Living for experiences is like chasing vapors...

Here's a great quote from Michael Horton on seeking experiences vs. lived experience in light of truth...

"... manufactured and prepackaged "experiences" are incredibly short-lived. I cannot remember most movies I have seen. For whatever brief moments or even hours that I am wrapped in the cocoon of a space ride at Disneyland or am overwhelmed with intense emotion at a concert, the experience leaves as quickly as it came. However, my most enduring experiences are identified with events in which the goal was something other than having an experience. I will never forget hearing the minister say, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." Just words, right? They are words that change our life. "You have cancer." "We got all of the cancer - you're free and clear." "You're pregnant." "You got the job." Reports grounded in objective facts - outside of us and our experience - are the most significant experience generators in our lives.

"Each week, as I join my brothers and sisters in a public confession of sin and our particular sins to God in silence, Christ's ambassador declares that I am forgiven in Christ's name and on the authority of his Word. Regardless of what I feel inside, God's external Word assures me that I have peace with God in his Son. This is not a subjective experience - a peaceful, easy feeling - but an objective announcement. And precisely because of its objectivity - the fact that it is announced to me even when I am not overwhelmed by it emotionally - I get the experience of forgiveness thrown in as well. Living for experiences is like chasing vapors. It is sunsets, not "the sunset experience"; actual expressions of love, not "the love experience"; the Triune God, and not "the worship experience," that turn out to deliver the most important and lasting experiences."

- The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World, p. 224

[HT: routundus]

Destroying evil without destroying us...

Why did Jesus have to die?  Couldn't God just forgive?

In his excellent book, The Reason for God, Tim Keller argues that forgiveness always means bearing the cost instead of making the wrongdoer do it.   "Forgiveness means absorbing the debt of the sin yourself."  

"It is crucial at this point to remember that the Christian faith has always understood that Jesus is God.  God did not, then, inflict pain on someone else, bur rather on the Cross absorbed the pain, violence, and evil of the world into himself.  Therefore the God of the Bible is not like the primitive deities who demanded our blood for their wrath to be appeased.  Rather, this is a God who becomes human and offers his own lifeblood so that someday he can destroy all evil without destroying us."  

Jesus is both the priest and the offering.   He said, "I am the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep...No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord" (The Gospel of John, 10:11, 19).

Tripp on the "Nowism of the Gospel"

This is a good, short little article that is well worth thinking upon.  What difference does the gospel of Jesus Christ make now in my life?  Tripp explains.

1.  Grace will decimate what you think of you, while it gives you a security of identity you've never had.

2.  Grace will expose your deepest sins of heart, while it covers every failure with the blood of Jesus.

3.  Grace will make you face how weak you are, while it blesses you with power beyond your ability to calculate.

4.  Grace will take control out of your hands, while it blesses you with the care of One whose plan is unshakable and perfect in every way.

Check it out here. 

Trying patiently to go at His pace....

Good words from Piper...just what I needed today:

"Impatience is a form of unbelief.  It's what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God's timing or the goodness of God's guidance.  It springs up in our hearts when our plan is interrupted or shattered.  It may be prompted by a long wait in a checkout line or a sudden blow that knocks out half our dreams.  The opposite of impatience is not a glib denial of loss.  It's a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness to wait for God in the unplanned place of obedience--to wait in his place, and go at his pace."

Future Grace, 171.

Thankful that Grace is taking my breath away today....

I came across this quote today and liked it.

"Grace is getting what we do not deserve.  It is exorbitant, senseless, staggering.  Grace takes our breath away and leaves us gasping in stunned amazement....  It is one thing to acknowledge the theological reality that God is gracious.  It is another thing altogether to personally receive that grace and breath it into your soul each day.  " 

~ Kevin G. Harney , Organic Outreach

Living by the grace of God today.  Without it, I die & cynicism wins.

Facing myself in order to know myself

Filed Under: I couldn't have said it better myself...
-----

I will never begin to know myself until I can face myself. I will never be able to begin to unscramble the web of interior contradiction unless I am confident that, no matter how scrambled and ugly things are inside, I am safe, loved, and on the road to full recovery. I will never be able to open myself to people, and I will never be able to take the risks of love (risks without which I will never discover who I am), until I no longer need people for my deepest validation. The gospel frees me from that need. Plenty about me may shock people, but nothing can shock God, and all of it has been covered by the cross.

Charles Drew, A Journey Worth Taking, p. 158.

"I felt compelled to get on my knees and worship him...."

The Wall Street Journal has an article on Louisiana's governor entitled, "Rebel With a Cause: Bobby Jindal's Spiritual Journey." Jindal has been mentioned as a possible VP candidate for John McCain.

The article reports Jindal's journey from Hinduism to Christianity. A crucial defining point came for him while he was watching a black and white video about the Passion shown during the intermission of an Easter production on the campus of LSU.

"I don't know why I was struck so hard at that moment," said Mr. Jindal. "There was nothing fascinating about this particular video. . . . But watching this depiction of an actor playing Jesus on the cross, it just hit me, harder than I'd ever been hit before," he said. "If that was really the son of God, and he really died for me, then I felt compelled to get on my knees and worship him."

This is a great example of why we say that the Lord Jesus Christ is either of utmost importance or of no importance. What He can't be is of some importance.

[HT]

Give Me Something To Believe In

Filed under: "Didn't See That One Coming" and "Aslan is on the Move"
-----
Pete Wilson, senior pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee, is reporting on his blog that famed lead guitarist of Poison, C.C. DeVille, has become a Christian and is seeking ways to grow. Pete has been given access to DeVille and is giving him pastoral counsel, etc. (he now calls himself the unofficial pastor to Poison--I'm jealous.)

Check this out...


Guitar Hero from Pete Wilson on Vimeo.

This is pretty cool on a number of fronts. During my high school days, I worshipped rock groups, most notably folks like Def Leppard, Ratt, Motley Crew, Van Halen, etc.,--basically what are now known as 'the hair bands.' My family can verify that my room was basically a shrine. Poison wasn't among the groups that I worshiped, but I did like some of their music such as "Give Me Something To Believe In" and "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" (which I still quote almost weekly).

For a while after my conversion, I had to get away from all this music b/c it represented my rebellion from Christ. Now, I can go back and listen to some of it and actually, really, enjoy it. I know, for some of you that is just too much....

At any rate, pray for C.C. DeVille. This is a huge step he has taken in a very unforgiving arena. And pray for his pastor, too.

[HT]

I am a Christian...Somehow

Filed under: "Note to Self"
-----
"When I Say I Am a Christian" by Carol Wimmer

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received Gods grace, somehow!!

Evidently, there are several different versions of this floating around and attributed to different people. Snopes is helping clarify the air (thanks James!).

One Drop of Christ's Blood

Filed under: "Things That Make You Go Hmm..."
-----
Blogger Justin Childers is Cross-eyed.

Summarizing the thoughts of John Bunyan, he asks the question, "Do you see more worth and merit in one drop of Christ's blood to save you, than in all the sins of the world to condemn you?"

[HT]

Paul Tripp's New Book "Whiter Than Snow"

Filed under: "You've Gotta Check This Out"
-----
As I'm lying here in bed on the 5th day of a sickness that my wife says is the flu, I'm getting lots of reading done and lots of internet surfing between naps.

I came across a promo of Paul Tripp's new book, "Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy." It is a study of David's psalm of repentance, Psalm 51, spread out into 52 devotions.

I'm excited about this b/c (1) I love this Psalm; (2) I need this psalm to give voice to the cries of my soul; & (3) I followed some of these meditations on Tripp's blog so I can't wait to read them in book form.

Here is a video promo:




[HT]