Tag: faithfulness

Three Takeaways from TGCW18

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It was standing-room-only.

At 7am, our panel discussion had an attendance that far surpassed what we’d expected. I thought 30-50 women might come (morning people!); instead, the room was packed. This turnout spoke of the universal experience of human suffering, and more importantly, of our desire for hope in the midst of it.

This event was one encouraging part of the whole of TGCW18. The hunger and passion in our room that morning was but a tiny sliver of what had been displayed in the main hall, as a vast ocean of women from across the globe worshipped Jesus together.        

Here are my takeaways from TGCW18:

To listen to Jesus is to live.

God’s command is simple: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). But obedience to it? Far from simple, for we’re naturally drawn to whatever will itch our ears and suit our passions. We’re a rebellious people who’ve wandered and turned away from listening to the truth (see 2 Timothy 4:2-4).

But our turning away is our death:

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey…by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply…But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-18, emphasis mine)

I confess, I often want to listen to Jesus so that I can accomplish other things; in this, the Lord and Savior of the universe becomes a means to my own selfish ends. But in running after other gods—like attention, influence, comfort, or success—my sorrows only multiply (Psalm 16:4). To be drawn away to worship and serve idols yields the fruit of sin and death: discontentment, anxiety, fear of man, and an incessant hunger for what will never truly satisfy.

But to listen to Jesus through his Word is life. In seeking to love him, walk in his ways, and keep his commands, we gain more of him and, therefore, the truest, most satisfying life possible. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

Is my greatest desire to listen to Jesus and, therefore, to love him more and be satisfied in him? Do I trust his promised, sanctifying work to gradually expel these other loves from my heart as he gives me more of himself?   

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Faithfulness When (It Seems) No One Is Watching

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I haven’t written anything in a week.

Our family is in a season of fullness, and in the midst of all this, I haven’t had the time (or mental focus) to sit down at my computer and write.

And it’s been bothering me.

For me, writing has been a public-facing act of faithfulness—and honestly, I’m struggling with its absence. Why? I genuinely love it (praise God), and I put too much of my identity in it. I wrongly see it as the way I can be faithful to the Lord, when God has placed an abundance of opportunities for faithfulness all around me, in every moment, even the seemingly smallest and most quiet ones.

Daily Faithfulness?

When you’re not producing, and it seems no one is watching, do you feel like a failure? Do you sense that maybe, just maybe, your present days are worth less than more meaningful ones?

As a new mom, I’m learning how often mothers feel this. We go from the workplace, perhaps, where our gifts are being more tangibly used and weighed and applauded, to the relative obscurity of caring for little ones who need us at every waking moment, but seem to give little in return. Or it might be the opposite situation: Maybe we’re at work full-time, but we’re drawn to stay home, wondering how we can be truly faithful if we aren’t with our kids.

For those of you who aren’t moms, I wonder if some of you are working jobs you don’t particularly care for, and it feels like your gifts have been shelved. Or maybe you’re watching others climb the ladder to worldly success while an illness or disability has benched you, making you wonder if you’ll ever be useful again.

I don’t presume to grasp God’s sovereign choice in giving some people more obvious, public-facing opportunities to be faithful than others; as Jesus said to Peter when the disciple asked him about another man’s future, “You follow me!” (John 21:22). But I do know God sees us and has a different definition of faithfulness than the world.

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Four Keys to Living Faithfully in Exile

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We have all known seasons of exile, in one form or another.

Perhaps you’ve found yourself stuck in a geographical location, and every circumstance — no matter how hard you’ve tried to escape — seemed to hold you there. Maybe you’ve seen all your hopes, dreams, and plans go terribly awry.

Perhaps you’ve endured a season (or multiple seasons) of pain and suffering, whether in your body or from outside afflictions. Or possibly your exile has come in the form of watching material and circumstantial blessings slip from your hands like sand carried away by the wind. Whatever the nature and intensity of your storm, seasons of exile are characteristically similar in several ways. They are grueling, unwelcome, confusing, and often test our faith.

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Becoming a Woman of Discernment

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During a quick five-minute break between afternoon tasks, I decided to read a short excerpt from a devotional book, one I had enjoyed reading for daily reflection a few years prior. As I read the day’s content, I began to feel less and less comfortable with the spiritual language used. Something about it rubbed me the wrong way. This nagging sense of unease had not been present in years before—so why now? As I thought more pointedly about the content, I realized that the book’s thoughts and encouragements had little basis in Scripture and in the gospel message. They revolved more around one person’s perception of the truth and in personal revelation and feelings.

