Own it! How Repentance and Faith Fuel a Fresh Start

Colin Smith

Often it seems that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In Deuteronomy 1, Moses is making this plain when he tells the Israelites that what was in their parents is also in them.

God’s people are on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, and Moses says, “Let me remind you how we got here…” Moses goes back 40 years: “The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain…’” (1:6), and he tells the story of how the people rebelled against God.

You were unwilling to go up… You rebelled against the Lord… You grumbled in your tents and said ‘The Lord hates us…’ You did not trust in the Lord your God (Deut. 1:26-27, 32).

Why is Moses saying this? Is he blaming the children for the sins of the parents? No! He is teaching the children to learn from their parents. You will face the same temptations, the same struggles they did.

The people of God had refused to trust Him and, instead of entering the Promised Land, they wandered in the desert for 40 years. What defeated them, their children must now overcome in their own lives. What is in them (and us) by nature, that must be overcome?

• By nature, I rebel against God (Deut. 1:26).

• By nature, I treat God with contempt (Deut. 1:27).

• By nature, I blame others (Deut. 1:28).

• By nature, I resist the truth (Deut. 1:29-31).

• By nature, I refuse to believe (Deut. 1:32).

• By nature, I am under the wrath of God (Deut. 1:34).

Moses is saying to God’s people, “Don’t think these natural, sinful impulses stopped with your parents. All of them are also in you.”

By nature, this is our condition today. The sinful human nature crosses all economic and social barriers. By nature, we have no basis on which to enter the land of promise that is full of good things.

When God’s people realized they had messed up in their rebellion and unbelief, they decided to try and put it right. They were sure that they could fix their own problems. They decided to go up to Canaan after all, but God said to them, “Don’t go up because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies” (Deut. 1:42). They went up anyway and were completely defeated!

Turning over a new leaf doesn’t change us. Trying harder won’t work; it’s never the answer. So, where can we find the power for a fresh start? What hope is there for us to change the future—to get into the “promised land”?

Owning What is Ours Brings Hope

In Deuteronomy 5, Moses summons all of Israel and reminds them: “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb” (vs. 2). God had made this covenant before they were born, but it is for them.

God made a covenant of grace before we were born, too, and it is for us. He promised to redeem sinners like us through His Son, Jesus Christ. This covenant was not written on tablets of stone; it is sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood was poured out for us. His body was given for us. Through the shedding of this blood, Jesus sealed a new covenant for the forgiveness of our sins.

Two great events shaped our lives before we were born: What’s in us, by nature, goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. What can be in us, by grace, goes all the way back to the cross of Jesus Christ. And we change the future through repentance and faith.

Own it: Repentance

We need to own what is in our nature. This is what the Bible calls “repentance.” Knowing what we are up against in living the Christian life, we can pray: “Lord, by nature I’m a rebel who treats your kindness with contempt, blames others, resists your Word, refuses to believe, and deserves to be under Your righteous judgment.

When we tell ourselves what great and good people we are, we will never make progress in the Christian life. Owning what is in us, by nature, is where repentance begins and how it continues.

Own it: Faith

We need to own what is ours, by grace. This is what the Bible calls “faith.” We need to know who we are in Christ. We need to be clear about what our Savior has for us in living the Christian life.

Faith looks at all that the grace of God has done: God has made a covenant for us, He has sent His Son to redeem us, and He has given His Spirit to empower us. Faith says, “All this is mine!” Faith begins when I own what is mine, by grace.

Fresh Start, New Future

Moses was leading a new generation who stood on the verge of change. Would they follow what was in them by nature? Or would they receive what was theirs by grace?

What about us? Will we follow the impulse to hear God’s Word, or will we follow the impulse of unbelief? Will we spend our lives praising God, or will we treat Him with contempt? Will we own what is in us, by nature, or will we spend our lives blaming others and end up under the wrath of God?

Repentance and faith are not only what unbelievers do to become Christians; both are what believers do to live as Christians. God calls us to a life of repentance and faith in which we sustain an ongoing fight against what is in us (our nature) by laying hold of what Christ has for us by His grace. We can lay hold of these gifts:

• The Son of God loves me and gave Himself for me.

• The Lord reigns, and nothing happens to me unless it comes through His loving hand first.

• I don’t understand all that He allows to come into my life. Nor do I expect to, because He is God in heaven and He sees the events of this world from eternity. I am only on the earth in a little capsule of time. But I know that I can trust Him. I know that He is for me.

• I know that I am forgiven and not under His wrath. I live in His mercy and am never alone, because He walks beside me.

• By grace, I have come to love Him, to trust Him, and to count Him worthy of the supreme devotion and sacrifice of my life.

This is faith.

My prayer is that God would breathe increased faith into our souls. May we see that, in all our battles and struggles, Christ is for us. We can embrace Him with faith that says, “If God is for me, who can be against me?”

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2020/09/repentance-faith-fuel-fresh-start/

Forgiveness Is Spiritual Warfare

Article by Marshall Segal

Much of our confusion and misery in life is due to our underestimating (or ignoring altogether) the enemy of our souls. Some of us rarely think of Satan and his demons, and if we do, we often downplay their power and influence. Surely, we could overestimate Satan (and many do), but in our day, especially in the West, it seems like he gets less attention and resistance than he deserves.

While the devil is already defeated and his end is sure, he is still “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31), and he still leads “the cosmic powers over this present darkness” and “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). And he rules and corrupts through deception. “There is no truth in him,” Jesus warns. “When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). So, the apostle Paul warns, we must be careful lest we “be outwitted by Satan” or be found “ignorant of his designs” (2 Corinthians 2:11).

What may surprise us is what, in particular, prevents us from being outwitted by Satan. Paul writes, “What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs” (2 Corinthians 2:10–11). Do you want to know what Satan’s schemes are? He wants you to hold a grudge. He wants you to believe vengeance is yours, and not God’s. Forgiveness outwits Satan, and forgiveness subverts his wickedness.

Why Is Forgiveness Hard?

Forgiveness may be the hardest thing many of us do in our lifetimes. I say may, because many suffer and wrestle in horrible ways. But even then, how much of our suffering is owing to someone else’s sins or failures? Because none of us is without sin, forgiveness is simply a given if we want to love and be loved in this life.

