Holy Week Revelation and Resolution

On Monday, I wrote in my journal one of those entries that I can hardly bear to go back and read again. My quiet time that day was a prayerful struggle that lead to my downloading Tullian Tchividijian's  Jesus + Nothing = Everything. I now have absolutely no recollection how I ended up there, but it soon became clear why I did. I needed to be reminded of the Gospel.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with  him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. —Colossians 2:13-14 (ESV)

I read Tullian's book in about two days, and then proceeded on to J.D. Greear's Gospel, which I am still in the process of reading. Greear says the effect of not staying focused on the Gospel is to live in the extremes of pride and despair. That's where I have been for a long time. I have not been living moment by moment believing the Gospel in my heart—no matter how firmly established it is in my mind. Continually believing the Gospel in light of the circumstances of life is how to work out my salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13). I must struggle to believe in spite of a natural inclination not to, a fall back position of performance-orientation and self-preservation, and feelings that I seem powerless to overcome. We Christians are quick to assent to the fact that the Gospel saves us from hell, but we are extremely slow to understand that it saves us from ourselves. I desperately need saving from myself.

So on this Good Friday 2012, I resolve to preach the Gospel to myself every day, as often as necessary. And as I do this, Lord, please save me from myself.



(Photo was taken in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey.)

Christian Growth Defined

"I used to think that growing as a Christian meant I had to somehow go out and obtain the qualities and attitudes I was lacking. To really mature, I needed to find a way to get more joy, more patience, more faithfulness, and so on.

Then I came to the shattering realization that this isn't what the Bible teaches, and it isn't the gospel. What the Bible teaches is that we mature as we come to a greater realization of what we already have in Christ. The gospel, in fact, transforms us precisely because it's not itself a message about our internal transformation but about Christ's external substitution. We desperately need an advocate, mediator, and friend. But what we need most is a substitute—someone who has done for us and secured for us what we could never do and secure for ourselves.

The hard work of Christian growth , therefore, is to think less of ourselves and our performance and more of Jesus and his performance for us. Ironically, when we focus mostly on our need to get better, we actually get worse. We become neurotic and self-absorbed. Preoccupation with our effort instead of with God's effort for us make us increasingly self-centered and morbidly introspective.

Again, think of it this way: sanctification is the daily hard work of going back to the reality of our justification. it's going back to the certainly of our objectively secured pardon in Christ and hitting the refresh button a thousand times a day. Or, as Martin Luther so aptly put it in his Lectures on Romans, "To progress is always to begin again." Real spiritual progress, in other words, requires a daily going backwards.

...Christian growth, in other words, doesn't happen by first behaving better, but by believing better—believing in bigger, deeper, brighter ways what Christ has already secured for sinners."

—Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything


(Emphasis in bold is mine. –KS)

Ten Things I Learned in the Middle East

I've been back for more than a week from a recent mission trip to the Middle East. I hope to post on some of the spiritual insights I gained from the trip, but for now, here a ten things I learned that are of a more practical and humorous nature.

1. PMS plus jet lag makes for many tears!
2. All Middle Easterners do not hate America and Americans. In fact, there are many who feel quite the contrary.
3. There is a breed of human being that I did not know existed—the Turkish salesman. Whether it be jewlery, rugs, scarves, pottery...beware! Flattery gets them everywhere.
4. Camels are still a commodity in negotiating for women. This was confirmed first-hand on more than one occasion.
5. NEVER underestimate the value of an excellent local driver. He can whisk you through military check points with smiles and laughter.
6. There is an increased potential for lost luggage not attributable to air travel. See photo.
7. If you take Jesus's admonition in Luke 6:30 seriously, be sure to budget accordingly. You will be approached much more frequently than you are at home, and the petitioners are much more persistent.
8. Just because a hotel has WIFI doesn't mean you will be able to access the Internet, especially if your traveling companions are using up all of the bandwidth Skype-ing. ;)
9. Rugs purchased in Turkey can be safely transported throughout your travels and back home, given you are traveling with selfless men who are willing to indulge a woman's weaknesses.
10. Five women and one bathroom. It can be done.