Recent Life: walking by faith

What does it mean to walk by faith?  We say that we must, but do we understand what it will take? 

Scripture says that we must walk by faith and not by what we can see with our own eyes (2 Cor. 5).  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  It is impossible to please God without faith that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (Heb. 11).  

Walking by faith isn't glamorous.  It isn't a pathway filled with lights and billboards.  Sometimes, the path isn't even paved.  But it has been walked before.  

We walk by faith and trust in the good hand of our Father.  He is our good Shepherd, leading us through the green pastures, the valleys of death and the still waters.  We rest under His care because He is good.  

God is Good!  

There is nothing to fear.  

We walk by faith, not by sight.  

Music Monday: favorite songs

I'll just start off by saying that I don't normally (as in never) post things about "Music Monday".  However, today is marking a new year and new things to come!  

Really, all this means is that I am once again attempting to write with a bit more consistency, and I thought today's musing would be a good start!  

So, the other day I was at work, listening to the usual play list that haunts my desktop.  I typically roam between Grooveshark and Bandcamp most of the morning, then hit Pandora in the afternoon.  In order to keep things "lively", I try to adjust what I'm listening according to the task at hand or my present mood.  As of late, however, I've hit a lovely obstacle and can't quite seem to jump over!  

Yes, it happened.  I've fallen into the same chasm where many music lovers have gone before. I've gotten stuck listening to one album, and in some cases one song of the album, for several days!  BUT this is the exciting part!  

The two songs to which I am referring are both done by Sovereign Grace Music (a personal all-time favorite for God-glorifying, Scripture-singing, gospel-revealing music).  They are from the album named, "From Age to Age".  This collection of songs was written by using hymn writers of the past to create new, rearranged, or restructured songs for the purpose of combining "rich, theologically driven lyrics with singable melodies for the glory of the Savior whose praises know no end."  

Not only are these songs so rich and full of theological truth, they also help to paint a music picture of what it means to know God.  I love listening to the words, because they point to God and the truth of God's word.  I love listening to the music, because the composers and musicians do an excellent of meshing concepts and feelings through the use of instruments, harmony, melody, and rhythm.  Too often the notes of music get overcrowded and muddled, so that you're too distracted by the music to hear the words.  Yet, these men and women do the opposite and make the words the most prominent thing.  Simply put, you can understand what they are saying!  I love having these songs on my mind!  

And here they are: 

 How Great You Are: 

this is a call to the well-known hymn "How Great Thou Art".  It speaks of the greatness of God, His unsearchable ways, and our response of singing praise to Him and offering our bodies as a living sacrifice to our Savior!  

As you listen, hear the voices of praise to our great God!  (and my personal favorite part of the song is the third verse, and the fantastic use of brass instruments.  It gives me chills every time!)


Immovable Our Hope Remains: 

this song combines the original words of an early 19th century hymn, by tying a new melody to the richness of the truth presented.  It speaks of our immovable and unchangeable heavenly Father who has saved us and keeps us till the end through the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit.  

Notice the build of energy throughout this song.  There is a unique call to worship which starts subtly and climaxes to a fantastic point (the organ in the last verse!  I mean how can you go wrong with an organ?), then edges off for a reflective refrain.  

I hope that you enjoy these musing on "Music Monday".  

This post certainly cannot do justice to some fabulous music described above.  

My suggestion is that you check these people out, and let your hearts and ears be blessed by their music ministry!  

Homework = good stuff

I'm now back in the "school" mode, which means that there is homework and papers and reading and class time and... well, you can fill in the blanks!  Anyway, I'm currently starting my long list of books to read for class and have not been disappointed with the material so far!  (I'm going to be taking a class for my Organizational Leadership program called "Leadership and Influence")

Here's a good thought(s) to chew on:

God develops leaders through a process.  When the Lord is developing someone, all of life is a school.  No experience, good or bad is wasted (Rom. 8:28).  God doesn't squander people's time.  He doesn't ignore their pain.  He brings not only healing but growth out of even the worst experiences.  Every relationship can be God's instrument to fashion a person's character.  At times, through our most painful experiences, God does His greatest work.  

