I came across the following in a devotional I am reading. It is an excerpt from Hannah Whitall Smith’s The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life.
Years ago I came across this sentence in an old book: “Never indulge, at the close of an action, in any self-reflective acts of any kind, whether of self-congratulation or self-despair. Forget the things that are behind, the moment they are past, leaving them with God.” This has been of unspeakable value to me. When the temptation comes, as it mostly does to every worker after the performance of any service, to indulge in these reflections, either of one sort or the other, I turn from them at once and positively refuse to think about my work at all, leaving it with the Lord to overrule the mistakes, and to bless it as he chooses. I believe there would be far fewer “blue Mondays” for ministers of the Gospel than there are now if they would adopt this plan; and I am sure all workers would find their work far less wearing.
John Bunyan lived in the 1600’s and is best known for his Christian classic Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan knew a lot about suffering as he spent 12 years in prison as he refused to stop preaching. All he had to do was agree to stop proclaiming the gospel, but he told those imprisoning him, “If you release me today, I will preach tomorrow.”
Life was hard for Bunyan and life is hard for us today. I used to read about spiritual heroes who suffered greatly and think, “I’ve got it really good. Why do I struggle so much in following Jesus?”
As I’ve grown into an almost 35 year old, I realize that life is hard for us all. Whether we suffer from depression, loneliness, a broken heart, or unfulfilled dreams, we all need Jesus to fill our brokenness and embrace us in the midst of it.
The amazing thing is that the call of the gospel is not “come after you fix yourself up”, but rather, “come just as you are.” I often say that the Christian life isn’t hard, it’s impossible. God made it this way so that we would never be able to live it in our own strength.
The following quotation from John Bunyan is spoken from the perspective of Jesus. As you read it, remember that Jesus never calls us to something that He won’t empower us to do. The difficulty of following Jesus should constantly remind us that we NEED HIM – ALWAYS!!! (John 15:5).
Following of me is not like following of some other masters. The wind sits always on my face and the foaming rage of the sea of this world, and the proud and lofty waves thereof do continually beat upon the sides of the bark or ship that myself, my cause, and my followers are in; he therefore that will not run hazards, and that is afraid to venture a drowning, let him not set foot into this vessel.
Brennan Manning writes about the end of death. “Death, you are a phantom, the bogeyman of little children! The only reason my Father allows you to exist is to usher me into the one experience deserving of the name Life.”
Surely our God has rescued us. He has brought us from death to life. Though the stage of the world looks bleak right now, it is only the backdrop of the work that God is doing. When Jesus breaks forth in glorious light into a person’s heart, He pokes a hole in the fabric of darkness and you can’t miss that point of light. One day, the fabric of darkness in this world will be put away for all eternity. But until that day, let’s seek to shine bright and truly believe that our God has already won. The victory was won on the cross and in the resurrection. And this was God’s plan before time began!
Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
Before I list my reasons, it might be helpful to explain what I mean by “contemplative spirituality.” It is interesting to see what people mean by “contemplative spirituality” and the range goes from meditating on God’s Word to sitting in a room with a candle with no Bible and seeking to hear God for “new stuff.” I would like to redeem the term because the call of Scripture over and over again is to REMEMBER. So if you call it meditating on God’s Word or contemplative spirituality, if the source is God’s Word and His truth, then I need it.
There are many people in the contemplative camp I cherish and others who I think are dangerous. So maybe we need to create a new term after all. The Christian life is not just having a quiet time and then walking through the day doing your best. This is not the gospel message. We must continually be reminded throughout the day that we can’t, but He can. We must remember that the fruit of the Spirit is something that only the Spirit can produce. Many of us live with spiritual hernias trying to produce something in our own strength when the words of Jesus are clear, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). So with that preface, here are some reasons I need contemplative spirituality…
Reason 1: I don’t naturally have soul rest.
