Indescribable

Recently I was reminded of a couple stories I heard in children’s church when I was young. The teacher liked to read from a book of Christianized stories. I don’t recall whether any instruction accompanied the stories, but what I realize now is how deficient they were in explaining the gospel. (As a side note, I shudder to think what kids might remember from my classes when I was on summer ministry teams during college.)

The first story, in brief, was that a fire swept through a barnyard and a mother hen protected her chicks by tucking them under her and sacrificing her life for theirs. The second story was of a drawbridge operator who brought his son to work one day. When he heard the horn of an approaching boat he discovered that his son was out on the gears that would raise the bridge. He had to decide whether to save his son or the people on the boat, and he chose to sacrifice his son.

Aside from the questionable choice to read such stories to children, there were definite misconceptions about how Jesus’s death on the cross came about and how we were saved through that sacrifice. A few corrective lessons come to mind.

1) The cross was no accident or last-minute decision. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4 that “God chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.” And in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Similarly, Peter wrote, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories” (1 Pet. 1:10-11). The cross was not “plan B.”

2) Jesus was not an unwilling participant. God knew from before creation that mankind would need rescued from our sinful state, and the Trinity determined the plan before we knew we needed it. Jesus knew the time of His death was coming but still prayed “Thy will be done” (Luke 22:42), and then “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

3) We are not innocent bystanders, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24). We weren’t just floating through life minding our own business, but instead were (and are) actively sinning against the God who created us. And though we did nothing to deserve it, God loved us enough to make a way for us. “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

4) And flowing from that verse, Jesus didn’t have to convince God to save us. Sometimes gospel presentations make it sound like Jesus loved us first, and only because Jesus gave His life does God the Father love us. Thomas McCall wrote,

“God is for us. It is not part of God that is for us—as if some divine persons or some divine attributes were opposed to me while others are for me—it is just God who is, in the impassible simplicity of the trinitarian life, radically for us. The death of Jesus does not make it possible for God to love us. The death of Jesus makes it possible for us truly to know God’s love, makes it possible for us to love God.” [See TGC’s bookreview here.]

I heard a quote from Thomas McCabe’s Faith Within Reason (which I have not yet read so I’m not sure if I’d recommend or not) that is worth pondering:

“[God] is just waiting to welcome us with joy and love. Sin doesn’t alter God’s attitude to us; it alters our attitude to him, so that we change him from the God who is simply love and nothing else into this punitive ogre... God never changes his mind about you. He is simply in love with you. What he does again and again is change your mind about him. That is why you are sorry. That is what your forgiveness is.”

It’s so easy for us to misconstrue the gospel because we try to break it down into bite-sized ideas. When we do that, we minimize the glory of the whole arc of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. We need to remember that our metaphors are just that—tiny, flawed pictures of something magnificent and awe-inspiring.

“How deep the Father’s love for us! How vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure!” (Stuart Townend, 1995).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Forgiven Indeed

In his book The Yellow Leaves, Frederick Buechner related the following:

“Frank Tracy Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church... told me that once when he was taking a shower, he distinctly heard a voice from somewhere saying, ‘Why do you take your sins so much more seriously than I do?’ His first reaction, he said, was to burst into laughter. His second was to burst into tears.”

I had mixed feelings of my own when I read that. On one hand, sin is extremely serious. The smallest of offenses against the perfect, holy God is worthy of the death penalty, and in fact led to the death of Jesus Christ. And yet Scripture proclaims,

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14).

For those who follow Christ, all our sins, past, present, and future, were nailed to the cross and removed “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). So while each time that we sin is a reminder of the penalty we owed, it is also an occasion for God’s grace to abound to us over and over again.

“But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many... Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:15, 20).

Those who are faithful Christians don’t take sin lightly, or think of it as “no big deal.” We don’t “continue in sin that grace may abound” (Rom. 6:1). But I believe that many of us hold onto the feelings of guilt and shame long after we’ve confessed our sins to God. I heard myself saying recently, “I know God doesn’t hold it against me, but I hold it against myself.” At times like that, God may truly ask us, “Why do you take your sins so much more seriously than I do?” If He has forgiven those sins, who am I to stand in judgment against those same sins? If His grace has “abounded all the more,” who am I to reject it for myself?

Of course, just knowing that truth doesn’t mean we always take it to heart. We have an accuser to loves to remind us of all the times and ways we have failed to love God and others. He wants to keep us wallowing in the mud so that we’re too distracted to serve God. And if we think of ourselves foremost as sinners, we may forget that we have the ability to say no to sin because of God’s grace.

From the vantage point of the cross, my sins are no longer on my record or my shoulders. Jesus’ shoulders bore the weight so mine do not need to. His hands were nailed to my sin, so my hands are now free.

