Scattering Shadows

Shadows of Gates by Everywhere (sxc.hu)

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay. . . ." -2 Corinthians 4:6-7a

Like most dystopian literature, the world can be a dark place—and not only the world but our hearts as well. I know mine is full of shadowy hallways.

But that is only half of the story.

God sent light into the darkness at the beginning of time, and He has not stopped. He continues to shine light into oppressive regions and shadowed souls. (This truth is one reason I wanted to write a dystopia with a christian worldview). God is out to flood our lives with light and overwhelm the lies, bondage, and sin within. 

Even more, He doesn't just send light; He sends Himself. Throughout Scripture, Jesus is characterized as light (Jn. 1:5, 8:12; Rev. 22:5), and in Him "there is no . . . shadow" (Jam. 1:17). The Father of lights comes to defeat the darkness in and around us.

For the believer, we have this light, this Jesus, in our frail hearts. "Whom should [we] fear?" (Ps. 27:1). The God of the universe has chosen to live in us. What reason do we have to be insecure or afraid?

His light makes all the difference. It's true for Noah and the cast of The Free & The Brave. It's true for you as well.

You "have this treasure" (2 Cor. 4:7).

Your Christmas Gift List

Some of you start buying your Christmas gifts in January. Others in August. I am never that forward thinking. I'll start buying gifts come December 1, if I'm lucky. I have, however, begun compiling my list, which will include an addition this year.

Samaritan's Purse, a non-profit that organizes disaster relief and serves in third-world countries, sent me their Gift Catalog earlier this fall. I've been praying about how and what to give ever since. And I can't seem to choose between gifting a child with the ability to learn how to read and write or help a child receive lifesaving heart surgery.

Both of these gifts strike such a chord in me because of my own heart defects at birth and, obviously, because of my love for reading and writing, but they are just two of the many gifts Samaritan's Purse offers.

The gifts range in price, but some start at just $5. This Christmas I encourage you to add one more person to your list. I promise it will mean so much.

ACFW Today!!

I know I haven't been around much this summer. We can chalk that fact up to the presence of two little words in my life: chronic fatigue.

The summer was filled with fatigue, doctors' visits, new medication, a job transition, and other lifestyle changes to help deal with the symptoms. Oh, and I was really tired. Did I mention that? I'll be blogging more about this journey with CF in the fall, but today I wanted to focus on one thing:

I leave for St. Louis and the ACFW Conference today!

Erynn, myself, and the ladies from our critique group will all fly out about 10 a.m. and walk right into 4 1/2 days of honing our craft, pitching our manuscripts, making new connections, and meeting new writer friends. It promises to be encouraging and overwhelming at the same time. :) I won't be taking my computer with me, but I'll post a full report once we return.

In the interim, would you pray that God would lead Unclean toward publishing during the conference, that He would move mightily, that I would be able to serve and encourage others, and that my health would not keep me from enjoying and participating in the events? Would you also pray against fear and insecurity, especially during my appointments with editors, agents, and a published author critiquing my work? I would so appreciate your prayers.

One of the verses I have been praying and meditating on in the last three weeks is 2 Timothy 4:17a: "But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed."

I have been praying that God would strengthen me so that my writing and my life would proclaim the gospel of grace.

I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Now, how do I cram these boots into my suitcase? :)

Pursuing God

Last month, I picked up A.W. Tozer's Pursuit of God in the hope that it would help me run harder after Him. And it has.

Because Tozer reminded his readers that God runs to us first.

"Our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us."*

Isn't that humbling?

Doesn't it make your heart happy?

_____________
* A. W. Tozer, Pursuit of God (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, Inc., 1993), p. 61.

When A Children's Book Makes You Cry

As the nanny of Miss Thing (my little lady who is 15 months old and has always known her own mind), I read a lot of board books. A lot.

Which is not a bad thing--I love to read, and as an author and book lover, I want to encourage children to read themselves.

But let's just say that one can only read Snuggle Puppy so many times without losing one's mind. And I'd like to stay as sane as possible, which put me on the hunt for books we can both enjoy.

Enter The Jesus Storybook Bible.

It's recommended for children 4 and up, but we've enjoyed it already. The pictures by Jago are colorful and detailed, and the book itself lives up to its subtitle: "Every story whispers his name." Sally Lloyd Jones weaves forty-four stories into a beautiful tapestry showcasing God's plan and His love for us in Jesus. (And unlike other storybook Bibles, she doesn't shy away from the difficult places--including Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac and Jesus' crucifixion).

