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.

Inside Out

In his address “The Inner Ring,” C.S. Lewis noted, “I believe that in all men’s lives at certain periods, and in many men’s lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside.” We probably all remember the cliques in high school and other settings, and the practically universal desire to be seen as part of a special group with some status or power. As adults, we don’t necessarily call them cliques, but they still exist—political parties, classes, industries, and even churches and denominations. Whoever “we” are, there’s often a sense of “us vs. them.”

Dane Ortlund in Surprised by Jesus describes the book of Luke as “The surprise of outsiders as insiders.” He lists many of the outsiders who were invited into relationship with Jesus. Shepherds in Bethlehem, tax collectors, children, prostitutes, Gentiles, and sinners are “in,” while the religious elite and socially respected are “out” when it comes to the kingdom of God. How?

“Jesus went ‘outside the camp’ (Heb. 13:11-13)... Jesus became unclean... for us. He went outside the camp so that you and I, who are unclean outsiders, can immediately gain access inside — inside the only inner ring that matters: favor with God.”

As I’ve dabbled in psychology over the years, I’ve noted the many ways in which we feel “othered” by people. We have different thought processes, interests, abilities, habits, relational and cultural traits. We’ve created labels for every type of variation. Whether intentional or not, whether good or bad, each label describes who is in and who is out.

We often lose sight of the fact that God has invited everyone to belong to His inner ring. In Christ “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). Paul wasn’t saying that we should throw away all those designations, but that all are of equal value in God’s eyes. As the KJV puts it, “He hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6).

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus said He was sent “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:19). We receive God’s favor and blessing, not because we belong to some select group that lives up to His perfect standard, but simply because God chose us and we accepted His invitation into the Inner Ring. We did nothing to deserve being adopted into His family, and no one else can deserve it either. The invitation goes out to all who recognize that they don’t fit in or measure up.

May we be quick to give thanks for God’s unilateral grace and unconditional love, and may we extend that same love and grace to others who are on the outside looking in.

“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph. 4:7).

 

© 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.

Three Tenses

Sometimes it is awkward belonging to a denomination that has never taken a stance on certain theological issues. One such issue is Calvinism (Reformed) vs. Arminianism. I hold firmly to the Reformed tradition, but I refuse to engage in debates with people who disagree with me. (Hence, I deleted a recent email criticism I received.) I listen to a few different podcasts from Reformed churches and theologians, and they often quote:

“We have been saved from the penalty of sin (justification); we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification); we shall be saved from the presence of sin (glorification).”

Scripture uses all three tenses of the verb “save.” To say that salvation only becomes “real” at the final judgment for those who “endure to the end” (Matt. 24:13), is to miss out on all the nuances of language and the blessings of salvation in this life.

“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).

“[God], who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Tim. 1:9).

The book of Ephesians may be my favorite part of the Bible because it reminds us of all that God did to save us. He chose us before the foundation of the world. He made us alive when we were dead in our sins. He saved us by grace, not by our works. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, He did all that was necessary to make us acceptable to God. We can add nothing to our salvation. All we can do is try to live out what is already true of us.

I find it encouraging to remember that since there is nothing I did to earn my salvation then there is nothing I can do to lose it. I chose to follow Him because He first chose me. I love Him because He first loved me.

Some people ask, “What about people who turn away after having professed faith in Christ?” My question would be who or what was their faith based on? They may be turning away from some form of cultural Christianity, vague “believism,” or something else. We can’t read another person’s heart, though God can. I believe that those whom God has chosen and saved will be enabled to endure to the end, and those who don’t remain were never truly saved to begin with.

Folks can argue Reformed vs Arminianism if they like, but I will not be convinced because “I know Whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Tim. 1:12b).

“Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5).

© 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.

Do You Know?

Do you know
Christians suffer,
sorrow remains,
Satan attacks,
sin makes us stumble?

Do you know
life hurts,
joy wanes,
hope hides,
pain silences praise?

Do you know
unanswered questions,
unrealized desires,
unspoken needs,
the high stakes of suffering?

Do you know
the doubt,
the aloneness,
the discomfort,
of life torn apart?

Do you know
grace is not
always rescue,
but power
to keep enduring?

Do you know
it takes courage
to gather
with joyful saints
and overcomers?