- Henry and Richard Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership

A good fight to live

It's time for a little honesty.

If you've spent any time on social media sites as of late, I'm sure that you've noticed the plethora of posts about free speech and freedom of religion.  If so, then you've also seen many pages with lists of things to do before you get married, and responses with "better" ideas, plans, and dreams.  I've read political pieces about the economics of our country and world.  Many authors put their talent to use and right about the things that they really care about, while others respond in anger and ill-spoken language.  We are a society that speaks most often in rash statements, selfish words, untimely replies, and overall bitterness.  What does this say about our world's focus and goals in life?  You can fill in the blanks. 

Even in the church, we have been overtaken by similar feelings and reactions.  We're worried about the state of our world and country.  We talk about holding on to our constitutional rights as Americans, and take action when they are compromised.  We write about our plans, ideas, and dreams for what we want to do.  We talk about little things that don't really matter in the long run, but are fun to argue about every once in a while.

Is this wrong?  Not necessarily.  

Is there more?  Yes!  

At the end of his life, the apostle Paul wrote a final letter to his young son in the faith, Timothy.  These were his last words calling Timothy and all believers who followed after to live for the Gospel and strive for godliness.  If anyone would have a perspective on life, it would be Paul, and Scripture affirms this fact.  He said,

"I have fought the good fight, 

I have finished the race, 

I have kept the faith.  

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, 

which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that Day, 

and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing"  

What a novel idea!  Here's a man in prison at the end of his life facing certain death.  He's not claiming rights or innocence.  He's calling for higher living.

Living for Christ isn't easy and Paul would be the first to tell anyone that.  He even made a list of all the persecutions and terrible things that he faced to encourage the Corinthian church that God's grace is sufficient for everything!  For Paul, life wasn't about fighting for freedom; he lived in the freedom of Christ.  He didn't make plans for retirement on the beach; he knew that to "live is Christ, and to die is gain..."

Good Fight, Good Race

As I was thinking about this, I thought, what would I say as my last words to my best friend?  Would I thank them for being such an encouragement in my life?  Would I thank God for His blessings.  Would I tell my last wishes?  I don't have an answer yet, but I don't think I'd talk about the fight it was to live!  

Reality check. 

Paul fought the good fight.  He lived for one purpose: to glorify Christ by spreading the gospel of grace.  Paul ran the race of life well.  It started on the road to Damascus and spread on from there till the day he died.  Once his life was captured by the mercy and grace of God, he lived for something better and bigger and more glorious.  He kept the faith that was entrusted to him.  There was nothing that he had to do to keep himself in God's "good graces".  He recognized and repeated over and over that the gospel was given to him by God, and he was a steward of that ministry.  He was faithful.  

And his hope?  Though not sunk in a bank account or person or job, he was assured of the hope of heaven through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!  His hope was the righteousness of God finally and fully being realized through the completion of his sanctification in Jesus Christ.  

What of the crown?  Isn't that worth something?  Yes, it's the testimony of God's strength in his life to live a life that pleased God.  It is just one thing to receive humbly, then cast back at the feet of the Great I AM.

Life Well Lived

I get tired of seeing so many people live for so little.  It's one thing to expect it from the masses, but when you see your brothers and sisters in Christ doing the same thing, it's pitiful!  

We've become comfortable with the way that our world exists.  Romans 1 is playing out, and we watch it happen from our arm chairs, blessing the fact that we've been saved from the fires of hell.  We're comfortable letting sinful thought patterns take root in our minds.  We take human philosophy, tie a pretty bow around it, and say that nothing's wrong.  We compromise the truth for what sounds better and more politically correct.  We are more willing to listen to what rich men and women have to say, than what God has said in His word.  

Something's wrong!

We live for so little if we do not live every breath of life for the God who made us, saved us, works in and through us, and rules over all things.  We live for nothing if we are not pursuing godliness for the glory of God.  We live for nothing if our hearts are constantly being pulled away from loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, to bow to this idol and that addiction.  We have no goal in life if we don't love God first and then the people around us.  We have no purpose in life, if we live for ourselves.  