Last week, Miss Thing and I were reading in the New Testament, and on two separate mornings, I began to cry as I read the stories to her. After she went down for a nap, I stole downstairs, book in hand, to curl up and read more myself.

This book isn't just for children, parents, and Sunday School workers. It's for anyone looking to see the beauty of God's plan. The overall picture is breathtaking, and the individual stories are worded simply and yet profoundly.

Now I have my own copy at home. So, I can remember truths like "And they were lovely because he loved them" and "Jesus was making the sad things come untrue" anytime I want to (p. 26 and 220, respectively).

Want to know more? Click here for The Jesus Storybook Bible website

When Life Takes Over...

I entered January with high hopes and a very detailed schedule. I did this so that I would move forward and "be successful" in my writing life.

Guess what?

My writing life is like my life in general, things rarely go as planned.

Only a couple of blog posts marked my progress at the end of the month, and I entered February with no editing completed. But oh, did I have confusion, frustration, and not a little guilt.

As I looked back over my month and my failure at this to-do list, several truths came to mind. I share them with you in the hopes that they'll encourage you in your own frustrating times, writing-centric or not.

First, God is sovereign. If it was His plan for me to do everything on my to-do list, it would get done. But more importantly, it is not my faithfulness but His that guarantees the outcome of a situation. Too often I rely on my own sufficiency and must be reminded that only He is all-sufficient. I can't force something He hasn't allowed OR screw up something He has. If UnClean is to be published, it will be. I can't mess that up, even if I do fail at blogging, reading books on craft, networking, etc. I can be a good steward of my gift and trust Him and His plan, but nothing rides on my shoulders alone.

Second, I must be asking Him what He has planned for my day, week, month. Maybe something else is more important than item #4 on my list, but if I don't have a humble, open spirit I will view that important thing as an unwelcome interruption and object of frustration rather than as an opportunity.

Third, writing isn't the only thing God has for me. Sometimes I view my call to writing as my CALL. However, it's not the most important ministry/activity in my life; it's one of them. A dear friend recently reminded me of the eternal significance behind my keeping Miss Thing. How convicting. I don't nanny only to pay my bills and fulfill my call to write. Right now, I am called to nanny and write and blog and be a good friend, sister, daughter.

Fourth, no progress isn't really no progress. Even though I didn't edit in January, I was thinking about the novel and making notes. In a similar vein, waiting and being faithful in other areas prepares me for my writing future. (see Lynn's insight on this).

Finally, guilt gets you nowhere. I can't change what was left undone in January, but I can fix my eyes forward and work on my goals for this month.

And that's just what I'm doing.

Why Relentlessly Pursued?

The subtitle of my blog is "Reflections on Standing Still," and most of you dear readers know that God has been teaching (and continues to teach) me what it is to "Be still and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10). I am learning to be still and wait for His voice; be still and watch Him fight on my behalf; just be still in an otherwise chaotic life. You know this because I've blogged about it.

But I'm not sure that I've every fully explained the title: Relentlessly Pursued. This recently came to light when a friend's husband spotted the title and said something along the lines of "Wow! She's bragging about beating back guys? Or that she want to be a women who does that?"

Wow indeed. Luckily, my friend knew the background of the title and quickly corrected his assumptions before he felt the need to alert my community group of my growing pride. Later, when she told me, I laughed--because nothing could be further from the truth, and let's just leave it at that.

The situation did, however, make me realize that I should clarify for you who is pursuing, who is being pursued, and why.

Back in 2007, when I started this blog, God had been walking me though my own Valley of Achor (or Trouble, Hos. 2) for several months. The man I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with and who I was planning a wedding with changed his mind and walked out of my life. His pursuit of me vanished, and his promises twisted into ashes that blew away faster than I could close my hands around them.

And I felt unlovely, betrayed, abandoned, unsure, and unwanted.

But God was there.

And as I began to read back over my journal entries, I saw it. That God was coming after me even there. He lead me to Hosea 2:14-20, part of which reads,

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there will I give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.... And I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD."

The words were sweet healing to my wounded heart. God would walk me tenderly through the valley to hope, and He would not change His mind. He would (and had already) asked me to be His bride, and He would not relent. His love would be steadfast.