“God disarmed Satan and all his armies with costly forgiveness — your forgiveness.”

Forgiveness can be hard because it fights against all the impulses of our flesh: “Did you see how he hurt me? Why would I make myself vulnerable again?” “The pain still feels so fresh and deep — how could I possibly pretend to be okay with her?” “This is the dozenth time he has done this to me. Haven’t I forgiven him enough?” “I’ll never be able to trust her again — how could I possibly forgive her?” What voices keep you from forgiving?

And because forgiveness can be hard, God gives us great reasons to forgive. We forgive because he first forgave us: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). We forgive because God crushed his Son for our forgiveness. He canceled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

And through that cross (we should not be surprised) “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15). God disarmed Satan and all his armies with costly forgiveness — your forgiveness. Knowing who Satan was and what he wants and how he works, God chose to fight instead with a broken body and spilled blood. God chose to forgive. And so we too forgive “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

Forgiveness as Hostility

Satan loathes forgiveness. Forgiveness offends everything he stands for and fights against. He relentlessly accuses — morning, afternoon, evening, and night — hurling our sins, like stones, against us (Revelation 12:10). Accuser is who he is, and therefore forgiveness is his sworn enemy. Forgiveness contradicts his existence. Forgiveness defies his life’s work. To him, forgiveness is hostility.

For Christians, though, forgiveness is an act of peacemaking, purchased and made possible by the cross. Paul writes,

He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (Ephesians 2:14–16)

Hostility died on Calvary’s hill, and peace grew in its place. Paul was speaking specifically about the hostility between Jews and Gentiles (the fiercest and longest-standing hostility of his day), but this peace is for all who claim the cross.

Forgiveness is hostility to Satan because he breeds hostility and despises peace. Therefore, the cross tormented him, a nightmare worse than anything in his wicked imagination. And every act of forgiveness since — every time we defy our flesh and forgive one another in Jesus’s name — is another tremor of that glorious trauma.

If We Withhold Forgiveness

That means to withhold forgiveness is to play into Satan’s hands, to reinforce his war, to join his cause. To withhold forgiveness is an attempted suicide of the soul.

“Maybe the most effective way to wage spiritual warfare today would be for us to more quickly and freely forgive.”

Jesus warns, “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15). Do you hear the suicide in forgivelessness? If we are too proud or bitter to hold out the hands of forgiveness, God will withdraw his. If we refuse to forgive, he will hold our every sin against us, until we can pay for them all (Matthew 18:35) — and we will never pay for them all. To withhold forgiveness is not only to join Satan in his wickedness, but it is to be left with Satan and his wickedness — miserable, unforgiven, cast into outer darkness.

And Jesus calls us to forgive not just once, but tirelessly. “Pay attention to yourselves!” he warns. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him” (Luke 17:3–4). In the previous verse, he threatens awful judgment for any who refuse: “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea” (Luke 17:2). Withholding forgiveness, even after having already forgiven someone six times in a day, is a wicked offense to God. So, the wise flee judgment and run to forgive.

Comfort Your Offender

When Paul calls the church in Corinth to forgive, he is likely calling them to forgive a false teacher who rose up to oppose him (2 Corinthians 2:5). This is personal, and likely painful, for him. “Turn to forgive and comfort him,” he says, “or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (2 Corinthians 2:7). Can you see Satan wincing? Not only does Paul forgive his offender, but he campaigns for forgiveness, and even beyond forgiveness, for comfort and love: “I beg you to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:8).

A previous letter of his had evidently led the rebellion to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9), but some of the people still felt betrayed and ready to punish their leaders (2 Corinthians 2:6). The apostle, however, saw what Satan wanted. With every reason to harbor resentment and hold a grudge, he denied himself, picked up his cross, and forgave. While Satan iced the waters with bitterness and division, Paul warmed them with surprising, compassionate, forgiving love.

He could comfort those who had hurt him because he had been comforted, again and again, by “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4). Have you experienced that comfort? Have you been willing to extend it to those who have hurt you?

Weaponizing Forgiveness

Maybe the most effective way to wage spiritual warfare today would be for us to more quickly and freely forgive. Counselor Ed Welch writes,

Remember, (1) the flesh has a sinful bent toward self-interest. It is committed to the question, “What’s in it for me?” (2) Satan is a liar and divider. Notice that the most explicit biblical teaching on spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6) is found in the book that emphasizes unity. Satan’s most prominent strategy is to fracture and divide. And (3) the world tries to institutionalize these tendencies. (When People Are Big and God Is Small, 196)

“We do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12). Instead, we rush to forgive flesh and blood. And we wrestle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The rulers and authorities of darkness trade in angry grudges. The spiritual forces of evil breed bitterness and dissension. But we, those forgiven by God, defy and defeat them by wielding the precious and dangerous weapon of forgiveness.

Marshall Segal (@marshallsegal) is a writer and managing editor at desiringGod.org. He’s the author of Not Yet Married: The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness & Dating. He graduated from Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Faye, have two children and live in Minneapolis.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/forgiveness-is-spiritual-warfare

Teaching Your Counselee To Pray Through the Lord’s Prayer

By Wendy Wood

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

In our counseling department, part of the intake paperwork that the counselee fills out is the question, “how often do you pray?”.  They may check never, occasionally, often, or all the time.  While this gives me some idea of what my counselee’s prayer life is like, there are still a lot of unknowns.  I find it very helpful to ask questions about where and when the person prays during the day.  What does the person talk to God about?  Is it primarily asking for specific needs or asking God for help with the day's tasks?  Are they praying alongside scripture or while they are driving in the car?  Is repentance and thanksgiving a part of their prayer life?  These questions, and many others, are helpful to determine how you can help your counselee grow in prayer.  Using the Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful way to help your counselee understand God’s purpose in prayer and to make his/her’s prayers more God-honoring.

Our Father in heaven.   This short statement is full of meaning.  God is our Father and we are His children. The Father to child relationship carries the picture of intimate care and love.  Our Father is FOR us and loves to bless us!  This statement also reminds us that we are talking to a Person, not just having a conversation in our minds.  We are addressing a personal Father who is the Father of all mercies and the God who is near to the broken-hearted.  Teaching your counselee to address God directly, using His name, orients our prayers to God.  This opening also reminds us that God cares and listens intently.

