Weeds

Susan Lafferty

Weeds never quit. They sprout on the edges and in the thick of things. 

I pull them out. Easily. Their small roots dangling with dirt. Then I cast them aside in the trash.

The next day, coming back from my walk, I check the state of the yard. Weeds. More of them. 

They are relentless. Through drought and flood. In season and out of season.  Crowding out the chosen plants. 

Wheat and tares in a field in Israel.

A losing battle

One year we fight a particularly hardy type. Practically overnight our yard is filled with tall spiky monsters and their thick stems. We’re in a losing battle.  

A neighbor driving by, pulls over and relates his own story. Encourages us to call in the experts. “They know what they’re doing.” 

So we do. And pretty soon the weeds are gone. The grass is growing.

Masquerade

Another year we face a different challenge. 

Disturbing. Harmful, even.

Some of these weeds come disguised. Their leaves matching the leaves of legitimate shrubs. Behind our current home, poison ivy masquerades in the midst of the ivy. 

An allergic reaction just waiting to happen. 

Parable

Reading through the Bible chronologically, I land in the Gospels. And in the Gospel according to Matthew, there it is. A parable about weeds. The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, to be exact. 

The explanation and message from Jesus catch me by surprise. Perhaps because I’ve been looking for weeds lately. And plotting their demise.

The Son of Man sows the good seed—children of the Kingdom—in His field, the world.  The devil sows weeds—children of the evil one. At night. While everyone is sleeping. 

And they sprout. The wheat and the weeds. The good and the evil. Growing up together in the field. 

Let them grow

I think of the poison ivy intertwined with the ivy under the pine trees. They look a lot alike. My untrained eye can’t discern the difference.

The servants in the parable are instructed not to pull out the weeds.  Because they might accidentally pull out the wheat. 

This intrigues me. 

“When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers; Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but store the wheat in my barn.” (Matthew 13:29-30)

 At the end of the age

In His interpretation of the parable, Jesus says the Son of Man will send out His angels. At the end of the age. “And they will gather from His kingdom all who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness” (Matthew 13:37-43).

The message about the end of the age settles in. The day of reckoning. When wheat and weeds are separated.  

Until then, there are weeds.

Warning

Paul writes the Colossian church. Warning them about deception. People deceiving believers through arguments that sound reasonable.

Weeds slipping in where they least expect them.

“Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

Weeds among the wheat. Online or face to face. 

Forceful. Compelling, even. But empty.

Ongoing battle

So, we stay alert. Asking for discernment of the masquerades among us. It’s clear I can’t be in charge of identifying weeds or wading in the weeds. 

I’m not the expert. 

So I keep looking to the One who is. The One who knows. The One who sees the true intent of the heart.  

He is watching both the weeds and the wheat. 

Exposing the darkness. Revealing the light. Teaching us to stand firm in the Truth. 

Abiding in the Vine

Even in the atmosphere of our day and age, the wheat continues growing. As Paul describes in Colossians 2:6-7. 

“So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, being rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.”

Rooted. Abiding in Christ, the true Vine. Built up in Him. Established and standing firm on His Truth. 

Bearing fruit.

Living by faith. 

What about you?

What has the Lord taught you about the weeds and the wheat?

Posted at: https://susanlafferty.com/2019/11/10/weeds/

Read the Bible with Your Heart

Jon Bloom

We cannot truly read the Bible without patient and rigorous engagement of our minds. That’s probably obvious to us. But we will not have read it well, not as God intended us to read it, without eager, even relentless, engagement of our hearts. It requires more faith, effort, prayer, humility, vulnerability, and often time to read God’s word with our hearts, but that’s because the heart is precisely where God wants his word to land.

What does it mean to read the Bible with your heart? Before I explain, I’ll point to an example, because a good example is often a great explainer. And the example comes from the Bible itself.

With My Whole Heart

Psalm 119 is a (long) song of wholehearted love and desire for God. And if you read it with an engaged mind, you’ll hear the psalmist sing of how and why he received God’s word with a relentlessly, even desperately, engaged heart. It’s worth reading the whole psalm, but here are a few tastes:

• “Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart” (Psalm 119:2).

• “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:10).

• “Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart” (Psalm 119:34).

• “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

• “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors” (Psalm 119:24).

• “I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes” (Psalm 119:47–48).

When we read Psalm 119, two truths are unmistakable: the word of God is for the heart of man, and the way to the heart is through the mind.

Treasure to Be Loved

In Luke 10:27, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, where Moses says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Any time, however, the Gospels record Jesus quoting this text (see also Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30), Jesus adds the word mind, which Moses didn’t include. Perhaps this is because the Hebrew hearers of Moses’s day understood implicitly that affections included reason, while the Greco-influenced mixed crowds of Jesus’s day needed the clarification.

“We read the Bible with our minds to see the glory of God, and with our hearts to savor the glory of God.”TweetShare on Facebook

Whatever Jesus’s reason for adding “mind,” it is clear that both reason and affections are crucial to loving God. But there is a hierarchy. God wants our hearts, because, as Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). God is not merely an idea to be pondered, but a person to be loved — the supreme treasure to be supremely treasured.

God’s way to our affections (heart) is through our understanding (mind). So, when we read the Bible, we read it with our hearts engaged, because God’s word is primarily for our hearts.

Read to See Glory

As Christians, we rightly stress the importance of reading the Bible. In stressing this importance, however, we can easily fall into a subtle, deceptive misunderstanding of why it’s important. The subtle misunderstanding goes something like this: if we read the Bible regularly, God will be pleased with us, and therefore we can expect his blessing. As if the act of reading, rather than the purpose of reading, warrants God’s favor.