During that season, God continued to pursue me through His Word, through His Spirit, through the friends and family He encircled me with, through the flowers He sent me, and through the new dreams He gave me--both a non-fiction piece and my first fiction project Steadfast, to name two, came out of that season.

And as I look back on that time now, I see that His pursuit has only continued, even during the "silence" last year when I felt so alone. I see now that He was gently saying, "I'm here. I haven't left you. Do you still doubt me? My promises do not fail."

It is a pursuit that began when I was born two months early with a heart defect, continued on in my physical healing when I was young, and pushed into that small first and second grade Sunday School classroom where He first whispered my name and opened my eyes.

He is the Relentless Pursuer.

Before the foundation of the world, He knew who would be His, and He has stopped at nothing to make them His. Don't we see this in the Old Testament as He comes after his rebellious children again and again? Don't we see it as He put on flesh, came to earth, and died on the cross to redeem us? For those that belong to Him, we know He came after us when we were running in the opposite direction, and He did so because of His great love. And the pursuit doesn't stop there--for we are still prone to wander, as Robert Robinson wrote.

Most importantly, I know Him as the Relentless Pursuer because His Word teaches us that "God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners;" that "even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes;" that "God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) (Romans 5:8; Ephesians 1:4, 2:4-5, NLT).

The gospel displays God's relentless pursuit of us, and my life testifies to it.

Being relentlessly pursued has made all the difference.

Resolutions...

Have I waited too late to blog about my New Year's resolutions? After all, it's January 12th already, and just about every blogger I know has published a post about them. Hopefully I'm not too late because I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to keep those resolutions I've made.

I've resolved to be more disciplined in several areas this year, not the least of which is my health (i.e., exercise regularly, eat better, and lose weight). You know the drill. But can I make it happen by just trying harder?

That's the thing about me and resolutions--I make them because I am doing so poorly in a particular area that I think more self-control and self-discipline will fix the glaring error in my life. But if that's all it takes, why is my weight an issue? I've resolved to lose weight a lot in the last ten years, and I'm fairly certain trying harder isn't going to fix me this year. Neither will guilting myself or setting a goal. (Don't get me wrong--those things are helpful and I will try harder and have set goals).

So, where's the power coming from?

Me or God?

If I'm trusting in myself, I'll fail. The gospel teaches me that. Self-sufficiency is idolatry and doomed from the beginning.

However, if I trust that God is gracious and powerful to sanctify every part of my life, I can ask for His help and lean on His strength to purify these areas. And that's what I need this year. I need to bring my health, my writing life, and the other places where I lack discipline or motivation to Him. For He loves to change His sons and daughters for His glory. In fact, He has promised to do just that.

So, overall, I'm committing these areas to God. Asking Him to sanctify them. Choosing to view them as ways to worship Him. And bringing each temptation, each nudge to quit or cheat, to Him as well. For this is how change happens.

Paul Tripp said, "You and I live in little moments, and if God doesn't rule our little moments and doesn't work to recreate us in the middle of them, then there is no hope for us, because that is where you and I live."

What about you? Do you have resolutions for 2011? Whose power are you tapping into to keep and reach them?

___________
Want to read more? Check out John Piper's thoughts from 2009 or the full article from Paul Tripp.

Why Are We Abstaining?

I read a magazine article recently about "putting off happiness." The author shared how she often chose a cheaper or simpler food item simply because she couldn't get past the prices on the menu. And she was usually left craving more for passing up what she really wanted.

Now I am not advocating selfish or irresponsible spending, but I do wonder--how often do we as Christians pass up a pleasure for the wrong reasons? Not out of necessity, discipline, or obedience but out of fear, pride, or self-righteousness.

Do we bypass dining out for fear that though we have money this week who knows what will happen next week? Do we make decisions out of fear that we won't have enough fill-in-your-favorite-blank here down the road if we enjoy God's gifts today? And even if the wise choice is to abstain, are we forgoing out of wisdom and good stewardship or out of a heart of distrust in God's provision?

Do we abstain from dessert, music, art, fiction, or rest out of a sense of legalism or pride? Does it make us feel more holy to spend an evening cleaning and serving rather than going to an art museum or reading a great piece of fiction? Do we turn away from the piece of chocolate because we'll feel a sense of control at doing so? Do we forfeit TV or movies for the appearance of holiness?

The Apostle Paul wrote, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful" (1 Cor. 6:12). So I am not suggesting we abuse our freedom, but I do believe that we often avoid God's provisions of food, art, and rest out of a false martyrdom or a sense of others' expectations.

