I'll share more of what God's teaching me through The Discipline of Grace and tell you about the other book as we go along. But today I'm reading in Hebrews 1 & 2 and the message of the Good News of Jesus as stated in these chapters is amazing!
The author says this about Jesus in 1:3-4, "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ..." !
In Chapter 2, the author refers to Christ as our brother. I love that through my faith in His death and resurrection, I am adopted into God's family and Christ is truly my brother! :) And what a brother he is! "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation [or to turn aside God's wrath] for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (2:17-18). This is the good news of the gospel that I mentioned in my last post. Without Christ, I would be hopeless in my sin but because He saw fit in his perfection to accept God's wrath for my sin, I can accept his righteousness (or his right standing before God) as my own. I am so thankful that I can stand in humble gratitude before God because of what Jesus did for me. I often must remind myself of this truth and let go of my tendency to want to dwell on my failures or punish myself for my shortcomings. I am forgiven and I have a wonderful hope in Jesus. I also have to let go of my efforts to be Superwoman (Christian, wife, mom). Sometimes I seem to think I can just buck up and do "it" all on my own. This might seem semi-successful for a while but I inevitably fail miserably. Like I said before, my hope is in Jesus and it is only in seeking His glory (He is, after all, the one who "upholds the universe by the power of His word") that I will find true success and fulfillment.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Skin
Learning to put skin on my desire for Jesus to be ALL I need or in other words, learning to practically live my life in such a way that it reflects Jesus as my ALL, has not been an easy task. Honestly, it is a constant struggle to keep my focus on Him as I go through the daily-ness of my days (washing the dishes, cooking meals, sweeping the floor - again!, doing laundry, picking up toys, ...). God has been kind to put a couple of good books in my path that are helping me make some much needed changes in my way of thinking and consequently living, as well. One of those books is "The Discipline of Grace" by Jerry Bridges. Our Care Group at church is working through this one. The girls in our group are actually doing an online discussion as we read through the book together. Below are some my thoughts that I shared with the girls in my group...
I've been struck lately by how much I focus on me, like the Pharisee. I thought it was a good thing to want to be a great wife and mom, a good housekeeper, etc... What I've come to realize is that anything that takes my focus off of Christ is sin. So when I desire to be a great mom more than I desire Christ, that's wrong. I would never have said that I wanted those things more than Christ, but my life reflected it (still does, all too often). As I learn to keep my focus in the right place I am becoming painfully aware of my inability to be good in any capacity. To put it like Jerry Bridges said in this chapter, I am looking less at the more obvious, blatant sins that are so prevalent in our culture and am comparing myself to Christ, who is holy and perfect. I obviously don't even begin to measure up. I like what Dr. Bridges said on p.36, "I am not suggesting that being irritable at one's spouse is as serious as something like adultery. I am saying that being irritable at one's spouse is sin, and that all sin grieves God and should grieve us." Thankfully, we have the truth of the Gospel to fall back on and that is the topic of our next chapter. :)
I've been struck lately by how much I focus on me, like the Pharisee. I thought it was a good thing to want to be a great wife and mom, a good housekeeper, etc... What I've come to realize is that anything that takes my focus off of Christ is sin. So when I desire to be a great mom more than I desire Christ, that's wrong. I would never have said that I wanted those things more than Christ, but my life reflected it (still does, all too often). As I learn to keep my focus in the right place I am becoming painfully aware of my inability to be good in any capacity. To put it like Jerry Bridges said in this chapter, I am looking less at the more obvious, blatant sins that are so prevalent in our culture and am comparing myself to Christ, who is holy and perfect. I obviously don't even begin to measure up. I like what Dr. Bridges said on p.36, "I am not suggesting that being irritable at one's spouse is as serious as something like adultery. I am saying that being irritable at one's spouse is sin, and that all sin grieves God and should grieve us." Thankfully, we have the truth of the Gospel to fall back on and that is the topic of our next chapter. :)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Searching the Word
With Timothy sleeping soundly that first day, I settled in on the couch, ready to search the Word for some answers. I've been reading through the Bible and my reading that day fell on Luke 10. Reluctantly I decided to start there. What I really wanted to do was search for some scriptures that dealt directly with the questions I was asking. Turns out that I probably couldn't have found a more relevant passage if I had tried. Here's an excerpt from my journal that day:
"My Bible reading today fell in Luke 10. And I particularly took note of 2 things. The first was in v.20 when the 72 disciples have returned after Jesus sent them out, rejoicing that the demons are subject to them in Jesus' name. In v.20, Jesus warns them that their focus is off. It's a good thing that the spirits are subject to them but their joy should lie in the fact that their names are written in heaven. Lord, please help me get my focus right and keep it there.
The second thing I noticed was towards the end of the chapter in the section about Martha and Mary. ... Verse 41 says, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.' Lord, I've been trying to do all these things that I think are necessary and good and I've neglected the one truly necessary thing - my relationship with You. I do truly want to change. Please help me."
"My Bible reading today fell in Luke 10. And I particularly took note of 2 things. The first was in v.20 when the 72 disciples have returned after Jesus sent them out, rejoicing that the demons are subject to them in Jesus' name. In v.20, Jesus warns them that their focus is off. It's a good thing that the spirits are subject to them but their joy should lie in the fact that their names are written in heaven. Lord, please help me get my focus right and keep it there.
The second thing I noticed was towards the end of the chapter in the section about Martha and Mary. ... Verse 41 says, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.' Lord, I've been trying to do all these things that I think are necessary and good and I've neglected the one truly necessary thing - my relationship with You. I do truly want to change. Please help me."
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