One Thousand Gifts and More

Most of you have already heard from me by now of the book I finished recently, One Thousand Gifts. It moved me deeply and inspired me greatly. I purchased several copies for loved ones, and I have been trying to spread the word with friends I think would be interested.

I learned about the book in a review in World magazine, and I ordered it after I read several customer reviews on Amazon. It is currently on the New York Times Bestseller list, so it is very popular. Unfortunately, as a result of its popularity, it has gotten some negative press, specifically in the blogosphere.

One Thousand Gifts is the personal testimony of the author, Ann Voskamp. She shares how God transformed her life by teaching her how to be thankful in all things (I Thes. 5:18). She is a homeschooling mother of six who has endured tragedy and hardship. She loves the Lord, and knows His Word. She reads broadly and has the mind of a poet. She thinks deeply and expresses spiritual truths in ways I had never considered.

The criticism of the book is primarily directed at Chapter 11, "The Joy of Intimacy." The first line of the chapter reads: "I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God." The chapter recounts her visit to Paris, and how God spoke to her during this visit. I have to admit that the idea of making love to God made me uncomfortable, and I didn't quite get it. But I'm not her, and she's not me, and after reading the previous ten chapters, I see her heart, so I don't let it bother me. I am not one to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Besides, the church IS the bride of Christ, you know.

I have seen real change in myself since reading One Thousand Gifts. I started keeping my own list of blessings and being more intentional in thanksgiving. My attitude and outlook have changed—although my circumstances have not. God has been doing a great work in my life in the past year, and He has used this book to take me to the next level in my walk with Him. I am grateful.

Your Mission Field

"If we would obey Jesus, we must go into the world. I've been challenged by the example of other churches to study my local community with the evangelistic intentionality of a missionary. To ask questions like "If I were a missionary to another nation, how would I view my life? What decisions would I make about where I live or how much I need to live on? Where would I spend my time so I could form friendships with unbelieving people? What would I seek to learn about the culture so that I could befriend and clearly communicate the gospel? What are the idols and false gods people are worshiping?

Ask these questions, and then apply them to your current location. The mission field is right in front of you. Imagine how this kind of evangelistic urgency could be used by God to touch your campus, workplace, neighborhood, and community."

from Dug Down Deep
by Joshua Harris

Proper Self-Assesment

"Time and time again throughout the pages of Scripture, believers are referred to as slaves of God and slaves of Christ. In fact, whereas the outside world called them "Christians," the earliest believers repeatedly referred to themselves in the New Testament as the Lord's slaves. For them, the two ideas were synonymous. To be a Christian was to be a slave of Christ.

We don't hear that concept much in churches today. In contemporary Christianity the language is anything but slave terminology. It is about success, health, wealth, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness. We often hear that God loves people unconditionally and wants them to be all they want to be. He wants to fulfill every desire, hope, and dream. Personal ambition, personal fulfillment, personal gratification—these have all become part of the language of evangelical Christianity—and part of what it means to have a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ." Instead of teaching the New Testament gospel—where sinners are called to submit to Christ—the contemporary message is exactly the opposite: Jesus is here to fulfill all your wishes. Likening him to a personal assistant or a personal trainer, many churchgoers speak of a personal savior who is eager to do their bidding and help them in their quest for self-satisfaction or individual accomplishment.

The New Testament understanding of the believer's relationship to Christ could not be more opposite. He is the Master and Owner. We are His possession. He is the King, the Lord, and the Son of God. We are His subjects and His subordinates.

In a word, we are His slaves."

from Slave
by John McArthur

The Way to Rest for the Heart

I am currently reading The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. Following is a passage from the book that will encourage you. Tozer quotes Isaiah 42:16 and 45:2-3 in this text.

To believe actively that our Heavenly Father constantly spreads around us providential circumstances that work for our present good and our everlasting well-being brings to the soul a veritable benediction. Most of us go through life praying a little, planning a little, jockeying for position, hoping but never quite being certain of anything, and always secretly afraid that we will miss the way. This is a tragic waste of truth and never gives rest to the heart.

There is a better way. It is to repudiate our own wisdom and take instead the infinite wisdom of God. Our insistence upon seeing ahead is natural enough, but it is a real hindrance to our spiritual progress. God has charged Himself with full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready to take over management of our lives the moment we turn to faith in Him. Here is His promise: "And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will do unto them, and not forsake them."