Hallowed by Your Name.  God’s name is holy and set apart.  There is none like God.  This statement focuses on God being Supreme and worthy of worship.  Our Father is a comforting view of God who calls us His friend, but God is also holy and Sovereign.  This statement teaches us to revere God and to be in awe of who He is.  It is a surrender to His rule and reign in our lives.  It is a plea for the world to adore God and praise and worship Him.  Teaching your counselee to address God as holy, righteous, Sovereign, majestic and completely unlike anything else, orients him/her to think soberly of self.  Hallowing God’s name immediately puts us our rightful place as creature and sinner to a Creator and holy God.

Your kingdom come,  God is the King.  God’s kingdom is eternal and He will be reigning Supremely for eternity.  This statement reminds us that we are bowing down to our King.  Praying this phrase means our counselees are expressing the desire to surrender more and more to what God wants to do in their hearts.  It is a plea for God to bring more people into His kingdom through the spread of the gospel.  Teaching our counselees to pray this way will help them to continue to focus on God’s kingdom and not building their own through idolatry and pride.  Praying for God’s kingdom to come shows a desire for God to continue to work of sanctification in their own lives and the lives of other believers.

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  God is Sovereign.  His ultimate purpose is always happening, even through sin and suffering.  God’s sovereign will is what has happened and what will happen in the future.  As sinners, we will disobey God’s moral will, His written commands, but even then we cannot thwart God’s sovereign will.  Your will be done is a prayer expressing that you are surrendered to the plan God has for you and your life.  Whether it is suffering or blessing, whether you are advanced or withdrawn, whether you are winning or losing, you are content in the place God has you.  This phrase means you trust God and the plan He has for you, no matter what it is.  On earth as it is in heaven, expresses a desire for a universal surrender to God’s will and that you and others are obedient constantly, quickly, and eagerly.  Picture the angels in Isaiah 6 and their eagerness to serve God and surround Him with praise.  Teaching our counselees to pray Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven encourages them to joyfully surrender their desires to God’s desires.  It encourages our counselees to examine their hearts and pray with Jesus “not my will but Yours be done.”

Give us this day our daily bread.  God is the Provider.  We are dependent on God for life, breath, food, shelter, everything.  We need to go to God daily for His grace and strength to walk with the Spirit.  Just as the Israelites collected manna each day, we must depend on God for new grace and mercy each day.  “Our daily bread” means that God gives us what we need for the day.  My neighbor and I have different daily bread.  God will give me what I need, not what my neighbor needs or what I want.  Teaching our counselees to pray this phrase reminds them of their dependency and humility before God.  It reminds them that God knows what we need and He will provide.  We can trust His provision and be content with whatever that is, knowing that He is the Sovereign Father who reigns and loves us.

And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.  We are sinners in need of forgiveness through a Savior who shed His blood for our sins.  We are debtors to God.  We cannot pay for our own.  We needed a substitutionary atonement in Christ.  We must confess our sins, ask for forgiveness, and humbly accept Grace from God.  As we also have forgiven our debtors means we need to forgive as God forgives us.  God forgiveness is like a burden lifted (Psalm 38), He covers our sin (Psalm 85).  God puts our sin behind His back (Isaiah 38).  God casts sin into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).  He remembers our sin no more (Jeremiah 31).  God cleanses us from sin (Ezekiel 36) and wipes out our sin (Isaiah 44).  This prayer teaches our counselees that we must be quick to forgive others as God has so completely and graciously forgiven us.  As we think about the metaphors God uses to show how He removes our sin so we can be in relationship with Him, we are compelled to forgive others similarly.  Our counselees must see the connection that God forgives us for His sake, that as we also forgive others, His glory is on display.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  This phrase reminds us of the horror that sin is.  Evil is anything that we think, say, or do that is not in perfect conformity with God’s will.  This plea in prayer is a cry for help.  We need God to keep us from wandering from His commands.  We need God to incline our hearts to His testimony.  We need God to establish our steps because we are prone to wander.  God promises in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that He will provide a way of escape when we are tempted.  By depending on His Spirit, we can choose to honor God in those moments of temptations.  Teach your counselees that they cannot fight temptation alone.  They must implore the Sword of the Spirit, God’s word, to fight against temptation and depend on the Holy Spirit within to guide and lead us to deny our sinful flesh.  God is the Deliverer.  

You can help enrich your counselees prayers by teaching them to pray like Jesus.

“Fear not, for God has heard...” Genesis 21:17

By Kaitlin Young

I’ve always been drawn to the story of Hagar, perhaps because I love seeing the heart God has for those who are lost and broken. Since becoming a mother, her story resonates on an even deeper level, as I understand with new depth the desperate breaking of her heart as she sat alone in the desert, away from her son, not able to bear the thought of watching him die.

In my childhood, I would pour over old copies of a National Geographic collection and I would soak in the photos of people and places and ways of life so unlike my own. Now in a later generation, where news and photos reach the masses nearly instantaneously, I see the stories in real time. In the middle of the night, when I’d be rocking my daughter to sleep, I’d have tears streaming down my face as I’d center in on photos of Rohingya women and children escaping, or the babies strapped to their mama’s backs fleeing from South Sudan, or the migrants waiting with their little ones on a boat or in a line for refuge. My mind would wonder, “what would I do if that were me?” It’s by God’s grace it isn’t me at this present moment. I’d wonder how one decides to leave everything you know and risk their life and their loved ones’ lives because anything is

better than where you are? What do you do when you have no idea if you can provide safety or sustenance for the children in your care? And so, I’d rock my child and my heart would break for these women who I so desperately wanted to love and had no idea how other than to pray.

Being a parent changed my perspective in many ways. I knew that would happen, you just never know exactly how until you’re in it. I’ve struggled with anxiety in the past – as a biblical counselor, I can quickly identify it’s usually my desire to be in control. The Lord has worked on my heart in this in many ways over the years and I’ve seen Him help me in victories and when I’m struggling most. The sanctification process is a beautiful thing to look on, but, since there isn’t an end to this process until glorification – I know there will be times when my desire for control is going to want to rule my heart more than Christ. I will be given more opportunities to grow.

