningless universe, we are free to do this, and ultimately, the only thing worth anything is the quantity of pleasure we experience.

The French Poet Beaudalaire rigorously pursued hedonism in great “quantity.” However, his friends would recall that he experienced a persistent twitch: images of his pursuits involuntarily flashed before his mind, tormenting him. Perhaps you have had this same experience on occasion: unbidden flashes of your pursuits of pleasure, or images from an incognito internet tab, passing before your eyes.

It would seem then that, yes, we can have moral freedom, but we must give up any meaning our lives might hold to attain it. And, as Baudelaire (and I, for that matter) will testify, even having the moral freedom to do as we please can lead to more torment than pleasure.

The truth is, we were created for a purpose.

As trains are designed to move along their tracks, we are designed to move along the tracks of God’s will for our lives. His purpose stretches out ahead of us, curving and winding, climbing and descending according to his will, his good and perfect will. To step into our purpose, we must agree to travel on his track (Philippians 2:13). We “lose” our moral freedom as we submit our will to God the creator, but we gain meaning, purpose, and eternal life. We learn quickly that his good standard brings joy and peace into our lives, and that his “law of liberty” (James 2:12) is what brings true freedom, the freedom to be who we were created to be.

When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before the crucifixion, he prayed, “If possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will but yours be done” (Matthew 26:39). We serve a God who loves us so much that he submitted his will, his freedom, and his pleasure to the Father. He did that, all the way to the cross, all the way into death, for you and me. He did it because of his eternal love for us.

When we think about the reason to keep going every day, we must remember the love of Christ for us; that his death frees us from death and imbues our life with eternal purpose.

Speaking as one who tried it, being the master of your own life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. However, it is possible to hand over the reins to God today. The God of love, who gave up everything for you, is waiting for you. He waits for you to come to him, and in him, find life eternal.

What is the purpose of life? God created us to know him, to know his voice (John 10:27-28). He gave up his power and glory; he came to earth, lived as a man, died, and rose again, all so that we could be close to him. He wants us to hear his voice. It is so difficult to make our way through the unstable ever-shifting world we live in, but when we choose to follow God, we have access to His mind and his voice, as he guides us faithfully day by day.

“The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace” (Psalm 29:10-13).

Yes, life can feel like a flood. I have often felt as if I were drowning; even the world around me appears to be drowning. But we have a God who sits enthroned above the storm. He wants to speak to you; he wants to guide you; he wants to fill every day of your life with his touch and his presence (James 4:8).

Knowing that the God of the universe is guiding your life makes everything you experience eternally significant.

R.C. Sproul wrote, “Everything that we experience, every pain we endure and every tear that we shed is significant – forever.” This is what gives our lives meaning. No suffering is unseen; no pain passed over; God is working everything for our good eternally (Romans 8:28).

Because God is real, because he is personal, that means “what happens in history matters” (Charles Taylor). It all matters to God, and he wastes none of it.

The Lord is speaking; his word is as alive today in our secular age as it has ever been. As he guides our days and directs our paths, we see his will and plans unfold; we see how God and only God can turn the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of our lives into something beautiful as he uses them for his good purposes. It is God’s hand on our lives, his involvement, that fills our life with purpose.

_Bibliography

_{Camus, Albert, Justin O’Brien. The Myth Of Sisyphus, And Other Essays. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.}

_{Huxley, Aldous. Ends and Means. London: Chatto & Windus, 1937.}

_{Russell, Bertrand. A Free Man’s Worship, and Other Essays, London: Unwin Books, 1976.}

_{(Stephen J. Gould quote) Kinnier, Richard, Jerry Kernes, and Nancy Tribbensee, eds. The Meaning of Life: According to the Great and the Good. Palazzo Editions, 2007, P. 108.}

_{Dawkins, R. River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1995.}

_{Sproul, R. C. Surprised by Suffering (Robert Charles), 1939-2017.}

_{Taylor, C. A secular age. New York: Walker, Harvard 18th ed., 2007.}

How can we expect to hear the Holy Spirit when our lives are filled with constant noise?

If we would like to see the gifts of the spirit and the fruit of the spirit working in our lives then we must make a choice to turn down the noise. if we wish to hear the Holy Spirit lead and guide us, we must make the conscious, intentional choice to carve out time to be quiet and listen to Him.

Also, we must face every day, humbly willing to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. We must put our will into submission to the Holy Spirit and commit to following His guidance.

Do you ever feel distant from the Lord?

