Faith Firmly Rooted

As a minister of discipleship within a local church, I can relate many stories of people finding a Bible Study within our church, plugging in, and beginning to grow deep roots in God's word and in their relationship with Christ.

For others, finding the right Bible study can be a challenge.  Here are some things to keep in mind about that.

Ask yourself: Whose job is it to see that I grow spiritually?

Here are the most common answers to such a question.

1. It is my pastor's job

Yes and no on this one.  Your pastor is entrusted with shepherding and  spiritual caring for the "flock" that God has placed under his stewardship.  However, if all you do is come to church, sing some songs, and listen to a sermon once a week, you might or might not actually ever begin to grow spiritually.  Most every pastor (and virtually every pastor worth listening to) would agree that if you really want to start growing spiritually, you'll need to be involving yourself with other believers in Bible study and prayer.  Do you know what statistics are showing to be the number one proven way for churchgoers to begin growing spiritually is? It is simply this: Prayerfully study the Bible when you are not at church!  Your pastor can't force you to do that, but he can certainly influence and encourage you to do so.

2. It is my church's job (or my discipleship pastor's job)

Yes and no on this one. Your church (and your discipleship pastor if you have one) are like your pastor in that they are entrusted with overseeing and facilitating the spiritual development of those God has placed under their stewardship.  However, as much as they labor to assist in people's spiritual growth and make it easy for them, sometimes it doesn't seem to happen.  I occasionally receive complaints from people that they are not growing spiritually...some of whom are deeply involved in a Bible study.  I know...it is a head scratcher.  But even though your church and your ministers strive hard to help you grow spiritually, the job is partly your responsibility as well.  Do you show up to church ready to listen and learn?  Do you attend a Bible study at your church expecting to hear God speak to you through the scripture?  Or are you waiting for just the right Bible study to come along with just the right people with just the right teacher?  You might be waiting a long time. 

3. It is MY job

This might be getting close to the right answer.  It's almost there.  As we said before, you should absolutely take responsibilty for your own spiritual growth.  Don't let obstacles deter you from it.  Your pastor will try to influence and the church should provide avenues for spiritual growth, but nothing is stopping you from picking the Bible up or praying.  Every day, spend time in prayer and Bible study.  Don't let your spiritual growth rise or fall on a Bible study teacher or whether you can manage to squeeze in time for a small group during the week on top of serving and worshipping.  Take ownership of your spiritual development.  Make it your priority.  Rearrange your schedule and priorities if you must.  See if you can let God have your heart every single moment of every single day whether you are at church or not, whether you are reading the Bible or doing anything under the sun!  And yet, the responsibility doesn't rest on you alone...

 

4. It is God's job

Here's a very important truth.  God desires that you grow spiritually.  And He is orchestrating it behind the scenes in countless ways - through the experiences He allows you, through the relationships you have, through the sermons you hear, prayers you pray, conversations you have, etc.  Even when you think you are not growing spiritually, God might strongly disagree.  Watch and pray for eyes to see how He is growing you and stretching your faith even in ways you might not see at first glance.  Write them down if you need to.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  (Philippians 2:12-13)

Notice that there are two things at "work".  We are continuing to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  The idea is that we strive to live in obedience to God and live for Him.  But the second "work" is God's work.  And it is a different tense.  This is a completed work that is already finished.  Someone once said, "We are in the process of becoming who God already sees us as."  Christ saved us.  We are in the process of living like it and in the process of being saved. (The big word for the process is sanctification...we are in the process of being sanctified or made holy or set apart.)  We do our everything to grow spiritually, knowing that it is ultimately God alone who brings it about in our lives, in His own ways and in His own timing and He who started the work in us will be faithful to complete it...and this is so certain that He already HAS completed it! 

Whose job is spiritual growth anyway?  YES...your pastor and your church play a part.  YES...you are accountable for your own spiritual growth.  YES and most emphatically...God grants it, He does it, He gets the job done in His people's lives.     

-RCW

I've lost some weight recently.  And it has caused me to want to ask the question: What does your before and after picture look like?

No, I am not talking about an actual photo or your physical appearance.  What I am really asking is this:

What has changed about you since the day Jesus Christ came into your life?

Don't rush to keep reading.  Look back at the question. 

Make a list.  Here's how:

Make two columns on a sheet of paper.  Label the left column "BC" and label the right column "AC".  ("Before Christ" and "After Christ", silly!)