What’s deceptive about this is that it bears such a close resemblance to the truth. Regular, disciplined reading of the Bible is a means of great blessing from God. But not because performing the act of reading merits his favor. If we read the Bible this way, it’s not much different than the Muslim who practices the disciplines of the Five Pillars to merit Allah’s favor. This is apparently how many leaders in Jesus’s day approached the Scriptures. Listen to Jesus’s rebukes:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27–28).

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39–40)

“God is not merely an idea to be pondered, but a person to be loved.”TweetShare on Facebook

God is not interested in our Bible reading as some kind of ritual to perform as proof of our piety. He wants us to read the Bible so that we will see him! God wants us to see his glory, again and again.

The Bible is where the most important glories of the triune God shine brightest and clearest — especially the glory of Jesus Christ (John 1:14), who is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and through whom comes “grace and truth” (John 1:17).

This makes the Bible itself shine with a peculiar glory, worth mining deeply because of the priceless wealth it contains. As John Piper says,

In all the details and particulars of what we find in the Bible — Old Testament and New — the aim of reading is always to see the worth and beauty of God. Notice that I say “in all the details and particulars.” There is no other way to see the glory. God’s greatness does not float over the Bible like a gas. It does not lurk in hidden places separate from the meaning of words and sentences. It is seen in and through the meaning of texts. (Reading the Bible Supernaturally, 96)

God’s glory is seen in and through the meaning of texts. That’s why we pray, “Make me understand the way of your precepts” (Psalm 119:27). Because understanding God’s word is the means of God’s word getting stored up in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).

Don’t Read Just to See

God wants our hearts in Bible reading, not just the attention of our minds. As important as seeing God’s glory is, it’s not enough. God wants us to see his glory so that we will savor his glory. And “if there is no true seeing of the glory of God, there can be no true savoring of the glory of God” (96). Charles Spurgeon said it this way:

Certainly, the benefit of reading must come to the soul by the way of the understanding. . . . The mind must have illumination before the affections can properly rise towards their divine object. . . . There must be knowledge of God before there can be love to God: there must be a knowledge of divine things, as they are revealed, before there can be an enjoyment of them. (100)

The “love to God” and “an enjoyment of divine things” are what God most wants us to experience as a result of reading our Bibles, and neither happens without knowledge. Knowledge is for the sake of love and joy.

“The word of God is for the heart of man. And the way to the heart of man is through the mind of man.”TweetShare on Facebook

When I said the word of God is for the heart of man, I meant it is for, to borrow from the hymn, the “joy of every longing heart.” Bible reading “in all the details and particulars” is frequently rigorous work. It can be quite difficult. At times it can even be disturbing. When we deal with the Bible, we’re dealing with the infinite and mysterious mind of God. His thoughts are not our thoughts; his ways not our ways (Isaiah 55:8–9). But ultimately, if we really understand why God has given us a Book, reading his word becomes a hedonistic pursuit. What we’re after is the pleasure our souls are designed to enjoy most: the savoring of God’s glory.

Read Until You See and Savor

Those who have known God best, and loved him most, have understood the crucial importance of savoring God deeply through seeing God clearly in his word.

George Müller, when reflecting on his remarkable, demanding life of prayerful dependence on God for the sake of the Bristol orphans, recalled an important moment early in his ministry: “I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord” (100). He was speaking about his daily, disciplined Bible reading and prayer each morning. This was his oasis of refreshment. Time in the word functioned like a ballast keeping his ship upright in a life of significant stress and at times turbulent storms. “Unless some unusual obstacle hindered him, he would not rise from his knees until sight had become savoring” (100).

George Müller read the Bible like the psalmist who wrote Psalm 119: with a rigorously engaged mind and a relentlessly engaged heart. And so must we. We read the Bible with our minds to see the glory of God, and with our hearts to savor the glory of God. We pass the Bible through our minds to store it in our hearts, because our hearts are with our treasure. And if possible, we don’t stop looking until our hearts are “happy in the Lord” — until we feel fresh joy in some aspect of who God is and what he has done for us in Christ.

Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of Desiring God. He is author of three books, Not by Sight, Things Not Seen, and Don’t Follow Your Heart. He and his wife have five children and make their home in the Twin Cities.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/read-the-bible-with-your-heart

8 Signs Your Christianity Is Too Comfortable

Brett McCracken

In many parts of the world today, it can be easy to live a comfortable life as a Christian. Certainly where I live—in Orange County, California—this is the case. But is that a good thing?

I’d like to suggest that the Christian faith is inherently uncomfortable. To be a disciple of Jesus is to deny oneself (Matt. 16:24), to take up a cross (Luke 14:27), to be subject to persecution (John 15:20; 2 Tim. 3:12), to give up the creature comforts of home (Luke 9:58), to forsake the priority of family (Luke 9:59–62; 14:26), to be willing to give up all material possessions (Matt. 19:21; Luke 14:33), to be crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). And this is just the beginning.

C. S. Lewis once said, “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

But comfort-seeking is our default mode in a consumerist society, so we often find ourselves in “comfortable Christianity” without even knowing it. What are some indicators that our Christianity has become too cozy, more like a pleasant bottle of port than the uncomfortable, sharpening faith the New Testament envisions? 

Here are eight signs that your Christianity might be too comfortable:

1. There’s absolutely no friction between your Christianity and your partisan politics.

If you’re all-in with one political party and never feel any tension whatsoever with your Christian faith, it probably means your faith is too comfortable. Whether you’re a lifelong Democrat or a diehard Republican, a robust Christian faith should create dissonance with politics at various points.

A faith that aligns perfectly with one political party is suspiciously convenient and lacks prophetic witness. 