Do you feel as though your prayers are not answered and you can’t hear Him speaking or see Him working in your life? I would suggest to you that this has more to do with your posture toward God than His posture toward you.

The Bible tells says in Matthew 10:29-31: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” The father is attentive to you. Psalm 139:4 tells us, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” The Lord is watching you, listening to you, you are precious to Him; He attends to you. But, do you attend to Him? Do you reciprocate His attention? Does your life allow time for you to listen to His voice? Are you interested in what He has to say to you?

In the first two paragraphs, I mention two life choices that are imperative in order for us to hear from and be directed by the Holy Spirit. In the following paragraph, I will explain these choices in more detail.

Life can be noisy! I have a five-year-old and three-year-old twins. I am used to going through my days accompanied by a very loud soundtrack of requests, complaints of sibling injustices, outright tantrums and thankfully, boisterous fun and laughter, not to mention Peppa Pig or Paw Patrol blaring in the background. By the time the day is done, I feel as though all I have left is the ability to flop on the couch and watch some mindless TV.

But honestly, what does that profit me? In reality, it is only adding to the noise of my already noisy life. There is a God; His name is Jesus, and He is waiting for me to turn it down and come to Him. In Him is true rest and refreshment. In Him is the guidance of His Holy Spirit.

God tells us in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” He also tells us in James 5:16, “The fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.” Just the act of getting quiet before the Lord, asking Him for His guidance, inviting Him into the challenges of your life, shows our heart that is surrendered to God. Our time seeking God’s counsel shows we are willing to listen to Him and follow His lead.

1 Kings 19:11-12 tells us, “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” The Lord whispered gently to Elijah; He did not roar at him in the wind, fire or earthquake, but in a still, small voice. My question to you: Is your life ever quiet enough to hear the whisper of the Lord?

He is speaking to you. Can you hear Him?

Choose to turn down the noise today, give room for God’s Holy Spirit to speak into your life. If your life is anything like mine, then you desperately need His comfort, guidance and wisdom on a daily basis. He is present; you need to be present too. That is the only way to have a close relationship with God.

Secondly, we must face every day consciously submitted to the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. For example, the spirit makes the word come alive to us, revealing God’s truth, but if we choose not to obey God’s truth, then we are like the man in James 1:22-24: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” Hand in hand with hearing the leading and direction of the Spirit of God must be a commitment to obey.

The spirit prompts. He directs. He instructs us on a daily basis; are you willing to go and speak to that person He has put on your heart? Are you willing to pray for that person He is burdening you for? Are you willing to surrender your will to His calling, the calling that keeps knocking on your door? Are you willing to obey?

In Galatians 5, we are given a list of the fruit of the spirit and then in verse 25, the text says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” What does it mean to be “in step” with the spirit? Well, it means to walk together. You cannot walk together if you are going in different directions. Are you “in step” with God’s Spirit that dwells in you? He wants to lead you. Are you willing to walk with Him, to go when He says go, to yield when He says yield, to serve when He says serve?

Jesus loves you. As many times as that statement is made, it will be true. Jesus died for you, for you! He knows every tiny part of you, every dark corner; He knows your shame, your anger. He loves you, He died for you. He made you righteous. I just want to encourage you to remember His goodness so you can be inspired to give Him your time. Turn down your noise, and humbly commit to following His lead. There is no downside. There is no downside. There is no downside.

Nothing compares to the greatness of God. Nothing is more mind-boggling than His infinite attention toward us. No other thing in your life can compare to knowing Him. Give Him your time. Give Him your obedience, and see how He will guide you as your Good Shepherd.

A Sure Foundation

“Here I stand; I can do no other, so help me God.” These are the now infamous words uttered by Martin Luther as he faced off with the powers of Rome. With his “conscience captive to the word of God,” he stood firm in the face of a hostile crowd. Upon this act, the war cry of the Reformation was born—Sola Scriptura, “by Scripture alone.”