Let Him lead thee blindfold onwards,
Love needs not to know;
Children whom the Father leadeth
Ask not where they go.
Though the path be all unknown,
Over moors and mountains lone.
--Gerhard Tersteegen

God constantly encourages us to trust Him in the dark. "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by name, and the God of Israel."

It is heartening to learn how many of God's mighty deeds were done in secret, away from the prying eyes of men or angels. When God created the heavens and the earth, darkness was upon the face of the deep. When the Eternal Son became flesh, He was carried for a time in the darkness of the sweet virgin's womb. When He died for the life of the world, it was in the darkness seen by no one at the last. When he arose from the dead, it was "very early in the morning." No one saw Him rise. It is as if God were saying, "What I am is all that need matter to you, for there lie your hope and peace. I will do what I will do, and it will all come to light at last, but how I do it is My secret. Trust Me, and be not afraid."

With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? Surely we are the most favored of all creatures.

Reading Habits

I try to read three blogs on a regular basis: (1) Desiring God Blog, with which you should be familiar since I link to it regularly, (2) Challies.com, and (3) Ligonier Ministries Blog. The first two are very accessible for the lay person. The third can be pretty intellectual, but it is worth the effort. I confess that I skip the occasional Ligonier post that is beyond my ability to adequately concentrate.

Out of all three of these blogs and the variety of contributors they include, my consistent favorite is Paul Tripp. He posts at Desiring God Blog, and his writing always blesses me. You can find his most recent post, "The Shortest Distance Between Points," here. Click on his name at the top of the post to read more of his posts. Tripp is also the author of many well-respected books, including The Age of Opportunity, a parenting book that I strongly recommend. Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands and War of Words are on my Amazon wish list.

You are an Object of God's Delight

Live your daily life in the full consciousness of being righteous in God's sight, an object of delight and pleasure in Christ. Connect every view you have of Christ in His other graces with this first one: of God, He is made to you righteousness. This will keep you in perfect peace. Thus, you will enter into, and dwell in, the rest of God, So will your inmost being be transformed into being righteous and doing righteousness. In your heart and life it will become manifest where you dwell; abiding in Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, you will share His position, His character, His blessedness: "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath annointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (Ps. 45:7). Joy and gladness above measure will be your portion.

From Abide in Christ
By Andrew Murray

Are You Desperate for God?

I read this post this morning. It dovetails nicely with my rereading of Radical. More on that soon.

On Being Radical

A few weeks ago during a sermon, our pastor mentioned Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt. He actually said NOT to read the book. It would "mess with you." I think that's true for people for whom Christianity is just one compartment of their lives (If that's really possible...Ahem.), but for those of us who are sold out and committed disciples of Jesus, it is a challenge for us to step it up a notch and live our lives in a manner consistent with Jesus's teaching in the Gospels and the example of the church in Acts.

In a nutshell, Platt makes that case—which is not difficult to do—that the church today doesn't look any different from the world around us and that we have applied worldly principles to the operation of our churches. He writes:

I am convinced that we as Christ followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical but that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe. And I am convinced that we have a choice.

You an I can choose to continue with business as usual in the Christian life and in the church as a whole, enjoying success based on the standards defined by the culture around us. Or we can take an honest look at the Jesus of the Bible and ask what the consequences might be if we really believed him and really obeyed him.

The majority of the book is focused on taking an honest look at the Jesus of the Bible and at believers who have lived consistently with His teachings. The last chapter is a challenge for the reader to test the claims of the book. It's called The Radical Experiment. Platt says:

I invite you to see if radical obedience to the commands of Christ is more meaningful, more fulfilling, and more gratifying than the American dream. And I guarantee that if you complete this experiment, you will posses an insatiable desire to spend the rest of your life in radical abandonment to Christ for his glory in the world.

The challenge is for one year, and it consists of five components. He dares the reader over the next year to...
1. pray for the entire world
2. read through the entire Word
3. sacrifice your money for a specific purpose
4. spend your time in another context
5. commit your life to multiplying community

When I finished the book last Sunday afternoon, I committed to the experiment, and I prayed for God's grace to complete it. You see, I've made grand plans and commitments before, and I haven't kept them. I don't want that to happen this time. In fact, as I shared in class this morning, I prayed some months ago that I was tired of making mud pies! I think this commitment is the beginning of the answer to that prayer. For the purposes of accountability and for reasons that will become clear as I continue, I'm going to share my plans for the challenge here.