In the left colum, answer the question: Who were you long before you knew Jesus Christ or invited Him into your life?  Write down a description or some descriptive words that come to mind.  If some characteristics were more dominant than others, bold them or underline them.

Now, when you embraced Jesus as your Lord and Savior, what changed?  In the left column, cross off the things that no longer described you.  If something didn't go away, but has diminished considerably, draw an arrow next to it pointing either up or down (up could mean that you've given that area to God; down could simply mean that it has decreased).

Now, what are you like today?  Write down some things that describe you in the right column.


When you complete that little exercise, what did you find?  For some, it is a drastic difference to see the two columns.  It is a humbling and liberating exercise to see it on paper.  You feel stirred to worship and thank God for the work He has done.  I hope that is you. 

But not everyone has that story.  Many confessing Christians today would go through that exercise and struggle.  They might not be able to recall who they were before Christ.  They might feel strange that the column on the left was not riddled with "bad stuff."  They might feel guilt that the right side and left side are actually fairly similar.

Many confessing Christians today would have trouble describing how Christ has changed them.

What does that mean?

There are a ton of potential reasons.   It may be a mixture of several reasons or be entirely too complicated to put into words.  But let me encourage you...

1. Sometimes God changes us gradually and not all at once.  Be patient as He continues to work in your life.  Trust His hand even when you cannot see it or feel it.
2. Don't get discouraged if you don't have a terrible pre-Christian past.  Thank God for it!  Not all Christians went from "terrible person" to "perfect person" by the world's standards; but spiritually speaking, any person who gives their life to Christ goes from "dead" to "alive", from "wicked and condemned" to "forgiven"...even those that were "good people."
3. Finally, some may need to sober up to the reality that part of the reason that your "chart" might not look right might be the result of a lack of discipleship.  Your spiritual growth stopped the day it was supposed to start.  There are tons of people who make decisions to trust Christ who fail to mature or grow in their relationship with God.  Sometimes this is the fault of a minstry, sometimes it is the fault of the individual, and sometimes there is no real blame upon anyone.  Whatever the case, there is ALWAYS today and tomorrow.  Ask yourself: What am I doing to grow in my walk with Christ?  Have I cheated myself out of a deeper relationship with God?  How can I give more of me to Jesus? Commit to giving Him even more influence, even more control, even more of you.   Give God fertile soil to work with in your life so that you can be firmly rooted and ready to grow.

 -RCW

Since I never quite finished up a series of posts that I had been doing on reading some time ago, I figured today's post could loop back around to add some more thoughts to the subject.  And this time, you don't have to take my word for it alone.  Just watch this video.


At one point, Dr. Mohler says we won't start growing until we start reading.  I don't think he meant that there were no ways to grow spiritually without reading.  (i.e. I doubt if Dr. Mohler is going to tell a blind person who can't read Braille that they are just sore out of luck and can't hope to grow spiritually since they can't read.)

What do you think?  Did you agree/disagree with anything?
-RCW

Have you ever heard of the Puritans?  Most of us hear them slandered at some point early in our gradeschool studies of American History.  If you are a Christian, you need to know that the Puritans in actuality have a lot to teach us...even if we've sometimes gasped at the strictness of their piety.

A couple of great resources you might want to check out are:

The Valley of Vision - This resource is basically a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions.  Arthur Bennet put them together after combing through the writings and journals of people like John Bunyan, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, Isaac Watts, Charles Spurgeon, and others.

A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life by J.I. Packer.

Also noteworthy:
   Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were by Leland Ryken.
   The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics. This title says it all.


I'll give you an example of a Puritan prayer from Valley of Vision entitled "Spiritual Growth"

O THOU MOST HIGH,

In the way of thy appointment I am waiting for thee,
My desire is to thy name,
My mind to remembrance of thee.

I am a sinner, but not insensible of my state.
My iniquities are great and numberless,
but thou art adequate to my relief,
for thou art rich in mercy;
the blood of thy Son can cleanse from all sin;
the agency of thy Spirit can subdue
my most powerful lusts.

Give me a tender, wakeful conscience
that can smite and torment me when I sin.
May I be consistent in conversation and conduct,
the same alone as in company,
in prosperity and adversity,
accepting all thy commandments as right,
and hating every false way.

May I never be satisfied with my present spiritual progress,
but to faith add virtue, knowledge, temperance,
godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.