Similarly, the church today seems to be fighting the battle on many fronts as an increasingly hostile culture encroaches upon our doors. The question we need to ask ourselves is, “will we be able to stand?” Is our foundation strong enough to withstand the onslaught from a secular world? Or have we unwittingly destroyed our own foundations? Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). The Word of God is the only sure foundation that can support us as we seek to combat the challenges brought against the Christian faith in our world. The moment we step off the rock of God’s Word and place a foot on the sinking sands of popular culture, or seek to add the prevailing wisdom of men to the Word of God, we compromise our foundation. Scripture must occupy the supreme position in our thinking. The respected British preacher and author Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones once said, “There can be no doubt whatsoever that all the troubles in the Church today, and most of the troubles in the world, are due to a departure from the authority of the Bible.¹

The Light Shines in the Darkness

For those of us who seek to uphold the authority of Scripture from the very first verse, we need to be aware of a new battle that is emerging with ever-increasing vigor. Not only must we engage with a culture that seeks to openly mock God and His Word—a culture that lauds the things that God opposes—we must also hold to account those from within our own ranks who claim that God’s Word in Genesis needs to be reinterpreted in light of evolutionary dogma. Theistic evolution is on the rise and, rather surprisingly, its advocates seem to set their targets more on biblical creationists than upon the spiritual war waging around us. As paradoxical as this may seem, it is where we stand today! Such an overwhelming multi-directional attack can be disheartening. Yet, at the same time, we need not be alarmed if we stand on the right foundation. The Word of God can shine brighter as the culture gets darker! The Gospel of John says that, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). The prophet Isaiah reminds us that, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2). There are no greater lights than Jesus and His Word. Why would we seek to stand on any other foundation? God is not looking for the strong or the popular, He is looking for the faithful. This is how the victory is won.

A Light from Scripture

We do not walk this path alone. We have the examples of many great torchbearers who have gone before us. The prophet Daniel was taken captive to Babylon when he was just a teenager. In the midst of that pagan culture, he was taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans. It was an attempt to re-educate him and remove any loyalty he had to the God of Israel. He was subjected to all the wisdom and culture of the Babylonians. This is a strategy that Satan still uses today. He wants us to find our identity, our entertainment and even our religion in the culture where he operates as the “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). How did Daniel withstand such an onslaught? He gives us an enduring spiritual lesson. It says that Daniel “resolved he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank” (Daniel 1:8). He would not break the dietary laws given in the Word of God. He made up his mind beforehand that no matter the cost, he would not compromise the Word of God.

A Light from History

A little-known Reformation hero provides another clear example of how we should act in these times. Lady Jane Grey was Queen of England for nine days before she was overthrown, incarcerated and then executed by Queen Mary, “Bloody Mary.” Before her execution, Queen Mary sent her spiritual advisor, Benedictine monk John Feckenham, to persuade the 16-year-old Jane to leave her Protestant faith and return to Catholicism. In the ensuing dialogue, we are given another spiritual lesson. Feckenham pushed her regarding the sacraments:

Feckenham: “How many sacraments are there?”

Lady Jane: “Two; the one the sacrament of Baptism, and the other the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.”

Feckenham: “No, there are seven.”

Lady Jane: “By what scripture find you that?”²

Lady Jane’s piercing final question should serve as the yard stick by which we size up all the claims and debates we see around us today. “Where is that in the Bible?” “What is your biblical authority for that teaching?” When people imply that God used the evolutionary process in creating mankind, we must ask that very question: Where is that in the Scripture? This will quickly expose the foundation, be it the Word of God or the words of men.

Always Bearing Fruit

In order to stand firm in this culture, we need to make sure we stand on the Word of God. We do this every time we affirm the true history as recorded in Genesis, and by doing this, we also confirm the Gospel which is rooted in that history. From this stance, we can have full confidence that the Gospel is constantly “bearing fruit and increasing” (Colossians 1:6) throughout the whole world.

Notes:

¹ Lloyd-Jones, Martyn. The Christian Soldier: Ephesians 6:14 – The Scripture of Truth, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2003. Pg. 210

2 Taylor, J., “How a 16 -year-old Girl Explained the Sacraments to a Catholic Interrogator”. The Gospel Coalition, www.thegospelcoalition.org, September 19, 2012.

How do you have a decent quiet time? What does one do? And most importantly, why even do it?

George Mueller, who sustained his orphanages by prayer, thought he had to travail in prayer every morning. He would go quite a while working at it, and often not getting very far at it, in his opinion. George changed his mind later in life. He realized the main order of business was that he be happy in the Lord every day. Everything else in his life came out of his relationship with the Lord. So that’s what his morning time was about.

What a great way to spend your morning time: getting happy in the Lord!

How George did it was prayer through the Bible. This is another big change: He put the Word first instead of prayer first. He read, meditated and then he prayed.

When we spend time with the Lord, we end up developing our relationship with Him. I don’t have a quiet time because I’m a pastor. I was not born a pastor. I probably won’t die as one. But I am a man of God. Men of God and women of God pursue their relationship with God.