Do you know
we need
sacred spaces,
scars seen,
lament welcomed?

Do you know
sorrow comes
before joy,
we ache for the
coming kingdom?

Do you know
salvation comes
from God,
not self-sufficiency
and striving?

Do you know
Jesus willingly
accepted suffering,
the Spirit
groans on our behalf?

Do you know
you are never
too broken,
too needy
for Christ’s kingdom?

Do you know
we are
formed by affliction,
shaped by suffering,
conformed to the image of Christ?

Do you know
we are
canvases of
God’s art,
reflecting our Savior?

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed” (1 Pet. 4:12-13).

***

Inspired by thoughts from chapter 9 of This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers, by K. J. Ramsey: “We will have suffering in this world, and as we courageously endure it, the whole church will better know the sustaining power and presence of Christ.”

© 2022 Dawn Rutan text and image. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Amateurs!

According to Dictionary.com, amateur originates from the Latin word for lover and means:

1. a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons.
2. an athlete who has never competed for payment or for a monetary prize.
3. a person inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity.
4. a person who admires something; devotee; fan.

In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee for dinner. The Pharisees were the religious “professionals,” who worked hard to keep all the commandments and added more commandments just to be on the safe side. During the meal a woman who was known to be a sinner (often assumed to be a prostitute, but the Bible doesn’t say that) comes and washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and wipes them with her hair. Jesus uses her example to point out, “her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little” (v. 47). This woman, who was considered a religious amateur because of her lack of obedience to the law, was held up as an example to the professionals because of her love.

Growing up in churches of various denominations (because we moved frequently), I got the impression that Christianity was about obeying the laws of the Old Testament, especially the Ten Commandments. I knew from a young age that I was a sinner in need of repentance. I don’t remember ever hearing a clear presentation of the Gospel message—that we can never perfectly obey God’s standards and that is why Jesus came to die for us, so that by believing in Him we could be made right with God and considered holy in God’s eyes. Up until college, as far as I knew it was all up to me to be as good as I could and to confess my sins and hope that God would let me off the hook one more time.

I worked hard to be a professional Christian, not knowing that Jesus Christ is more interested in amateurs—those who know they can’t live up to the perfect standard but follow Him out of love. Even years later I find myself thinking “I should be better than this by now.” To paraphrase Brennan Manning’s words, “God expects more failure from you than you expect from yourself.”

In 1 John 4:19 we learn that “We love because He first loved us.” Working backward in that chapter, His love casts out fear of punishment (v. 18), we can have confidence before God (v. 17), we abide with Him daily (v. 16), and we love others with the same kind of love (vv. 7-12). When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, He responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40). Christian faith is not about trying harder to be perfect, but about loving the One who first loved us and letting His love flow in and through us.

There is no call for religious professionals in the Kingdom of God. We are all called to be amateurs—for the love of God. The Apostle Paul threw away his religious credentials “because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). Religiosity will tend to make us (like the Pharisees) think of ourselves more highly than we ought. But remembering that we are only saved because of God’s grace should make us grateful recipients and loving followers.

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

© 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.

Words of Caution

Reading through the one-chapter book of Obadiah recently, I was struck by this verse: “Do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress” (v. 12). Edom was facing judgment for their sin, which included standing by and watching Judah be destroyed and delighting in their downfall.

Though that specific context may seem remote for us, we can all think of examples of people or groups gloating over the downfall of others. New phrases have been coined to describe “cancel culture” and “social media shaming.” Sadly, such behaviors infect the church as well:

• The political opponent said something wrong? “Why would anyone vote for him?”
• The promiscuous celebrity gets a terminal illness? “They had it coming.”
• The liberal denomination fractures? “It serves them right.”
• The pastor you disagreed with has run into trouble at another church? “It’s about time.”

We’re all guilty to one degree or another, because we’re all infected with sin. We may not say or do anything publicly, but we have all had those thoughts of “I know I’m right and they are just plain wrong. They deserve to be brought down a peg.”

Jesus said in Matthew 12:36, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak [or type].” Why does it matter? “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (12:34b-35). Our words reveal our hearts, and yet many of us don’t realize how dark our hearts can be.

Consider just a few verses from the book of Proverbs:

• “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent” (10:19).
• “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (12:28).
• “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but gracious words are pure” (15:26).
• “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body” (16:24).
• “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding” (17:27).
• “Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (29:20).