A faith that aligns perfectly with one political party is suspiciously convenient and lacks prophetic witness.

2. There are no paradoxes, tensions, or unresolved questions.

If you never ponder or wrestle with the mind-boggling tenets of Christian theology (e.g., the Trinity, the incarnation, God’s sovereignty coexisting with human action, the Holy Spirit’s presence, to name just a few), your faith is probably too comfortable.

A healthy, uncomfortable faith constantly rocks you, prods you, and blows your mind. It’s a faith that leaves you restless to want to know more, not satisfied you’ve grasped all there is to grasp about God.

3. Your friends and coworkers are surprised to learn you’re a churchgoing Christian.

A sure sign your faith is too comfortable is if nothing in your life sets you apart as a Jesus follower, to the point that even those who know you well can’t tell you’re a Christian.

A comfortable Christian is one who easily blends in, looking and talking and acting just like his or her lost neighbors.

4. You never think about or even remember the Sunday sermon on Monday.

If Sunday sermons at your church are so forgettable (or you’re so disengaged) that you rarely recall them after you leave church, your Christianity is probably too comfortable.

Biblical preaching shouldn’t leave us apathetic or unchallenged. The Word of God is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

5. No one at your church ever annoys you.

If you go to church with people who are always easy to talk to, always fun to be around, and always closely aligned with your opinions, tastes, and preferences, your Christianity is too comfortable.

One of the glorious things about the gospel is that it creates a new community out of disparate types of people who, in many cases, wouldn’t otherwise choose to spend time together.

6. You never feel challenged, only affirmed.

If your Christian faith never confronts your idols and challenges your sinful habits—but only ever affirms you as you are—this is a sure sign of a too-comfortable faith.

Healthy faith doesn’t just celebrate you as you are, but relentlessly molds and refines you into the likeness of Christ. 

Healthy faith doesn’t just celebrate you as you are but relentlessly molds and refines you into the likeness of Christ, which is a beautiful but necessarily uncomfortable process.

7. You’ve never had to have a ‘truth-in-love’ conversation with a fellow Christian.

It’s always more comfortable to just “live and let live” when there’s an offense or sin that needs to be called out. It’s more comfortable to just shrug when we see others in our community making unhealthy decisions.

But this isn’t true Christian love.

Love isn’t opposed to truth, and if your faith doesn’t include the capacity to speak hard truths in love, it’s too comfortable. 

8. No one in your church could comment on any area of growth they’ve seen in you.

To believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ is to believe in change. Though not always linear, the Christian life should be marked by growth, forward momentum, and change for the better.

If you’re a Christian who’s grown so little that no one in your church could identify any area of improvement, your faith is too comfortable. 

—

Why is it important that we avoid falling into comfortable Christianity? Because comfortable Christianity is far from the costly, inconvenient, idol-crushing, cross-shaped path for disciples of Jesus. Comfortable Christianity has little prophetic to say to a comfortable, consumerist world. Comfortable Christianity has little urgency in mission and little aptitude for growth. 

Uncomfortable Christianity, however, leads to life and transformation. It leads us to rely on God and not on ourselves; to serve rather than be served; to live lives marked by sacrifice. It leads us to do hard things, to embrace hard truths, to do life with hard people for the sake and glory of the One who did the hardest thing. It may be uncomfortable, but it will be worth it. On the other side of discomfort is delight in Christ.

Editors’ note: This is an adapted excerpt from Brett McCracken’s new book, Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, and is published in partnership with Crossway.

Brett McCracken is a senior editor at The Gospel Coalition and author of Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, Gray Matters: Navigating the Space Between Legalism and Liberty, and Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide. Brett and his wife, Kira, live in Santa Ana, California, with their son Chet. They belong to Southlands Church, where Brett serves as an elder. You can follow him on Twitter.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/8-signs-your-christianity-is-too-comfortable/

WHEN YOUR PLAN FOR KILLING SIN ISN’T WORKING

Lara d’Entremont

Pen and journal in hand, I was ready to crush this sin once and for all. I had laid out a step-by-step plan detailing how I would smother my depravity and finally deal it a death blow.

I was serious now, and I had decided I would have victory over this sin this week. Eventually, I reasoned, I would never struggle with it again. I was resolved. I was passionate. 

Many of us know this empowered feeling. Many of us also know the crushing defeat when the same sin continues to tempt and sway us. I am well acquainted with the doubt that follows when a sin persists. “Maybe I’m not truly saved. Maybe I’m not seeing victory over this sin because I’m still a nonbeliever. Maybe God isn’t with me. Maybe he’s disappointed that I have yet to get myself together in this area. Maybe he’s turned his face away from me once and for all.”

Burdened brothers and sisters, we can’t sanctify ourselves. Along with the apostle Paul, I gently ask you (and myself): Having begun by the Spirit, do we believe we’re now being perfected by our own strength (Gal. 3:3)?

While it is good to pursue holiness, at the end of the day, we must know that it is the Spirit—not our plans, works, obedience, or Bible memorization—who sanctifies us.

UNDERSTANDING SANCTIFICATION

Sanctification is how we grow in Christlikeness. When we are justified (forgiven of our sins by grace through faith in Christ and given the righteousness of Christ) we begin our lifelong journey of sanctification. Sanctification isn’t immediate, and we will never reach a point on earth when we can say we are finished with sanctification. We don’t arrive at our destination until we embrace Christ in heaven.

What makes the process of killing sin so frustrating is that we want to be finished with sin once and for all. We consider success to be when sin and temptation are no longer present. But as long as we abide on earth, we will face temptation, probably on a daily basis. The apostle Paul felt this same struggle with sin:

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Rom. 7:15-18).