Lord, help us to see ourselves as the new creations You have made us to be. Where we are forgiven, help us to forgive ourselves. Where we are tempted, guard us against the lies and lures of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

“The Lord passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness’” (Ex. 34:6).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Remember This

In a recent episode of the Russell Moore podcast he interviewed Scott Sauls, who shared about a time he was out for a walk and heard himself say aloud, “You suck.” As he reflected on what had led to that declaration, he realized he was remembering something he had done in high school that hurt a friend, and for which he had apologized repeatedly. His experience of self-condemnation for past actions is probably one that many of us can relate to.

The Apostle Paul gives us an interesting panorama of human experience. On one hand he makes statements like this:

“I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy… Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Tim. 1:12-13, 15).

But he also says:

“…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).

But what exactly is it he says he is forgetting? The first part of Philippians 3 is the recitation of his Jewish “pedigree” as one who can claim “as to righteousness under the law [I was] blameless” (v. 6). It was stuff that most of the people who knew him would consider admirable. When you compare Philippians with 1 Timothy, Paul doesn’t really seem to be saying, “Just forget everything about your past and live in the present.” I’m coming to understand it more as “Remember your past but keep it in proper perspective.” That fits better with his statements in Ephesians:

“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh… remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promised, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11-12).

When we consider the past, there are several things we need to remember:

1) Apart from Christ, any good that we have done or accomplishments we’ve achieved are likely to be tied to pride and self-righteousness. Therefore we need to remember that our good works cannot save us and are in fact nothing compared to Christ’s perfection.

2) If we are now Christians, any sin that we have committed (past or present) is forgiven and covered by Jesus’ death on our behalf. Therefore we can remember that we are loved, accepted, and free from condemnation.

3) God uses our sin and weakness to remind us of our need for Him. He uses all things for the good of conforming us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:28-29), and in our weakness His grace becomes evident so that He gets the glory and not us (2 Cor. 12:9).

I often remind myself of Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” However, I don’t always remember that it follows after Paul’s description in Romans 7 of the struggle:

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from his body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (7:21-25).

Theologians disagree as to whether this is referring to one’s experience before conversion or after conversion. (I agree with John Piper that it is post-conversion.) However, I think the greater point is that only in Christ can we find freedom from condemnation. It takes a lifetime of learning and growth to “put on the new self” (Eph. 4:24) and to “walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). In the meantime, shame and guilt will continue to rear up in us—from painful memories, from the influence of the world, or from the accusations of the devil. When they do, we can cling to the truth that our sins are forgiven and God still loves us. “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Heb. 8:12 quoted from Jer. 31:34). His love will never fail.

“My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:20-23).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Welcome

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).

Sam Allberry and Ray Ortlund have started a podcast called “You’re Not Crazy.” In a recent episode Allberry said, “We’ve turned the gospel into the cancellation of debt. We’re preaching mercy more than we’re preaching grace. So I actually went many years in my Christian life not really hearing about the welcome of Jesus. I heard about the debt-cancelling death of Jesus: you’re now not a problem to Jesus. I didn’t hear much about what we’ve been saved into…”

I’d say that my experience was similar. For many years I heard about God’s forgiveness, though not in a way that gave me much assurance that God wouldn’t get tired of hearing my confession. I always felt like I had to keep up with a performance to please God. It still strikes me that when I told my Resident Director in college that I thought God was disappointed with me, she didn’t have any good or biblical response, though I realize now that she wasn’t much further along in her faith that I was. It was a long time before I really understood that God loved me while I was still dead in my sins (Eph. 2:4-5), that He chose me and adopted me into His family not reluctantly but willingly (Eph. 1:4-5), and that He welcomed me wholeheartedly. I’m still growing in that understanding.

The Gospel Coalition podcast had an episode this week with Dane Ortlund (Ray’s son) that covered some of the themes in his book Gentle and Lowly. He made the comment:

“The way a ministry leader approaches others is how he believes or she believes God approaches them. When you see a harsh leader… you are seeing what he believes God is most deeply like toward him, and when you see a gentle pastor, you are seeing what he believes God is most deeply like toward him… We are not only preaching and teaching what God is with what we say, but also how God is with how we say it… Your person is more powerful than your words.”

That makes me wonder, did my lack of understanding of God’s loving and gentle welcome come more from the words that I heard (or didn’t hear) or from what I saw in those who were trying to teach me? Probably it was a combination of both. How well do most churches demonstrate God’s welcome by welcoming others? We all probably need to work on communicating God’s welcoming love more effectively and frequently. It’s not just up to the pastor or the Sunday school teacher or the youth leader. It’s really up to all of us. As the new person or the child growing up in church begins to feel known and loved by the people there, it becomes easier for them to believe that God also knows and loves them just as they are.