In today’s world, half-truths and false messages are not limited to the books we read. They run rampant on the Internet, on Christian radio and, unfortunately, in the pulpit of our churches. Beyond blatantly non-Christian, non-Biblical worldviews are cunning messages proclaiming a false version of Christianity, the gospel and the Bible.

Edward T. Welch puts it this way: “We live in a time when there is a resurgence of God-talk and spiritual language, but conversations rarely get to the thing of “first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…”’¹ This is where it gets tricky for believers, and where the rubber hits the road. How do we as Christians discern whether or not the whole truth is being taught in the messages presented to us? How do we protect ourselves against being deceived by false versions of the truth?

One thing is clear: We need to take seriously the call to become women of Biblical, gospel-centered discernment. We need to be trained to test the truth of each message we hear—or the result will be our spiritual deception and the distortion of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This article will attempt to answer two important questions: Why is our growth in spiritual discernment important? And how can we cultivate discernment in our Christian walk?

Why is our growth in spiritual discernment important?

My heart breaks when I consider the thousands of Christians who have been, and will be, led astray by false teaching and false gospels. The reality is, however, that warnings about these very problems were given long ago, as seen in these New Testament passages:

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people…these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified in the faith” (2 Timothy 3:1,4,8-9).

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

“Certain persons, by swerving from [a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith], have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions” (1 Timothy 1:5-7).

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world…therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them” (1 John 4:1).

Scripture makes it absolutely clear that the times are indeed coming, and have already come, when false teachers will appear on the scene and lead many well-intentioned people astray. Without a consistent, Spirit-led growth in Biblical and gospel-centered discernment, any Christian is susceptible to confusion, deceit, and blindness.

Our growth in Biblical, gospel-centered discernment is important because the name of Jesus Christ is at stake. Without cultivating this discernment, our hearts will be led astray to believe unsound, corrupt teaching that glorifies man and promotes worldly pleasure and gain. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh…We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” There is a greater war at hand, a spiritual battle for souls, and the enemy is on the front lines, ready to deceive all who are unprepared in the truth.

But isn’t this judging? You might be asking this question, and it is a valid one at that. It is true that only God is able to judge the heart because of His perfect righteousness (Psalm 9:8), and we are not to partake in such judgment (James 4:12). However, there is a major difference between judgment of souls and judgment of truth. Christians should take seriously the ability to discern between truth and error—the gospel is at stake! False representations of truth are not to be taken lightly. Consider Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Paul encourages the church to discern when a different gospel is preached, while surrendering the ultimate judgment of false teachers to the Lord, who alone can judge the soul.

How can we cultivate Biblical, gospel-centered discernment?

Stay submitted to Christ. Loving obedience and humble surrender before the Lord are actions that put our lives in right perspective before Him. Neglecting time at His feet will only result in following a wayward, self-focused heart that often forgets the lordship of Christ. Our lives are not our own; we were bought with the blood of Christ. A person is far less likely to fall prey to deceit and false messages if they are choosing on a daily basis to submit to Christ, our Ruler and Firm Foundation. His loving grace is enough to guide us into all truth.

Stay in Scripture. Proverbs 3:6 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” The very Word of God tell us the inerrant truth and acts as our guide. “Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). Scripture makes us wiser than our enemies and guards our paths so we stay pure and do not wander. The Word of God discerns the “thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) and is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) for the eternal battle we fight. Jesus prayed for believers, that the Father would guard them from the evil one and sanctify them in the truth (John 17:17). Our part is to choose growth in the Word every single day. As with counterfeit money, Christians wisely discern counterfeit messages because we thoroughly know the original.

Stay in prayer. We are encouraged in Proverbs 3 to “call out for insight and raise [our] voice for understanding.” Prayer is part of our submission to Christ, as we realize our need for communing with the Father of all truth. My pastor once explained the importance of gaining wisdom through prayer like grocery shopping: If we shop on an empty stomach, we are more likely to make poor decisions that suit our immediate needs. But the person who fills up on a hearty meal before shopping makes wiser decisions and can discern options more clearly. When we stay in prayer and seek wisdom and discernment, we are then more likely to look at false messages with a clearer understanding of Biblical, gospel-centered truth.