In some cases, victory over sin will mean never falling prey to it again, but the temptation may continue to remain. Other sins may take longer, and we may find ourselves having to repent over and over again.

Consider forgiveness. Though we have forgiven a person, we may need to forgive them repeatedly as bitterness grapples for our attention. But repentance, hatred of our sins, and desires for righteousness are actually victories, not failures. As John wrote, 

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).

As much as we hate sin, it would be deceitful to say it is absent from us. But as we repent, we can trust that God is faithful to forgive us every time. He will not give up his efforts to make us holy.

ENTRUSTING OUR SANCTIFICATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

who does John say is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness? God. Paul says this even more clearly in his letter to the Philippians: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13, emphasis mine).

We can’t will ourselves to be holy. We can’t force sanctification. Rather, our repentance and obedience are the fruit of the Spirit’s work in us.

“We need the Spirit every moment of the day to be at work in our hearts to make us more like Christ.

In salvation, we couldn’t make ourselves good enough before God. We couldn’t open our eyes to behold and believe the gospel. We needed the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and produce saving faith. In the same way, we need the Spirit every moment of the day to be at work in our hearts to make us more like Christ.

As John Fonville said, “Do you know how many people believe that sanctification is their work? ‘God gets you in by grace, but you keep and complete yourself by your work or your cooperation with grace.’ That’s not the gospel, and that’s not how it works. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace.”[i]

OUR ROLE IN SANCTIFICATION

The Holy Spirit is the one who sanctifies us, but this doesn’t mean we do nothing. The Holy Spirit works through means of grace such as baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and hearing the Word of God preached. He applies Scripture to our hearts as we read and meditate on it. God provides fellow believers to encourage and correct us as we fellowship with them. God works in our hearts as we pray to align our will with his. 

“We don’t need to toss out our plans for defeating sin, but we shouldn’t expect them to produce holiness in us, either.

Michael Horton has said that it’s good to protect our hearts from temptation. Setting up safeguards is not a lack of trust in God’s work, but an act of wisdom! If we’re fighting the temptation to watch pornography, we can set up computer programs to kill our access. If we struggle with anger, we can step away from a frustrating situation to calm down. If we are addicted to social media, we can delete the apps.

Though these steps in and of themselves don’t sanctify us, they are helpful. As Solomon wrote, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life,” (Prov. 4:23). 

We don’t need to toss out our plans for defeating sin, but we shouldn’t expect them to produce holiness in us, either. So, if you can’t produce sanctification in yourself, what can you do?

BELIEVE HIS PROMISES

Trust God. Look to him in your battles. Rely wholly on his strength. Don’t be discouraged if it’s a slow process. Your Father knows your frame, that you are only dust (Ps. 103:14). He knows your weaknesses, and he is not disappointed in you. He loves you, and he promises to carry your sanctification through to completion (Phil. 1:6). 

[i] Fonville, John. “The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, Part 2.” Paramount Church (sermon), September 8, 2019. https://www.paramountchurch.com/sermons/sermon/2019-09-08/the-gospel-mystery-of-sanctification-part-2.

Lara d’Entremont is a wife, mother, and writer. She seeks to stir women to love God with their minds and hearts by equipping them with practical theology for their day-to-day lives. You can find more of her writing at laradentremont.com.

Posted at: https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/2019/10/26/when-your-plan-for-killing-sin-isnt-working

Knowing What to Do But Not Doing It Is a Problem

by Rick Thomas

God’s mercy comes to us without conditions but does not proceed without our cooperation. So too our aid must begin freely, regardless of the recipient’s merits. But our mercy must increasingly demand change, or it is not really love. – Timothy J. Keller

Discipleship Is a Cooperative Effort

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin (James 4:17).

In the divine wisdom of God, He has put part of the “change responsibility” on you to make the necessary adjustments so you can glorify Him. For transformation to take place, you must be willing to change.

Recently I met with a couple, and we began addressing some deep-seated problems that have been troubling their marriage for many years. After an hour of digging into their marriage with x-ray type questions, we got to some of the core issues.

Their heads were down as they wrestled with the disappointments that had characterized their marriage for so long. After a while, the wife lifted her head and said, “This is nothing new. I have been saying this for years.”

What was interesting about her comment was that I did not tell them one thing in over sixty minutes of examination that they did not already know. But her statement did not surprise me. That comment is the norm in counseling.

It is rare to tell a counselee something about their thinking or behavior that they do not already know. Discipleship is not rocket science. Though “we are fearfully and wonderfully made,” we are not over-complicated (Psalm 139:14).

Mercy Increasingly Demands Change

Once the cat came out of the proverbial bag in my counseling office, it was decision time. Did they want to deal with what they already knew? Though I did not tell this couple anything new, the next step that they should make confronted them. The success of their marriage depended on how they would respond. Were they going to take the personal, practical, and necessary steps to change?

God is a gracious and merciful God. He is long-suffering and kind to His children. His patience and kindness come to us not because we have earned it, but because He is good and He enjoys showing favor on us. But we are not allowed to take that grace for granted.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me (Psalm 19:13).

Just because God is gracious to you, it would be foolish to presume on it. You have a responsibility before God to change. My friends came to counseling and heard me tell them what they already knew about themselves. Now they needed to decide if they were going to respond to the things they heard.

Tim Keller got it right. “Mercy must increasingly demand change, or it is not love.” Mercy requires a response. It is not freely given just for us to enjoy temporarily. Mercy is extended as kindness from God so we can progressively change into the image of Christ.

There was nothing else for this couple to do. The husband and wife knew the truth. By their admission, it was redundant to them. Now it was time for them to change.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:30-32).