Jesus pointed out in Matthew 25:31-46 that if we welcome strangers we are welcoming Him. And in Paul’s words in Romans 15:7, that contributes to the glory of God. Why? Because we get a glimpse into the character of God and come to know Him a little better.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

 

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Forgetting the Past

Listening to the audio book of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe recently, this part caught my attention:

“‘You have a traitor there, Aslan,’ said the Witch. Of course everyone present knew that she meant Edmund. But Edmund had got past thinking about himself after all he’d been through and after the talk he’d had that morning. He just went on looking at Aslan. It didn’t seem to matter what the Witch said.”

How often do we get distracted and distressed by looking at the past instead of looking at Christ? The enemy wants to keep reminding us that we are sinners, traitors, and failures. But God doesn’t want us to stay there. The Apostle Paul said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Tim. 1:15), but he didn’t stop there. He continued, “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.” Paul was redeemed in order to display God’s mercy and grace.

King David said in Psalm 51, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (v. 3). Sometimes we get stuck there and never move on to remind ourselves that “a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (v. 17) and “You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You” (86:5). He is quick to forgive, but we are slow to remember.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life form the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy” (Psalm 103:2-4).

We need to cling to the truth of who we are in Christ when past sin, shame, and regret rear their heads. Those voices can be so loud, and God’s whispers of truth seem to be drowned out. I don’t know how many times I’ve repeated Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” but I need to hear it again and again, not just in my own head but from people who know me. We in the Body of Christ need to be that voice of truth for one another, but to do that we first need to drop some of our barriers of self-protection. (I know how hard it can be to believe that there is security to be found in being known and loved by a few safe people.) We can be part of the cloud of witnesses to one another that the author of Hebrews referred to:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2a).

May we keep our eyes fixed on Him and let go of all that drags us down.

“Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13b-14).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Eyes and Hands

I wrote the following poems around 1996 and just came across them again. They seemed appropriate for Holy Week.

Your Eyes

In my mind’s eye
I see you there,
Hanging on that rugged cross.
You don’t die like other men.
“Forgive them for they
Know now what they do.”
You lift your head,
Your eyes meeting the eyes
Of each one gathered there.
Each one turns away
Unable to bear your gaze,
And then your eyes meet mine.
Instantly I know you know.
You know my sin
Because you bear it there.
I am ashamed and
Start to turn away,
But then I remember,
“Forgive them for they
Know not what they do.”
I look back to your eyes.
You meant those words for me.
Even as you bear my sin
You ask the Father
For my forgiveness.
I meet your gaze
And I know
I am forgiven,
And I bow my head
In thanks.

 

With Open Hands

With open hands I come to You
I give You all my fears.
With open hands, release to You
The cares of all the years.

I tried to give them up before,
But held them in tight fists.
I come again to You once more
To give You all of this.

With open hands I come to You,
Hoping only to receive
The Holy Spirit, promised to
All those who will believe.

With open hands and open heart
And open life I give
To You alone, to cleanse each part
That in Your life I live.

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Clean Hands and Pure Heart

The following quotes from Lead, by Paul David Tripp, seem all too apropos considering some of the recent news coming from Christian ministries.

“I have seen that when it comes to leaders’ struggle with sin, we tend to make unbiblical assumptions that cause us to be naïve and unprepared for battles that we will face in the life and ministry of leaders in our communities. It is not safe to assume that a seminary graduate is spiritually okay. It’s not safe to conclude that a very gifted leader is where he needs to be in his relationship with Jesus. It’s not necessarily true that a theologically insightful leader is spiritually mature. Ministry effectiveness is not to be confused with cleanness of heart. What you know about the public persona of a leader does not mean you do not need to be concerned about his private life” (181).

“Every leadership community should be clear that giftedness is not the same as spiritual maturity. Biblical literacy is not the same as spiritual maturity. We need to be clear that theological acumen is not the same as spiritual maturity. Ministry success is not the same as spiritual maturity. Popularity is not the same as spiritual maturity. Strategic insight is not the same as spiritual maturity” (196).

Revelations of ongoing, unrepentant sin make you wonder if a celebrity really was a Christian. (God alone knows.) The trust of the church has been betrayed on many occasions by many people.

None of us are completely free from temptation and sin. Jesus was the only person to live a perfect, sinless life. But by the grace of God we should be growing in obedience, humility, and integrity. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray He included, “Forgive us our debts… and lead us not into temptation” (Matt. 6:12-13). Why would He urge such prayers if in fact we are able by our own strength to avoid temptation and live free from sin? We are weak and fallible creatures, constantly in need of God’s power to sanctify us and conform us to the image of His Son.