As any person who likes things neat and orderly and all – I sometimes, in my pride, have anticipated the ways God is going to test me on this. So, in preparing to become a parent, I prayed and reminded myself that my child is going to show me how little control I have. Often. I figured my child’s schedule or willpower would be the test of that. And, because the Lord doesn’t allow me to dictate the comfort of how my sanctification is going to be walked out, it really wasn’t that much at all .

It never occurred to me how much I would grapple with the weight of responsibility in those early days and all of the things that were going on outside in the world I couldn’t control. I so desperately wanted to protect my daughter. In my head, I know God is in control, that He loves her more than I ever could and has a good plan for her life. In my heart, I wrestled with not trusting that something could happen to her. I work in a place where I hear of tragedy and trial, perhaps more disproportionately than most and I had to work through anxiety that something wouldn’t happen to her too.

This is where I remember Hagar. Alone in the desert and pregnant, she is met and acknowledges “El Roi” – the name of God that says He sees. She is to name her son Ishmael, meaning “God hears.” Here is a servant woman from a pagan nation sitting alone in the middle of nowhere and God reminds her that He sees her. He hears her. In a very real and personable way. We too, get to know a God who sees and hears us. Every tear, every fear, every thought in our mind and desperate plea – God knows. So

in those moments, when I am not sure what is going to happen, I can be comforted and reminded that God sees me and hears me.

Years later, as Hagar is now sent away into the desert, this time with her son, she is reminded yet again that God hears. He tells her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard t he voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad...” (Genesis 21:17-18a). God graciously met her yet again. He did not leave her just to remember words spoken long before, but met her once again and in compassion provided for their needs, physically and spiritually in reminding her who He is. God’s command not to fear is next followed by an action (“arise”). So when I am tempted to be afraid I can:

1) Remember who God is! Whether this passage or any in Scripture that describes God’s heart, His power, and His sovereignty in all things. I need to remember the God I love.

2) Repent – when I reflect on my own heart in fearful moments, I need to see what I am worshipping that is not God. For me, that’s often a desire to know and have security in outcomes I feel are out of my control. I need to repent of that pride in wanting things my way, instead of trusting God. His plan is better, He is greater, and I am crazy in thinking I could do it best!

3) Take action – I can pray, I can sit with Scripture, I can talk through and ask for wisdom from others, I can serve, and I can love in the ways God has called me to. I need to arise and get busy taking care of what God has placed as my responsibility day by day and leave the rest in His capable care.

I had a dream about a month after my child was born. There was an earthquake, and even though she was right next to me, no matter what I did I couldn’t reach her. I woke up completely panicked. Not even a month later, I was up in the night with her and we did have an earthquake. While relatively small(and honestly, I was so sleep deprived,I

verified other people felt it on Facebook because I thought after my dream maybe I was making it up in my head), I remember rocking her and thanking and praising God. He knew. H e was so kind to care for my heart and have me already up and holding my daughter when that earthquake hit. Now, He is still good and loving regardless of whether that was how He determined this event would go. But He saw me and was so gracious to allow me to hold and care for my little one with the same protective care He places over His children. He loves us so much.

What are you struggling with when it comes to fear? Do you trust that your Father is El Roi – the God who sees? Who sees you and sees all you have faced and all you will ever walk through? Do you trust that He is the God who hears? Who inclines His ear to you as you call to Him and delights to hear from you? Pour out your heart to the God who knows you and walks with you. Just like a mother who was one alone, broken and fearful, God meets you. Do not be afraid.

Fear Not

By Darcy Pearson

Are you a worrywart? Are your thoughts continually examining life’s circumstances? Are you consumed by irrational or catastrophic thinking? It is no wonder. Life is full of difficulties, diseases, dangers, toils, and death. Fears abound. We live in a scary and deadly world as the first nine months of 2020 has revealed.

Let us recap 2020 so far. First, there were apocalyptic wildfires engulfing Australia. Then the Iranian regime shot down a Ukrainian airliner killing all 176 people. This was one of several events that caused tension between the US and Iran, having the potential for war. Next came the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. I can never remember waking up to the news giving a death toll number each and every day. On the heels of this ongoing disease we have had unprecedented social and racial unrest due to the death of George Floyd May 25.th This event is still causing polarizing violence and destruction across America today. Plus, we have had earthquakes in Turkey and the Caribbean , a locust swarm in Africa, the sobering and tragic helicopter death of Kobe Bryant, murder hornets, devastating floods in Indonesia, riots in Delhi, a volcanic eruption in the Philippines, the stock market crash in March, and recently a major explosion in Beirut. The unemployment rate is 8.4% this month down from the top of 14.7% in April but far above a typical rate of 3.5%. And now the entire Western half of the US is on fire with millions of acres being destroyed and poor air quality for everyone in these states. The world is vastly different now than it was a short 9 months ago. Most people do not “feel” safe. Many are fretting, experiencing growing worry and anxiety. The Bible speaks to man’s fears throughout its pages. Over and over again our compassionate God reminds us to FEAR NOT. In Isaiah 43:13 he lovingly says,

“For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘FEAR NOT, I AM the one who helps you.’”

Let us meditate on this passage. It is found in the Book of Isaiah, authored by the Prophet Isaiah, who for 40 years (760 BC to 720 BC) foretold during one of the worst times in the history of Israel. These were difficult and tough years the people were living in. He wrote during the volatile and divided time period marking the expansion of the Assyrian empire and the decline of the northern kingdom of Israel. Isaiah repeatedly warns the people of the southern kingdom of Judah that God will punish them for their sins. Their only hope for escape is God’s intervention, not political or government interventions, nor material wealth. The people had felt secure under faithful

At the beginning of chapter 41 God tells the nations that He is sovereign, He controls history and at the end of the day they really have no control of their future (41:2-4). The LORD planned all that was occurring and will occur and is carrying out His purposes (41:4). He brings events to pass. The words Isaiah foretold to the people speak to the future judgment of exile and captivity as a consequence of their sin and unbelief, but mercifully he explained they were still not rejected by God. This is because the covenant the Lord made with Abraham was unconditional (Gen. 15) so his descendants need not fear! These soothing words of hope; “fear not,” remind the Israelites that He is still their God (Isa. 43:3). He is with them (43:5). He promises to strengthen them (40:31) and He upholds them with His righteous right hand (41:10). He will help them endure (41:13-14) and he will deliver them in time.1