Call to Action

1. What is one thing that God has identified in your life that you need to cooperate with Him by changing?

2. List at least two other specific things in your life that you need to work on regarding your sanctification.

3. Ask a friend to help you apply God’s empowering grace in your life so you can change.

Posted at: https://rickthomas.net/knowing-what-to-do-but-not-doing-it-is-a-problem/

God's Sovereign Plans Behind My Most Unproductive Days

John PIper, Ask Pastor John Podcast

Audio Transcript

How is God at work in our most unproductive days, when it feels as though we’ve accomplished nothing and fallen far short of our own plans and expectations? Those days are frustrating to us, but they are not outside of God’s sovereign power. It leads to today’s question on what efficiency looks like in the first place, a very good question from a listener named Melinda.

“Hello, Pastor John, thank you for this podcast! Back in episode 1115, about caring for those with dementia, you closed your remarks with this phrase: ‘God’s priorities for efficiency in this life are not ours.’ Can you please elaborate on this? I struggle mightily with time management skills. I’m a homeschooling mom trying to balance kids’ needs and activities, ministry, household duties . . . and sleep. I feel overwhelmed with the need to be efficient every minute even though this does not come naturally to me. What should efficiency look like in the busy Christian life?”

I will explain what I mean by “God’s priorities for efficiency in this life are not ours.” But let me say first, right off the bat, that the reason I want anybody to know that is not so that they can get more done, but so that they do what they do in the right spirit. That’s the preface over everything I have to say.

Your Priorities

Now what do I mean by saying, “God’s priorities for efficiency in this life are not ours”? I mean that your priority may be that between 10:00 and 11:00 this morning you plan to run to the bank and get some cash so that you can be back in time to pay the teenager who is cutting your grass while a neighbor watches your two- and four-year-old for you. That’s the plan.

“Frustrating human efficiency is one of God’s primary means of sanctifying grace.”

You feel good — I’m making this up — that you very efficiently worked. You feel good that you worked it out. You worked it out so that the neighbor was available, the teenager could come, and you could get to the bank and get back before both of them had other engagements.

Those are your priorities, and you have an efficient plan: grass cut, kids watched, bank trip made, boy paid, everyone off to their next engagement. Victory. Efficiency. That’s what I mean by “our efficiency.”

God’s Priorities

However, God in this case has a totally different set of priorities.

Your neighbor was scheduled to be at a real estate office at 11:30 so she could join her husband to close on a new house — a house that, unbeknownst to them, has a flawed foundation. The teenager was planning to take his money from cutting the grass and pool it with some of the guys and buy some drugs that they shouldn’t be using. You hit a traffic jam caused by the rollover of a semi (which has another story behind it). You’re locked up on the freeway for an hour. You never even get to the bank.

You rush home as fast as you can, but you get there an hour late. You have no money to pay the boy, and your neighbor has missed her appointment. You are frustrated almost to tears.

Your efficiency proved utterly useless to accomplish your priorities. You failed, but God’s priorities totally succeeded. He wanted to hinder that boy from buying drugs, he wanted to spare the neighbor from purchasing a house that’s a lemon, and he wanted to grow your faith in his sovereign wisdom and sovereignty.

Now, that’s what I mean by “God’s priorities for efficiency in this life are not ours.”

Joseph’s Slow Journey

In my view, this isn’t happening just now and then; it’s happening all the time. When you read the Bible, you see in virtually every book the story of God doing things that are not the way humans would do them or want them done. God almost never takes the shortest route between point A and point B.

The reason is that such efficiency — the efficiency of speed and directness — is not what he’s about. His purpose is to sanctify the traveler, not speed him between A and B. Frustrating human efficiency is one of God’s primary (I say primary, not secondary) means of sanctifying grace.

The story of Joseph in Genesis 37–50 is one of the clearest examples, right? Joseph is hated by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, sold to Potiphar, accused of sexual harassment, thrown into prison, forgotten by Pharaoh’s butler, then finally — seventeen years in? — made vice president of Egypt so that he could save his family from starvation.

“You’re not being measured by God by how much you get done.”

The moral of the story comes in Genesis 50:20. Joseph says to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” God had an agenda. God had a plan. God meant it for good.

It’s as if he said, “You guys, you rascals, were the ‘traffic jam’ that kept me from getting to the bank for seventeen years. But God was positioning me to be the savior of my people, and he was in no hurry. I was being tested at every single point. Would I trust him with his seemingly meaningless inefficiency? It wasn’t meaningless.”

Paul’s Change of Plans

When Paul was trying to get to Spain, he did so with a good plan. He had a plan — he had a really good plan. He basically said, “I’m going to go to Jerusalem and deliver the money. Then I’m going to get on a boat, go to Rome, gather some support, and end my life in Spain.” What a great plan. But then he found himself in prison in Rome. What did he say?

He says it in Philippians 1:12–13: “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.”

His priorities for efficiently getting to Spain were shattered, but God’s purposes to evangelize the imperial guard in Rome stayed right on track.

A Daily Plan

Here’s the implication for Melinda.

By all means, make your list of to-dos for the day. By all means, get as good at that as you can get. Prioritize the list. Get first things first. Make your plan. Do the very best you can. Go ahead and read a book about it.

Then walk in the peace and freedom that, when it shatters on the rocks of reality (which it will most days), you’re not being measured by God by how much you get done. You’re being measured by whether you trust the goodness and the wisdom and the sovereignty of God to work this new mess of inefficiency for his glory and the good of everyone involved, even when you can’t see how.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/gods-sovereign-plans-behind-your-most-unproductive-days?utm_campaign=Daily%20Email&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=76764789&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8lfkfGyNjFmshdZ6G93DLgyFqrAGPidfpzrIH4XwyYX-JyfhnsHLzxcHyEaPimojyJygVP6R214eg6bA_M-1J3hODQwA&_hsmi=76764789

Do We Play Any Role in Our Sanctification?

by: Iain M. Duguid

An Active Battle

Sanctification is God’s from beginning to end because God is the one who initiates it, who carries it through by the work of his Holy Spirit, and who will bring it to completion on the last day. That’s what Paul tells us in Philippians: that God who began that good work in us will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. It’s not optional as to whether or not we will finish the work. God will finish the work.