1. Pray for the World.
The plan is simple. I followed Platt's suggestion and ordered the Operation World book. It is a prayer guide to the nations that is an atlas of sorts providing information about Christianity around the world and specific prayer requests based on circumstances. It is dated so that you simply go to the page for today's date and pray for the featured province or country.

2. Read through the entire Word.
I am going to make a confession here. With all of my study and commitment to knowing God's Word, I have not yet managed to read through the entire Bible from beginning to end. I cannot count the number of times I have read Genesis and Exodus! I have read through the New Testament many times. I have bought one-year Bibles, 90-day Bibles, chronological Bibles—you name it, I have tried it. I had gotten most of the way through Numbers in The Message when I made this new commitment. I decided rather than continuing on, I would start over again in my new ESV Bible. (Edited 6/14/10: The Spirit has been prodding me that I don't have to start over, so I'm going to continue on reading in The Message.) As I said, by the grace of God, I'm going to do this!

3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose.
There is actually more to it than that. He makes the point that our hearts follow our money, and he suggests that experiment participants forgo luxuries for a year for the purpose of giving sacrificially to a gospel-centered, church-focused, tangible need that you can personally serve alongside.

I am praying for God's direction as to what ministry I should give money to, but giving up luxuries is for me a no-brainier. I know this is something that I need to do because of my personal struggles. In fact, even since I made the commitment, I made a couple of purchases that, after the fact, I realized, I didn't really need. They were in reality luxuries. By God's grace, I will continue to improve in my efforts to meet this particular challenge.

4. Spend you time in another context.
I have no idea how I'm going to do this. It is a God-sized task. I work full-time in a brand new ministry, and I have a family with young children. I don't know how I'm going to fit in a mission trip, but I serve a God of miracles, and I have placed this one in His hands!

5. Commit your life to a multiplying community.
In explaining this challenge, Platt says,

...look for the best avenue within [your] community of faith to be about making disciples. In the church I pastor, this happens primarily through small groups...Jesus placed a fundamental priority on disciple-making relationships, and such relationships cannot play a merely supplemental part in our Christian lives.

My small group is my Sunday school class, and this is the group to whom I am committing. I have been faithful to be prepared to teach on Sunday mornings, but I have not given of myself to the individual members of my class as I have wanted to—much less in a Christ-like manner. I have intended to make more phone calls, send more notes, make meals, etc., and I have failed miserably in this. So again, by the grace of God, I am going to "commit [my] life to a people who need [me] and whom [I] need." The individualistic nature of the American dream has caused us to devalue community and subsequently the Body of Christ, and I am as guilty as anyone in this. I am one of those people who is often happiest by myself, but this is not God's design for His church, and I want to please Him.

So there it is, written for the world to see, so to speak. Please pray for me as I embark on this experiment that God would give me success and that I would find a satisfaction in Him that I have never known before. I encourage you to join the experiment too.

Understanding the Cross and the Gospel

Ever since our review of the gospel on Easter Sunday, I have been intending to write this post. Our discussion this morning motivated me to follow through.

For those of you who were not with us, we deviated from the lesson plan and spent most of our time discussing holiness, especially as it pertains to raising our children with convictions about sexuality purity and integrity. What we did not spend time discussing was the motivating factor, the cross. Our understanding and appreciation of what Jesus has done for us is what motivates us to live holy lives that are set apart from the world.

As for our children, we must (1) set a Biblical standard that we will live by within our homes; (2) Uphold that standard without unnecessary discussion and debate; (3) Conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with the standard; (4) And pray that God would change the hearts and minds of our children and make them disciples of Jesus.

Over the next several weeks in class, we will cover Mark 14 through 16, and I will do my best, by the grace of God, to present the Gospel in a way that motivates us all to a higher standard. In addition, I strongly recommend that you read the following books. Some of them are available from our church library.

1. Living the Cross Centered Life by C. J. Mahaney. If you only read one book, make it this one. It is short and to the point but will still have a tremendous impact on your faith.