I want to tell you about three main activities we can do to pursue God. You need all of them.

1. Read the Bible

This is so simple that people miss it, and yet it’s so wonderful. Read the Bible to become familiar with it, not to understand it. Don’t worry if you don’t understand the Bible, just read it every day for the rest of your life. Make it your goal for the Bible to be the first thing you read in the morning and the last thing you read before you go to bed. The more Bible you are familiar with, the more the Holy Spirit can use it to speak to you. You will become familiar with His voice. It’s part of our salvation, that God Himself teaches us (Isaiah 54:13), and He will put things together for us as we have an ongoing read through His Word.

2. Study the Bible

If you study it, you will grow in knowing what it says and what it doesn’t say. Study is looking closely and carefully at the words, their syntax and grammar, and asking questions and getting answers from the text, dictionaries, lexicons and reference books (like Bible encyclopedias). Study is difficult if you don’t know what questions to ask and what you are looking for. So give yourself a treat and consider Living by the Book by Howard Hendricks and William Hendricks, the Holy Grail of how to study the Bible. Just to learn from somebody who really knows what they are doing is a fabulous experience.

3. Meditate in the Bible

This is Psalm 1, Joshua 1 and Romans 12:1-2. Meditation is the spiritual equivalent to digestion. There is only one way for you to live: eat, chew, digest and absorb the nutrient results of digestion. Your fuel is glucose, simple sugar, and you must get that glucose into every cell of your body. What would happen if you ate, chewed, digested, but didn’t absorb the glucose into your cells? That would mean your kidneys would flush the glucose from your blood stream, and it would be as though you had not eaten. Unless you get the glucose all the way into your cells, you will starve to death, even though you eat like a horse. This is not a hypothetical example, it’s a real condition that real people experience known as type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetics have to manually get enough blood sugar into their cells, or they will die. There is no substitute for that glucose.

This is also true spiritually: We can read and study and still starve in our souls, because we don’t take in the Word of God by thinking deeply on it. Just as there is only one way to digest and absorb your food, meditation is the only way to internalize the Word of God. If you don’t practice meditating in the Bible, you are missing a vital link in your spiritual nourishment. It’s a possible reason why you look elsewhere for fulfillment than Jesus.

Meditating in the Word of God satisfies because it brings you into contact with the divine, uncreated, eternal love of God. Just like He created you to live physically on glucose, He created you to live mentally and spiritually on His love. There is no substitute for the love of God. You must receive it into the deepest areas of your life, or you will starve.

Let’s say you decide that gasoline costs too much, so you economize and put sugar water into your gas tank instead of gasoline. Is that a viable, cheap alternative? Like it or not, you can only put one kind of fuel in your car; your body runs only on glucose, and only the love of God will satisfy your heart and soul.

Moses prayed, “O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90:14). David declared, “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You”(Psalm 63:3). Put everything in life on one side; put the love of God on the other. Ask David to choose which he will have. David immediately says, “The love of God! I don’t need that other junk; I don’t even need life. But I absolutely need God’s lovingkindness!”

Seeking the Lord every day isn’t spectacular.

It’s like putting a seed in the ground. Planting a seed isn’t a spectacular event. There’s nothing visible to see. Watching a seed grow is not super exciting either. As we seek the Lord, reading, studying, meditating, we are planting seed after seed in our lives. Seeds are small, but do not despise small things: They are highly significant. They contain living blueprints for growing a living entity that is powered from the heavens, steadfast and immovable, able to reproduce itself, benefiting everyone around it by giving strength, shelter, food and pleasure. In nature, we call it a tree. Spiritually, that will be you.

Not planting the Word of God into you means you stay just the same as you are right now. That’s Isaiah 40:7.

Recently I was given the great privilege of seeing some of the fruit from the youth ministry I pioneered over 15 years ago while speaking at a youth retreat. As I observed those I once encouraged encouraging others, it led me to consider the value of our investments and the way we spread our influence to others as we allow God to lead.

As I thought back to the first time I met the present youth pastor, I remember an impressionable, young teenager constantly trying to figure out his identity and purpose moving from one friend group to another. Today he is a bold witness for Christ giving hope to the next generation, helping them to know Christ and make an impact in this world for His glory.

