Applying the Beatitudes

Matt Foreman

The Beatitudes, according to Matthew, mark the beginning of Jesus' public teaching ministry. They are the first things that Jesus emphasized as he proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom. Unlike Moses at Mount Sinai, Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount, not with commandments, but with promises of God's blessing on heart attitudes. He began focusing on the heart, doing heart surgery, wanting to reconstruct our hearts and bring our hearts in tune with his. The Beatitudes describe the foundational character qualities and family characteristics Jesus wanted to be at work in his people.

Sadly, it often seems that Christians today easily forget the foundational importance of the Beatitudes. Going by the evidence of public interactions between "Christians" on social media, blogs, public debates, publications, it's hard sometimes to see active evidence of the Beatitudes. But since these are the foundational teachings of our Savior, they are the heart attitudes that should govern, guide, and be evident in all our interactions. Christians then need to be regularly giving themselves to meditation and application of the Beatitudes as the foundation for Christian living.

Foundations for the Christian Life

Consider the following:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit"

- the foundation for a relationship with God

- losing hope in yourself and finding your only hope in God.

"Blessed are those who mourn"

- the foundation for repentance

- seeing the true grievousness of sin.

"Blessed are the meek"

- the foundation for faith

- quieting your soul to trust God in all circumstances.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness"

- the foundation for Christian living and sanctification

- the pursuit of holiness in your life and in the world.

"Blessed are the merciful"

- the foundation for Christian relationships

- loving others as God has loved us.

"Blessed are the pure in heart"

- the foundation for Christian worship

- having a vision of God 'win out' over all other things.

"Blessed are the peacemakers"

- the foundation for Christian mission

- seeking to bring God's offer of peace to a hostile world.

"Blessed are the persecuted"

- the foundation for Christian perseverance

- knowing and following our Savior through many tribulations for the joy set before us.

A Guide to Prayer

The Beatitudes become a great guide to prayer - for ourselves, our children, our fellow church members, our neighbors. If you have children, you are probably aware of one of your children who needs to come to a poverty of spirit, or to a mourning over sin, or to a meekness of faith. You may know a husband and wife struggling in their marriage who need to grow in mercy and compassion towards one another, who need to apply the Gospel of peace in their home (James 4:13-18; 2 Tim.2:24-26; 2 Cor.13:11). You may know someone struggling in sin who has become defeated and complacent, who needs his hunger and thirst for righteousness aroused and who needs his heart purified in Spirit-filled worship to God again (James 4:7-10; Psalm 73:1-2, 25-28; 1 John 3:2-3; Deut.30:6). You may know someone being persecuted for their faith - in their workplace, by their family, on the mission field - who need prayer to be able to rejoice and grow in the steadfastness of hope (1 Pet.2:19-21, 4:1-14; Rom.5:3-4; James 1:2).

Questions for Self-Examination

The Beatitudes are a great source for self-examination, personal confession, and prayer. Here are a list of questions to ask yourself from the Beatitudes...

"Blessed are the poor in spirit."

• Do I trust myself and my strength and my rightness too much? Am I often satisfied in myself?

• Do I say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But ... not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev.3:17).

• Or do I realize that I am poor and weak and desperate, and my only hope is in God?

• Do my days begin on my knees, acknowledging my spiritual poverty before God?

"Blessed are those who mourn."

• Do I only grieve over temporary things that inconvenience and affect me personally?

• Or do I ever grieve more deeply, as Jesus himself did, over the ugliness and destructiveness of sin, over the dishonoring of the goodness of God, over the brokenness and hardness of the world?

• Am I only 'sorry' for my sins, or am I grieved enough that I want to quit?

"Blessed are the meek."

• Am I someone who is always defending myself, defending my rights, asserting myself, fearfully trying to control my circumstances?

• Am I harsh and emotionally reactionary?

• Or have I learned to submit to difficulties and trust God in all circumstances?

• Have I learned to be humble about myself and confident in God so that I am able to respond to others with softness and gentleness and patience?

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness."

• Do I hunger and thirst for worldly pleasure and worldly recognition?

• Am I complacent spiritually and act like I've arrived and I'm satisfied with where I am?

• Or do I have new desires to be closer to God, to live rightly before him in the world, and to see his righteousness spread in the lives of others?

"Blessed are the merciful."