Life is a gift.  Each breath you take and step you walk is God's mercy.  We are nothing apart from God's sustaining hand holding us together.  

Live for more; live for Christ.

Life is nothing if not lived for the glory of God through the gospel.  

Big Story; little people

I've often thought about what it would be like if my whole like were written out into story, from beginning to end.  What would it look like?  Would it be a happy tale about a princess,  who was saved by a prince who came to slay the dragon to save her and the whole kingdom?  Would it be convicting or thought provoking?  Would it be a sad story with little glimpses of happiness sprinkled throughout?  How many characters would be in it?  Where would the conflict come from?  The plot?  Crisis?  Resolution?

We all love stories of any form.  Either happy or sad, we are story people.

Don't you just love sitting in a room to listen and talk about the stories in their lives?  It's so fun to see the road that each person travels.  How different, and yet similar they seem to be.  And yet, there is something missing; the big picture!  These stories are so small.  They involve people and situations that we know and are familiar with.  But they have a beginning and an ending.

I often think about stories at Christmas time.  It's not because I like reminiscing of the wonderful childhood years, or the excitement of the season as a child.  I think of stories at Christmas, because Christmas is all about a story.  A Big Story.

This story is about God the Father sending His own Son, Jesus, to earth by the power of God the Holy Spirit.  The world says that a story must have a beginning, but we know in Scripture that God has no beginning or end.  His story is no different!

It's a Big story because it points to a finale unlike anything ever imagined.  God wins!  It's a Big story because it involves the Creator of the universe choosing to become like the created things He made.  This is a story about hundreds of thousands of millions of people all specifically created and placed where they needed to be.  It's these people doing things every day, but doing them according to God's plan.  It's prophecy spoken and fulfilled.  It's the natural forces of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and volcanoes all coursing according to their determined time.  It's a story about disobedient, stubborn, and rebellious people choosing to act in sin, independently from God.  It's about God's holy foreknowledge to send His Son to be the perfect sacrifice for sins, so that these creatures could have communion with Him.

This Big Story is about the perfect time, place, and people who were waiting for their Messiah to come.  It was during that time that God orchestrated the nations of the world so that a young girl and her fiance would need to travel to Bethlehem.  It's about a group of dirty shepherds watching their flock of sheep in a specific fields so that when the angel announced to them the birth of the Messiah, they could go, find Him and worship Him.  It's about a star, created by God's hand, for the purpose of leading Gentile men to the place where Jesus was.  It's about a woman too old to have children, conceiving a son who would be the one to prepare the people's hearts for the Lamb of God.

Christmastime tells us about the coming of Christ to earth.  It's the Biblical account of God becoming man that is the greatest story ever told.  And it involves me.  Wait!  Me?

Yes, because the birth of Christ, His coming to earth as 100% God and 100% man to live a perfect life, dying as the complete satisfaction to God for our sins, and rising from the dead to prove that reality, is Christmas.  It's the Gospel!  But here's where we put these two truths together.  The Gospel is the only true story of Christ, and it is His grace that allows people, little people, to be made righteous by faith in the Son of God.  Christmas marks a time in history when God became man.  God became man, for His glory, to bring men into fellowship with God the Father.

The Gospel is the "big story" of Christmas!

Now, let's look at this perspective.  Christmas is about the Gospel.

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 

but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, 

whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.  

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, 

and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.  

After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs."

- Hebrews 1:1-4

"In the beginning was the Word, 

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.  

He was in the beginning with God.  

All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.  

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...

He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.  

But to all who did receive Him, who believe in His name, 

He gave the right to become children of God, 

who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, 

glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."  

- John 1:1-4, 11-14

10 Days of Thankfulness: Life (6) & Insignificant Days (7)

Life: it's something that we all have in common.  

The lady in the check-out line with her cart of groceries; she's alive.
The man behind the wheel of the police car; he's alive.
The little kids thinking about what they want for Christmas; they're alive.
The doctor scrubbing up before performing open heart surgery; he's alive.
The woman sitting at the window of her apartment, watching the world go by; she's alive.
The little boy riding his bike down the street; he's alive.
The older man playing chess with his friends and remembering the "good 'ole" days; he's alive.
The little girl giddy with the anticipation of being "older" playing tea-party and dress up; she's alive.

