The Problem was "Sin," Not "Sins."

In his 1996 song That's the Point, Charlie Peacock sings, "Sin is a sickness, not just a thing you do from time to time," and also, "Sin is a cancer, not just a just a thing you do from time to time."  I like how that's worded, because it helps to show that there's a difference between the condition of sin (a sickness, a cancer) and the act of sin (a thing you do from time to time).  To know the difference is of huge importance in understanding what the Bible says about "sin."

Two common words are translated as "sin" in the New Testament, but have different meanings (as represented above). The two words are hamartano (verb) and hamartia (noun).

Harmartano (verb) means "to miss the mark" in the sense of actual sinful behavior ("a thing you do from time to time").

Hamartia (noun) can also mean "to miss the mark," but in a different sense. It's the inward condition (not the action) that is off the mark. Hamartia can also mean "a governing principle or power," which I'll touch on briefly in a bit.

(There are also other related words that describe "sin," but at the moment they don't apply to this particular discussion).

It's interesting (and important) to note that Paul uses one of these two words far more predominantly than he uses the other one. Do you know which one it is? In the entirety of his epistles, he uses Hamartano (verb) only 14 times, compared to an astounding 55 uses of Hamartia (noun). What's more, most of Paul's uses of these two words are in the book of Romans, where the ratio is even more astounding: 6 uses of Hamartano (verb), compared to 39 uses of Hamartia (noun)! Let me put it this way. Most of the time we see the word "sin" in Romans, Paul is not talking about sinful behavior, but about the sin condition. Again, this is utterly important when it comes to understanding what Paul is talking about throughout the epistle.

Part 3 of my recent "Christ Is the End of the Law" series was about Paul's words in Romans 5 and 7, in which he writes about the "sinful passions which were aroused by the law" and in which he describes how when the law came, sin "abounded."  One of my points in that post is that the wording of these phrases is a bit misleading.  It makes it seem as if the amount of this thing called "sin" actually increased or abounded, and as if the law increased the desire in people to behave sinfully.

But that's not what Paul is saying at all.  Please read that whole post to get the full gist of what I was saying, but in short I'll say this: In the phrase "sinful passions which were aroused by the law," the word "passions" is a word that really means "hardship," "affliction," "pain" or "suffering."  Also, the word "aroused" was added by translators.  One could then translate the phrase as "the affliction of sin which is by the law."  The condition of sin was already in the world before the law came, but it wasn't known as "sin," and without the law sin could not be imputed to man.

Sin was "aroused" (although again, that word was added by translators) and sin "abounded," not in that the condition became worse, and not in that it caused an increase in sinful behavior, but in that when the law came, sin was suddenly shown to be sin (Rom 7:13) and could now be imputed to man (put on man's account) (Rom 5:13).

So now to the point of this post.  Not one of those instances of the word "sin" (sin abounded, sin increased, sin "aroused" by the law, etc) is talking about the act of sin (sinful behavior).  It's talking about the condition of sin.  The sickness of sin.  The cancer of sin.  Now it's true that the condition of sin was the reason for the acts of sin.  Sinful acts show that the sin condition is there.  But... the law didn't come to impute the acts to man.  It came to make the condition known and to impute the sin condition to man.  "Sinful acts" didn't (and don't) abound through the law.  Rather, the sin condition abounded.  Again (and this is very important!), not meaning that the sin condition grew or became worse, but that the sin condition, which was already in the world before the law, was revealed to be the sin condition that it was.  The sin condition was aroused by the law.  Again (important!), not meaning that the law caused sinful behavior to be aroused, but that it exposed the sin condition, which was already in the world before the law, for what it was.

The problem was never "sinful behavior."  Sinful behavior - "a thing you do from time to time" - was a symptom of the actual problem - the sin condition.  The "actual problem" is what the law exposed.  A person can have the symptoms of cancer without even knowing they have cancer.  The symptoms can be known and treated, but that doesn't take care of the cancer.  What needed to take place was that the cancer itself needed to be exposed for what it really was, and condemned for what it was, and "imputed" for what it was, and then it could be dealt with once and for all.  The law came to expose sin (the condition of sin) and to condemn it for what it was, but the law didn't actually take away the problem.