May I never neglect
what is necessary to constitute Christian character,
and needful to complete it.

May I cultivate the expedient,
develop the lovely, adorn the gospel,
recommend the religion of Jesus,
accomodate myself to thy providence.

Keep me from sinking or sinning in the evil day;
Help me to carry into ordinary life
portions of divine truth
and use them on suitable occasions, so that
its doctrines may inform,
its warnings caution,
its rules guide,
its promises comfort me.

The language and word choices may not be all that current for our context today; but surely the heart of the prayer is as relevant and appropriate for our context today as ever.


-RCW

People trying to grow in their Christian faith are sometimes astonished to find out about books they never knew existed.  Commentaries.  Some are even surprised to find out about study Bibles.

So here's a little bit of info on both.

For new believers or even non-believers, a great study Bible is the Quest Study Bible.  I believe it uses the NIV 1984 translation and is a great recommendation even if it is expensive.  [Speaking of translations, that is another blog entry altogether...much too lengthy for this post.]

Back to the subject, a great study Bible is often the first discovery to delight that of the Christian trying to grow and understand the Bible.

Some of the best study Bibles include the ESV Study Bible, the HCSB Study Bible, the Reformation Study Bible, the John MacArthur Study Bible, the NIV Starting Point Study Bible, the Quest Study Bible, and especially unique is the Life Application Study Bible.

But it may surprise some people to learn that there are some even more technical books available that pastors will consult.  Granted, these resources are just one of the many tools in the toolbelt of a skilled Bible teacher, but virtually any pastor worth listening to will have consulted a commentary or three before or after studying a particular passage of scripture. 

Now before you rush out to google "commentaries" (that might not be the most helpful thing to do) you ought to know a few things.

1. First, be aware that there are different types of commentaries.  The basic types are: devotional commentaries, homiletical commentaries, and critical commentaries.  I favor the critical ones, but sometimes more practical pastors of the less geeky bent will favor a homiletical commentary of some type.  (Homiletics is the fancy word for preaching and preparing sermons.)  Even more practical and therefore perhaps more "average-Joe-friendly" are the devotional commentaries which in some ways are only one step away from a study Bible.  P.S. - "Critical" commentaries aren't necessarily commentaries that are "critical" of the Bible.  It simply means that they are more technical and apply rigorous study, reason, and explanation in their treatment of a text.  They can sometimes be heavily footnoted and can leave Greek & Hebrew words completely un-transliterated for the English reader.   Looking for an example of each? 

• Warren Wiersbe's Be Series is something I would probably consider a devotional commentary.
• Matthew Henry's Commentary is an age old classic homiletical commentary.
• One of my favorite series of critical commentaries is the NICNT series

         I've given you the basic types, but know that there are also other kinds of commentaries
         such as the Bible Backgrounds commentaries done by IVP and Zondervan.  (Both of
         which relied on one of my favorite professors during my time at Wheaton...John Walton.) 
         I expect that many different types of commentaries will continue to come into existence.


     2.  Next, it's vital to know that not all commentaries are created equal.  In fact, I'd go so far 
          as to ask your pastor or education pastor at your local church what kind of commentaries
          are worth consulting and which ones aren't.  Sometimes people write commentaries
          who are actually coming to the text with a foundational worldview that is entirely different
          than what one might consider Christian.  You could very easily find commentaries on the
          Bible written by those that seek to undermine the Bible's authority or credibility in their
          research.  There are great resources and reviews to consult as well such as those by DA
          Carson (NT) and Tremper Longman III (OT).  This relatively new website seems fairly
          interesting too.


      3. Third, it is generally best to consult commentaries only AFTER studying the passage
             a great deal for yourself. I can't stress this enough.  Use the commentaries to check your
          work, not to do all your work.


      4. Fourth, resist the urge to buy a set...especially if you are not training for the ministry. 
          If you teach a Sunday school class, chances are there's probably no need to invest
          that much money into a complete critical commentary series.  Besides, it is much wiser
          to buy individual commentaries on each book than purchasing an entire set.  If you are a
          layman, a quality one-volume Bible commentary should suffice, but if you simply must
          have a complete set, perhaps the Tyndale Series is best.

     
      5. Finally, remember that you might be able to acquire 2 or 3 commentary sets just by
          purchasing Bible software.  They may not be that great, but they might be all you need.