Our words can reveal if we are wise or foolish, loving or vengeful, humble or arrogant. Social media has made it far too easy for us to speak without thinking—jumping on the bandwagon of whoever we agree with and degrading those who disagree, regardless of what that may say to the watching world. Are we being lights in a dark world, or are we adding to the darkness by cutting down anyone who doesn’t agree with us on everything? People may stop listening long before we ever talk about Jesus if all they see in our lives is judgmentalism and condemnation. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:1-3).

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:4-6).

© 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.

Breaking the Rules

Soon after the Israelites came out of Egypt, they were given the Ten Commandments. God told them through Moses:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).

Forty years later, they were entering the Promised Land and God gave Joshua instructions on how Jericho was to be conquered.

“You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days… On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat” (Joshua 6:3-5).

Wait, didn’t God say no work on the seventh day? And yet He then gave them instructions for seven consecutive days of marching around the city. In the thousands of sermons I’ve heard in my lifetime, I’ve never heard anyone address this apparent exception to the command to keep the seventh day holy by not working.

The text doesn’t specifically say this, but I think a case can be made that the seventh day of marching around the city was probably the Sabbath day. One big clue is the fact that God was the One who brought down the wall of Jericho. Marching around the city and blowing trumpets didn’t accomplish that. (Some might argue for the resonance frequency of synchronized marching, but when have thousands of untrained men ever marched in unison?) The lesson for the Israelites was “The Lord has given you the city” (v. 16). It was not their work but God’s work on that day.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had no room for subtleties of interpretation when it came to the Sabbath. They added rules upon rules to avoid the risk of accidentally breaking the commandment. Jesus chastised them: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28). God showed His authority at Jericho, and Jesus retained that authority during His life on earth.

The Pharisees and many other Jews (and even some Christian groups) missed the whole point of the Mosaic Law. It was never about man’s perfect obedience, but about God’s work on our behalf. “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ… because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). Faith is not about trying harder to obey the law, but trusting in the One who has all authority over heaven and earth.

“Come and see what God has done: He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man” (Psalm 66:5).

© 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.

Planned Obsolescence

Our church has been working through the book of Galatians for the past several weeks. The recurring theme is that salvation is by faith and not by works. “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Gal. 2:16-17).

Obedience to the Old Testament law cannot save us. As James says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails at one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10). Try as we might, we cannot perfectly obey and therefore we cannot obtain righteousness through our obedience. The law was never intended to justify anyone, but only to point us to our need for a Savior. As Paul wrote in Romans 7, “If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ …The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me” (7:7, 10). But now, if we are believers in Christ, we have “died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (7:4).

We are now under a new covenant by faith in Christ. “In speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13). The author of Hebrews doesn’t just say that the old covenant of the law is inferior to the new covenant, but is actually obsolete. How is that possible? Jesus fulfilled all the demands of the law by perfect obedience. Through His sacrifice on the cross, we who trust in Him receive His perfect record.

“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). In Christ, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

We as individuals and as churches can tend to lean in one of two directions. We may lean toward legalism and create our own set of rules and regulations: don’t drink, don’t smoke, no tattoos, never skip church, read through your Bible every year, always look respectable, etc. That is likely to make people feel a constant vague guilt for not measuring up to the “standards,” and may lead to an abandonment of anything related to the church.

Or we may lean toward license and say “Do whatever feels good so long as you aren’t hurting anyone by it.” But that is to ignore the necessity of sanctification in the life of the believer. We are set free from the law, not to do as we please, but to become who God always intended us to be: people who reflect the perfect image of His Son. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11).

We belong to Him body and soul, and if we are living in His grace through faith, we will desire to do all that we can to please Him—not because we have to in order to retain our citizenship in His kingdom, but because we love our Father. We will fail and fall at times, but He picks us back up and dusts us off and reminds us that His love is not dependent on our perfect obedience. “For You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You” (Psalm 86:5).

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when He delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand” (Psalm 37:23-24).

**

You might enjoy this poem from Glenn Scrivener:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/we-should-not-balance-license-and-legalism/

© 2020 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.