Now having said that, Paul goes on to tell the Philippians to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, “for it is God who is at work in you.” So because God is working in us, that’s what motivates us, that’s what encourages us, that’s what strengthens us by his Holy Spirit to engage in the battle.

The battle image is a very active image. Soldiers in battle are not passive observers. They’re not sitting there watching life go by. They’re as actively engaged as anybody could be in any activity. So, too, we are called to be actively engaged in sanctification. It is our great calling to pursue holiness, to aspire to that for which God has called us, and to strain every effort that we have.

Unable to Boast

But the progress that we make is not ultimately dependent on our effort. Otherwise, we’d be able to boast, thinking I am more sanctified than you because I put more effort in than you. But the reality is that our sanctification is ultimately dependent upon God. He is the one who brings us moment by moment, day by day, and who enables us to do those good works. If he holds us up by his hands, he enables us to stand—and to stand firm. Sometimes he withdraws his hand and allows us to do what we would do all the time left to ourselves—which is to fall flat on our face. Both of those things are for his glory.

It is our great calling to pursue holiness, to aspire to that for which God has called us, and to strain every effort that we have.

When he enables us to stand he demonstrates his power in weak people like us—that he could take people like us and make us stand in the face of the powerful forces of the evil one. And yet, in all the time he enabled us to stand, we might easily think that we were stronger than we are, that we didn’t really need his help as much as we do. So, sometimes, he turns us over to ourselves as the Bible says of Hezekiah in the Old Testament.

When God turns us over to ourselves, we fall flat on our faces and the result is that it’s in those moments often that we are most appreciative of the gospel. We see our desperate need of God—that without the gospel we could not stand for a minute and that the gospel is sufficient for really big sinners like us—as people who are not strong, who are not naturally equipped to take on the world, the flesh, and the devil, the triumvirate of evil facing us. So it’s always the Holy Spirit’s work from beginning to end. But, the Holy Spirit’s work is to stir us and to move us and to encourage us to stand in his strength and not in our own.

Iain M. Duguid is the author of The Whole Armor of God.

Iain M. Duguid (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of Old Testament and dean of online learning at Westminster Theological Seminary and the pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He has also served as a missionary in Liberia, taught at Westminster Seminary California and Grove City College, and planted churches in Pennsylvania, California, and England.

Posted at: https://www.crossway.org/articles/do-we-play-any-role-in-our-sanctification/

Self-Examination

by ANDREW KERR

As I get ready for communion I've just penned a few thoughts about how to self-examine...

A Testing Question

Paul tells the communion church that they have to examine self. What sort of examination is required of Christ’s communicants?

Spiritual Examination

This exercise is not designed to produce hopeless despair, self-flagellation, self-analysis or superficial assessment; rather it aims to allow the search light of the Scripture, in the power of the Spirit, to dig up hidden crimes, admit obvious errors, break down stubborn hearts and forsake wayward steps – proper self-examination induces a state of godly sorrow, that breeds a true repentance, and leads the soul to Christ, for pardon, cleansing and strength. The diagnosis is made and the soul restored to health! The examination verb has to do with removing dross - the metal should melt in the furnace and then the impurities be scooped off! Soul gold should be the result!

Careful Examination

No one rule fits all – we all come in various states: saints are hot & cold, others weak or strong. The conscience may be soft and may not need probed too much. Some consciences are robust and may require a loud wake up. If that is the case then perhaps the best advice is to examine the soul enough (no two believers will be identical in this respect, nor will any individual be the same at every time and season in life): just enough, mind you, till sin begins to smart, until sin breaks the heart, then leads on and up, for grace, to Christ. So be deliberate but also delicate or determined as each communicant demands. How can you seek help if you don’t see you are sick?

Personal Examination

Not looking round at others to nod your head at them, but looking in at self to see what is amiss. Paul says clearly let each one – that’s the sense of ‘man’ – look out for his own sin. Take a Bible verse like Galatians 5:22 – is there love joy peace? Or am I falling short? Rehearse the Ten Commandments – seek out their deep intent. Not just does God come first, but does my whole soul love His Christ. Or go to seven churches – am I lukewarm or on fire, have I forsaken my first love? Is their any pride – or only humble word, thought, deed? The answer makes all meek!

Evangelical Examination

If you still feel pure – go to Psalm 51 – sinners by nature and practice steeped and shaped in iniquity. Pause on Romans 3:23 so see if you fall short. Look to the Sermon on the Mount: what do you find there? Meek and making peace, uncompromising in persecution, an angry murderous word – does that not disturb? Always, and last, make a B-line for the Cross. See the spotless lamb who never committed one sin! See the Hell pangs as He bears your punishment! Surely nails and thorns will be enough to lay you low, and bring tears to your soul! Then lift your eyes again to hear ‘Father forgive!’ Clinging to Christ re-covenant to His embrace!

Posted at: https://gentlereformation.com/2019/09/07/self-examination/

The Offensively Ordinary Steps to Godliness

by Scott Hubbard

If you are in Christ, God has placed in your heart a hunger for holiness. Holiness is no longer the cramped closet you thought it was, but rather a garden of pleasures, an echo from heaven, the beauty of Eden rediscovered. You are not content merely to be counted righteous in Christ (glorious as that is); you yearn also to become righteous like Christ. You want to be holy as he is holy.