I could certainly write a lot more on this subject.  And I may.  For now, this ought to be enough to chew on and read without getting bored.  :)


-RCW

[The current topic relates back to a previous post I made a long time ago.]


What would it take to make your spiritual life your number one priority?


For many of us, the question is almost offensive. I've even heard it asked, "How would your life look differently if you really began to obey God's word and live it out as though it were true?"


The question may be offensive, but it is one we must daily ask ourselves if we want to take Jesus' words seriously.  For real...what's your #1?  Do you seek Christ, knowing Him, honoring Him, knowing His will and doing it above everything else?  Do it and you'll find that everything else suddenly comes into focus, priorities find their proper place, and things are rightly aligned.  Jesus spoke of this when he said:

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Mt. 6:33

          and

"The most important [commandment],” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’" Mk 12:29-30 

Spiritual self-examination is so very Biblical. When was the last time you did a spiritual pulse-check?  Don't wait 'til your life is already wrecked to give God first place.  A great starting point is Psalm 119.



Get alone somehow with God today and pray this prayer: 


"Search me, Oh God and know my heart. Test me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me into the way everlasting..."  (Ps. 119)


-RCW

One of the things that gets talked about the least when it comes to discipleship is the importance of service.

It's surely a very important thing to begin your walk with Christ by reading the Bible and spending time in prayer and devotion with God, etc. Yet, sometimes putting your faith into action becomes an enormous catalyst for spiritual growth.

I once heard someone say, "I'm so tired of coming to church and having responsibilities...I just want to go back to when I could show up, sit, get fed, and leave."  I've been there too.  But honestly?  Would that not be a step backward?  Sure, there are times when God may be calling us to rest and retreat from the work (Jesus went to the mountainside alone to pray with good regularity throughout his ministry).  But God also demands that we not simply acquire knowledge about Him and never put it into practice.  What God reveals to you He intends for you to share with others.

I've been around a lot of Christian academic types.  I love them.  I resonate with them.  But it broke my heart that time and again the seminary students who knew the most were quite often the students who served the least.  (Many of them wouldn't even attend church!)  God didn't mean for you to soak up truths like a sponge.  Once you start growing, you had better start serving.  And for some people, they would say that they really didn't start growing until they started serving.

Get your hands dirty doing work for God.  Feed the hungry.  Donate your time and energy.  Set up some chairs or tables at church.  Visit a shut-in.  Offer to fold or stuff some newsletters.  Scrub a toilet for Jesus.  Coach an Upward team.  Teach 3 year olds in the nursery.  The next time a minister asks you to help with something, do something crazy and just say yes.  Better yet, go ask your church leaders where you can help and maybe even use your spiritual gifts.  American churches are generally plagued by a lack of volunteers.  Why?  It's because everyone wants to receive from church, but nobody wants to give.  Our consumer-driven culture has caused our churches to be full of consumer-minded Christians.  Don't be part of the problem.  Be a part of the solution.  Get in the game...for God's sake!

-RCW

Many people will go to a doctor and pay lots of money for the doctor to cure them.  This merely cures the body.  And yet, many people refuse to admit an ailment of the soul, would never pay money for a cure, and remain spiritually sick.

Jesus = THE Ultimate Soul Physician.

Pastors & Ministers & Churches = Physician's Assistants.
(Hint: How do you measure how good they are?  By how well they connect you to the doctor Himself...There are plenty of them who should be sued for malpractice too.)

As a minister myself, part of my job is helping people shed spiritual ailments.  I am not the doctor, but I know Him.  Have you been to the office lately to get a soul checkup?

Perhaps you are in the office all the time, but you've yet to take your prescriptions and yet to ever really meet the Doctor.  Sitting in a church doesn't heal you spiritually any more than entering a doctor's office and sitting in the waiting room makes you physically well...in fact, you might just get sicker in the waiting room!  Make sure that you are connecting with Jesus personally and reading His words, taking His prescriptions, obeying His counsel...in church and outside of it.  It is nearly impossible to meet the Doctor truly and remain the same when you leave.


"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell." - Jesus (Mt. 10:28)


"Jesus said to them, 'It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but the sin-sick.'" - Jesus (Mk. 2:17)




-RCW

YES, I HAVE SOME SPLAININ' TO DO
So it has definitely been a while since my last post...(about 10 months to be exact!)  I really don't like making excuses and never have...It's a nasty habit to break if you start getting comfortable or used to doing it.