Most days it seems like a mini-wind is blowing through my soul. Often, the winds increase and hit hurricane force. I’ve heard it said that we often revert to a worried and hurried pace when this happens. By stopping and meditating on the truths of Scripture throughout the day, I can remember – Who God is, what He’s done, what He is doing, and what He promises to do. This fosters soul rest in me and it is a daily, moment by moment need. This might be simply taking a 5 minute walk and rehearsing Scripture in my heart and asking for help, but this simple act humbles me and reminds me of my need of God’s grace.
Reason 2: I am very forgetful.
I am forgetful. I forget where my keys are if I don’t put them in a certain place. I forget who I am in Christ and so easily merge back into my youthful ways of thinking. I need to be reminded everyday. I need to be gospeled everyday. I am finding Peter Scazzero’s The Daily Office helpful as an additional tool to point me to my Heavenly Father several times throughout the day.
Reason 3: If I don’t, I will crash and burn.
One writer called compulsion, “a blasphemous anxiety to do God’s work for him.” I have this anxiety often. I now believe that these feelings themselves surfacing are not sin, but rather, what I do with them can either be sinful or godly. If they only drive me to be busier, I will crash and burn. If they are a reminder of my desperate need for God, then they are a gift. What are some tools that help point you to Christ?
What if we were born old and grew young. Growing Young is one of my favorite Rich Mullins’ songs and it definitely sparks some emotion in me.
Rich writes,
I’ve gone so far from my home
I’ve seen the world and I have known
So many secrets
I wish now I did not know
‘Cause they have crept into my heart
They have left it cold and dark
And bleeding,
Bleeding and falling apart
And everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
Well I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young
My beautiful date (my wife Ginger) and I left our movie feeling melancholy. The movie was really, really well done. But even so, it didn’t hold out hope to me. The one reminder I took away was that life is short, rather you live it forward or backward. However, when I read God’s Word, I know that even though we are broken, tattered, and have grown old inside, God is doing something in His children that is bringing about restoration. I am growing young inside.
Many people who are later on in life are cynical and jaded because of life’s tough lessons. By God’s grace, He has taken my hard heart and continues to make it soft. Many older people are fearful and keep themselves locked up. By God’s grace, He has taken my fear and tendency to isolate myself and given me confidence that He is in control. In many more ways, God is growing me young and I pray that He will never stop.
Last weekend, I preached a sermon entitled “Even a Good Church Needs Reminding.” The text was Romans 15:14-16. As you listen to this sermon (also available for download at sojournchurch.com), be reminded of the gospel and how we need to be reminded of these truths everyday.
I look forward to writing more on the Lord’s Prayer in the weeks to come, but I felt led to throw up the above sermon that I preached at Sojourn a few weeks ago. Tons of confusion exists about baptism. In this sermon, I attempted to answer 2 questions. What does the Bible teach about baptism? What does this mean for us as individuals and as a community? This sermon focuses mainly on what baptism symbolizes. If we are Christians, we have passed through the waters of judgment, we have died and been raised with Christ, our sins have been washed away, and we have been baptized into one body. If you would like to download the sermon so you can listen on the go, you can go to this link, scroll down to “Baptism: A Sacred Symbol” and click download. I pray that you will be blessed as you remember these amazing truths of what God has done. This is the good news of the gospel!
“The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”
A.W. Tozer wrote this in the preface of The Pursuit of God. As I reflect this afternoon, I am convicted of my inability to stay centered on the fact that the main goal of my life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. I can only enjoy God if I know Him. How do we get to know Him? God reveals Himself to us in His Word. How often do I approach the Scriptures as something to be understood so I can teach them to others instead of seeking to grow in intimacy with the Father? How often do I open the Bible in order to check off the list of “to dos” for the day? Sadly enough, this is how I can easily operate.
After such realizations in the past, I would beat myself up and just try harder, but I don’t feel like this is the proper route to go. My motivation to seek God must come from something greater than some mustered up self-will. I need to repent and confess my sin before God and others. I need to ask God to help me because I am in desperate need. Then I need to preach the Gospel to myself.
