Sin has it's effects

My heart races as I think about the implications of sin that I've just read about in Isaiah.  One question from our study says:

"Sin has its effects: with what picture does Isaiah describe these effects on the people of Israel in 1:5-6?" 

"5 Why will you still be struck down?

Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up

or softened with oil." 

Isaiah describes to us a body that cannot be beaten anymore, one that lies tattered from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.  One whose vital organs of the brain and the heart are failing.  I read it as he if he is saying, one more hit and you will be completely dead.

I imagine this as an invalid on life support.  The doctor has just come in and told the family there really is no more that he can do.  The heart is failing, the brain is failing, the whole body has lost function.  This body needs a miracle to survive.  The family grieves and prays and hopes, but prepares for the worst.

Sin has all but killed the people of Israel.  A miracle is needed for the life of God's people.

How powerful and depressing is this picture in showing the effects of sin against God!  I praise God that a Miracle does come and am thankful to know the rest of the story.

 "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered. 

  Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long. 

  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

 Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him. 

  You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah"

Psalm 32: 1-11 

 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21

Full of Crazy Love

At least we should be. We finished Crazy Love this past week. Such an awesome book! We are still processing it and fleshing out what God is calling us to do with what we've learned. God's call for each of us is different and this book has opened our eyes to a deeper calling for each of us.
What's next? A bible study on Isaiah by Kathleen Nielson

Obsession

This week we read the "Profile of the Obsessed" chapter.  Full of conviction and challenges to live for Christ alone, this is my favorite chapter yet.

Here are some of the main points:

People who are obsessed with Jesus...

" give freely and openly, without censure.  Obsessed people love those who hate them and who can never love them back."

"aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else.  Obsessed people care more about loving God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress."

"live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another. Obsessed people believe that Jesus talked about money and the poor so often because it was really important to Him."

"are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or fulfilling the status quo.  A person who is obsessed with Jesus will do things that don't always make sense in terms of success or wealth on this earth."

"know that the sin of pride is always a battle. Obsessed people know that you can never be 'humble enough,' and so they seek to make themselves less known and Christ more known."

"Do not consider service a burden.  Obsessed people take joy in loving God by loving His people."

"are known as givers, not takers. Obsessed people genuinely think that others matter as much as they do, and they are particularly aware of those who are poor around the world."

"think about heaven frequently. Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them."

"are characterized by a committed, settled, passionate love for God, above and before every other thing and every other being."

"are raw with God; they do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their sins or their failures.  Obsessed people don't put it on for God; He is their safe place, where they can be at peace."

"have an intimate relationship with Him.  They are nourished by God's Word throughout the day because they know that forty minutes on Sunday is not enough to sustain them for a whole week, especially when they will encounter so many distractions and alternative messages."

 

"are more concerned with their character than comfort.  Obsessed people know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God."

"know that the best thing they can do is be faithful to their Savior in every aspect of life, continually saying 'Thank You!' to God.  An obsessed person knows there can never be intimacy if he is always trying to pay God back or work hard enough to be worthy.  He revels in his role as child and friend of God."

WOW, what a list!  

What will you do?

Francis Chan has been challenging us with the question of what will we do for God? What will we sacrifice, how can we downsize, how will we help the least of these? These have been tough questions we've been grappling with. The scriptures are very clear about what God expects of us, the question is what are we willing to give up for God? What are we holding onto tightly that we're not willing to loosen hold of?

What will you do?

Real Love

I posted this on my blog, but thought it relates well to what we've been reading in Francis Chan's book.

Real Love

When we became your bride,
we vowed eternal love,
that we'd stay by your side,
eyes fixed on you above.

How quickly those eyes strayed!
Our first love was replaced,
by idols man has made
and we felt no disgrace.

Believing we're still yours,
never bearing our cross,
wanting to live secure,
not sharing with the lost.

Thinking or fate is sealed,
(we said the sinners prayer)
how does it make you feel
when our hearts are elsewhere?

Looking in a mirror
we foget what we saw.
Obeying what we heard
shows love is not a fraud.

We're to give all we own
and rejoice in our pain.
Living for you alone;
heaven will be our gain.

Desiring Heaven for His gifts, or for God?

Interesting quotes that I found that relate to the one we were talking about in chapter 6 by Piper:

The quote basically addresses whether we truly desire Christ or just His gifts.

"The critical question for our generation--and for every generation is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the foods you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

The following quotes I saw tonight in Piper's book "When I Don't Desire God"

"There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven;
but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart
of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. . . . It is the secret
signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable
want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our
friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our
deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or
work. . . . All your life an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just
beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming
when you will wake to find, beyond all hope, that you have
attained it."
C . S . L E W I S
The Problem of Pain

"Now there was only one hope, the sovereign grace of God. God
would have to transform my heart to do what a heart cannot make itself
do, namely, want what it ought to want. Only God can make the
depraved heart desire God. Once when Jesus’ disciples wondered about
the salvation of a man who desired money more than God, he said to
them, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are
possible with God” (Mark 10:27). Pursuing what we want is possible.
It is easy. It is a pleasant kind of freedom. But the only freedom that lasts
is pursuing what we want when we want what we ought. And it is devastating
to discover we don’t, and we can’t." John Piper

Song

The lyrics in this song remind me of what we've been reading and talking about.  
Ive been holding on
To things like dreams that never seem to die
And Im not so strong to lay them down
And say my goodbyes
How do you say goodbye?