The ministry of the law led TO the ministry of Christ.  The ministry of the law was that it imputed sin to all of mankind - from Adam to the very last person ever born on earth!  The law doesn't keep doing this on an ongoing basis, for each individual person at some point in their life.  It did its job once, imputing sin to all of mankind once and for all, and then it died.  It was nailed to the cross, making way for the ministry of Life - Jesus Christ Himself.

"But the Scripture (the law) has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." (Gal 3:22)

The Error of Making a Law Unto Myself

For several years on my route as a hospital courier, I've gone once a week to a certain hospital that has a parking lot with an entrance that was marked "Enter Only" and an exit that was marked "Exit Only." I didn't like following this "law," because the "Entrance" was a bit further down the road, and I would've preferred to use the "Exit" both when I came and when I left.

A few months ago, after many months of remodeling, as well as new construction at the hospital, the "Enter Only" and "Exit Only" signs on this particular parking lot were removed. (I suspect it's because this parking lot will now be used less, as an entire new addition has been built, and the main entrance is now there). I still use this parking lot, and the cool thing is that I'm now absolutely and unconditionally free to use either side of the parking lot to enter or exit. My problem is that I keep forgetting this!

All these years, I've been using the "Enter Only" entrance, so week after week I keep driving past where it used to say "Exit Only," and still entering where it used to say "Enter Only." Each time, after I pass the old Exit, I have a V8 moment in which I bop myself on the head and say, "I could've entered there!" The "law" has died - it has been taken out of the way - and yet I continue to make it "a law unto myself."

But even though I ignorantly/forgetfully continue to obligate myself to it, that doesn't mean that I am actually obligated to it or under it in any way, shape or form. It's me, myself and I who continues to put myself under the law. The hospital has released me from the law. The hospital no longer keeps me under it. They are the ones who removed it!

In the same way, God's law has been "wiped out," "taken out of the way" and "nailed to the cross." (Col 2:14). The law has died, and the entire world is free to come to the freedom of grace (to "marry" Christ), but some still ignorantly or forgetfully keep themselves under the law, even though God has no longer contained them under the law. They have made it a law unto themselves, so to speak. Our message to the world isn't to get them to see their sin through the law, but rather to see that the law has died and they can come freely to Christ.

GIG 259 - Struggling With Experiencing God's Rest

This week we read an email from someone who is struggling with experiencing "God's rest," and then we talk about living in God's rest and peace that is already ours. The person who sent the email says he has "believed so many paralyzing lies and accusations." This is a real issue for far too many people, in varying degrees.

For many, the root of the problem is that they don't have a good understanding or grasp of the truth of their identity in Christ. The truth is, we do have peace with God and we have entered into His rest, not because of anything we've done to attain it, but solely because of the blood of Jesus and our union with Him. The truth of our identity remains rock solid, even when our feelings and emotions would lie to us and tell us otherwise.  One of the keys to ending the struggle with not being able to experience God's rest is to believe what He says to be true about us, instead of believing those lies.

Click here to listen to the Growing in Grace podcast.

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period. (Part 4)

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period.

• Part 4 - The Strength of Sin Is the Law

Although there are plenty of other passages to explore, this series is already long enough so I'll end with the verse that says "the strength of sin is the law."  Again, we have taken this to mean that sinful behavior gets strength from the law.  But is that what Paul is talking about in the passage?  He writes:

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

"O  Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?"

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.(1 Cor 15:54-57)

In the past I've taken this "victory" to mean "victory over sinful behavior" or "living a victorious Christian life."  But that's not what Paul is talking about.  The victory that is through our Lord Jesus Christ is the victory that he won over Death and Hades.  Death has a sting.  Death's sting is sin.  The strength of sin is the law.  Imagine "Death" to be a wasp with a stinger. Apart from the law, the wasp's sting (sin) has no strength.  It can't kill you.  But then the law enters and suddenly the wasp's sting (sin) receives strength, and by it, kills you. (Rom 7:11 - For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me).  The wasp (Death) is victorious (it kills you), all because its sting (sin) received strength by the law.  The law's strength is not that it gives you power to sin, but rather that it gives sin the power to kill you.  And that would be the end of the story... it would remain to be the present reality.  However, "thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"  The "victory" isn't a victory over sinful behavior.  It's a victory that Jesus wins over Death, because with the law (the strength of sin) taken out of the way, sin no longer has strength.  BTW, please note once again Paul's writing style:  He is speaking in the present tense ("the sting of death is sin, and sin is the strength of the law... thanks be to God who gives us the victory"), but he is talking, of course, about things that are already past, already completed! The law does not continue to be the strength of sin.  It has been taken away.  God does not continue to give victory after victory.  The victory was won, once and for all!