Nevertheless, I will say that for the past few months, things have been very trying within my household...My wife went into labor just hours after my last post in March of 2011.  We now have a beautiful baby girl and my life has certainly never been the same.  

I also navigated a transition in ministry (that's minister talk for "After 9 to 18 gut-wrenching months of soul-searching and intense prayer, I got a new assignment from God"), relocated my family about 1,000 miles away from where we were, began a new job (still working in the area of adult discipleship for a church), and celebrated my 30th birthday as well! 

But all of this change, pain, prayer, upheaval, and adjusting has been a tremendous positive.  And as a new dad, I am overwhelmed by the transformation that having a child makes.  The birth of my daughter has transformed who I am.  Here's why.  Let the one with ears to hear -- hear:


MARRIAGE MEANS THAT MY DISCIPLESHIP IS ALL AT ONCE EASIER, HARDER, & OF GREATER CONSEQUENCE...
As a follower of Christ, we are called to daily deny our self, take up the instrument of our torturous death, and follow Him (Luke 9:23).  When a follower of Christ gets married, it is as though God reveals three things.

At first, God seems to make it easier to obey Him and die to self.  After all, a married person has a more routine daily need to deny themselves.  This is simply natural to any good marriage...You have to take into consideration the interests of another and compromise sometimes because it's not all about you anymore.  It's now about 2 people together laying aside their own agendas to be one.  It's such an immediate necessity, that it should be easier, right?  Wrong.

Soon enough, we realize that God (and our spouse!) is challenging us.  What was seemingly going to be easier turns out to be very difficult.  God has designed marriage as a process by which we are forced to lean more greatly upon His wisdom, relying less and less on our own ability.  In other words, God designed marriage to make you more like Him.  Our selfishness is quite often exposed and we can fail both God and our spouse rather frequently. 

Finally, unless we surrender our selfishness, our marriage is going to suffer.  In fact, our marriage could be a wreck until we sacrifice our selfishness.  Once wed to another, your spiritual life (or lack thereof) now effects someone else greatly every single day.


...BUT PARENTHOOD MEANS AN EVEN GREATER CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP
The day you become a father--which, by the way, is the day your honey finds out she is prego and not simply the day your child is born--everything changes again.  You are called to an even greater amount of surrender to God.  It is SO not about you any longer.  In fact, it couldn't be any less about you.  "Children change a marriage" to be sure...I read that book.  They also change a person.  For the Christ-follower, parenthood is just an even more serious call to die to self, take up the cross daily, and follow the Master.

God has given me a daughter and entrusted her care to my wife and me.  Thanks, Jesus, for making it both easier and harder to drop my selfishness, deny my self, and follow after you more closely.  After all, the stakes just keep getting higher. 

Keep me broken, Lord.   Amen.

-RCW        

P.S. Yes, I know I failed miserably to accomplish my goal of blogging more in 2011.  But in my defense, the lack of comments on the site doesn't exactly display a great amount of disappointment from anyone!  ;)  Lordwilling, there will be more writing forthcoming in 2012.

I hope you are enjoying the recent series of posts regarding reading and learning as a part of healthy growth in the Christian faith.  If you are, I hate to break it to you, but this entry is only minimally related to that topic.

My wife is about 2 weeks from her due date.  We are welcoming our first child into this world in just a handful of days.  It's truly a wonderful, scary, and exciting time.  And although I did read a great book in the early months that helped me tremendously to process the reality that I was going to be a dad, my emotions (as well as my wife's) have been all over the place.
 
But aside from my wife and I's own prayerful anxiety about bringing a daughter into this world, the real story is --- well, our daughter.  In less than a couple of weeks, a new life will emerge from our lives.  She will be --- all at once --- her mother and me.  This new bundle of joy is going to be welcomed into our family and is going to experience real life!  What a miracle!

But here is what I have been thinking of today... What if my daughter never grew?  What if we fed her and loved her and did everything we could to help her develop as she ought, and she simply wouldn't grow?  God forbid it, but would that not be awful?  It would be an unbelievable abnormality that would very likely put her life itself in serious jeopardy.