But how does holiness happen? How do stumbling, distracted pray-ers begin to pray without ceasing? How do worriers learn to roll even their biggest cares onto God? How does pride turn to poverty of spirit, apathy to zeal for righteousness, stinginess to an open hand, restlessness to relentless calm? How do we come not only to say, but to feel deep down, that Jesus Christ is the sum of all that’s good in life — that to know him is to live, and to die our greatest gain?

God teaches us how holiness happens all over his word, and yet we often overlook one prevalent lesson: very often, holiness hides in small things.

Offensively Ordinary

Consider, for example, how the apostle Paul talks about the pursuit of holiness in Ephesians. Throughout the first three chapters, Paul stretches before us the panorama of God’s redeeming love. In Christ, God has chosen us, forgiven us, and sealed us for eternity (Ephesians 1:3–14). He has resurrected us from spiritual death and seated us with Christ in the heavens (Ephesians 2:1–10). He has loved us with an everlasting love (Ephesians 3:14–19).

“If you are in Christ, God has placed in your heart a hunger for holiness.”

We might think the immediate response to such love would be just as panoramic. But in the next three chapters, Paul applies this gospel to the ordinary, the everyday, the small. For example: Speak the truth to each other (Ephesians 4:15). Reconcile quickly (Ephesians 4:26). Labor honestly at your job (Ephesians 4:28). Give thought to your words (Ephesians 4:29). Cultivate kindness and a tender heart (Ephesians 4:32). Honor Christ as a wife, husband, child, father, servant, master (Ephesians 5:22–6:9).

Though radical in their own way, these steps of obedience rarely attract the notice of a crowd. Many of them happen in forgettable moments and tucked-away places. Well might we say with Gustaf Wingren, “Sanctification is hidden in offensively ordinary tasks” (Luther on Vocation, 73). So ordinary, in fact, that we might just miss them if we’re not paying attention.

Eyes on the Ends of the Earth

In the pursuit of holiness, many of us fall into the fool’s error: “The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth” (Proverbs 17:24). The fool can peer into the distance with marvelous perception — and trip over a rock at his feet. We too can become so interested in the grand steps of obedience we hope to take in the future that we miss the “offensively ordinary” steps right in front of us.

A single man may dream of sacrificing himself for a wife and children one day, and yet fail to do his chores in the meantime. An aspiring missionary may pray to one day plant a church among the unreached, and yet neglect her present small group. A postgrad may aspire to one day start a nonprofit, and yet cut corners in his job as a cashier. A young Christian may long to remain steadfast under future trials, and yet grumble at her roommate’s dirty dishes.

In each case, tomorrow’s obedience has become the enemy of today’s. The alternative, Solomon tells us, is to become like the discerning, who “sets his face toward wisdom” (Proverbs 17:24). And setting our faces toward wisdom will mean, in the first place, setting our faces toward today: today’s responsibilities, today’s burdens, today’s conversations, today’s means of grace — trifling though they may seem.

The wise know that a Christian becomes holy much like a cathedral becomes tall: one stone at a time. And stones are offensively ordinary things.

Whatever You Do

The pursuit of holiness, then, is both easier and harder than many of us imagine: Easier because our growth in grace often happens gradually, one small step at a time. Harder because sanctification has now invaded all of life. Holiness is hidden in offensively ordinary tasks, and those tasks are all around us.

“For now, do not despise the day of small obedience.”

Paul tells the Colossians, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). Our spiritual maturity rests in those words whatever and everything: obey God not only in the seen, but in the unseen; not only in the exceptional, but in the mundane; not only in the crisis moments of life, but in the seemingly casual moments strewn throughout our days.

The question we must ask, dozens of times every day, is not what God might have us do ten years from now, but rather “Will I obey God now, in this moment?” Will I stop the fantasy right as it starts? Will I pray instead of checking my phone (again)? Will I refuse my eyes a second glance? Will I speak the loving, uncomfortable word?

If that thought intimidates us, it should also cheer us. True, the Lord Jesus holds us accountable every moment; there is no such thing as “me time.” But he also stands ready at every moment to notice our faltering attempts at obedience and, wonder of wonders, to be pleased. Jesus will not miss the smallest deed done in his name, not even a cup of cold water given (Matthew 10:42), but will make note of it and prepare a fitting reward. For “whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord” (Ephesians 6:8). And for whatever defects remain in our obedience (and defects there will always be), he has grace enough to cover them.

Begin Where You Are

Where, then, does this pursuit of holiness begin? It begins right where we are. In his Letters to Malcolm, C.S. Lewis offers “begin where you are” as a dictum for prayer. Instead of feeling pressure to open every prayer “by summoning up what we believe about the goodness and greatness of God, by thinking about creation and redemption and ‘all the blessings of this life’” (88), consider beginning smaller, even right where you are: thank him for the tree outside your window, the breakfast you just enjoyed, the child in the next room. For, as Lewis writes, we “shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest” (91).

A similar principle applies to our obedience. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10), Jesus tells us. Indeed, apart from a few exceptions, only those who have first learned to be faithful in little are able to be faithful in much. Little is the best training ground for much.

Trusting God with an afternoon’s ruined plans trains us to trust him with our children’s salvation. Giving sacrificially with a tight income readies us to do so with a comfortable one. Unashamedly speaking of Jesus before a neighbor prepares us, should the day ever come, to speak his name before persecutors. For now, do not despise the day of small obedience.