All of this said (everything in this series), there is, however, a place where the law is kept alive.  It’s in the minds of people.  In reality, the law was wiped out, nailed to the cross, annulled, abolished… and yet there are people who keep it alive in their understanding of how they relate to God and how they are to live their lives.  They have either not understood or not believed that they are not under the law and that the law is, in fact, dead.  The Old Covenant has been made obsolete (Heb 8:13), and yet certain people have continued to try to live by it, in various forms.  These people are “under the law” of their own volition, not because God has confined them there.  Paul himself knows that the law has been nailed to the cross and its ministry has ended, and that no one can truly be “under the law,” but at times he speaks of them as such and in one case he says that he meets them right where they’re at in order to “win them.”  In one case Paul says, "For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law."  Out of context it would seem that he's speaking of a coming judgment for those who are under the law, but in the bigger picture I see that this verse is part of a larger case that he is building (in Romans 1 - 3) for those who "rest on the law" (Rom 2:17), showing them that it can't be about law!

And in today’s church, there is an exceeding overabundance of the use of the law - and I'm understating the point (am I wrong?).  These also have put themselves “under the law,” apart from God’s call for them to do so.  And in doing so they are ignorantly (blindly) keeping themselves and others from Christ, or at least from fully experiencing the fullness of Christ.  They have "fallen from grace."  In these cases, I do continue to suggest that there are proper places and times to "use" the law in a different way, kind of like how I see Jesus, as one example, confronting the rich young ruler ("You know the commandments") and Paul, as another example, confronting the Galatians ("Do you not hear the law?")… showing these self-righteous (even if well-intentioned) people the futility of their rule-keeping and law-keeping.  I do think that the law can still "stop mouths."  The desired goal of this somewhat paradoxical use of the law would be to show people that they are not actually under it.  The hope would be that people would indeed do as Paul did: count their laws and rules as rubbish and dung so that they may be found in Christ alone.

However, I don’t see the above two paragraphs as the actual ministry of the law, as I once had seen it.  That’s really what I’m getting at here.

As I said in the introduction, I welcome comments and questions from those seriously wishing to talk this stuff out.  To me, this is serious stuff and I simply have a passion for discussing it with others who also like talking this stuff out.

---------------
Introduction
Part 1 - The Law's Job Is Done
Part 2 - Till the Seed Should Come
Part 3 - The Law Did Not Cause an Increase in Sinful Behavior
Part 4 - The Strength of Sin Is the Law

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period. (Part 3)

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period.

• Part 3 - The Law Did Not Cause an Increase in Sinful Behavior

Over a decade ago I remember hearing my pastor (at the time) talking about Romans 5:20, “the law entered that the offense might abound...” I vividly remember him purposely over-enunciating the “-ed” when he read the next part of the sentence, “...but where sin abound-ED, grace abound-ED much more…” I didn't get his point at the time, but as I think about this I realize that just a few sentences earlier Paul says, “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” So when the law came (when it was introduced 1,500 years before Christ), sin abound-ED --- not meaning that it caused people to behave more sinfully, but that suddenly sin was imputed to man when it hadn’t previously been imputed.

This theme continues into Romans 7. I've learned to read Paul in entire thought processes, and not to just take individual sentences here and there, or even lone paragraphs or chapters sometimes. This is a classic case in which I think a whole thought process is laid out over a large block of writing, so let's keep in mind what Paul says as a whole. In the NKJV, Rom 7:5 reads: "For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death." Rom 7:8 reads: "But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead." We've taken these two sentence to mean that when you stick the law in front of people, it causes sinful behavior to be stirred up in them. But again, the law didn't cause people to suddenly start sinning. People were already sinning plentifully long before the law. But apart from the law it wasn't seen as sin and it couldn't be imputed to man.