Martin Luther, in the first sentence of his 95 Theses wrote, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ (Matthew 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Yet how many of us live that out day by day? How often are we blissfully unaware of, or hardened to, our sin?

King David, the “man after God’s own heart,” wrote in several of his psalms:

“Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression” (Psalm 19:13).

“Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in You” (Psalm 25:20).

“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” (Psalm 32:1-4a).

“There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me” (Psalm 38:3-4).

May God, by His grace, reveal our sins and bring conviction and repentance before those sins bury us too deeply in the mire. May our pride be broken before it becomes presumption. May we be quick to turn to Him for the mercy of forgiveness and the cleansing we need.

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalm 24:3-5).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Failure, Regret and Forgiveness

The salesperson was pushy and persistent. They wouldn’t take no for an answer and wouldn’t leave me alone. On that last phone call I snapped. It felt justified. My time was being used, my work interrupted, and my answer was being ignored. I felt disrespected and out of control of the conversation. But almost as soon as I slammed the phone down the guilt and regret came. I should have been much more polite. I could have asked why they thought they knew our needs better than I did. I could have turned it around and tried to sell them the gospel instead. There were probably hundreds of better responses than what I gave in the spur of the moment.

I did confess to God and ask His forgiveness, but the situation keeps coming to mind again and again. The enemy keeps trying to shame me with my failure. It has resurfaced multiple times as I’ve been reading Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth’s book Lies Women Believe. A few of the lies she addresses are:

• “It’s not my fault!”
• “I can’t control my emotions.”
• “I can’t help how I respond when my hormones are out of whack.”
• “If my circumstances were different, I would be different.”
• “I just can’t take any more.”

The truth is, we always have a choice in how we respond to situations. No one and nothing can cause us to sin apart from our own decision to do so, no matter how quickly that decision gets made sometimes. “We know that our old self was crucified with [Christ] in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin… Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions” (Romans 6:6-7, 13 ESV).

Wolgemuth writes, “[W]hether we choose to believe it or not, if we are God’s children, the Truth is that His grace really is sufficient for us… That is the Truth with which you and I must perpetually counsel our hearts:

• When I’m exhausted and think I can’t possibly face the unfinished tasks that are still before me, His grace is sufficient for me…
• When I’m having a hard time responding to that family member or that person at the office who really gets under my skin, His grace is sufficient for me.
• When I’m tempted to vent my frustration by speaking harsh words, His grace is sufficient for me…
• When I blow it with my family and become uptight and short-tempered, His grace is sufficient for me…” (266-267).

And I would add, when I’ve failed and have then asked God to forgive me, His grace is sufficient for me. He has promised, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Even though I may feel guilty and unforgiven, that is not true. God has done what He promised through the blood of Christ. My job is to accept it, remember it, and use that truth to refute the lies that I am a failure, condemned, and hopeless.

I’m still far from perfect, but I am a child of God, slowly being conformed into the image of His Son. When He returns I’ll reflect His image perfectly, but for now I’m dependent on His abundant grace and mercy to make it through each day.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Diversions

You may have heard the quote from Robert Murray M’Cheyne, “I have discovered that the seed to every known sin dwells within my heart.” Have you ever considered that in your own life? And if you recognize that to be true, as I believe it is of every human being, have you considered the great grace and mercy of God that we don’t act on every seed of sin that we could? Just prior to God’s judgment of the world in the Flood we read, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5 ESV). Although the Flood destroyed many evil people, it did not remove evil from the earth. Two chapters later, although God promised not to send another such judgment, He still said, “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (8:21). It is only by God’s sovereign control over mankind that sin is restrained at all.

John Owen, in Overcoming Sin and Temptation, lists some of the Scriptural examples of God preventing sin from being carried out:

• Pharaoh’s army was wiped out by the sea as they tried to overtake the Israelites (Exodus 14).
• Sennacherib’s army was destroyed by an angel of the Lord so that Jerusalem would be delivered from him (1 Kings 18-21).
• The people of Babel were made unable to understand one another’s language so they could not complete their act of pride (Genesis 11).
• The men of Sodom were struck blind so that they could not seize Lot (Genesis 19).
• Joseph’s brothers intended to let him die, but God arranged for him to be sent into Egypt instead, where he eventually was able to save their lives (Genesis 37-46).
• Peter was delivered from prison and from Herod’s revenge by an angel (Acts 12).

