Category: Life

Use Time Wisely

To use time wisely “because the days are evil” is a curious phrase embedded in the inspired language of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:15-16: “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (NASB). Paul may have exhorted the Christians at Ephesus to make the most of their time because he and/or the Ephesians were experiencing persecution or opposition (such as in Acts 19:23-20:1). In any event, we need to use every moment with wisdom “because the days are evil” still.

Even without the kind of persecution or opposition known by the Christians of Paul’s day, the world we live in is not conducive to using time wisely, especially for purposes of spirituality and Godliness. In fact, our days are days of active evil. There are great thieves of time that are minions of the world, the flesh, and the Devil. They may range in form from high-tech, socially acceptable preoccupations to simple, idle talk or ungoverned thoughts. But the natural course of our minds, our bodies, our world, and our days leads us toward evil, not toward Christlikeness.

“Thoughts must be disciplined, otherwise, like water, they tend to flow downhill or stand stagnant. That’s why in Colossians 3:2 we’re commanded, “Set your mind on the things above.” Without this conscious, active, disciplined setting of the direction of our thoughts, they will be unproductive at best, evil at worst. Our bodies are inclined to ease, pleasure, gluttony, and sloth. Unless we practice self-control, our bodies will tend to serve evil more than God. We must carefully discipline ourselves in how we “walk” in this world, else we will conform more to its ways rather than to the ways of Christ. Finally, our days are days of active evil because every temptation and evil force are active in them. The use of time is important because time is the stuff of which days are made. If we do not discipline our use of time for the purpose of Godliness in these evil days, these evil days will keep us from becoming Godly.”

—Don Whitney
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

Via: Thabiti Anyabwile at Pure Church

Worship

Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose–all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.

—William Temple

Via: A Slice of Infinity

Prone to Wander

In this, we discover that faith itself, like the accomplishment of Christ on the Cross, is a gift given not out of our own merit, but out of the heart of God. We are brought to belief by the power of the Spirit and the God who opens our eyes to the work of Christ in the first place. Thus, even in my struggle to live as I believed a faithful Christian should live was, in fact, the promise of God’s presence to my troubled teenage mind. In these feelings of regret that I had wandered, in my deep despair that I had fallen away from God, was the sign of God Himself, who never left. The Holy Spirit was perhaps convicting me to repent of whatever had caused me to notice a separation, but in this, God Himself was the one convicting–not my list of rules or the expectations of the church–and my conviction only served as a sign that God had followed where I wandered.

The recognition that we stray from the God we love in and of itself is a sign of faith and the assurance that God is near. For faith is a gift, and even doubt, as Lord Tennyson notes, has a “sunnier side.” Whether the Spirit is calling our attention to a faith that is based on weak foundations or calling us to remove an obstacle we have placed before the Cross, God is near. Though we wander and doubt, though we attempt to flee from God’s presence or settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even here, God’s hand upholds the wanderer. There is good reason Paul admonishes the Philippians to work out their own salvation “with fear and trembling” even as he reminds them powerfully to trust that “it is God who is at work” (Philippians 2:12-13).

—Jill Carattini

Via: A Slice of Infinity

Scraps of Worship

Stephen Altrogge posted the following entry on his site yesterday. I can relate. Can you?

If you could use one word to describe your current devotional life, what would it be? Mine would be “scraps”. So often I feel like all I can muster is a distracted scrap of devotion to God. For example, here’s what my Bible reading time often looks like:

Step 1: Open Bible. Pray that God would meet me as I read his word.

Step 2: Read diligently for thirty seconds, taking in at least three full sentences.

Step 3: Begin wondering if I’ll ever receive my tax refund, because it sure would come in handy right now.

Step 4: Feel guilty for being distracted. Try to “come back” into the presence of God (whatever that means).

Step 5: Repeat steps one and two plus additional prayer of repentance for being distracted.

Step 6: Begin thinking about my next killer blog post that will rock the blogosphere.

Step 7: Repeat steps 1, 4, and 5.

You get the point. It’s a constant battle against my sinful nature, which will seize on the slightest distraction. Many times I feel guilty instead of refreshed after doing my devotions. I feel like I didn’t pray enough, or with enough passion, or for enough people. And I certainly didn’t have enough love for God. My feeble scraps of devotion to God are pathetic, with a capital “pathetic”.

But God has been teaching me about devotional scraps lately. My devotion (probably too strong of a word) to God is nothing more than scraps, but God accepts, and even delights in those scraps. And when I get distracted, I don’t have to work my way back into God’s presence. I can come right back to God and experience full acceptance. Why? Because Jesus Christ is holding the door open. Always.
God’s love for me has nothing to do with my devotion and everything to do with Christ’s perfect devotion. Jesus was passionately devoted to God. He didn’t offer any scraps, he offered perfect obedience and love. And then his life ended. Abruptly. Brutally.

Now his righteousness is mine, and he perfects my feeble scraps of devotion and presents them to God. God loves Jesus, which means God loves me, end of story. The door to God is held open by the cross.

So yes, my worship is nothing more than scraps. But to God, they’re delightful scraps, made perfect by his son. How freeing this truth is. Today let’s throw aside any hope we have in our scraps of devotion and place all our hope in Christ. True devotion to God starts at the cross.

Via: The Blazing Center

God Will Heal My Faithlessness

Despite eight years of new life in Christ, my poor, guilty soul still becomes overwhelmingly anxious at times. A dark cloud comes and just sits over my head, not letting any hope from God’s promises or past faithfulness get through and restore my joy.

And it’s my fault. It’s unbelief and sin.

God never intended for me to find my abiding joy in the circumstances of this life—”in this world you will have trouble”—but to hope in him and his salvation (Habakkuk 3:17-19; 1 Peter 1:13).

Nonetheless, I still let outward things determine my inward state, with the result that I have fickle joy, not Paul-like joy—the kind that would lead me to say,

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. (Philippians 4:12)

So when this unhappy lack of sturdy joy leads me to pray (which it always does, and I thank God!), I don’t want to pray primarily for my circumstances to change. I want to pray first for my unbelieving heart to change.

And then I take more comfort in the Father than ever before:

Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness. (Jeremiah 3:22)

—Tyler Kenney

Via: Desiring God Blog

When a Sticker Matters

The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.

—Don’t Waste Your Life Sticker

Via: Desiring God Blog

Make a Difference that Lasts

God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.

…whatever you do, find the God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life.

—John Piper