These are gifts for our enjoyment from and under Christ. And He is the point. "The point is not what you abstain from but pursuing the beauty of Christ."*

The next time you find yourself gazing longingly at the slice of chocolate cheesecake, ask yourself, "What will help me love Jesus and His beauty more? In the short term and the long term?" The answer may be to opt against the short term gratification out of a desire to honor God with your body and a choice not to seek satisfaction in your food. At another time, you may choose to eat the dessert out of a celebration that God made it, knows you love chocolate cheesecake, and gave you the opportunity to savor it well. If this is the case, then eat it in the grace of God and thank Him for it.

Regardless of which decision you make, even if it's the same one you would've chosen otherwise, your mind will be focused on Christ and motivated to pursue Him. And not held captive to pride of fear. This is true freedom.

-----
For an in-depth treatment on the place of pleasure in a Christian's life, I recommend: Gary Thomas' Pure Pleasure (Zondervan, 2009).

*Quote from "Following Jesus," a sermon by Sean Cordell. Treasuring Christ Church. September 12, 2010.

Resting In The Truth

Those of you who are familiar with The Village Church and Matt Chandler know what a year of testing it has been for Matt, his family, and the church. His wife Lauren's post from last week was especially convicting and encouraging to me as I read it.

I hope it will serve to prune your perspective as well:

The Superfluous Shoot

People More Important Than Me

I've been pondering this week's blog topic for the last several days. Alas, no light bulb went off over my head and inspiration hasn't bloomed. However, I have some dear friends (and family) who are writing and working on exciting things this summer, so I decided to share four of them with you.

1) Susan Kaye Quinn is my friend and the creator of my critique group, and Sue's Life, Liberty, and Pursuit released today! I'm so proud of her for this accomplishment and grateful for all of her help and encouragement. Knowing her has made me a better writer. Want to know more about her book?

2) Erynn Newman, my dear friend and fellow writer, recently joined the blogging world. She's blogging about her writing journey. Click here :)

3) My new writing friend is Lynn Blackburn, and this week she's blogging about the power of story--both in fiction and in God's plan. Her blog today on falling into a great story made me gaze longingly over at my bookshelves to pick out a favorite. It came with a great reminder that we are all characters in God's story. Not major players, but characters with a purpose no less. Please go check it out.

4) Finally, my family has begun their 15th summer at South Mountain Baptist Camp. Last week was the first children's camp, and a host of problems including malfunctioning wells, electrical storms, and bee attacks put my parents and the rest of the camp through the ringer. But praise the Lord, He spoke louder than those distractions to 24 young people who accepted Jesus as their Savior before the week's end. Week two, another children's camp, began yesterday with 240 new campers and counselors and a new set of problems. Please be in prayer for the staff, counselors, and--most importantly--those children who do not have a relationship with Jesus. To find out more about the camp and how you can pray, visit this site.

What are you clicking first?

Principles To Test Our Wisdom And Counsel

This is an incredible message from Matt Chandler (of The Village Church in Texas): A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep.

He gave this message at the Desiring God 2009 Pastors' Conference, but I feel like it is helpful for every Christian to test both what we are learning as well as what we are teaching and counseling. It is a great message for those of us who have been walking with Jesus for a while. I pray that Covenant Life Church will live life according to the Gospel and these principles from 1 Timothy 4. May we never get over the GOSPEL and its authority and power in every area of life!

Dirty, Rotten Scoundrel

About three weeks ago, I was feeling weighed down and discouraged. I was trying to pray, spend time in the Word, react rightly to the people I come into contact with, and begin new spiritual disciplines! I felt bound and tired. It occurred to me that wasn't the purpose of the spiritual disciplines, so I took a break and decided to listen to a couple of sermons on walking in the Spirit to encourage me.

Listening to Mark Driscoll's and John Piper's sermons on Gal 5:16-26 was necessary; it was not encouraging. Ashamedly, I often skim over the works of the flesh when I am reading Galatians 5. However, the definition of sorcery more than caught my attention. Sorcery is defined as doing certain things to provoke certain events or responses from God, which includes the mentality, "I'll pray more, fast more, cry over my sin more, and then God'll move."