We could add Jonah, David and Nabal (1 Samuel 25), Abimelech and Sarah (Genesis 20), and many others. Psalms 57 through 59 reveal some of the ways God intervenes to control evil, by letting people fall into their own traps (57:6), breaking their teeth and blunting their arrows (58:6-7), trapping them in their pride and consuming them (59:12-13). Though people often ask why God allows evil, the fact is that He prevents evil more often than not. Owen writes,

“If we will look to our own concerns, they will in a special manner enforce us to adore the wisdom and efficacy of the providence of God in stopping the progress of conceived sin. That we are at peace in our homes, at rest in our beds, that we have any quiet in our enjoyments, is from [God] alone. Whose person would not be defiled or destroyed—whose habitation would not be ruined—whose blood almost would not be shed—if wicked men had power to perpetrate all their conceived sin?” (349).

Not only does God restrain evil in the unconverted world around us, but He restrains it within our own hearts and lives.

“When you have conceived sin, has God weakened your power for sin, or denied you opportunity, or taken away the object of your lusts, or diverted your thoughts by new providences? Know assuredly that you have received mercy thereby. Though God deal not these providences always in a subserviency to the covenant of grace, yet there is always mercy in them, always a call in them to consider the author of them” (351).

God may send an arrow of conviction to the conscience. He may remind us of His love and mercy and kindness. He may bring to mind the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. He may reveal the shame and reproach of sin. His methods of working in us are unlimited. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). 

But still we may not always pay attention. We may perhaps ignore His Word and forget His grace. We may choose to submit again to our old slave-master sin. Yet for the believer, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1), because “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 5:21).

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Great Expectations

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1 NIV).

I recently noticed a word in that verse that I hadn’t paid attention to before—“easily.” Sin easily entangles us. The Apostle Paul wrote, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19 ESV emphasis added). I know from experience that temptation and sin don’t just miraculously disappear when we reach a certain point in our faith journey. If we do make some progress, we often start patting ourselves on the back—until we trip again and realize we’ve been relying on our own willpower. As Brennan Manning used to say, “God expects more failure of us than we expect from ourselves.”

Jerry Bridges wrote in The Gospel for Real Life:

“Sometimes our obedience is marked more by desire than by performance. So we have to ask ourselves: ‘Is my life characterized by an earnest desire and a sincere effort to obey God in all that He commands? What is my attitude toward God’s Law? Do I find it to be holy, just, and good? And do I delight in it in my inner being even though I find my sinful nature struggling against it?’ (See Romans 7:12, 22-23). Accompanying our sincere desire to obey God will be a heightened sensitivity to our indwelling sin. Often it is our increased awareness of sin that causes us to doubt our salvation or to give Satan an inroad into our minds to suggest that ‘a Christian wouldn’t sin like you do.’ But think about that accusation for a moment. Satan would certainly not suggest such a thought to an unbeliever.”

“We should never be afraid to examine ourselves. But when doubts do arise, the solution is not to try harder to prove to ourselves that we are believers. The solution is to flee to the cross and to the righteousness of Christ, which is our only hope. And then, having looked to Christ alone for our justification, we can look to His Spirit to enable us to deal with those areas of our lives that cause doubt. The work of the Spirit within us is as much a gift of God’s grace as is our justification and adoption as sons”

In one sense, my sin may be small compared to some of the “great sinners” in Scripture who found forgiveness. However, my sin contributed to the reason Jesus had to die on the cross, and I am just as incapable of saving myself as any other person who’s ever lived. If it were not for the cross of Christ, my “small sin” would be grounds for damnation and despair.

“But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV).

As this article, “What To Do When You’ve Blown It,” quotes from Sam Allberry, “There is more forgiveness in Jesus than there is failure in us.” Yep, we blow it—repeatedly. But in Christ God offers us forgiveness repeatedly. My sin is not too big or too frequent for His forgiveness. My sanctification is not yet perfected, but neither is my temptation indicative of terminal failure or reason for hopelessness. Martin Luther wrote, “By saying ‘repent,’ our Lord and Master Jesus Christ willed that the whole of the life of believers should be repentance.”

For now we can rest in God’s lavish forgiveness, and one day we will be able to relish His perfected Kingdom, all because of His grace and mercy.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9 ESV).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Look to the Lord

William Shakespeare wrote in Sonnet 116, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” He wasn’t writing about God’s love, yet those words are more true of God than they are of any human love. David wrote, “For Your steadfast love is great to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds” (Psalm 57:10 ESV). There are over one hundred references to God’s steadfast love in the book of Psalms alone, with 26 of those occurring in Psalm 136.

We all need to be reminded that God’s love does not change just because we sin or doubt or forget His Word. David prayed, “Remember Your mercy, O Lord, and Your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of Your goodness, O Lord!” (Psalm 25:6-7). It wasn’t that he had to remind God of His love and mercy, but that David himself needed that reminder.