But the gripping fact is that Christians do the same thing all the time.  And frequently, churches don't do much to help.  A person might make a decision, walk an aisle, check a box, or pray a prayer...in some way he or she accepts Jesus Christ and enters into new life in Christ.  Hooray!  We have a new creation!  A spiritual infant has been "born again" into God's family!  (Is this not the very Biblical metaphor that Jesus used?)  What an amazing miracle!  And yet, most will stagnate.  Most will not grow.  Most will remain spiritual babes.  Most will seldom nourish themselves with the scriptures, pray, or serve God with any consistency.  Worse still, a few weeks, months, or years may pass so that being still infants in Christ, they begin to wonder why their life isn't all that much different.  They may even seriously question their original decision or feel duped by those that offered them this "new life" in Christ.  It happens ALL.....THE.......TIME. 

I personally work for a church.  If I were to summarize my role there, I'd say my job is to help Christian adults grow and develop in their faith.  Would it surprise you if I told you that I tend to desire the spiritual growth of those adults far more than they desire it?  (This is not a slam to the church I work at...it is simply a statement of the actuality that faces most congregations in the U.S.).  
 
So how can you start growing? Here's a great starting point:

1. Get a good Bible.  Read it regularly, take notes, write down what you learn and what questions you have, even underline and memorize the verses that strike you as worth memorizing.
2. Ask God to help you grow, believe that He'll bring it about, and desire it more than anything else.
3. Plug into an authentic Biblical community that strives to help you spiritually develop.  Get to know a few committed Christians within that community that you can tell are serious about their relationship with God and live it out in all they do.
4. Begin to use and even leverage your natural abilities, skills, gifts, possessions, time, finances, and your whole self to be a part of spreading the good news about Christ and living out your faith with everything God gives you.  In short, serve God and be a steward of what He's given you so that you might bring Him glory. 

If you already feel like you've done the above, check yourself.  Ask yourself these tough questions and answer honestly:

1. When was the last time I spent time reading my Bible?  Am I faithfully involved in personal Bible study and time alone with God?  Have I read any spiritually nourishing material lately?
2. How much time do I spend in prayer?  Do I talk to God about everything?  Do I talk to God throughout the day?  Or do I simply reserve prayer for before meals, at church, before bed, etc.?  When I do pray, do I just ask him for stuff I want, or do I actually have a real relationship with Him that goes beyond that type of interaction?
3. Is my church committed to seeing me grow spiritually?  Do they care as much about turning me into a faithful and authentic follower of Christ as they do about seeing new people pray the same prayer I did to receive Christ?  Have I sought and found Biblical community within my local church?  Have I involved myself with other believers and developed strong relationships there or have I been passive and retreated from being known by others?  Is the Biblical community I am involved with at church really serious about growing or are we just a social group that seems stuck and apathetic?
4. Finally, how am I serving and being a steward?  Am I giving faithfully of my time, talents, money, and energy to see God's rule and reign in the hearts and lives of others?  Or am I holding back and sitting on the sidelines?  What more could I be doing to further God's work in my church, in my community, and in my world?
5. If people followed me around all day every day for a month, would my life clearly tell them that I am a follower of Christ who reflects who He is?

-RCW

• This blog
• This Conference on April 1-2 in Dallas at one of my alma maters
• This bookstore / blog

In my last entry, I shared that this year I hope to blog more frequently than I did last year…but I’m still not getting crazy with 1 post per day or anything.  To help me blog more, I have a plan that I believe most of you will appreciate. And it has to do with a time long ago and a land far away...Africa in fact!  It involves 2 cities in particular -- Alexandria and the city formerly known as Hippo -- along with a few of those cities' noteworthy locals.  Curious yet?

To get you started thinking about this subject, let me ask you a question:

           Do you think that it is beneficial to a person’s growth as a Christian to read:

                 A) Christian books and non-Christian books and the Bible

                 B) Just Christian books and the Bible

                 C) Just the Bible

                    [or]

                 D) Reading isn’t important at all in the growth of a Christian


You may choose only one. Why did you answer the way you did?

-RCW

One of the very first basic lessons I ever learned in my walk with Christ was at an early age. I was fortunate to learn it early, but it seems that at certain periods of my life I have had to force myself to relearn it...

Of what am I speaking? I am speaking about my identity in Christ.

It is a huge concept and yet such a simple one at the same time. When I gave my life to Christ, I became His own. I became His child. I became a new creation fashioned in His likeness. I became set apart and content in Him. I became happy with me because of who He was and who He was making me. I began to draw my self-worth from Him alone...and He values me more than anyone ever could value me!