I must confess that I am too often guilty of this sin. "I'll spend more time in the Word this week because I am going to need wisdom to deal with that situation" i.e., "I really need the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom so I'd better make sure I'm in His good graces so He'll provide it." UGLY. This thinking operates as though God is capricious and not a God who acts out of His love as a Father. I so often try to "do the right things" in order to gain God's blessings, His favor, His presence, my own desires, or men's approval.

There's a line in Andrew Peterson's I've Got News which says, "So you think I’m not a dirty rotten scoundrel through and through? Lady, I’ve got news for you." This line has been running through my mind all day; no matter what anyone else thinks or sees, it's a true statement for me apart from Christ. And I have been shown the evidence of the flesh still in me in the last two weeks. "As it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one'" (Rom. 3:10-12).

Shouldn't I be free from the slavery of Romans 3? Yes. Why the disconnect then? Because I am trying to gain my sanctification through my own means. Earlier in Galatians, Paul says, "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). Did I receive salvation because I could be good enough to please God? No. I received it because I believed in him (Gal. 3:2).

"Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith--just as 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness'?" (Gal. 3:5-6). So, therefore, does He give me His Spirit and work miracles in me because of my works? No; it is because of my belief in Him and His promises. Can I be righteous in His eyes? Yes; only believe Him.

Galatians 5:16 says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." I don't want to gratify the desires of the flesh. I want to be led by the Spirit. How do I do this?

Driscoll says, "Love Jesus. Our goal isn't to be good, moral people but to love Jesus. He loves us. He changes us. He call us to love Him and as we do, the sin gets further away."

John Piper says, "...hear the delectable promises of God and trust them, delight in them, rest in them." He went on to say, "The Spirit will work the miracle of renewal in your life when you start meditating on His unspeakable promises day and night and resting in them." (See Rom. 15:13, 2 Pet. 1:4, Isa. 64:4).

Love Jesus. Believe Jesus and His word. That is the way to victory in the Spirit.

Living by the Spirit

"Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:2-3, ESV)

Just as my justification and redemption was a work of the Spirit, so is my sanctification. I often forget this and attempt to be righteous in my own power.

Doomed to fail.

By the grace of God.

I have been mulling over this concept for the last several weeks and have listened to two very good, very unique yet similar sermons that I am including below:

Mark Driscoll's Spirit and Flesh (Gal. 5:16-26)


John Piper's The War Within: Flesh vs. Spirit (Gal. 5:16-18)

Thoughts to come later....

"So I find this law at work..."

Are you ever humbled by your own depravity? This week I received a reminder of how much selfishness lives on in my flesh. I was especially humbled by the absolute irony behind and deceitfulness of my sin. I was also reminded of Hebrews 3:13, "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin"; hence this post.

Let me explain. Late Thursday evening, I e-mailed a couple of girlfriends inviting them to go see the movie Fireproof with me. I explained that as this movie deals with the weighty questions of marriage, sacrificial love, divorce, etc., I would love the opportunity to see the movie with them. I suggested that we take our Bibles to Starbucks after the movie to discuss how we thought the movie handled these concepts and what we, as single women, could do to think rightly about and prepare well for marriage. I was very excited about opening God's Word with these two women. So excited in fact that I downplayed that I had verbally told another friend that I had no plans for Friday night, thus committing to spending the evening with her.

On Friday morning, I rationalized that we hadn't set up specific plans for the evening; she had simply asked if I was free and let me know that her husband was working for the weekend. And, I thought, how encouraging it would be to spend the evening with my sisters in Christ as we discussed God's Word and how we could hold each other accountable to exhibiting godly qualities in any relationships we might have.

I set up a time to meet my girl friends, and even called the friend I had made plans with to ask her to reschedule. She graciously (yet honestly) agreed to make alternate plans for herself and see me another time so that I could go to the movies with the other ladies. And then--praise the Lord--the Holy Spirit deepened the unease He'd been placing in my spirit all morning.

"What business do you have going to talk about loving and serving someone well when you are breaking your word with another person to do so? Can you ask someone else for integrity in his/her speech if you so easily change plans with someone you love?"

And it hit me. I selfishlessly wanted to talk about the servanthood in marriage issue with my two friends. I wanted it so badly that I was willing to leave a long time friend alone for the evening and expected her seal of approval to do so because I was ditching her to do such a godly thing. I was taking advantage of the fact that she has been my friend for years and would forgive me for backing out on our plans for more exciting ones.

Wow.

The complete lack of regard for another person brought me up short. If I selfishly put my own desires before my friends' feelings and my own integrity because I am comfortable with them, then I will, quite likely, do the same with my husband.