George Herbert (1593-1633) was another poet and priest who gave words to our struggle to remember God’s love. One of his poems begins:

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
            Guilty of dust and sin.           
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
            From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
            If I lack’d anything.

He goes on to say he can’t look on God because of his shame, to which God replies, “And know you not Who bore the blame?” Love invites him to come sit at the table and enjoy the meal because it is God who provides both forgiveness and grace. As is often the case, I write what I need to hear for myself, but I’m sure we can all relate to that sense of unworthiness that makes us draw back from God when we’ve sinned. And yet, He is more than willing to welcome back His prodigal children.

Herbert’s poem has some parallels to Isaiah 55:

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price… Incline your ear, and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, My steadfast, sure love for David…[Let] him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (55:1, 3, 7).

We cannot begin to deserve the forgiveness and love and many other blessings that God pours out on us. We cannot repay what God has done. Our role is simply to receive with gratitude. In many ways, that takes more humility than it would to perform some kind of penance. If we could do enough to offset the guilt of sin, then we might take pride in thinking we had somehow contributed to our salvation. But if it is a gift of God from beginning to end, we must be humble, powerless recipients. This way God gets all the glory for what He alone has done. “It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8b-9). May we be quick to run back to the Father every time we realize we’ve wandered away!

“To You, I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of the servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of the maidservant to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till He has mercy upon us” (Psalm 123:1-2).

“Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 136:26).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Addicted to Sin

Sometimes I hear the stories of young people who struggle with drug or alcohol addictions and others who repeatedly make bad choices regardless of the consequences. It is easy to be judgmental and think, “Why can’t they just get their act together and stop it?!” But then I start looking at my own life and see the same patterns at work, just in less visible ways. My sin is no better than theirs just because people don’t know about it and I’m not breaking any laws.

Sin is sin. In many ways, it doesn’t really matter what temptations we struggle with, because the answer is always to be found in salvation in Jesus Christ and through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. We all need God’s grace and mercy constantly. Even if we get rid of the outward sins, there are still internal sins in our thoughts and attitudes. There will always be something that needs confessed and forgiven as long as we’re on this earth. The truth is we’re all addicted to sin in one way or another.

I frequently wrestle with verses such as these:

• “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God” (1 Peter 4:1-2 ESV).
• “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous… No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God” (1 John 2:1, 3:9).
• “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin… Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions” (Romans 6:6, 12).

It can be really discouraging to fall (or jump) into sin once again and then wonder, “If I’m really a Christian and have the Holy Spirit, why don’t I have this mysterious power to obey like the Bible says?” I find a lot more in common with Paul’s words in Romans 7:18-20 and following:

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sins that dwells in me.” 

This is the Christian dilemma—we know what is right, we desire to do good, we take all the steps we can think of to prevent sin, and yet we still do it. It doesn’t seem to matter how many Bible verses we memorize, how many sermons we listen to, or how many Christian songs we sing. In Paul’s case, it didn’t matter how much Spirit-inspired Scripture he wrote, how many people he converted, or how much he suffered for his faith, he still found ways to sin. (I disagree with those who claim that Romans 7 was describing Paul’s pre-converted state. In Philippians 3:6 he said he was blameless in regard to the law prior to his conversion.) It may be both discouraging and encouraging to know that even someone as zealous as the Apostle Paul faced the same struggle we have.

No matter how hard we try, we aren’t going to reach sinlessness in this life. But the good news is that God knows all that and He loves us anyway. As Brennan Manning used to say,

“Do you believe that God loves you beyond worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity and infidelity—that He loves you in the morning sun and in the evening rain—that He loves you when your intellect denies it, your emotions refuse it, your whole being rejects it? Do you believe that God loves without condition or reservation and loves you this moment as you are and not as you should be but you’re never going to be as you should be?”

And in love He provided mercy and forgiveness for our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us lean into His love.

“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name’s sake… By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything” (1 John 2:12, 3:19-20).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Love Came First

Love is one of the traditional themes of Advent, thinking particularly of God’s love made incarnate in Jesus Christ. I happen to be reading through the book of Numbers right now, and came across this verse:

“Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of Your steadfast love, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now” (Numbers 14:19 ESV).

It struck me that Moses pleaded for forgiveness for the Israelites based solely on God’s steadfast love. It wasn’t based on their repentance—they were still grumbling. It wasn’t based on their promises to do better—they hadn’t yet learned their lesson. It wasn’t based on God’s foreknowledge of some vastly more obedient future—they were still disobedient centuries later. God’s forgiveness was sought because He was and is loving, gracious, and merciful. And as we live after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, this is even more clearly true for us. God provided the means of forgiveness long before we were born, not just when we realized our need. His steadfast love predated our repentance.