Before a Fall

It has become increasingly common for well-known pastors to make the news because of some questionable words or deeds. In some cases, it is secret sin that has been uncovered. In others it’s a series of poor choices that have resulted in people being hurt. Quite likely there has been some latent pride that created a lack of accountability and led to their downfall. Reputations have been tarnished, and Christians are left wondering whether they can trust anything that person has said or written during their career. I have books written by some of these men, and I have to weigh their value and decide if I’ll ever be able to read them again without being distracted by the author’s failures.

That’s not to say that failure outweighs every good thing a person has ever said or done. If that were the case, we’d all be in trouble. It is only by God’s grace that we have anything good to contribute to the Kingdom. The Apostle Peter had to be confronted for his hypocrisy (Galatians 2). The Apostle Paul was clear in stating his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) and his imperfection (Philippians 3:12). Paul warned, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1).

We see the results when people we have come to respect fail to live up to those high standards, but all of us are guilty of pride to one degree or another. A little bit of success or recognition and we may soon find ourselves thinking I did good, I am good. And if the success grows, those thoughts may turn into things like: I’ve got it all figured out. I don’t need any help or advice. No one can tell me what to do. They don’t understand the situation like I do. I can do what I want…

We often forget that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18 ESV). Pride creates its own blind spot. We may not see it because we don’t really want to see it. Life seems far simpler when we can pass judgment on others without ever seeing the sin in our own hearts. Pride can manifest itself in many ways. It doesn’t always show as seeking the limelight, patting yourself on the back, or taking credit for what others accomplish. It may be a subtle or even blatant disregard for the opinions of others because of their age, gender, race, education, employment, or other factors. It could be ingratitude for what others have done, finding fault with their efforts, or many other variations. Pride is frequently at the root of other sins.

Grace and gratitude are two potent weapons against pride and its offspring. Scripture reminds us that our salvation and sanctification is by grace alone, so we have no reason for boasting (Romans 11:6, Ephesians 2:1-10). We are all great sinners in need of a great Savior. If we have a proper view of God’s grace and mercy to us, it is easier to view others in the same light. And similarly, when we are grateful for God’s many blessings to us, we become more grateful for other people as well.

We often have to start with actions and pray that our attitude will follow suit. If I make an effort to find reasons to be grateful for the people who are irritating me, I start becoming more thankful and patient with them. Humility, forgiveness, and thankfulness are all interrelated, as Paul wrote in Colossians:

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (3:12-17).

We probably all need some work in the area of humility, lest we find ourselves stumbling over the pride in our hearts. Thankfully, God is more than willing to change us from the inside out if we will let Him do so.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:3, 12-13).

© 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.

Two Examples

“Why was I born? Why is this happening? Is there any point to all this?” When his world fell apart, Job’s response was to wish he had never been born and to question why God was allowing all this suffering in his life. As he sat in misery in the ashes, Job kept running his mouth until God showed up (ch. 38-41). Only then did he realize his mistake and repent. Incidentally, many people take Job 2:10 out of context and say that Job never said anything that was wrong. “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” came before he started his complaints. If he had not sinned in his words, he would not have had to repent. His errors were not as blatant as those of his friends, but he mistakenly assumed he had the right to question God’s actions and motives. “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further… I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (40:4-5, 42:5-6 ESV).

In contrast to Job, consider the prophecies of Isaiah that were fulfilled by Jesus the Messiah:

“He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted… upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed… He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (53:2-7).

The differences between Job and Jesus are numerous.

• Job was surprised by suffering and thought he didn’t deserve it. Jesus knew what was coming and knew He didn’t deserve suffering, but He walked to the cross willingly (Matthew 16:21).
• Job kept trying to argue his case with God. Jesus said, “Not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
• Job repeatedly told his friends of his innocence. Jesus said nothing before His accusers (Matthew 26:63).
• Job berated his friends for their counsel. Jesus forgave His attackers and invited a thief into the Kingdom (Luke 23:34, 43).
• After he was restored, Job was to pray for his friends to be forgiven by God. After Jesus rose from the dead, He restored His friends to service for God (John 20-21).

Job’s response was understandable. We’ve probably all asked “why me?” and complained that life isn’t fair. Jesus could have avoided all suffering, yet He chose the path of humility, service, and love so that we could be redeemed and made righteous. “Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the righteous one, My Servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11). He kept His focus on the eternal results, and therefore, “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” (Hebrews 12:2).