Why the right hand? In the Bible, the words “right hand” are mentioned together over 130 times (see Gen 48:18; Num. 22:26; Heb. 12:2; Ps. 18:35). The right hand is considered to be a synonym for strength, power, and goodness. This passage is meant to be an encouragement to the sinning people of Israel and a promise that God will strengthen their hands so that they might persevere under pressure and dangerous threats. The Lord is taking them by the hand as their guide, to lead them in their way, help them when they fall, and when they are weak hold them up. He was giving His chosen people strength over fear, doubt, and a promise of deliverance over their adversaries, even as they were being disciplined for unbelief and betrayal to their God.

FEAR NOT, I AM the one who helps you.
The Bible is clear, God acts throughout history, proving his sovereignty over the nations.

He reassures His people that, just as He acted on their behalf before, He will do so again. God is good and promises his children his presence, his care, his protection, his strength, his cooperation, His effectual support, and deliverance. Therefore, believers should “fear not.” Although this passage contains words of comfort for the Israelites in their upcoming captivity, doubtless it is written for us today as encouragement to trust in God during the dark times. These verses help us silence our fears, encourage our faith in the midst of distresses and remind us that He is a faithful and a covenant-keeping God who proves every one of His promises true. He is trustworthy and therefore we take hope.2 Our Lord is challenging us to not fear the enemy, to not doubt God’s promises, nor to worry that we would perish in the afflictions surrounding us.

Three main points to ponder:

First, are you feeling alone? God says we can depend upon His presence. God speaks tenderly to us, “Fear not, for I am with you” (41:10). He will never leave your side. It is impossible to be in a situation, location, or relationship where he is not present. God is with you.

Second, do you feel weak? He is the all-sufficient God during the worst of times. He says He provides concrete help during the trouble, “I will strengthen you.” “I will help you.” This is dependable assistance for the days at hand. God is pleased to help the weak. Because it is impossible for anything to exist outside of his control or for anyone/anything to be more powerful than Him, His help is all that is needed.

Third, are you ready to sink, falter, and give up? When you grow weary in the struggle, God says He will uphold you with His right hand. He will take you by the hand to guide you, lead you in the way of escape, deliver you from all your troubles and help you persevere to the end. It is impossible to completely quit because God will never quit you; “He who begun a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Phil. 1:6).

There is one requirement for the child of God however to access these promises and that is faith. Faith refuses to fear because faith rests in who God says He is and what He says He will do. In a trial, if we lose sight of God, who He is (especially His goodness), then we will fret, worry, and doubt. Today, will you choose to remember the One who is with you, who sovereignly controls all and promises you concrete help during these trying days? He is “I AM”, the One who grabs you by the right hand and leads you safely through. Transferring trust by remembering and embracing the fact that you are secure because of your union with the Mighty One of Israel is required. Then, and only then, will you be able to Fear Not!

Questions to Ponder- Where do I look for security in? Where has my life be diverted by unbiblical fear? What makes me feel safe? What truths about God should I preach to myself during dangerous times? Have I transferred trust from myself and/or the things of this world into the all-sovereign loving hands of my God?

Fear Not!

By Ray Ruppert

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,but whoever denies me before men,I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven (Matt 10:28-33 ESV)

Most of the “fear not” and “do not fear” passages in the Old Testament are in the context of physical enemies, disaster, and conflicts. We claim many of those for ourselves and one of those that is often quoted is “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa 41:10 ESV). It is one of my memory verses and one that brings assurance of God’s presence whether trouble is lurking near or all is peaceful. Like most passages in the O.T., the context is God’s promise to Israel to give them victory over their enemies.

You are probably asking how this relates to the passage I selected for this article. Matthew 10:28-33 starts with a command not to be afraid of anyone who can deliver the utmost physical calamity. In this, Jesus’ “fear not” is like the O.T. passages. However, He zeroed in on what we most commonly think is the worst thing that can happen to us, death. He has purposely bypassed all the other evils that may be around and cut to the chase with what we usually fear the most.

Unlike Isaiah 41:10, there is no mention of God’s protection or deliverance from trouble or evil in Matthew 10:28-33. This stands in stark contrast to most of the “fear not” passages of the Bible. Therefore, we should stop and consider why Jesus spoke as He did. If we should not fear death, then all the other problems should have less fear attached to them. Of course, we often fear things that seem worse than death such as extended years of physical torture and pain. I think the point of not fearing people who can kill us is that it is not the worst that can happen, and we should be more concerned with eternity.

We can see this because Jesus does not follow with an assurance that God will deliver us from someone who is going to try to kill us. Rather He immediately points us to the proper person to fear and tells us what is even more fearful than death. It is death and going to hell instead of going to heaven. If our fear is one of those lesser things, then we should get a better grip on what is truly important. Paul would agree in this respect when he explained that we should regard all the suffering and trials of this world as “light and momentary” because we must be looking forward to external things (2Cor4:16-18) so that we don’t get bogged down with fear in this life.

Did you react negatively when I said Jesus did not promise protection or deliverance? Did you not ask about the sparrows? How many devotionals have you read that use this passage as assurance of God’s protection? How many of them included the contextual verses before and after Jesus talked about the sparrows and the hairs on our heads? As I read this passage, Jesus did not say that God keeps the sparrows from falling to the ground but said He knows when they fall. Some of the other translations say that they do not fall without the Father’s will. This is not a promise of protection. This is God’s promise that He has everything in control. He knows and determines when we will die, suffer illness, be attacked, or fly above it all. He has every one of our days planned from the beginning of time ( Ps 139:16). His assurance comes in His sovereignty and our value to Him, not in getting us out of our circumstances. That is the reason not to fear death or any other thing. Trusting in God’s sovereignty is a might fear-reliever. Yet, without a focus on eternity and knowing Who to fear, trusting in God’s sovereignty is a platitude.