Stay in the Church. The Church is Christ’s bride and His instrument for spreading His glory to the world. The Church is comprised with individual believers who, if all are submitted to Christ, in the Word and in prayer, can teach and admonish one another in all truth (Colossians 3:16). At times, if any certain teaching is rubbing me wrong, I will talk about it with another believer. The Church has a responsibility to point out false teaching within its own walls, to seek wisdom about godly leaders and to declare God’s greatness by its hunger for the truth. If you attend a church that has fallen prey to false teachers or gospels, please seek out church leadership, and begin a conversation. Another wise point of action could also be to explore an alternative body of believers where Christ is glorified as the supreme authority.

Be On Guard

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) Christian woman, may you always be on guard against the deceiver, and all the ways and means he intends to use to derail your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ lead you into all truth, deepening your wisdom and founding you in His love, until you see Him face to face.

¹    Edward T. Welch, When People Are Big and God Is Small (New Jersey: Presbyterian Reformed Publishing Company, 1997), 77.

[Post credit: Crosswalk]

What Is True Success?

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The knots in my stomach became increasingly tighter as the hours passed. Anticipating that evening’s rehearsal, I moved throughout my day attempting to calm the nerves flaring up so wildly within me. I was conducting my very first choir that night and simply could not shake the fear of messing up, looking like a fool and losing future opportunities to serve in that way again.

Apparently, as revealed by my pulsating heartbeat, my delight was bound and determined to be found in how well I performed, and my success dependent on a set of circumstances over which I had very little control. No wonder my nerves were spinning so chaotically within me!

The question that often plagues the human mind is, “Do I measure up?” We long for some sense of security and approval that will bolster our self-esteem and give us ground on which to stand…even if only momentarily. For Christians experiencing this common worry, the problem starts with the question asked; we know that we have already been redeemed and approved in Christ. So why all the longing for confirmation and success, when in Christ we have been bestowed upon all the riches of eternity with God?

I think the question that begs an answer is in what do you find your delight?

“…but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2).

There are so many substitutes for the Lord through which we try to find our delight. We seek satisfaction from earthly things—comfort, entertainment, physical rest, being loved by others, pursuing our gifts and passions, wealth, body image, etcetera. While all these are good gifts from the hand of the Lord, our true delight yearns to be found, not ultimately in these, but in knowing Christ Jesus.

The Lord is the only unchangeable one upon whom we can rely. True success—godly blessedness—is to follow hard after the Lord because of overwhelming delight in His greatness and gospel!

The opening of the book of Psalms offers believers a wonderful template to pray for true success. Will you pray with me for the godly blessedness of the Lord’s children, in everything we pursue?

“He is like a tree planted…” (v.3) O Lord, plant us in Christ! Make us immoveable in the faith, founded on your unchanging truths and promises. You alone are the Firm Foundation upon which we stand; we shall not be greatly shaken. We desire to be planted in the truth and not easily uprooted by the circumstances of our lives or by cheap worldly substitutes. Open Your Scriptures to us, teach us Your nature, and fill us with insurmountable joy because of the good news of Jesus. May we be planted in the truth.

“…by streams of water” (v.3) Not only planted, Lord our God, but infused and strengthened by streams of living water! In Christ, we shall never thirst again for what You alone can satisfy, a deep longing to know You forever and be restored to You through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross.

“…yields its fruit in its season” (v.3) Being planted in You and drawing from Your riches, O Lord, help us to bear fruit in Your timing. When we delight in You first and foremost, then we will see the Spirit at work within us, conforming us to Christlikeness. May the soil of our hearts be tilled and ready for a harvest of righteousness. Help us bear fruit by Your Holy Spirit powerfully at work within us. We desire to look more like Your Son today than we did yesterday.

“…he prospers” (v.3) In all that we do, we seek to delight in You, and to delight You. Our gain is Christ! May our great success be found in what is of utmost importance—in aiming to please You. Strengthen us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called in Christ. Give us wisdom in every earthly situation, so we know what most pleases You. Help us to obey You with joy and gratitude, no matter the circumstance.

“…for the Lord knows the way of the righteous” (v.4) God Almighty, You have set apart Your children for a chosen inheritance forever with You in the heavenly realms. Thank You that we know the way to new life in Christ, and it is assured. We approach You with confidence, trusting in Your grace to approve us in Christ and gather us in Your arms, like a shepherd tends to his sheep. And this amazing grace allows us, compels us, to delight in Christ all the more! The glory of Your salvation is beautifully planned and perfect.

Help us to delight in You first and foremost, O Lord. We want to be planted, nourished, bearing much fruit, always knowing You more deeply. We long to find our every success in delighting in You, aiming to please You in all that we do! Help us, Holy Spirit, this day and all our days.

Amen!

[Post credit: iBelieve]