• Am I too concerned about 'the letter of the law' and judgmental towards others?

• Do I find it hard to forgive? Am I regularly impatient with those around me? Do I think that people deserve what they get?

• Or am I more aware of my own sins against God, and the death Christ died for me to show me mercy, so that I am inclined towards mercy?

• Am I a forgiving, patient, gracious, compassionate person because of Christ?

"Blessed are the pure in heart."

• Am I complacent with impure thoughts and hypocrisy in my life?

• Does love for myself and for the world often 'win out' over love for God?

• Or am I actively seeking to 'clean my hands' and 'purify my heart' through repentance, worship, and devotion to Christ - making him first in all things?

"Blessed are the peacemakers."

• Am I a fighter and thrive on conflict? Or do I passively avoid conflict at all costs?

• Do I think I have to choose between truth and love? Do I think it's godly to fight, that I'm standing up for my convictions and am zealous for truth, but it's never motivated or presented with love? 2 Tim.2:24-26

• Am I only a peace-faker or peace-keeper, but not a peace-maker?

• Or do I actively and sacrificially seek to bring God's Gospel of peace, truth, justice, repentance, and reconciliation to the world with gentleness and love?

"Rejoicing in Persecution."

• Am I a people-pleaser? Afraid to speak up, quick to back down, wanting everyone to speak well of me?

• Do I 'seek' persecution by being obnoxious, not realizing that actual persecution only comes after the other Beatitudes - like humility, meekness, mercy, and peace-making?

• Or am I willing to suffer to bring Christ and his Gospel to a dying world?

• Does opposition and hardship overwhelm me? Or does it draw me nearer to fellowship and faith and hope and joy in Christ, with willingness to die to myself and show his incomparable worth, no matter the cost?

These are the heart attitudes of true Christianity and the life truly blessed by God, because they are the heart attitudes of God's own Son, in whom he is well-pleased. May we be transformed more and more into his image!

Matt Foreman is the pastor of Faith Reformed Baptist Church in Media, PA. Matt is a graduate of Furman University and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He previously served as the Founding Chairman of the Reformed Baptist Network, is the secretary for the RBN Missions Committee, and is a lecturer in Practical Theology at Reformed Baptist Seminary. Matt also writes music for worship; some of which can be found at ekklesiahymns.org.

Posted at: https://www.reformation21.org/blogs/applying-the-beatitudes.php

Don't Mistake Experience for Growth

Kris Sinclair 

It’s a sad truth that many churches are full of people who have professed saving faith in Christ, attended and served faithfully for twenty to thirty-plus years, taught Sunday school, and read their Bibles, but have not been transformed at all. They’ve gained experience in doing Christian things but haven’t actually grown as a Christian. They've mistaken experience for growth.

Peter instructs Christians to “Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:5–8, emphasis added).

“In God’s economy, it is the Christian who is constantly growing, not constantly doing who is the most effective.

In God’s economy, it is the Christian who is constantly growing, not constantly doing who is the most effective. It reminds me of a quote from James Clear in his book Atomic Habits: “Too often, we assume we are getting better simply because we are gaining experience. In reality, we are merely reinforcing our current habits—not improving them.” 

We have the capacity to do the same thing spiritually. We think we are growing in the Lord by going to church, attending Bible studies, and reading the Bible. But how many of us have been doing these things for years without any meaningful growth or discernible improvement in our virtues or walk with the Lord? 

A NEED FOR APPLICATION

It’s not enough to ask yourself, Do I believe in the Gospel? You must also ask yourself, Am I living in step with the Gospel? Christianity requires not only an assent to the truth of the Gospel but also an application of it to our lives. Our hearts, minds, and lives must be changed. And this changing isn’t a one-time event.

Yes, the Gospel is something “which you received and in which you stand.” It’s the foundation our Christian life rests upon, but it’s also the means “by which you are being saved" (1 Cor. 15:1). In other words, the Gospel is continually at work in our lives, building upon the foundation that is laid. 

I’m afraid too many believers have fallen into the same trap as the Pharisees: “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).

Christ affirms to us that you won’t find life by merely reading, studying, or memorizing the Bible any more than you’ll find treasure by merely reading, studying, or memorizing a map. You must actually travel the route the map reveals to you before you end up at its destination. Likewise, we must study the Scriptures with the intention of finding what (or more accurately who) they are pointing to—Jesus. 