Psalm 107 presents a quick summary of the Israel’s afflictions and judgment, referring probably to Exodus but possibly other exiles as well. We may find ourselves somewhere in these verses—wandering, hungry, in darkness, suffering for our own sin, fearful, oppressed. But the recurring refrain for Israel and for us is “Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man!” (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31). Wherever we may be, His love has not changed, and His love seeks us out and provides more than we could ever need.

In Luke 1 Zechariah prophesied that God “has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation” and that John was “to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God” (68-69, 77-78a). I think it is significant that Zechariah doesn’t speak of this as something that is about to happen, but has already happened (Greek aorist tense). It reinforces the fact that God’s steadfast love was at work from the beginning of time (Ephesians 3:9-12). The incarnation wasn’t “Plan B” when God realized we needed help. In love, even as He created the world He planned to make it possible for sinners to be united with Him through the blood of Christ.

It begins to boggle the mind as you think through these things. We may never fully understand the lengths God went to for us. It should indeed lead us to “thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man!”

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:1b).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Gently Led

I’ve been enjoying Alistair Begg’s recent series on the Fruit of the Spirit on Truth for Life, and appreciated his reminder that we cannot manufacture real fruit on our own. It is not the fruit of self-effort, but the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in us and with us and through us. The sermon on gentleness in particular caught my attention as he talked about the gentleness of God and its manifestation in the life of Christ. As I searched later, I came up with a few relevant verses:

• “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29).
• “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench” (Matt. 12:20a and Isaiah 42:3).
• “He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 20:11).

One of the opportune times to exercise gentleness is in response to sin: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1a). As I was thinking about that, it occurred to me that sometimes it’s easier to respond to others with gentleness than it is to be gentle with ourselves when we fail. Charles Simeon wrote,

“I have continually had such a sense of my sinfulness as would sink me into utter despair, if I had not an assured view of the sufficiency and willingness of Christ to save me to the uttermost. And at the same time I had such a sense of my acceptance through Christ as would overset my little bark, if I had no ballast at the bottom sufficient to sink a vessel of no ordinary size” (as quoted by John Piper in The Roots of Endurance, 107).

I can’t speak for him, but I find it far easier to remember my sinfulness than God’s forgiveness. I’ve come to think of shame as a “guilt ghost.” It is a spectre that lingers long after the offense is forgiven. It has no real power, but it deludes me into thinking more about my sin than my Savior. So I often need a reminder of the gentleness that God shows to His children. His desire is to draw us close, carry us, provide sustenance and rest, teach us, and lead us. Yet we keep wriggling away and trying to prove our worth rather than trusting Him.

I like the way David Phelps phrased it in his song “Gentle Savior”

Why can’t I walk away from my regrets,

And why is forgiveness so hard to accept?

My past surrounds me like a house I can’t afford,

But You say, “Come with Me, don’t live there anymore”

May God gently draw our eyes back to Him each day so that we may be assured of His love, forgiveness, grace, and mercy. Jesus indeed is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep and who continues to care for each one.

“Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life” (Isaiah 43:4).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Arise My Love

Every now and then I have a moment when it seems like God pulls back the corner of the veil to give me just a glimpse of His glory and majesty. I was reading something that mentioned the song, “Arise, My Love” by NewSong, and I had to listen to it to remember all the words. It draws on imagery of 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 (ESV), “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” But the Apostle Paul didn’t stop there. He goes on to say, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

As I read that, I realized that I’ve held an incomplete understanding of all that Paul is saying in these verses. My primary thought has always been that death is the consequence of living in a sinful, fallen world—in essence, that death is the sting of sin. But Paul said it the other way around. “The sting of death is sin.” In Romans Paul wrote, “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (6:6), and “now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (7:6). Then he pulls it all together in 8:1-2, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

Sin and death are intimately intertwined. The first sin brought death into the world—not just the death of the physical body, or even the eternal death of condemnation, but also the daily “walking death” of lives wrapped up in sin. But the death of Jesus on the cross freed us from all the reign and power of sin and death. We are no longer bound to that old master. Yes, physical death will still occur for whatever time remains for this earth, but it is ultimately conquered. Sin will also remain for a time, but its power is defeated. We are free to say no to temptation and freed from the daily death of sin.

I wish NewSong had written another verse to their song, because God didn’t just call Jesus to arise from the grave. He also calls us to arise from the grave of sin every day. He keeps saying, “Arise, My love, the grave no longer has a hold on you!” When temptation comes our way, “Arise, My love, and listen to the voice of your true Master!” When sin trips us up, “Arise, My love, you are forgiven!” When death darkens our door, “Arise, My love, this is not the end!”