In John 4, Jesus intentionally goes to a damaged Samaritan woman who was seeking fulfillment from her relationships with other men. When Jesus enters her life, her story changes. Jesus points out that she had five husbands, and the man she was now living with was not her husband. Interestingly, this made Jesus the seventh man to come into her life. Since seven is the number of completion in Scripture, it is only fitting that she would find her complete fulfillment in Him. But the story continues with, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified…” (John 4:39). Therefore, this single redemptive story led to many more inspiring stories to be written.

While guest speaking at another church recently, I was struck at the realization that the entire leadership team was made up of a group of men that I used to disciple on a weekly basis in an upper room of my house. Although there was much that I was not able to teach them at that time, I was able to see how others filled in the gaps, filling what was lacking in their faith, revealing once again how one story feeds into another story until God’s greater purpose is fulfilled.

We may never know how far our influence will go but when God is the one writing our story, the pages of our lives will always be read and absorbed by others and then mysteriously translated and reproduced over time.

The Apostle Paul explains this same process when he tells the Corinthian believers how they were the living evidence of his ministry, saying:

“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:2-3).

It is important to know that our stewardship is not based on how others respond to us, but rather, on how we respond to the Lord.

However, we would be insincere if we were not concerned about the spiritual state of others and miss the satisfaction of seeing the fruit of our labor. The Apostle John reiterated this, saying, “I have no greater joy than to see my children walk in the truth” (2 John 4). We experienced this joy when we turned the church we planted in Cambridge, England, over to the British leadership we raised up after 10 years of service overseas.

As the years go by, we will hopefully see more of our influence, but whether we see lasting fruit now or not, we are given the promise by the Apostle Paul not to “grow weary while doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9). This should encourage us to follow God more closely knowing that our past obedience will become our future influence.

After all, “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Since our lives are studied and read by others, we must constantly hand the pen over to God, so that the story being written is all that the Divine Author intends for us.

So the question you must answer now is: Who is holding the pen at this time in your life story?

Let me leave you with three key steps in the ART of handing over the pen to God using the following acronym A.R.T.:

Authorship
Revision
Time

1. Authorship

Allow God to have the full authority of your life by handing the authorship of your story over to Him on a daily basis. Far too many people want to author their own story, but the Bible warns us that, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). We must remember that God will always write a better story than we ever could. Therefore submit to His Lordship in all areas of your life.

2. Revision

Every good story goes through many revisions, so let God amend your ways. Since we are creatures of habit, the past will often dictate the future unless we bring our lives in alignment with God’s Word. He alone is able to edit the wasted content of our damaged pages while giving us fresh vision for the pages not yet written. Only as we saturate ourselves in the Word, can we “be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds,” and “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). Therefore allow the Spirit to lead you in your next steps.

3. Time

Even now time is running out, so let us redeem the time, knowing that our story only lasts as long as our pages. We may not be able to count our days, but we can make each day count. It is only as we spend time with God and sanctify Him in our hearts that we will inspire new stories to be written in the lives of others. Jesus is the Author who revises us over time until we are just like Him. Therefore let us not delay what God is calling us to do today.

May we have this attitude of the psalmist, “My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer” (Psalm 45:1).

He was observably upset, “You’re being legalistic!” were the last words I ever heard from Zachary, as he slammed my office door hard enough to break the jam. I sat there for a moment listening to the slamming of the front doors of the church and the screech of tires, as he sped away in his wreck of a first car. There was a boisterous conversation of self-doubt racing through my mind.

I sat still asking God if I were wrong.

Thoughts of resigning my duties flooded my thoughts. Then I looked down at my desk, and there it was, eternal, unchangeable truth staring back into my soul. It did not bring me comfort, however, but rather a sense of resolve. The pages of God’s Holy Word had, for that moment, become heavy, unmovable, and powerfully alive. The verse before me that I had shared with him was from 1 John, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). You see, Zack had been coming to see me several times over a few months for help about a failing relationship with his girlfriend. He was more interested in the girl than with God, of this there was no question. My wife and I had seen the writing on the wall for some time, and I’d been trying to help him through this personal crisis the best I could. That day, he left his high school classes to come inform me, if I didn’t intervene on his behalf, he was no longer going to be able to come to the church. I told him that wasn’t going to happen, and that’s where I needed to draw the line.

I could see he was disappointed, as if all hope was now lost.