When life gets hard, when pain and suffering comes, when things don’t go the way we want, when people are more irritating than encouraging, instead of questioning and complaining let us fix our eyes on Jesus. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted [tested] as we are, yet without sin. 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 4:15-16).

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant that yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interests of others. 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 2:3-8).

© 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.

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.

God Stoops Down

As I’m nearing the end of Ed Welch’s book Running Scared, I came across this comment about 1 Peter 5:6-7:

“Our natural tendency is to go it alone, or, if the load is too heavy, to call a friend to help. But Peter paints a different picture. In an act that could never have been conceived by a human being, the King comes and beseeches us to lay our burden on him… Peter is doing his best to persuade us to be a new people who call out to the Lord. Let Peter persuade you. He begins by exhorting us to know that our God is the Creator God. He holds history in his hand. He delivers with a mighty hand, the grandest display being the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ… In keeping with his character, he continues to serve; he invites us to cast our burdens on him as we would cast burdens on an ox… In one of the amazing paradoxes of the kingdom, when God takes our burdens and takes the position of a servant, he reveals our inability and his sufficiency” (266).

Throughout Scripture God pursues relationship with people. He made covenant after covenant (Noah, Abraham, Moses, David), not requiring people to serve Him, but telling them what He wanted to do for them. God delivered the people from Egypt before He gave them the law. His grace preceded His standards. The people were to obey because they had been delivered from slavery, not in order to be delivered. He sent Jesus as the mediator of the New Covenant so that we who are sinful and insufficient might become part of His eternal family. And He continues to pursue us when we are wandering sheep. We can’t make ourselves worthy of His attention or mercy.

In no other religion does a supreme being stoop down in love in order to bring people up. What god is there that doesn’t first demand obeisance and obedience before consenting to fulfill a request? What other god says you can “cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you”?

I’ve slowly been reading Mark Twain’s Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World. He spent a fair amount of time describing the religious practices in India and all the things people go through to try to appease the many gods. It’s humorous but also sad that people can expend so much time, effort, and money to curry favor with gods that are no gods. The One true God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4 ESV). And He makes it possible for us to come to Him, not because of our obedience but because His grace and the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

He not only saves us, but invites us to come to Him with all our cares and concerns. It’s really dumbfounding if you think about it. We can quickly start to take it for granted if we’ve been around church for very long. The God who created the universe and sustains it by His power desires a relationship with us. His ears are attentive to our prayers. He knows our very thoughts, because He is not a disinterested omnipotent being, but a loving Heavenly Father.

As we enter this season of Lent and approach our Easter celebrations, may we not forget the wonder of what we have because of Jesus Christ. May the truth astound us and bring us to new heights of gratitude and thanksgiving.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

© 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.

Paths of Grace

Sometimes having a vivid imagination can be both a blessing and a torment. Recently I was imagining a particular “what if” scenario, thinking about what life would be like now if something had been different in the past. In the process I realized that I would be faced with a very difficult and painful decision if that had been the case, so I am thankful that God’s grace protected me from following that particular path. There are a few situations that come to mind that are like that, some of which were more likely to happen than others.

Thinking of Robert Frost’s poem, life isn’t just two roads diverging, but thousands of roads leading on to thousands of other roads. We have no way of knowing where these roads will lead over the course of a lifetime. Some choices are clearly right or wrong, while others have no moral implications at all. Most roads are somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. As we look back over a lifetime of choices, we can see how one way led on to another to get us where we are today. And if those choices have been made with God’s guidance, we can see how He has made a straight path out of what seemed like a very circuitous route.

That’s an aspect of God’s grace that we may not always see or appreciate. We can agree with the Garth Brooks song, “Sometimes I Thank God for Unanswered Prayers,” but I wonder how many times God has intervened in ways that we never even know about? We may discover them later, like the car accident we avoided because we had a dead battery, or like the “what ifs” I imagined playing out, but many we may never discover. Perhaps part of eternity will be the revelation of all the ways God intervened in our lives. That would certainly give us reason to glorify God as we say, “Thank You for not letting me go there!” Of course, we don’t have to wait for eternity to express our thanks for God’s intervention.