2. The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges. Bridges teaches how the Gospel doesn't just save is from hell but is essential for daily progress in holiness.

3. Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges. This is the book God used to correct my doctrinal misconceptions about the Gospel and to draw me to Himself.

4. The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor. I loved this book so much, I gave a copy away here on the blog last month. Ensor's experience in the pregnancy center movement motivated him to write this book.

I challenge you to read these four books, along with the Gospels, and the letters to the Romans. the Galatians, and the Ephesians, and pray that God would increase your appreciation of the Gospel and your love for Jesus so that you are motivated to be holy as He is holy (I Peter 1:13-16).

My First Giveaway: A Book, Of Course

I loved The Great Work of the Gospel so much that I bought two copies—one for myself and one to giveaway here!

For a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post before 6:00 PM EST next Tuesday, March 2. I will select a winner at random that evening and announce it in an addendum to this post. If you are not a member of my Sunday school class, please be sure to provide an email address so I can contact you if you win.

Since this is likely to be a high volume post for readers, now is a good time for me to communicate that it is my intention to try to post here on a more regular basis and to provide more original content rather than just quoting from books I've been reading. If you have any suggestions or requests, please include them in your comments. See this post for an explanation of the strike-through.

Edited to add: I have had several people tell me that they have not been able to leave comments. If you do not have a Blogger or Google account, under "profile," select "anonymous." However, be sure to leave your name within the content of your comment so I will know who you are!

Addendum, 3-3-10: Sorry I'm behind schedule! I was "under the weather" yesterday evening. I used the random number generator to determine the winner, and it is Michelyn! Thank you to everyone who left a comment!

The Great Work of the Gospel

I attended the Georgia Pregnancy Centers Conference last week where the keynote speaker was John Ensor. In preparation for this event, I began reading his book, The Great Work of the Gospel: How We Experience God's Grace. Following is one of my favorite passages so far.

The heart of the Christian message has been and always will be that "Christ dies for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3). But in spite of this, many remain hamstrung by their secret guilt and are living very shallow lives. Why is that? I suspect it is because they have nothing but a shallow understanding of the cross, and in many cases only a small appetite for learning more. Eyes roll at the mere mention of the words doctrine and theology. These are verbal sleeping pills for many. Yet at the same time, they suffer from the insomnia of guilt, anxiety, and powerlessness in their faith. They lack confidence and purpose and wonder why. Could it be that a shallow understanding of the cross is like an inoculation shot? It prevents us from getting the real thing—a full-blown case of sin-uprooting, praise-inspiring, life-altering faith in Christ based on the radical implications of his death on the cross.

First Corinthians 14:20 urges us, "do not he children in your thinking, Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature." That is what we must do. We must think a little more. Only a truth-soaked mind can reshape our opinions, attitudes, responses, and decisions. This is the awesome implication of the Jesus' words, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32).

Ensor explains and illustrates the gospel in such a way that even mature believers will gain greater understanding of and appreciation for the cross. I highly recommend this book.

Bonhoeffer on Prayer, Part One

I have been reading The Cost of Discipleship for several months. It's the kind of book that you read a bit and then put it down for a while. There's a lot to digest. If the thought of reading this book is daunting to you, you should at least read the section "Of the Hidden Character of the Christian Life." The following passage is from Chapter 15, "The Hiddeness of Prayer."

We are privileged to know that he knows our needs before we ask him. This is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty. It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use, what matters is the faith which lays hold on God and touches the heart of the Father who knew us long before we came to him.

Genuine prayer is never "good works," an exercise or a pious attitude, but it is always the prayer of a child to a Father. Hence, it is never given to self-display, whether before God, ourselves, or other people. ... Thus faith, which is the mainspring of Christian prayer, excludes all reflection and premeditation.

Prayer is the supreme instance of the hidden character of the Christian life. It is the antithesis of self-display. When men pray, they have ceased to know themselves, and know only God whom they call upon.

The essence of Christian prayer is not general adoration, but definite, concrete petition. The right way to approach God is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.

True prayer does not depend either on the individual or the whole body of the faithful, but solely upon the knowledge that our heavenly Father knows our needs. That makes God the sole object of our prayers, and frees us from a false confidence in our own prayerful efforts.

Be encouraged today!