“If your knowledge of the Bible doesn’t act as a stepping stone to help you land on the worship, adoration, and reverence of Christ, then you’ve only become more self-righteous, not more holy.

This should make us wary of determining our maturity by how much knowledge of Scripture we have. There is no life found in Bible memory, knowledge, or trivia. If your knowledge of the Bible doesn’t act as a stepping stone to help you land on the worship, adoration, and reverence of Christ, then you’ve only become more self-righteous, not more holy.

David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock make this same observation in their book Faith for Exiles:

“Sometimes we mistake being on the path—say, attending church—for making active progress as a disciple. But many young people (and older adults, for that matter) are dutiful churchgoers while remaining spiritually inert.”

They continue, saying “church involvement is a necessary but insufficient condition for resilient discipleship... It is difficult, if not downright impossible, to shape hearts and minds with only a few hours a week to work with.”

In other words, merely reading your bible and going to church isn’t going to cut it. For true growth to take place, something more has to happen.

A NEED FOR SUFFERING

In short, you have to suffer.

Pain and suffering are part and parcel with spiritual growth and maturity. You can’t grow without it. Paul tells us as much in Romans 5:2–4: “And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” 

Look closely enough at this and you see that what Paul describes is quite an amazing process. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (v. 2b). This is the beginning of the Christian’s walk with the Lord. Upon recognizing our depravity, repenting of our sin, and placing our faith in Jesus Christ for the atonement of our sins, what are we left to do but to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God?

This rejoicing is the first posture of worship the new Christian takes and then strives to maintain throughout the rest of her life. This is where we must begin in our walk with the Lord. But notice the rest of the process Paul lays out. Rejoicing in our newfound hope is not all we rejoice in, “We also rejoice in our sufferings.” Why? “Because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

Notice that the product of suffering is endurance, and the product of endurance is character, and the product of character is hope. Work that backward and you’ll begin to see the importance of what Paul is describing.

Do you want hope? Build character. Do you want character? Strive for endurance. Do you want endurance? Experience suffering.

What Paul describes for us in Romans 5:2-4 is a process of growth. We begin our Christian walk by rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, then as we follow Christ, we experience suffering (2 Tim. 3:12). If we successfully endure that suffering, then character is produced. We become more like Christ; we actually grow. All of this results in a greater hope, which brings us back to the first step, to repeat this process over again.

A RESISTANCE TO PAIN

“The reason we see so many in our churches who have maintained a stagnant spirituality for years is because we’ve tried to exchange the suffering that is required for our growth with experience.

It’s a failure to adopt this method of growth that has caused the problem we see. The reason we see so many in our churches who have maintained a stagnant spirituality for years is because we’ve tried to exchange the suffering that is required for our growth with experience.

By doing so, we’ve effectively cut ourselves off from the endurance that produces character, the character that produces hope, and so on and so on. We’ve stunted our own growth.

Our twenty-first-century Western culture has become good at discovering silver-bullet solutions to our pain. We’ve created a pill for everything that ails us, we’ve developed countless distracting hobbies to take our minds off the hurt, we’ve become professionals at avoiding pain.

This has infected the church’s spirituality in a way that has robbed us of the painful disciplines needed for growth.

• Solitude is hard. Retreating from social media and the serotonin rush that comes with each notification is too much for us to give up.

• Fasting is painful. Depriving our bodies of what it physically needs in order to gain what it spiritually needs seems unappealing and uncomfortable.

• Praying before each meal is laborious and monotonous enough, let alone praying without ceasing through the night with no sleep. How awful!

• Selling our possessions to simplify our lives and give to the poor? That’s someone else’s cross to bear, not mine.

• Fighting against lust and pornography seems impossible in our over-sexualized society. Why try?

• Confessing our sins to one another is way too vulnerable. Temptation? Maybe we’ll let someone in on that, but the fact that we’ve actually sinned? Nope, too damaging to our reputations.  

A NEED FOR COMMUNION

The point is that the kind of growth Peter and Paul speak of stresses the importance of determined discipleship: an intentional and sometimes painful pursuit of Christ and the grace that living in his Kingdom affords us. And what’s ironic is that this kind of pursuit of Christ and the development of the virtues Peter listed may actually call for some of us to start doing less. It’s the pain of cutting away our idols and our distractions that clears the path for us to find more of Jesus, it’s what enables us to identify with the suffering servant in a unique way that we wouldn’t be able to apart from our suffering.