My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,
for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”
(Song of Solomon 2:10-13)

We no longer belong to the realm of sin and death, but we live in the kingdom of life. May we all hear His voice calling us to arise out of whatever grave we find ourselves in today.

“Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Off Target

I’ve found this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to be challenging but true:

“[We] must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution. And is not the reason perhaps for our countless relapses and the feebleness of our Christian obedience to be found precisely in the fact that we are living on self-forgiveness and not a real forgiveness? Self-forgiveness can never lead to a breach with sin; this can be accomplished only by the judging and pardoning Word of God itself… Our brother breaks the cycle of self-deception. A man who confesses his sins in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person. As long as I am by myself in the confession of my sins everything remains in the dark, but in the presence of a brother the sin has to be brought into the light” (Life Together, 115-116).

It’s easy to remain in sin if it stays in the dark. Even if you’re truly confessing to God, the secrecy and shame often remain behind. But when you confess before a brother or sister in Christ, they can remind you of the truths of God’s Word—of forgiveness, fellowship, and freedom.

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7-9 ESV). Note that forgiveness isn’t just between us and God, but it is an essential part of having fellowship with one another! Fellowship is hindered by secrecy, sin, and the illusion of superiority.

The comment is often made that the Greek word for sin can be translated as “missing the mark.” But using that as a definition of sin can be misleading. That gives the impression that you didn’t quite hit the bulls-eye, but came close, and if you just try a little harder you’ll be okay. The fact is that in our own strength we can’t even come close to the target. It’s more like trying to shoot an arrow to the North Star. It doesn’t matter how hard you try, it just ain’t happening! That being the case, why are we so reluctant to confess to one another? We’re all in the same boat, so why can’t we admit it?

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed…” (James 5:16a). It’s also commonly noted that confess means to “say with or agree with.” Yes, we have to agree with God that sin is sin. However, this verse from James leads me to think that we also need to say it with one another— “I’m a sinner.” “You too? I thought I was the only one!” We need to truly hear from one another so we can encourage one another and remind each other of who we are in Christ.

I was just listening to a talk by Amy Simpson on mental illness, and some of her comments can also be applied to sin: “We need to start by humbly acknowledging our own problems… I know that everyone in this room is flawed… The only people who are truly effective in ministering to others are those who are aware of this in themselves… If we set the example of acknowledging the reality that we are imperfect people and that our own families are imperfect, we help create a culture of authenticity that benefits all of us.” We can minister to others by being open and honest.

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Romans 6:22). Secrecy is its own slave-master, but it is slavery that can be broken if we so choose.

 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. 

Rejoice in Forgiveness

Some time back I was reading Nehemiah where Ezra is reading the Book of the Law to the people, and these verses caught my attention: “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep… And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (8:9-10 ESV). When the people heard the law, they were convicted of their sin and their natural response was mourning, but Nehemiah told them they had reason to rejoice. His words are reminiscent of David’s experience some 500 years earlier—“David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’” (2 Samuel 12:13). After which David wrote, “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.” (Psalm 32:1-2).

From my own experience and things I’ve read from many different authors, I think we all have a tendency to hang onto guilt longer than we need to. We know that God’s forgiveness is available and is freely given to all who confess, and yet we can’t let go of the mourning and turn to celebration.

When the woman was caught in adultery, Jesus told her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11). He didn’t scold her or give her penance to do. He simply released her from guilt so she could have a fresh start. She could have been stoned to death for her sin, but instead she was set free. I have no doubt she celebrated that day.

Although a contrite attitude could indicate that we think our sin is too big to be forgiven, I wonder if the bigger problem is that we think we can contribute something to our forgiveness? Our view of sin is too small—we don’t realize that every sin is worthy of death. How can a person on death row do anything to earn forgiveness? We deserve death just as much as the woman caught in adultery, yet we are forgiven because of Jesus’ death on our behalf. That should be reason enough to rejoice! To remain mournful when God has delivered us from death is to say that His forgiveness isn’t good enough. Are we questioning His power, mercy, love, and authority?

I shared this quote on Facebook as it related to the sermon we heard this Sunday, but it’s worth revisiting:

“I cannot imagine the depth of love the Savior had for us in those moments of extreme suffering—unfathomable love causing Him to choose moment after agonizing moment to subject himself to what He could have ended. Thanks be to God that Jesus persevered till the task was completed! With His last breath He exclaimed, It is finished, and committed His spirit to the Father, dying in our place” (Marci Julin, When You Can’t Trust His Heart, 87).

So as we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, may we all remember the greatest reason to give thanks— 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life… These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 3:16, 15:11).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.