Tag: A Word for Wednesday

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Ask. Trust. Rest.

I had never stopped to contemplate the broad range of emotions we can experience in just one day, but in a recent Bible study with international students, we considered just that. Case in point: the day when Jesus fed the 5000 and then walked on water in the middle of the night. In Mark’s account,1 we see 1) the disciples’ overwhelmedness at the size of the crowd; 2) rest and relief in retreat; 3) overwhelmedness 2.0 amid crowd resurgence; 4) compassion and pity; 5) inadequacy for a seemingly impossible task; 6) amazement at a miracle; 7) strain and exhaustion amid the storm; 8) sheer fright; 9) reassurance; and finally, 10) just plain awe. What a rollercoaster day! Can you relate? And except for a pause for private prayer, Jesus was with them the entire time. It was a study in contrast—the sufficiency and faithfulness of God amid the limitations and fear in mankind.

For far too long—and too much still— my conversations with God have involved more angst than seemingly they should. How is it that, despite His faithfulness in the past and His promises for tomorrow, I still harbor anxiousness, even though He is with me the entire time? Let’s turn to God’s Word for a relational remedy: ask, trust, and rest.

Ask. “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full,”2 promised Jesus on the night of His betrayal. What may we conclude about the heart of God, who continually invites us to petition Him in prayer? That He means it? That He loves us? That He enjoys our joy? That He wants to reveal Himself to us? Yet God repeatedly invites us to ask, no matter our circumstances, no matter our need.

Trust. James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God . . . and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting . . . ”3 God’s invitation to ask comes with an exhortation to trust. “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act,”4 assures the psalmist. Trust the wisdom, power, and faithfulness of Him who invites us to ask.

Rest. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you,”5 the prophet Isaiah marveled. Rest in God follows trust in God. Paul expounds: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”6 In other words, ask, trust, and rest. For Jesus is with us.

Father, we trust Your power and promises; we rest in Your faithfulness and love. Hear our petitions now. . .  We ask them in Jesus’ name. Amen.

1 See Mark 6:30-56.
2 John 16:24 ESV
3 James 1:5-6 ESV
4 Psalm 37:5 ESV
5 Isaiah 26:3 ESV
6 Philippians 4:6-7 ESV

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I Fought the Law and Grace Won

An inmate once recalled to me the moment his world began to change. “When I was arrested, I almost cried,” he said. “I was being forcibly pulled out of an environment and lifestyle that I could not escape on my own. Inside I knew this was my chance for a new beginning, a new direction for me.”
“So, this was an inner cry of relief!” I exclaimed, amazed at his story and his perspective, in particular.
“Yes,” he replied, “it was a deep feeling of relief. I was so happy I almost cried.”
Though it has been some time now since our conversation, I find his story so stunning that, when it comes to mind, I still stop and marvel.

Sometimes “the Law”—God’s law, that is—gets a bad rap. We who embrace grace through faith well know that the Law will not save our soul, as Paul wrote, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in [God’s] sight.”1 This is not to suggest God’s law is deficient in any way; rather, people are deficient in our ability to attain its lofty standard of perfection. “We know that the Law is good,”2 maintained Paul, and to the Galatians he offered this expression of its goodness: “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”3

The inmate’s arrest was both an illustration and, in a sense, the experience of law leading to grace through faith, for incarceration did what he could not do but so desperately wanted to do: it removed him from his otherwise inescapable lifestyle, and then positioned him where he could pursue the refreshing ways of God. For God’s law points us to “the way that is good and right,”4 while simultaneously exposing our natural inclinations to part from it. Trapped, then, in this tension of God’s law, we appeal to the freedom of His gospel—the mercy, grace and new life that are found in one place, Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord. May we surrender ourselves completely to Him today.

“It is for freedom Christ has set us free.” —Galatians 5:1 NIV

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”5 In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Romans 3:20 ESV
2 1 Timothy 1:8 (cf Romans 7:12 NIV)
3 Galatians 3:23-24 ESV
4 1 Samuel 12:3 NIV
5 Psalm 25:4-5 NIV

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Already, but Not Yet

Paul called them “saints.” Whether writing to congregations in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, or Colossae, he greeted the people as they were: saints. It means “holy ones,” and if Christ is born in you through faith in Him, the Bible says you are holy, set apart from the ways of the world and set apart to God. We are not holy because of ourselves; we are holy in spite of ourselves. In grace, Jesus, who is holy by nature, lives in all who believe in Him1; He has made us one with Him,2 and His nature becomes our own. The writer of Hebrews states it clearly, “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”3 As we said in a recent post, “You Are Holy; Get Used to It.”

What follows Paul’s lofty greetings, then, raises the eyebrow, for consider his admonitions to those he called saints. To the Colossian saints: “Put to death . . . whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed.”4 To the Ephesians saints: “Put off falsehood and speak truthfully . . . Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer . . . Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander.”5 Wait a minute! Paul is compelled to say these things to “saints”? They sound more like hypocrites than “holy ones”! But let’s look more closely.

In this world, believers live in what some call an “already, but not yet” reality. (I prefer “already, yet still,” but either will work.) We are already holy, for we live in Christ who “has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”6 Yet we also remain a work in progress: throughout this life, God continues to hone us into the image of Christ, as Paul so clearly states, “[God] who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”7 So “we have been made holy”8 through Jesus, yet He continues to perfect us as people who “are being made holy.”9

Then how do we live in this “already, but not yet” paradox? Choose wisely. Consider these coaching tips from Paul to Colossian saints: “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. . . Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”10 If this is what real holiness looks like, I’m all in. What about you?

Father, in Your mercy, lead us from our ways into Your ways. Continue what You’ve started in us. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 2 Corinthians 13:5
2 John 17:20-23
3 Hebrews 10:10 NIV
4 Colossians 3:5 NIV
5 Ephesians 4:25-32
6 Colossians 1:22 NASB
7 Philippians 1:6 ESV
8 Hebrews 10:10 NIV
9 Hebrews 10:14 NIV
10 Colossians 3:11-14 NIV