We're so busy doing things for him, that we don't have the time to actually commune with him. Yet without this communion, we cannot change (2 Cor. 3:18). We cannot learn the way of Jesus without spending time with him, and once we find him, we won’t make it very far if we aren’t willing to sacrifice.

What could you become, or better yet, who could you become, if you were intentional about trading in your participation in hollow rituals and instead creating the margin in your life for deep, perhaps painful, but joyful communion with Christ?

Posted at: https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/2019/12/4/dont-mistake-experience-for-growth

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

Don’t Be Introspective. Examine Yourself.

by Kristen Wetherell

There’s a fine line between self-examination and introspection.

Self-examination is good. Scripture exhorts us to examine and test ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5). So how might this important spiritual discipline take a turn for the worse? Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains:

What’s the difference between examining oneself and becoming introspective? I suggest that we cross the line from self-examination to introspection when, in a sense, we do nothing but examine ourselves, and when such self-examination becomes the main and chief end in our life.

Though self-examination can be rewarding for Christian growth, I’ve often crossed the line—and learned how detrimental introspection can be. It’s unprofitable because it’s an end in itself; it leaves us navel-gazing and discouraged. I’ve hung my head many times in its defeat. Nevertheless, we can look to God’s Word and see how self-examination, rightly deployed, is healthy and effective.

A look at Psalm 139 will help us grasp the power of self-examination as a tool in God’s hands for our growth.

Know You’re Known

O LORD, you have searched me and known me! . . . Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (vv. 1, 6)

Here David exults in the all-knowing, all-seeing Lord of all creation. No corner of God’s human design—our bodies, minds, or hearts—exists outside his intimate knowledge. What a comfort that God knows us perfectly!

God’s searching ministry is accomplished by his Spirit. We don’t examine ourselves by our own wisdom and knowledge but by his revealing work. We can pray: Almighty God, you know every corner of my being, far more than I could ever know. By your Spirit, give me eyes to see what’s going on in my heart and mind. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, but not for you. Search me and know me, God.

Self-examination isn’t ultimately empowered by us, but by the One who made us—and we can trust him to use what he reveals for our good.

Think on Truth

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well . . . . How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. (vv. 14b, 17–18)

Morbid introspection leads us to obsessing about ourselves, but self-examination turns our thoughts toward God: his character, his works, his promises, his thoughts toward us. Rather than just listening to ourselves, as introspection promotes, we talk to ourselves. We remind our souls what is true of God and his wonderful works.

Lloyd-Jones is again helpful here:

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. . . . And then you must go on to remind yourself of God—who God is, and what God has done, and what God has pledged himself to do.

Why is this truth-talk so important? Because we’re so easily deceived by lies. Because our feelings are unreliable. Because our sin threatens to overwhelm us. Because our hearts threaten to deceive us.

Nothing pushes me to cross the line from self-examination to introspection like believing untruths about God and myself. But when I take up God’s Word, meditate on it, and preach it to my heart, I’m freed from the trap of introspection and pointed to the only One who can deliver me.

Look to Jesus

Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! . . . Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (vv. 17, 23–24)

As David ponders God’s just judgment on his enemies, he desires to be separate from them and their evil deeds. We too have a real enemy who is seeking someone to devour—and if we aren’t careful, he’ll twist our good intentions, push us into introspection, and lead us to discouragement and defeat. He’ll tell us to trust our hearts, rather than suspect them.

The Enemy’s goal is to get us stuck looking at ourselves—our flaws, our failures, our fears—when we actually need to look away from ourselves to Jesus. This is why we need the Savior! Yes, we should mourn our sin, and feel the depths of our rebellion against a holy God—that is good and right. But Satan wants that to be the end. Thankfully, it’s not the end for those united by faith to the Advocate, the righteous one.

So beware of introspection, because it only leads to despair. But embrace self-examination, because it leads to Christ.

Kristen Wetherell is a wife, mother, and writer. She is the author of Fight Your Fears and co-author of the award-winning book Hope When It Hurts. She writes regularly for digital publications and enjoys teaching the Bible to women at conferences and retreats. Read Kristen’s writing on her website and connect with her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/dont-be-introspective-examine-yourself/

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/

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/