If theres a remedy
A break from all my vanity
Then Im gonna need your help
If theres hope for me
Pull me down to my knees
Where Im begging for your help
To let go

Its so unnatural
To let all that Ive planned just slip away
But I would be a fool
To tighten up my hands and be afraid
What I need is faith

Im walking right up to the edge
Im bringing everything thats left of me
I throw my self into your love
Youll be the one to lift me up again
As I let go

Chapter 4

We met and discussed Chapter 4 yesterday. What a powerful chapter about the lukewarm church. We discussed our own hearts and evaluated our lukewarmness. We did some collage work expressing our response to the chapter.

Chapter 3

The chapters are short in this book, but packed with a lot to think about. In this chapter, Chan shows us how much God loves us, and how little we love him. The way we love God and the reasons why we love God are so foundational to the depth of faith that we have. If we love God out of fear of punishment and to have "fire insurance" it's not the kind of love that he desires. The image of a child running to their parent when they return home from work is a great way for us to grasp the kind of love He has for us and we should have for him. May we seek to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind.

Chapter one of Crazy Love

This chapter starts off by looking at God's amazing creation. It really does a good job showing us how small we are and gives us a glimpse of how big God is. Studying biology in college at a Christian school, every aspect of science that I learned pointed to the Creator. From the cell to the galaxy, God's fingerprint covers everything. It's amazing to see His design.

Chan writes, "This is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious. There is no other like Him. He is the King of kings, the Beginning and the End, the One who was and is and is to come."

Psalm 8

8:1 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [2]

and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Catching up

Disciplines of Grace was a challenging book with many points that were convicting about our walk for God. The book laid the foundation of the Gospel and reminded us the art of preaching it to ourselves daily. It then explained further justification and sanctification and our role in responding to the grace given to us by pursuing God through disciplines which are all to be sought after in direct relationship to the grace of God in our lives.

Though we didn't post any here while we read through this book, we grew closer as we not only discussed the points mentioned in the book, but also shared our lives. Our group has become one of great encouragement and accountability. I am so thankful for the way that God has been at work!

Almost 6 mos'

After 6 mo's have passed...

Discipline of Grace - wow! what a book...

But as we repick up this blog as a way to share our thoughts on our readings we are on a new book.

~Crazy Love~ Francis Chan.

This book is a bit different as it has a video component to it (online). It is interesting. I have read the intro and part of Chp 1.

Figured I would stop and discuss a portion that has struck me.

 As a life-long Christian, I struggle with the "stagnant" walk. In the past few years I definitely received a bit of a wake up call and for the first years of B's life was MUCH closer. Now that life has returned closer to normal (as it ever will be) I feel that "drowsy" Christian sleep walk returning. It is definitely a battle to continue the closer more purposeful journey.

The portion that struck me was where Chan is discussing the characteristics of GOD.

The first two:

1. God is HOLY.
2. God is ETERNAL.

We cannot exaggerate how great he is, now matter how hard we try. To me this is comforting... I tend to exaggerate - and have to be conscious when I start to do this in my own conversations. What an amazing thing it is to know that we cannot exaggerate how wonderful he is... we can't overstate, we can't "give Him too much credit". We can't expect too much from Him. He is set apart from us and we cannot begin to fathom how wonderful he truly is.

Into that flows his second point that we can NOT understand God. He is too big. He has existed forever, he is beyond constraints of time and space that bind us. To try to understand God is like trying to fit all the seas of the earth in a soda can. (Chan's illustration)

To me this is a reminder of how BIG He is.

Why do we forget this? How does the minutia of my life take away from His grandness? It is an oxymoron of sorts. The minutia should remind me of how big HE is... HE is above it all...

Quote from CHAN

"... it is ridiculous to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable of comprehending. What a stunted and insignificant God that would be!"

New Book

It's a new year and a new book. I'm excited about this one as it sums up my goals for this year: "The Discipline of Grace" by Jerry Bridges. I actually did this study years ago in church Sunday school but as is typical of my post-children brain, I don't remember much of it. Yesterday when we met we decided to just focus on prayer instead of discussing the book and praise God, we were able to pray. The kids were running around the house playing and yelling but that didn't stop us. Each of us had a turn to pray and no children were injured during that time and the house wasn't set on fire. I am thankful indeed:) I'm hopeful this sets the tone for our small group this year that despite what is happening in the lives with our kids, we won't let it distract us from focusing on Him.