I was given a unique opportunity to practice true love with a sister in Christ and failed miserably. I am humbled by the fact that I was unaware of the temptation to sin until after I had sinned. My mindset was completely unguarded.

This reminds me of Paul's words in Romans 7:21-25a, "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 [body] another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in [me]. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Praise the Lord that Jesus Christ is working redemption and freedom in me for without Him I am bound to sin even when I desire to do the right thing (Rom. 8:1-11; Phil. 1:6)!

Finally, what must change because of this experience?

• I must make it a conscious effort to practice integrity in every relationship I have.
• I must make it a concerted discipline to choose the other person's best interest with everyone I come in contact with (from my boss and coworkers and my friends to my roommate and my family) and not just my future husband, sons, and daughters.
• I must continue to ask myself if I am guilty of taking advantage of those people closest to me.
• I must guard myself against focusing on serving one person to the detriment of others and ask myself if I am overlooking anyone in my desire to serve certain individuals.
• I must remember Philippians 2:3-8--"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, 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 made himself nothing, 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."

How grateful I am that Romans 7:21 is not the end of the story. "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

The Atonement

How often I am not still because I am trying to be worthy of what Jesus did for me. So busy trying to do the right thing and respond the right way so He doesn’t regret choosing me.

Instead of understanding the Atonement.

Last Sunday, Dr. Mark Liederbach, a professor at SEBTS, spoke on the Penal Substitutionary Atonement of God. *I know this is an overwhelming phrase, but stick with me, He did a great job of explaining it!* The following are my notes upon hearing the Gospel once again.

1. There was a penalty to be paid by me, a sinner. Because it only takes one sin to shatter the relationship, the FULL wrath of God was focused on me, on us, a sinner being devastated by the effects of sin. Let me not forget that before Christ I was not only ravaged by the bondage of sin, but also the target of the wrath of Almighty God (Rom. 3:23, 6:23a, Jam. 2:10, Rom. 1:18, 2 Th. 1:7b-9).

2. And Jesus—voluntarily choosing the only way to save me (us) and satisfy the justified wrath of a Holy God—stepped into my place as a substitute (cf. Gen 22). In being my (our) substitute, He:

Served as the propitiation for my sins, which means the wrath of God was meant for me was redirected to Jesus, and the whole, complete wrath of God exploded on Jesus on the cross. The wrath of God was EXHAUSTED on Jesus. There is none left for those who believe (Rom. 3:25, 8:1; Heb. 2:17, 1 Jn. 4:10)

Redeemed me, ransomed me, bought me back.(Rom. 3:24, Gal. 3:13, Matt. 20:28; cf. Hos. 3:1-6)

Justified me, God declared me not guilty. (Rom. 3:24-26, 5:1-9, 8:30; 1 Cor. 6:11)

Imputed to (bestowed on) me the righteousness of God! When God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of His Son, and so, He is FULLY PLEASED in me. I so often pray that He’ll be pleased by my actions, how I spend my days, and trying to be worthy now. Yet, His word says that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” He is already fully pleased because He sees His Son in me. (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:1; cf. Rom. 5:12-19)

3. He reconciled me to Himself, adopted me into His Family in order that I can be called a daughter of God, with the ability to call Him Daddy. (2 Cor. 5:18-19, Jn. 1:12; Rom 8:15).

What does this mean?

As one who has chosen to believe in Jesus, I am:

No Longer under Wrath
Declared Not Guilty
Given the Righteousness of Jesus

Reconciled to Him
Fully Pleasing to Him
A Daughter of God
Able to call God Almighty Daddy
Loved
Free from the tyranny of others’ opinions

He shouts over me, “There is no condemnation for those in Me. I love you. I love you. Get over yourself. I love you. You are fully pleasing because of what My Son did on the cross.” (Zeph. 3:17; Rom. 8:1, 2 Cor. 5:21)

What is my response?

When I am tempted to be selfish, to demand my rights, etc. remember that this act deserves the full explosion of God’s wrath—the complete punishment,—yet Jesus’ stepped into my place to free me from it and WORSHIP.

Learn to live in response to these things—to REST in what He has said about and done for me, instead of attempting to gain approval when His is already mine.

And for those who are not yet children of God, may you choose to believe him. “…If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with the heart one believes and is justified (declared not guilty), and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Rom. 10:9-10)