I asked him what was going on. He explained the girl he liked had started courting another young man who was “serious about God,” as she put it to him. He became visibly upset and vocally vulgar in his hatred for this sweet and godly young man. So, as ministry and counseling had been modeled for me, I prayed and then went to God’s Word to get direction from Him. I knew I did not have the power to change his heart, but I was confident God’s Word could, if Zack would allow it. As I read from 1 John, I could see his temper start to boil, his hands balling into fists. He looked as if he was going to explode. In an attempt to open a relief valve, the Spirit of God led us to these verses, “He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly.” (Proverbs 14:29), and, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20). That was the gas to the flame! The emotional, verbal abuse and manipulation that continued to burn from out of his heart was like a F4 dropping napalm on the jungles of Vietnam, for what seemed like forever, and then, out the door he went.

In the calm following the storm, the question that arose for me was, am I being legalistic, or am I being realistic?

Simply put, legalism is the act of putting law above the gospel by establishing requirements for salvation beyond repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Just because you and I do not sometimes like the fact that God’s Holy Word disagrees with our personal desires, wants, wishes and/or behavior, does not mean it is legalistic for the church to preach/teach and uphold that command as good and right for the followers of Jesus to obey. Leonard Ravenhill said it well, “When there’s something in the Bible that churches don’t like, they call it ‘legalism.’” Paul told Timothy,“ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (1 Timothy 3:16-17). I was not being legalistic. I was using God’s Word as it was intended to be used. I was not adding the requirements of the law to his need for salvation. I truly cared for this young man, and years later, my heart still carries the scars from that day. In that situation, however, the Sword of the Spirit came to bear on an emotionally compromised heart.

Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). We need to be circumspect when we start throwing around the term “legalistic” by asking the following question: Is this adding the law back to the requirements of salvation that is found in faith in Jesus Christ? Or is this simply a commandment from God’s Word I’m being challenged to obey in my walk with Him?

]]> https://calvarychapel.com/posts/5-practical-ways-to-battle-sin/ Tue, 23 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2016/02/23/5-practical-ways-to-battle-sin/ Christians are free from sin’s rule, but not from its attempts to regain control. The battle that exists inside all of us, between sin and...]]>

Christians are free from sin’s rule, but not from its attempts to regain control. The battle that exists inside all of us, between sin and the new nature, will continue until we get to Heaven. This fact, however, is not a bleak one. The Bible tells us that Jesus rendered sin powerless at the cross. Being in Christ, we are not obligated to submit to sin’s dictates and desires. We can, by the Holy Spirit, make the right choices and take the proper actions to keep sin from regaining control of our thoughts, actions, and words. Here are five practical ways we can do this:

1. LOOK TO CHRIST AND HIS CROSS

The scene of God’s holy, incarnate Son suffering and dying on the cross is a shocking and horrific one. He became our sin and satisfied God’s wrath in order to rescue and redeem us from sin’s rule over us. This motivates us to love God and hate sin and to choose pleasing God over disobeying Him.

2. MAINTAIN A CLEAR AND CORRECT VIEW OF GOD

In Genesis 39, Joseph refused to commit sexual sin on this basis: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9) How we think about God impacts how we think about sin. Seeing God as being, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” causes us to admit, “Woe is me,” and to regard sin as “unclean” (Isaiah 6).

3. DEVOTE YOURSELF TO GOD’S WORD

This includes reading it. Thinking about it. Obeying it. Psalm 119:11 tells us this, “I have stored your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” God uses His word to wash us and to make us clean (John 17:17; Ephesians 5:25-27). This is His work in us called sanctification; He is transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. By immersing ourselves in God’s word, we experience its purifying effect and sin-overcoming power.

4. BE DILIGENT IN PRAYER

In Matthew 26:41 Jesus told His followers, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Prayer is our offensive weapon against sin. It is a devastating blow against it; for this reason, it’s so hard to do. Jesus said, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” When it comes to prayer, we need to have a wartime mindset. We cannot afford to wait until we feel like praying before we pray; it has to happen consistently and continually. When temptations come, the first 10 seconds will generally determine the outcome. In this window of time, pray. In doing this, God provides the help and power we need to resist it.

5. CONFESS YOUR SINS TO GOD ON A REGULAR BASIS

Confession is the admission of our sins against God. In doing this, two things happen: First, God forgives us. This is affirmed in 1 John 1:9. Second, God renews in us a right attitude toward sin. In confessing our sins, we see the truth again that sin is evil, offensive, unclean, destructive, and full of hatred towards God. With this renewed understanding, we will reaffirm our love for God and refortify our defenses against sin.

In closing, I’d like to remind you of this message of the Gospel: Christ has set you free from sin’s rule. Daily live in this reality.

(For more on this subject, read Romans 6 and 8).