Not My Own

The New City Catechism Devotional begins with this statement:

“What is our only hope in life and death? That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ...

“Timothy Keller [comments]- It means, first of all, we are not to determine for ourselves what is right or wrong. We give up the right to determine that, and we rely wholly on God’s Word… we stop putting ourselves first, and we always put first what pleases God and what loves our neighbor… A woman once said to me, ‘If I knew I was saved because of what I did, if I contributed to my salvation, then God couldn’t ask anything of me because I’d made a contribution. But if I’m saved by grace, sheer grace, then there’s nothing he cannot ask of me.’”

That flies in the face of our culture of self-determination and expressive individualism—“I feel, therefore I am.” There are now two books titled Don’t Follow Your Heart (I’ve read the one by Jon Bloom), which both remind us that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). If we follow our hearts, we are following a blind guide. The world, the flesh, and the devil have no power to save us or to fulfill our deepest needs. Only through faith in Christ can we become who God intended us to be from before time began.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the many experiences that have factored in to make me who I am today. Growing up in a Christian home, going to church weekly, and choosing a Christian college certainly played a large part in shaping my faith and my morality. Those were good things, but not everyone ends up in the same place after similar experiences. There were also plenty of negative experiences that shaped me, and I can truthfully say that it is only by God’s grace that I am alive today and that I am endeavoring to live in accordance with Scripture. I know the sinful desires of my heart that would otherwise be seen in my life if I hadn’t surrendered them to God’s will. There are many Scriptures that speak to this surrender of self-will. Here are just a few:

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

“As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live in Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:20-22).

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

It boils down to this: if God created me, then He has the right to tell me how I am to live. And if He redeemed me by His grace, He also enables me to live in a way that glorifies Him, though I often fail to heed His will when I rely on my own strength and limited understanding. 

There are times when I wonder if it is all worth it, until I remember what eternity holds. Like Asaph in Psalm 73 when he began to envy the prosperity of the wicked and thought, “All in vain have I kept my heart clean” then he remembered, “Truly You set them in slippery places; You make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!” (13, 18-19). And as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (4:17-18).

There are sacrifices that we make in this life that seem quite painful at the time (hence they are called sacrifices!). We may feel like we are giving up our only chance to be happy and content. But in reality, we are only losing a brief earthly pleasure for an eternity of perfect peace and joy in the new heavens and new earth. I am not my own, but I belong to One who loves me far more than I love myself, and His plan for the entirety of my life is far better than anything I could ask or imagine.

“Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You” (Psalm 73:25).

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Check out the song “I Am Not My Own” by Skye Peterson and Keith and Kristyn Getty.

© 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.

IQ Isn't Everything

If you’re like me, whenever you hear the name Albert Einstein there’s this mental sign that pops up saying, “Ah, genius!” When I learned that he was from a Jewish family, had Catholic school education, and was a pacifist, I thought it would be interesting to read some of the things he wrote. They are indeed interesting, but not in the way I anticipated. In just the first chapter of the book The World as I See It, there are a few statements I can fully agree with:

“What is the meaning of human life, or of organic life altogether? To answer this question at all implies a religion... The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow-creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life... I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves.”

Other statements seem mostly correct:

“From the point of view of daily life, without going deeper, we exist for our fellowmen—in the first place for those on whose smiles and welfare all our happiness depends, and next for all those unknown to us personally with whose destinies we are bound up by the tie of sympathy.”

But then there are statements that greatly undermine my respect for this genius. When he gets into religious discussions the anvil drops:

“Feeling and desire are the motive forces behind all human endeavor... [The] most varying emotions preside over the birth of religious thought and experience. With primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notions—fear of hunger, wild beasts, sickness, death...

“The social feelings are another source of the crystallization of religion. Fathers and mothers and the leaders of larger human communities are mortal and fallible. The desire for guidance, love, and support prompts men to form the social or moral conception of God... The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from the religion of fear to moral religion, the religions of all civilized peoples... are primarily moral religions...

“Common to all these types is the anthropocentric character of their conception of God. Only individuals of exceptional endowments and exceptionally high-minded communities, as a general rule, get in any real sense beyond this level. But there is a third state of religious experience which belongs to all of them, even though it is rarely found in a pure form, and which I will call cosmic religious feeling... He looks upon individual existence as a sort of prison and wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole... The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man’s image; so that there can be no Church whose central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely among the heretics of every age that we find men who were filled with the highest kind of religious feeling and were in many cases regarded by their contemporaries as Atheists, sometimes also as saints... I maintain that cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest incitement to scientific research.”

While scientific advances are often (though not always) helpful to the world, it’s sad that some of those involved in such research can’t imagine that there is a sovereign God who not only created this world but is intimately involved in the lives of people. If I thought that man’s only purpose was to keep improving this world for future generations, I don’t think I’d be willing to endure through all the seasons of suffering that life brings. Yes, my faith does help to address my fears and it provides a moral framework for me, but my real hope is in a future life in relationship with my Creator and Redeemer. That is what helps me to get out of bed every day and to keep serving those in need around the world.

My life is what it is because of the God who made me in His image (Gen. 1:27), not because I shaped a god in my own image. Einstein is unfortunately one of those the Apostle Paul was writing about when he said, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:4-5a). I’m thankful to God that I have a God I can thank!