But don't take it from me alone. This foundational truth is hammered home in Scripture. Ephesians chapters 1 through 3 are a great read on the subject, but if you're in a hurry, here are a few verses.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. [Eph. 2:1-10]

The question “Who Am I?” is both theoretical and philosophical as well as practical and deeply personal. It is a question that everyone deals with throughout the entire course of their lifetime. For the believer, it is a wonderful truth that –- no matter what the world's categories may say about us, whatever we may be feeling about our own self worth (good or bad), whatever we might think about who we are –- all other “identities” get placed at the feet of the Lord. It is Him we depend upon to properly understand our selves, our personality, our emotions, our feelings, our habits, our gifts, our skills, our desires, our ambitions, and everything else about ourselves.  It is God who defines us and not we who define us.

Today, examine the Bible for yourself and ask God to remind you that you are his child. Ask God to remind you this day of your worth, His love for you, your satisfaction in Him, your trust in Him, and your contentment in who He is...and in who you are.


-RCW

A while back, I was asked about the biblical concept of "regeneration."  It may come as a stunning newsflash that "regeneration" is NOT the supernatural ability for charismatic believers to have a limb severed from their body only to suddenly sprout a new one like a sea-star or hydra.  

I know that there is sometimes confusion or disagreement over what is meant by the term "regeneration."  You could take my own explanation of what regeneration is, but I'd rather not have to do as much thinking at the moment (to be quite honest).  Instead, let me provide you with a handy and concise explanation from my own current denomination's doctrinal statement:

Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.  Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

-RCW

I'll never forget the first few weeks when I began to understand that God was leading and calling me into ministry.    I recall walking into my youth pastor's office and letting him know what I understood God to be doing in my life and communicating to me. 

His response was simple.  He first told me that he would meet with me once a week at 5 am on a certain day.  At the first meeting, he asked me a question.  "Are you a reader?"

I was dumbfounded.  I thought quickly about the fact that I despised reading and loathed the very thought of English class.  I stammered -- "Uh.....not really."  His response was direct and firm, "Well, you're going to have to become one."

I began to love reading from those few weeks onward and to this day I absolutely cannot get enough.  (I have a lifetime reading plan for myself!)   

Does it seem like an odd connection to you?  Why in the world would someone who is heading toward ministry need to become a reader?  Do you think he was right?  Do you think he was wrong?  Why?  I'd love to hear your "take."       

Alright, so if I haven't thrown enough resources at people at my workplace and through this blog, I must beg your forgiveness and continue the trend.

At the church I work for, I have recently recruited a professor from a nearby university to come teach a class for our lay equipping ministry.  The class is essentially about what it means to take seriously the command we've been given in Scripture to love the Lord our God with all our mind.

Recently I was checking out some different websites of people who are in my same profession...people who are responsible for trying to help Christians (particularly Christian adults) grow in their faith in order that they might mature as believers in Jesus Christ and follow after Christ with all that they are.

To be certain, if you know me, you'd know that this is by no means meant to be a "plug" or endorsement of any church or ministry.*  However, a great SIMPLE idea is this 10 for 10 challenge:     
       http://10for10challenge.org  (Just click on the video in the center that reads "What is 10 for 10?)

If you can't watch the video, don't fret.  The 5 ideas in the video are listed below:

• Memorize 10 scriptures this year
• Serve as a volunteer in 10 ministry projects
• Give 10 percent of your income to your local church
• Spend 10 minutes a day with God via Bible Study and prayer
• Share Christ with 10 people

So, what do you think?  Could you manage to do one or all of these 5 spiritual disciplines in a year's time?  To some people, it might seem elementary, but for others, it is just the small starting point that they need to begin practicing and doing God's word.


-RCW

P.S.  *This could never be an endorsement because I, like the rest of my generation, am so anti-establishment, anti-propaganda, cynical, anti-schmooze, anti-infomercial, anti-artificial, anti-inauthentic.  (Although incidentally the church that this came from is a good church - my wife and I even did some of our premarital counseling there).

I have already received some feedback from my post yesterday.

First, the person brought to my attention how ridiculously long the entry was. (A realization that I already had observed for myself).  My sincere apologies for being so verbose.  :)

Next, the person said that as they read, they could see where my agenda was headed.