How can preaching the Gospel to myself help me seek God? I must remember who God is, what He’s done, and who I am. God is holy. He is good, perfect and always right. I am a sinner and I am deserving of Hell because of my rebellion against God. God has brought me from the domain of darkness and death and adopted me to be part of His family. With such great love that I cannot imagine, God has wiped my slate clean and given me a new heart. I no longer try to earn anything because, plain and simple, I can earn nothing but death. He lavishes His grace on me and calls me to seek Him. Even typing this is an awesome reminder to me of what Rich Mullins writes, “the reckless, raging fury that we call the love of God”. My motivation is delight and not duty.
Times do exist when we will walk through the valley where we will have to continue the disciplines, but our goal in all of this time is to brought near to God and know Him more. May we be like Moses and plead with God that we might see His glory and not settle for the things of this world that are mere dung in comparison to knowing our Amazing God!
I carry around a bundle of Scriptures and quotations with me to read at various downtimes in life. One of my cards has the following John Bunyan quotation: “God has gone all the way from the gate of hell, where you were, to the gate of heaven, where you are going, with flowers out of His own garden. Behold how the promises, invitations, calls, and encouragements, like lilies, lie round about you! Take heed that you do not tread them under your foot.”
What promises are you resting in today? A famous pastor said that he searches the Bible each day for one nugget of truth to carry with him throughout the day. Whether it is something about the love of God or a particular promise that will be fulfilled in heaven, the beauty and depth of these promises and truths will never be exhausted.
At times in my life, I have said things in my heart like, “I know about God’s love”, or “I know about being saved by grace.” These statements are simple evidences that I wasn’t getting it at all.
The depths of God’s love are deeper than any ocean, wider than the galaxies, and as unfathomable as the mathematical languages of the universe. Even so, a simple child can know love. So we start simple and slowly move into the depths. We should all be moving towards the deep end of the pool by now.
So if you find yourself feeling like you know it all and you like you are only catching repeats from Scripture, try reading on your knees. Pray a simple and honest prayer to God and ask Him to help you see more. Ask Him to open the eyes of your heart to see more truth and to love Him more. Because in the end, if these promises don’t warm our hearts to love God and others with a love that can only come from God, they are not doing what God intended them to do.
It was not too long ago that I sat as a visitor in a thriving church. The music was really good, the people were nice and the preaching presentation was fine. Dring the last half of the sermon, the pastor shared about the people’s need for Christ. It was obvious that his talk was pointed to unbelievers.
The pastor asked if the people felt unfulfilled. He also asked if they needed a little something more in life to make them happier. The summation of his talk was that our lives may be pretty good, but they would be better if we would just accept Christ as our Savior. I left that day with a knot in my stomach because the amazing truths of the gospel were watered down to a self improvement strategy for wealthy Americans.
In Ephesians 2, Paul discusses why the gospel is really good news. Christ did not come to make our good lives a little better. Paul reminds these Christians that Christ came because they were DEAD in their trespasses and sins. They also walked according to the course of this world and were controlled by Satan himself. Their situation was even worse than that because they lived in the lusts of the flesh indulging in their sinful desires. By nature, they were children of wrath just like Satan, their father.
Will we take a moment to remember that this is who we were apart from Christ? You and I were children of darkness and had no hope. Dead people don’t have the option to cry out for life. We were without hope, destined for eternal punishment for our rebellion against a Holy God.
BUT (this is an amazing statement), BUT God, being rich in mercy (why?) because of His great love with which He loved us, made us alive with Christ. The GOOD news is so GOOD only because the BAD news is so BAD. Ephesians 2:6-10 explain more why God did this and I would recommend soaking in the chapter for a while and remembering why this precious gospel affects every aspect of our lives. Intimacy, identity, community… all of our lives are shaped by this amazing reality.
Let us never water down the gospel. If you are not in Christ today, seek Him. Not because He will make a good life a little better but because eternity depends upon it. Only two choices remain – either we pay for our sins for all eternity or we accept Christ’s payment for our sins and then follow Him as Savior and Lord for all our days.