There are also times we wish God had intervened, but for whatever reason He did not. Even though some of the paths we’ve traversed may have been difficult ones, where would we be today if we had not gone that direction? How have those difficult roads shaped our character and strengthened our faith in ways that easier roads would not? I was wrestling with this last night and questioning why God allowed certain circumstances in my life that were not pleasant and seemed to me to be detrimental to His purposes. In fact, in reviewing the first several verses of Ephesians 1, I felt that God’s grace wasn’t all that lavish sometimes. I had to return to a quote I’d encountered earlier in the day in a novel by Michael Phillips that I’m reading:

“People can be bitter over their marks of individuality. Or they can be thankful and let God use them to deepen compassion and character within them. I believe you are a better and more understanding and compassionate person because of the way God made you… [Y]ou really can thank God… because it has helped form your character inside… I love you so much! How could God not love you infinitely more than I do?”

It’s not always easy to find reasons to be thankful for circumstances we don’t understand. How can we wrap our minds around the idea of God’s lavish grace when life is painful and nothing makes sense? Eventually it comes down to a question of faith—do I trust Him with what I can’t yet see? Along the way, questions may be unanswered and emotions will rise, but God never changes. He can handle our questions and doubts, our fear and anger. Another character in the same book says:

“Asking God why things happen is, it seems to me, an integral part of what it means for a mortal to walk in faith, for we wouldn’t ask if we didn’t have faith that God knows the answer! But we do not see as God does. Much appears evil and unfair to our obscured sight. But we are nevertheless commanded to walk in faith, trusting in his sight more than we trust in our own. We can and perhaps should ask him why, as long as we trust him even when answers may be slow to come… God’s goodness is and must remain the foundation. With the underpinnings of goodness and trustworthiness solid, any number of questions, even doubts, even crying angrily to God as Job did—all these are allowed.”

So whether your paths are pleasant or painful, whether they divert you from disaster or take you through the valley of the shadow of death, thank God for His loving kindness and lavish grace. One day everything that is now hidden from us will be brought to light, and God’s glory will be fully revealed.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan. 

Free to Be

I was recently reading a Christian fiction book in which a man told his daughter in essence, “Don’t align yourself with evil by saying ‘That’s just who I am.’” Ironically, it was about an Amish girl having to give up her artistic talents to obey the church, which is not something most of us would think about in hearing a statement like that. How often do we hear “That’s just who I am” or “That’s the way God made me” in relation to traits that we are asked to surrender? Many people believe the enemy’s lie that we can’t change and try to justify hanging on to something that is clearly against Scripture.

The blog from Desiring God recently posted an article Lay Aside the Weight of “I’ll Never Change” by Jon Bloom. He addresses two ways to come to terms with who we are:

“The first is to cultivate contentment with who God designed us to be, which results in a wonderful liberation from trying to be someone we’re not. The second is to lay aside the burdensome weight of the fatalistic resignation that we’ll never be any different than what we are, which results in an enslavement to our sin-infused predilections.”

That is the two-fold process of believing God and refuting the lies of the enemy. God says we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). He indicates that it is possible to lay aside the weight of sin (Hebrews 12:1) and not let sin reign in our bodies (Romans 6:12). But it takes a lifetime of practice to remember these truths and act upon them when the enemy attacks with feelings of helplessness and hopelessness in the face of temptation.

Another fictional character made a noteworthy comment in Jan Karon’s Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good: “I wanted to do what I wanted to do and figured it was [God’s] job to stop me” (434). The problem is that God does not always intervene when we get on the wrong path. The experience of Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus was a unique event and not likely to be repeated. More often than not, it takes a series of smaller events to provide a wakeup call. But the consequences of our choices still remain. Even the Apostle Paul had to deal with the consequences—being distrusted by the Christians he had previously persecuted, turning away from the people he had formerly considered allies, plus the memories of all the things he had done in the past.

Still Paul would write, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). God’s intervention brought salvation, yet Paul had to work at living in the new identity that was his by grace.

If God could make us alive when we were dead in sin (see Ephesians 2:4-5 and Romans 8:10-11), He certainly has the power to free us from the power of sin (1 Corinthians 15:57), transform us (2 Corinthians 3:18), and conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Peter gives us a high calling: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:14-15).

I know from personal experience that it is easy to get discouraged by the constancy of sin and temptation, and to doubt that freedom is really possible. I want to live each day with an awareness of that freedom and see it become a reality in my life. That is my hope and prayer for this year.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).