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

(You can read more about Einstein’s religious views on Wikipedia.)

© 2023 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.

Who's Your Father?

In recent months I’ve had to deal with paperwork for a foreign bank account. The most recent documentation asked for parents’ names and qualifications, as if my own qualifications are dependent on what my parents did. As you might guess, this is not a Western country we’re dealing with, and the documentation probably has a lot to do with the caste system. We in the West are so individualistic that such requests for information seem almost insulting. Can you imagine filling out a bank or job application and having to provide your father’s resume in addition to your own?

But we have some weird traditions and assumptions of our own. After I moved to the Southern U.S. I encountered the question, “Whose is he?” The person wanted to know who this person was related to and where they fit in the family tree. From my experience, it is far more common in the South for six or seven generations to live within 20 miles of the “home place.” None of the places I lived in the North were like that, aside from Amish neighbors in Pennsylvania.

I bring this up because there has historically been a trend in U.S. churches for people to identify as Christian simply because their parents called themselves Christian. People were members of churches because that was the center of social activity in small towns. Now church membership and attendance are declining, and some have speculated that this has come largely from nominal “Christians” deciding there is no longer any reason or necessity for church membership. The faith of their fathers is not something they wish to claim. In one sense, I would say that’s actually a good thing for church statistics. We need to know who actually is not Christian and how large the mission field really is, and we need to know those who truly belong to Christ so we can feed them as disciples.

We also need to know who truly belongs to our family. If God is our Father, then we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and we need to be willing to claim one another and care for one another as our own. I think most churches struggle in this area. We are often not inclined to go out of our way to connect with others and support others outside of regularly scheduled church gatherings. Our Western culture has negatively influenced us in this regard. Each one’s home is his castle and we don’t dare invade another’s space or ask them to come into ours.

But those things are tangential to what I started out to say. As Christians, our identity does come from our Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of God. He has made us new creations, adopted us as children, and put us into the Body of Christ with a role to play.

• When we’re tempted to sin, we can point to Jesus and say “I’m with Him.” 
• When we feel ashamed or guilty, we can remember that our Father does not condemn us. 
• When are lonely, our Father is always present with us. 
• When we want to serve in the church, our Father has given us gifts and abilities to do so. 
• When we think we’re lacking something, our Father owns everything.

Take some time today to think about every good and perfect gift our Father has given us (James 1:17), since “He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ… And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Gal. 1:3, 4:6).

© 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.

No Other

“He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and He in whom I take refuge…” (Psalm 144:2 ESV).

Lord, I confess that I often forget that You are my steadfast love.

No human can give the kind of love I want and need.

No one else is always available.

No one else knows my thoughts before I think them

And my words before I speak them.

No one else always has my best interests at heart.

No one else is perfectly wise in heart and mighty in strength.

No one else can work all things for my eternal good.

No one else collects all my tears in a bottle

And knows the reason for each one.

No one else always cares for my soul.

No one else sticks closer than a brother.

No one else fulfills every promise.

No one else speaks words of comfort to my soul

And gives me songs in the night.

No one else has engraved me on the palms of his hands.

No one else can guide me with perfect wisdom.

No one else is my rock and my salvation.

No one else will carry my close to his heart

            And gently lead me to green pastures and still waters.

Lord, forgive me for expecting people to be and do what only You can.

“Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39).

© 2020 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.

Word of God Incarnate

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3a ESV).

 “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

In a moment of seeming antithesis the Creator descended into His creation. He became flesh and was cradled in the arms of His mother. The Word of power was embodied in the tearful cries of an infant. We can’t even begin to comprehend it. What did the incarnate Christ remember from His timeless existence before He came down from heaven? What did He know without having to be taught as a little child?

When something is so far beyond our comprehension, we are likely to oversimplify it. I know at times I’ve thought of Jesus as having an adult consciousness in a child’s body, but Luke 2:52 says He “increased in wisdom and stature.” He apparently did not just grow physically but mentally as well. We may imagine that Jesus heard His Father’s voice constantly, like some kind of invisible earbud. If that were true, why did Jesus need to spend long hours in prayer? “All night He continued in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples and chose from them twelve, whom He named apostles” (Luke 6:12b-13).

Scripture is clear that Jesus entered fully into the human condition except that He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). One author makes this observation about Jesus’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane just prior to the crucifixion (Mark 14:32ff):

“The Greek conveyed the idea of being terror-struck, troubled, and fearful. This was no stoic Savior yielding without wrestling. He was overwhelmed—engulfed in grief and agonizing. He was anguished and agonizing. But terror-struck? Was it possible Jesus had felt afraid? …He was always perfect in obedience and trust. But was it possible trust and terror weren’t mutually exclusive? That someone could be full of trust while being terrified? …Was it here that he entered even more fully into the experience of human frailty by feeling afraid?” (Shades of Light, by Sharon Garlough Brown, ch. 32).

There is much we do not know and cannot comprehend about Jesus being both fully God and fully man. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In humble flesh He still exhibited the glory of God through His words and deeds. It’s little wonder that the disciples didn’t get it either. “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9b).

Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold Him come,
offspring of the Virgin's womb:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th’incarnate Deity,
pleased as man with us to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.

We don’t fully understand it now, but one day we will. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12b). We’ll not only understand, but “we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2b).

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

© 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.