Jesus makes his primary point to us in just a few words in verse 28. It is not that we should not fear men, but His point is that we should fear God. We cannot say to ourselves that death is not all that bad without acknowledging that death without a proper relationship with Jesus is going to mean an even worse outcome with eternity in hell. At some point of our lives we must have a dread, fear, horror, and even panic that God can and will kill us, then put us in hell if we do not have a proper relationship with Jesus. For a person who is truly saved, born again, regenerated, indwelt with the Holy Spirit (I’m trying to cover all the bases here to make sure that simply saying “is a Christian” is too inclusive) that may be a very fleeting moment before or even after salvation. But it still stands that Jesus said that kind of fear should appear sometime in our lives. He clarifies this point by explaining it in verses 32-33.

Note that verse 32 starts with “So” or “Therefore” (NAS). The purpose of the previous verses is to bring our attention to our relation to Jesus. If we fear men more than acknowledging that we belong to Jesus, we will not be acknowledged before the Father. The only possibility that Jesus would not acknowledge us before the Father is that we are not saved, born again, regenerated, or indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Jesus made a similar statement in Matthew 7:21-23 to those who called Him Lord but do not do the will of the Father. They would have called themselves Christians, but they will not be allowed entry into the kingdom of heaven. These are fearsome thoughts! How can this be? It should make any Christian sit up straight and consider his or her relationship with Jesus. It should make us tremble at that thought of what our sins deserve.

The Psalmist gave us some very good advice about what to do in regard to considering our relationship with Jesus:

Serve the Lord with fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son,

lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, 

for his wrath is quickly kindled. 

Blessed are 

all who take refuge in him. Ps 2:11-12 ESV

We must get our “fears” in order and our relationship with Jesus in the right perspective. Paul said, “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). I am thankful that Paul didn’t stop with verse 12 but made sure that we understand that it is only because God is working in us that we can have the correct relationship with Jesus. This corresponds to the illustration Jesus provided with the sparrows; the fact that we must trust in God’s sovereignty as part of working out our salvation. With both the assurance of God’s sovereignty and a correct relationship with Jesus, then all the “fear not” passages will bring great comfort to us. With this assurance that we really do belong to Jesus and we will be able to join with Jude in his doxology:

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen (Jude 24-25 ESV). 

Fear Not!

By Nancy Williams

 Isaiah 35:2 “Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Have you ever had an anxious heart? The world would tell you to drown your anxiousness with pills, food, wine, vegging out or anything that will help you take your mind off your problems. Do whatever will make you happy after all it is your life. As believers we know that the world’s solutions do not work yet at times, we turn to them because we do not believe the word of God can help. Have you ever wondered what the word of God says about the cure for an anxious heart? Isaiah a prophet to the Israelites shares the cure in Isaiah 35:2 “Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

We are called to be strong, Fear not! And why are we called to Fear Not! Because we are called to behold our God who will come and save us. Do you know God? Truly know who He says He is? Maybe our hearts are anxious and afraid because we have a small view of our God.

Stop and meditate on God! When we know God, we truly can “Fear Not!”

Deuteronomy 4:31 “For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.”

Psalms 116:5 “The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.”

Exodus 15:11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”

John 1:5 “This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, in him there is no darkness at all.”

Psalms 54:4 “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.”

Psalms 62:7-8 “My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah.”

1 Timothy 1:17 “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Isaiah 40:28 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”

Psalm 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.”

1 Corinthians 1:9 “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

Psalm 117:2 “For His lovingkindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord!”

Beholding our God is to be in awe of who He says He is and what He can do. That means meditating on scriptures, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God, he will come and save you.

I Will Not Fear

By Wendy Wood

“The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.  

What can man do to me?”   Psalm 118:6

God is faithful to give us reasons and arguments for why He gives us a command.  For example, before giving the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, God reminds the Israelites “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”.  God’s reason for obedience to the commandments was that He was a personal God who loved them and had rescued them out of slavery.  Obedience is rooted in knowing the greatness of God.  We see God giving reasons again in Matthew 6 when He commands us to “Do not be anxious”.  His reasons?  Look at how God takes care of birds and flowers and provides for every need of every creature.  Consider how detail oriented God is with each bloom of lily and providing berries and seeds for birds.  The grass is beautifully clothed with God’s different shades of green and brown.  Think about God’s ways with even the little creatures and how much more people, made in God’s image, are cared for.  When God gives us a command, obedience is rooted in His very nature.  Because God is personal, great, sovereign, caring, a provider, and always present, we can and should trust Him to live as He calls us to live.

“I will not fear.”

Reason #1.  “The Lord is on my side.”

When I picture “sides” I picture a tug-of-war or an athletic game where there are teams involved.  As you go out to compete in a sport or game, one team sizes up the other to see how they compare.  If you are about to do a tug-of-war over a pit of muddy water, you are gauging your team’s size and strength against the other team.  If you are playing a basketball game you are comparing height, build, and speed against the other team to see how your team measures up.  “The Lord is on my side” is the game winning statement.  No matter who is on the other team, having the Lord on your team, is a guaranteed winning outcome every time.  No one can outmatch or outplay or out strategize God.  The completed work of Christ on the cross is the victory that every believer has that guarantees the future.  Romans 8:30 promises that those who are foreknown are called, and justified, and sanctified, and glorified.  The outcome of victory has already happened and will be fully realized in the future.  ‘The Lord is on my side’ means that my soul is secure and the outcome has already been decided.

“I will not fear.”

Reason #2 “The Lord is on my side.”

“The Lord is on my side” also means that God is “for us” (Romans 8:31).  Again I picture sports as a metaphor for God being “for us”.  As a mom of soccer players, I was on the sidelines of soccer fields every weekend for years watching my boys play the game.  I couldn’t play ‘for them’, but both of my boys knew I was “for them” by my actions.  I drove them to every practice.  I arrived 45 minutes before each game so they could warm up and receive coaching tips for the day.  I was on the sideline whether is was 28* at the end of November or 95* in the middle of August.  I watched every play and cheered on not only my own son, but their entire teams.  As a sinful, earthly parent, I was able to show my boys that I was “for them” in their sport. By being there, by spending time with them, by getting to know their strengths and weaknesses on the field, bringing snacks and cheering them on, I showed my support.  God, our perfectly holy heavenly Father is so much more “for us” than we could ever imagine.  Do you picture God “for you”?  Do you see God’s heart “for you” as you engage in daily activities. When life is comfortable and things are going smoothly do you realize God is “for you”?  When you are struggling with temptation and have given in again, do you consider that God is “for you”?  When you are sad and lonely, do you look to the God who is “for you”?  “The Lord is on my side; I will not be afraid” is a blessed promise that we have a Sovereign, Holy, Merciful, Loving, Good God who is “for us”.  We have absolutely nothing to fear because of who God is.