We have life.  We're alive.

What is life if not more than a few breaths that we take while we walk the earth.  Life is short.  We're all aware of this grim reality, though some live with this reality in mind and others pretend that it doesn't exist.  Life is a vapor.  Scripture accords that man's days are nothing more than a breath, a vapor that floats on the wind.  There is nothing to it; one moment here and the next gone.

Life is more than breath, or the blood coursing through our veins.  It's more than a job.  It's more than family and friends.  It's more than a dash marking the time we entered the world and when we left.  It's more than a story.  It's more than a memory.  Life, true life, is something to be thankful for!

True life brings hope.  It is full of joy and wonder.  It's rich and blessed.
It's free.

How many times have you woken up in the morning, rubbed the sleep from your eyes, and let out a prodigious yawn, without thinking about where the air you just breathed came from?  Or what about just before you took that difficult test and you sighed with despair; did you think about where that air came from?  Life is as simple as breathing, yet we hesitate to stop and think who is the Giver of Life.  

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place..." (Acts 17:24-26)

Life is a gift from God.  He, being the Creator of the universe, has set into motion life and breath and everything.  He created the earth, set the stars in their place, made the laws of the universe so that it functions in order.  He set the times and the seasons in place.  He causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine.  He raised up the mountains by the word of His power.  Creation sings of the life that God has granted it.

And humans, people made in the image of God, are we thankful for every breath, every moment of life?
It's a gift!

What about when life is normal, like on the weekends when all time is taken up by Statistics homework, baking and cleaning?  What about when the days seem so long, and your hope for the future is waning fast?  What about when life is hard or the days hurt more because you are still breathing?  What about the prospect of living another day alone?

Is not God still here?

Yes, He is.  And He made these days just for you.  They may be hard and painful yet, but that is because He is still shaping and molding you into the image of His Son.  This process is hard.  It hurts.  It's like the Potter working with the clay; squeezing and conditioning it so that He can work with it.  Even these days are gifts from God.

Sometimes, I think, that we don't recognize that even the hard days are from God.  We make excuses for them to explain them away with our varying emotions or the weather.

Look for God's grace on the days that are "normal", "ordinary", or "insignificant".  God has given it to you to live; to love Him and others around you!

Life is a gift from God, yet it's more than just the air that we breathe.
It's found in Jesus Christ: the true Life.
This life is salvation, given to us through the grace of God by faith, to live eternally with God.
This life is the promise that what we have and are now is not the end.

This life is full of reasons to be thankful!   

10 Days of Thankfulness: Salvation, Amazing Grace, and Eternal Blessings (4-5)

When I think of being thankful for the things that God is doing in my life, I think of salvation.  

God's love for the world to provide a perfect sacrifice to pay for the sins of the whole world.  

God who satisfied the His justice through the life and death of His own Son. 

God who gives this same salvation from sin and death by faith.  

I think of God's grace.  It's amazing. 

God's grace is what gives me what I don't deserve.  

As a finite creature, I do not deserve to receive gifts from the infinite God; but He has given them to us.  

He made the world for us to enjoy.  

He has set beautiful things in life, from the little spring buds and flowers to the brightly colored fall trees. 

He has "given us all things that pertain to life and godliness".  

He has given us His Son.  

It is God's grace that called me to salvation and is working in my life to make me more like Christ. 

It is God's grace that will take us to be with Him in heaven forever.  

I think of the eternal blessings in Jesus Christ because of salvation and God's grace.  I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1).  These blessings are given to us now and will be fully seen when we are finally in the presence of God.  

How often do we take these things for granted? 

How many times to do we go through life and talk about these things with others, and yet refuse to let them change us from the inside out? 

How many times have you complained about a certain situation, because you forgot that you have all you need in Christ Jesus?  

If I am honest in answering.  It is too many times.  

As I think of being thankful for the things that really matter, I need to be reminded of who God is and what He has done and is doing and will do in my life.  It's all because of His grace and the salvation that came through His Son that I even have hope to live another day.  

I am thankful!  God is good!  All is well!