Today may not hold grand opportunities for obedience, cumulative moments where our character, formed over years, is put to the test. Those days will come if we live long enough. But today, our tasks are probably smaller: Ask for forgiveness. Renounce the shameful thought. Give the kids your full attention. Speak a surprising word of encouragement. Store God’s word in your heart. Begin where you are.

Scott Hubbard is a graduate of Bethlehem College & Seminary and an editor for desiringGod.org. He and his wife, Bethany, live in Minneapolis.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-offensively-ordinary-steps-to-godliness

How to Fight When You Fail

Article by David Sunday

I’m not writing for those who think they’ve got little sin problems. If you imagine you’re getting an A-, or at least a C+, in self-sanctification, you probably won’t resonate with what I’m saying.

I’m writing for the Christian who’s reading this a few hours after you’ve fallen sexually. I’m thinking of the deacon who has just exploded in anger at his children. Or the campus ministry leader who went to college with every intention of following Jesus, but is now waking up with a hangover and can’t remember what she did the night before. I’m writing for the pastor who told a lie in last night’s elder meeting. Or the Bible study leader who became Peter-the-Denier when her upper-class neighbor asked her if she really thinks that everyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell.

For all who are weary of struggling with sin, I want you to be able to face your most disappointing failures without drowning in despair.

Gutsy Guilt

Let me tell you about gutsy guilt. John Piper first introduced me to this idea — and his teaching on this has sustained and strengthened me for over a quarter of a century of being “tempted, tried, and sometimes failing.” Piper found an example of “gutsy guilt, bold brokenness, confident contrition, rugged remorse” in the words of the prophet Micah, who teaches us how to fight when we have fallen.

But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
     I will wait for the God of my salvation;
     my God will hear me.
Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
     when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
     the Lord will be a light to me.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord
     because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
     and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
     I shall look upon his vindication.
Then my enemy will see,
     and shame will cover her who said to me,
     “Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will look upon her;
     now she will be trampled down
     like the mire of the streets. (Micah 7:7–10)

Do Not Delay

It seems counterintuitive to sin and then immediately to fall on your knees and say, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” We harbor in our hearts the false belief that, somehow, we have to pay for our sins — just a little.

But repentance isn’t groveling. You repent when you agree with God that your sin is wicked and flee to the only one who can do helpless sinners any good. So, what if after you’ve sinned you didn’t grovel for a week, but instead ran immediately to the Savior who “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15)?

Micah shows us that even at our very worst, there remains a God in heaven who will not reject repentant sinners. “Look to him,” Micah says — “the sooner, the better!”

Satan loves to tempt you, trap you, and then taunt you with your guilt. He loves to watch you wallow in the mire of your misery. He wants you to embrace failure as your identity. Micah says, “Don’t listen to those lies. Call on the Lord. Do not delay. Fight when you fail.” And he shows us how in verses 8–10.

Talk Back to the Enemy

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
     when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
     the Lord will be a light to me. (Micah 7:8)

Here is a vivid and dramatic rebuttal to Satan’s prosecution — a complete reversal of his accusatory strategy. The heart of faith defies despair. Faith refuses to believe that our sin is the end of God’s story for our life.

The tempter is a cruel tyrant who wants to terrify you with the greatness of your sins. Learn to turn his own weapon back on himself, like Martin Luther did:

When you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners. As often as you object that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer on whose shoulders and not on mine lie all my sins. So when you say I’m a sinner, you do not terrify me, but comfort me immeasurably.

Submit to God’s Discipline

I will bear the indignation of the Lord
     because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
     and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
     I shall look upon his vindication. (Micah 7:9)

Gutsy guilt doesn’t shrink from the real-life consequences of sin. The fiery wrath of God’s holy condemnation of our sin has been extinguished at the cross, but the fatherly anger of God’s displeasure at our sin is a sign of our adoption into his family. When God disciplines us, he treats us as his sons and daughters (Hebrews 12:7). His anger is bathed in love, aimed at restoration, and results in what is good for us.

God’s discipline is also temporary. Notice the hope-filled word until in Micah 7:9: “until he pleads my cause.” Here’s where Satan’s theology and the gospel collide. Satan says, “See how God is disciplining you? That’s proof he’s against you.” But the gospel says, “He will champion my cause and establish justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see his salvation.”

Yes, God is able to keep you from stumbling when you look to him for strength in the face of temptation. But when you do stumble, he is able to keep your stumbling from destroying you. He will “present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24).

In the end, the enemy is going to witness the vindication of God’s blood-bought children. By grace, through faith, we will be righteous and shine like the sun in our Father’s kingdom (Matthew 13:43). And we will look upon the enemies of our soul, and see them trampled down like dirt and mud on the streets — it doesn’t get any lower than that. That’s Satan’s destiny (Micah 7:10).

Fuel for Our Fight

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
     and passing over transgression
     for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
     because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
     he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
     into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18–19)

When you fail, fall on him. He won’t resent your repeated returns to his throne of mercy. He’s not sighing or sulking when he sees you trembling at his feet. He delights to show mercy. As Richard Sibbes writes, “He is more ready . . . to forgive than you to sin; as there is a continual spring of wickedness in you, so there is a greater spring of mercy in God.”

Imagine being with Moses and the children of Israel on the far shore of the Red Sea. You’ve just watched Pharaoh and his army disappear into the depths of the sea, never to torment you again. Someday that’s what’s going to happen to your sin.

Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore,
Our sins they are many, his mercy is more. (“His Mercy Is More”)

Many a preacher has repeated this memorable saying — but when you’ve failed, it will do you great good to preach it to yourself: When God throws your sin into the sea of forgetfulness, he puts up a sign that says, “No fishing allowed.”

David Sunday is the senior pastor of New Covenant Bible Church in St. Charles, Illinois.