“I will not fear.”

Reason #3  “What can man do to me?”

When we have considered who God is, how he is on our side, and for us, we realized that there is absolutely nothing man can do to us that affects our security and hope in Christ.  Man may be able to inflict short term difficulties and trials in our lives.  Man may be able to temporarily cause harm and, in some cases, could even end our earthly life.  But for those who are in Christ, we are secure and our hope in spending eternity in the presence of God is absolutely guaranteed by the resurrection of Christ.  Matthew 10:28 tells us, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  If we are covered in the righteousness and holiness of Christ, our souls are secure and we need not fear.  When we are tempted to anger or self-preservation, we can say with Joseph, “what man intends for evil, God intends for good” (Genesis 50:20 author’s paraphrase).  Even though Joseph’s brothers intended harm by throwing Joseph into a pit and selling him as a slave to a caravan headed to Egypt, Joseph could trust that God was sovereign and in complete control of his every moment.  Joseph could say “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?” knowing that God’s purpose and will are always accomplished and that God is good and uses even difficult circumstances for His children’s good.  The promise of Romans 8:28-29 is that “all things” will work for good by conforming believers to the image of Christ. 

“I will not fear” is a command that we can obey because of WHO God is.  Fear comes from looking at our circumstances and not considering the sovereignty, goodness, wisdom, mercy, omnipresence, and love of God.  When we know and trust that God is on our side and that God is sovereign over man and anything that can be done to us, we can say with the Psalmist, “I will not fear”.

The Refiner’s Fire

By Paul Tautges

God ordains trials to test the reality of our faith in a way that’s similar to the process of purifying precious metals. Gold, for example, is purified through a process of high temperature heating or chemical exposure. According to Sciencing, an online magazine, “If the gold is a low grade ore, then it is broken up into chunks that are then put in carefully lined pads and treated with a dilute cyanide solution, which dissolves the gold. For high grade ore, the metal is sent to a grinding mill and made into a powder. Refractory ore contains carbon and is heated to over 1000 degrees.”

But God says that our faith is even more precious than gold, which is perishable. For this reason, He sometimes turns up the thermostat. He heats up the furnace of affliction, in order to reveal impurity in our hearts, so that it can be skimmed off. As the apostle Peter writes, our faith is “tested by fire” when we are “grieved by various trials.” Greek scholar, Kenneth Wuest, provides a beautiful illustration of God’s refining fire.

“The picture here is of an ancient goldsmith who puts his crude gold ore in a crucible, subjects it to intense heat, and thus liquefies the mass. The impurities rise to the surface and are skimmed off. When the metalworker is able to see the reflection of his face clearly mirrored in the surface of the liquid, he takes it off the fire, for he knows that the contents are pure gold. So it is with God and His child. He puts us in the crucible of Christian suffering, in which process sin is gradually put out of our lives, our faith is purified from the slag of unbelief that somehow mingles with it so often, and the result is the reflection of the face of Jesus Christ in the character of the Christian. This, above all, God the Father desires to see. Christlikeness is God’s ideal for His child. Christian suffering is one of the most potent means to that end.”

Job, the Old Testament hero of the faith, understood this picture. It was after his horrendous trial, which is beyond anything we have yet to experience, he testified of God, “When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). It is my prayer that the Lord would so work in our hearts during our times of testing, so that we may one day say the same. Oh, may He purify His church!

The teaching of Scripture is clear: In order to produce a godly, mature Christian, God increases the temperature of life, in order to bring to the surface the sin that is already in our hearts, which we may be blinded from seeing, or just too stubborn to address. To use a similar metaphor, like the boiling hot water that steeps the tea out of the bag, trials draw out the issues of life that reside in our heart. The trial is not the problem, nor does it create the issues of the heart. They are already “in the tea bag,” so to speak.

The purpose of the trial is to draw out our hidden sins (Psalm 139:23), so that they may be repented of, and the process of sanctification may be stimulated. As we make sometimes-slow, gradual progress, we become like Christ, in whose image we are being re-made (Colossians 3:10). This is the refiner’s fire, of which Scripture speaks.

Proverbs 17:3 says, “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts.”

Zechariah 13:9, referring to the end-time remnant of Israel, says, “And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested, they will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is My God.’”

Malachi 3:4, which is prophetic of Christ, says, “He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.”

Just as the refining process is used to remove impurities, in order to bring out the beauty of gold, so trials reveal our inner self. This gives us the opportunity to repent of sin, and be made more like Christ. For this reason, we know at least some of the good that God is up to in our trials.

In 1 Peter 1:6-9, we get a glimpse of God’s will for our trials.

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

God wants you to understand His good will in all that He is doing—right now—in your life. So when you find yourself under a trial God wants you to respond in three ways:

1. Rejoice in the superior promise of your inheritance (v. 6).
2. Recognize the sanctifying purpose of your trials (v. 7).
3. Remain steadfast in the perseverance of faith (vv. 8-9).

The point is clear: God uses suffering to heat up our lives in order to bring the scum of our hearts into full view in order that we may repent and be refined—to reflect more accurately the beauty of Jesus.

This blog was originally posted at Counseling One Another, read the original post here.

What Do You Love About God?

Audio Transcript of John Piper

Happy Monday, everyone! Welcome back and thank you for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast. Pastor John joins us today remotely over Skype. Our question today comes from a listener named Sam, who lives in Los Angeles. He sent in a really short question, but an important one. “Dear Pastor John, what do you love most about God?” That’s it. Pastor John, what do you love most about God?