This has prompted me to clarify that I did not aim to poke fun, be rude, or mock Christians (much).  I can do this because I am one.  Rather, my posting was a way of bringing into focus for both myself and others that which is truly essential for the new believer.  We try all too often to make certain things important that are not.  We expect a new Christian to suddenly follow a long list of dos and don'ts that (to us) are basic or inherent for someone who wants to follow Christ.  It was my purpose to challenge all of us to think about what is essential for the early stages of someone's discipleship.


 
-RCW

Well, 2009 has come and gone and evidently, my informants ESPN alerted me a few days ago (with their "top ten plays of the decade" and whatnot) that a decade has drawn to a close.  This of course should not have been news to me, but somehow my silly brain was imagining that it would be another year (at the completion of 2010) that such a "turn-of-the-page" would come.  Seeing as how I have only lived through a couple of these decade things, and seeing as how the last one changed when I was all of 18, I am hit with the magnitude of the occasion.

Not wanting to let the moment slip by without sneaking in a quick line, I worked to squeeze in time for a post.

I have spoken before of how the Christian life---from our birth, to our spiritual birth or conversion, and throughout our entire life until our dying day---is a process.  It is a spiritual journey in which God is drawing us closer to Himself.  We may not always understand how or why or that it is even happening, but for Christians walking with God, He is perfecting us all the while and transforming us back into the image-bearers He meant for us to be...in the image of Christ. I have written about this subject (sanctification) previously.

With that spiritual and theological reality firmly in mind, let me ask you----could you adequately map your spiritual journey in words or art or music or a line graph or some medium of the sort?  What if you reflected on where God has brought you, what He has done in you, what He has transformed about you and when by the decade?  Where were you spiritually in the early 80s?  What changed about your faith by the mid 90s?  What did God do in your life by 2000 or by the time you had children, etc?  This is a spiritual journey and it is important (even very Hebrew) to walk forward through life looking backwards over your shoulder and recalling the great things that God has done.  This reflection is also healthy, deeply rewarding, and often humbling.  It also happens to be a marvelous spiritual exercise to start any new year.

Have a happy one!

-RCW

P.S. One of the astonishing things about this sort of activity is that you may at times be tempted to think that you had certain times or years when you were far from God or that you felt distant from Him.  Let me encourage you that it is often in our lowest and bleakest of states that God is doing the most refining and bringing about the most spiritual growth in our lives.  If I were to graph the spiritual "valleys" of my life, I doubt very much if God would chart them as valleys...to Him they might be mountaintops.  For it is when we are weakest---when we must lean most closely upon Him for everything---that His power is perfected in us.  To adapt some words from A.W. Tozer: "Before God can use a man greatly, He has to break a man deeply." 

P.P.S. For you theology dorks like me out there, Wayne Grudem provides a good spiritual growth graph of this sort in his Systematic Theology in the section on sanctification.   

A few of my recent posts have reminded me of yet another subject.

A classic pet peeve of mine is the enormous amount of "Bible Lore" out there. How many times have you been talking with someone and they say, "Well, the Bible says, 'God helps those who help themselves.'"?  No, the Bible does not say that phrase anywhere. It actually came from Ben Franklin.

Another great one..."God won't give you more than you can handle."  The Bible actually doesn't say this.  (Try "quoting" such a "scripture" to a person in a serious crisis.  Let me know how that one goes.)  You won't find the reference because it's not there.

In general, I simply hear the words come from someone's mouth: "Doesn't it say in the Bible somewhere...." or "What's the verse in the Bible that says something about..." and I begin to brace myself for the shock. I never know what nonsense might sputter out after the first few words. :)

The Bible (and spiritual things in general) is one of those subjects that everyone has an opinion about....many people are eager to share their own.  Many people think they know fairly well what the Bible says, but in reality haven't studied it for themselves a whole lot.  In short, "Bible Lore" results is a lot of muddled thinking about spirituality and numerous common myths about Christianity, Christians, God, the Bible, etc.  

So, here's a novel thought: how about we all make it a goal of ours to READ our Bibles and MEMORIZE scripture? That way, instead of being guilty of such embarrassing blunders of biblical illiteracy, we can know God's word, hide it deep within our hearts, and be ready to explain the scriptures the next time someone rattles off one of these statements. 

I myself am by no means immune or beyond this fault.  I have been praying and asking God to reveal some things to me lately and yet I know that the easiest way to hear God's voice is to open and "devour" my Bible. How about you?  Are you planting scripture within you?  Or is your Bible just a dusty relic?   When was the last time you cracked it open? 

-RCW