In a sense, to answer this question authentically, I probably ought not spend any great time theologizing, studying, doing exegesis, or assessing God’s attributes. I ought to simply blurt out — just blurt out — what I feel about God, what I really treasure about him and value and admire. Wouldn’t that be the most authentic answer to the question “What do I love about God?” rather than some long-studied, complicated, fill-up-an-APJ, theological answer? And I think the answer to that question is yes, that’s right. So, that’s where I’ll start.

Flavored with Grace

My first, most visceral, immediate, heartfelt answer to the question is this: I love the grace of God.

• I love the mercy of God.

• I love being loved by God.

• I love being treated graciously and kindly and patiently by God.

• I love being accepted and forgiven by God.

• I love God’s grace toward me.

Piper: “I hope to be spending the rest of eternity knowing and loving all of God’s excellencies better and better.”TweetShare on Facebook

I think all of those statements I just tumbled out there are ways of saying that the grace of God is very, very, very precious to me. I would be undone without a God of grace. Late at night, early in the morning, facing conflict, facing guilt feelings, facing judgment from him — ultimately, possibly — or from critical people, facing the world, I would be undone without the grace of God. It is on the front burner of my affections for God all of the time. Even when I’m thinking about all kinds of other attributes of God or ways of God, they’re all flavored with the grace of God.

So, that’s my most visceral, heartfelt, unreflective, immediate, desperate response to the question of what I love most about God.

Love the True God

But the reason I said that answering this way is in a sense the right way to answer this question is that there’s another sense in which the Bible encourages us not just to speak from our inmost or most immediate perception of things, but to ponder — in the light of God’s word and in the light of God’s action — what we mean by what we most immediately say, and whether there might be contained in this immediate response aspects of God’s grace and mercy and kindness that need to be made explicit for the sake of our own souls, as well as for the sake of others, lest we fail to honor God as we ought, and lest we subconsciously find ourselves loving not God supremely, but our own selves.

There are numerous instances in the Bible where people showed some measure of spontaneous devotion to God. And then when God said something or did something that they didn’t like, their devotion evaporated, which means that what they said was love for God wasn’t really love for the true God, but only a love for their imagined God, their picture of God. And then the real God does something out of step with their expectations, and their love is gone. Now, that love was not really love for God.

So, even though it’s right — and I’m going to say it again — for me to give a spontaneous, heartfelt, visceral, gut reaction to what I love most about God, every person who lives under the authority of the Bible, including me, will want to discern from the true, real God revealed in the Bible whether what I’m saying corresponds to reality. Is God really like what I say I love about him? And is my heart so much attuned to the true God that no matter what he reveals about himself, I will still be totally committed to him, and in love with him, and valuing him, and treasuring him, and cherishing him, and being satisfied in him? Then, with the Bible’s help, I’ll know that I love the true God, and not just a figment of my own religious imagination.

The Greatest Gift of Grace

So, what John Piper needs to do, having given his immediate, heartfelt answer — “I love the grace of God toward me in Jesus” — is ask, “Piper, what do you mean by ‘the grace of God’? If you love that most, you should have some sense of what you’re talking about. Or are those just empty words?”

And my answer (now I’m doing the reflective thing: testing my guts and my spontaneity) would be this: God’s grace is his disposition and action to give the greatest possible blessing to the least deserving creatures at the greatest cost. That’s my definition of God’s grace.

1. The cost is the suffering and death of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 8:32: “He . . . did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.”

2. The least deserving creatures are human beings — me — who have desecrated God’s glory by committing treason in preferring other things above God. Romans 5:6–8 says, “Christ died for the ungodly. . . . God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

3. The greatest possible blessing purchased at the greatest cost for the least deserving is . . . Think to yourself, Now, what’s that? And at this point we are at the most critical juncture. How shall we state the greatest possible blessing that grace gives to the least deserving recipients like me? And it won’t work to say, “Well, the greatest possible gift of God’s grace is grace.” That’s just talking in circles; that’s not going to answer the question.

So, you can see why it’s an inadequate answer when John Piper says that the greatest thing I love about God is his grace until I’ve answered the question, What’s the greatest blessing that God’s grace has given to me in treating me so much better than I deserve at the cost of his Son’s life? To love the grace of God in a way that honors God is to love grace because of the specific content of the blessing given by the grace of God — namely, God. The greatest gift grace gives is God for our eternal friendship and enjoyment.

• 1 Peter 3:18: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”

• Romans 5:10: “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.”

The grace John Piper says he loves about God is not the grace of God unless the capstone of that grace is the gift of God himself. And the love that I say I have for that grace is not a love for God unless what I love most about the grace is that it brings me to God.

Eternal Excellencies

And I think this is why, in Ephesians 1, Paul says that the eternal election of God and his predestination and his planned adoption of redeemed people through Christ, all according to the good pleasure of his will, has as its ultimate goal “the praise of his glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6). And that glory, the glory of grace, is the beauty of how all the attributes of the eternal God — his goodness, his righteousness, his unimpeachable justice, his unfathomable wisdom, his omnipotent power, all that he is in his God-ness and his holiness — how all of that unites, fits together beautifully, to plan and perform creation and redemption in a way that magnifies the capstone of his deity — namely, the glory of his grace.

“The greatest gift grace gives is God for our eternal friendship and enjoyment.”TweetShare on Facebook

In other words, the eternal excellencies of God give rise to the wise ways of God, for the praise of the glory of the grace of God, so that when we say we love the grace of God, we ought to mean that we have some sense of those eternal excellencies and those wise ways of God.

All of which brings me back to where I began: I love the grace of God, which now means

• I love that he’s the kind of God who didn’t spare his own Son.

• I love that he’s the kind of God who justifies the ungodly.

• I love that he’s the kind of God that gives to the least deserving the greatest blessing — namely, himself.

And I hope to be spending the rest of eternity knowing and loving all of his excellencies better and better.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-do-you-love-most-about-god?utm_campaign=Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=94483232&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-81oi0MLEWVYN7eR-hkpbWUC7vplXtLOP0gEYJhQ47Alj_MM7bprs0ZPX5d01UmCcpxZddLRYFNxMfQfS2RPE_Up2EVug&utm_content=94483232&utm_source=hs_email