All of this becomes clearer as we follow Paul's thought process all the way through. Once again, I think he is continuing to make the case for what the law did en masse (to the world as a whole), not to individuals. I think in his style of writing he symbolically uses "I" and "me" to represent what happened universally - especially when looking at his thought process as a whole - and not to explain what happened to him in a personal sense. (For example, Paul says, "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." Does this mean that in Paul's personal life he was at one point alive without the law, and then at a certain point in his life the law suddenly appeared? Again, I think in actuality he's speaking of the time before the law was in the world, and then of what happened when the law entered into the world).

Paul says, "I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet' (Rom 7:7).  Now think about it.  Covetousness (Paul's chosen example here) was in the world before the law.  People coveted their neighbor's houses, wives, servants, oxes, donkeys and other things that were their neighbor's... long before the law entered.  It's not that people suddenly began to covet when the law entered.  Sin didn't take opportunity by the command to suddenly cause people to begin coveting!  Rather, apart from the law (before the law came) sin was dead.  Covetousness was in the world before the law, but it was "dead." That it was "dead" doesn't mean that no one coveted.  It means that apart from the law, coveting wasn't seen for what it was - sin - and therefore it wasn't imputed to man.  The command didn't make people suddenly start coveting, but rather through the command coveting "came to life" and was seen for what it really was.

A couple of things to point out in this passage.  In the phrase, "the sinful passions which were aroused by the law," the word "passions" (translated as "motions" in the KJV) is a word that really means "hardship," "affliction," "pain" or "suffering."  Also, the word "aroused" was added by translators.  One could then translate the phrase as "the affliction of sin which is by the law."  Then, in the phrase, "produced in me all manner of evil desire," the word that is translated as "produced" is a bit of a tricky word.  It doesn't mean "to manufacture" or "to bring into existence."  It more closely means "to fashion."  Sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, didn't create in me all manner of evil desire.  Rather, it gave shape and form to that which was already there - all manner of evil desire.

The law doesn't cause people to want to sin.  They already want to sin!  The law doesn't cause people to perform the acts of sin.  People do this just fine on their own!  It's not that you put the law in front of someone, and then voila: suddenly they're infected with "all manner of evil desire."  They already have all manner of evil desire. Sin was already in the world, but it wasn't known as sin. The law simply gave sin the opportunity to be seen for what it really was - and the power to kill.  Sin was already "sinful," but when the law came, sin was realized to be "exceedingly sinful."  It suddenly "abounded."  Again, the law didn't cause an increase in sinful behavior.  Rather, through the law the sinful behavior that was already in the world was suddenly seen and understood as sin.   "Has then what is good (the law) become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin (the word means "to shed light upon" or "to become evident"), was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful." (Rom 7:13). Paul says, "the commandment... I found to bring death," not because the law itself was death for people, but because it showed sin for what it really was, thereby imputing sin to all, thereby killing them.  "For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good."

To make myself clear, what I'm saying here is that Paul is not saying that if you put the law in front of someone, it will stimulate them to go out and sin.  Think about it.  God did not give the law in order to make sinful behavior increase.  Sin was in the world before the law.  The opportunity that sin took when the law entered was not to increase sinful behavior, but rather that it might become evident as to what it really was.  When I exhale, there is a certain amount of moisture in my breath.  The thing is, I can't see it.  It's been there all along, with every breath I've ever exhaled, but it's invisible to me.  But then "cold" entered my world.  I exhaled, and suddenly I saw that there was moisture in my breath.  I wouldn't have known there was moisture in my breath had the cold not shown me.  The unseen moisture "took opportunity by the cold" to condense into tiny water droplets which could then be seen.  (The same thing, of course, happens when I breathe on a mirror or on my glasses, etc).  Again, the moisture was always there.  When the cold entered, it didn't "manufacture" moisture or "cause moisture to come into existence," and it didn't cause the amount of moisture to increase, but yet suddenly it "abounded," in that it was previously not visible to my eyes, but suddenly it was made "exceedingly" visible.    When Paul wrote elsewhere, "For if the truth of God has increased through my lie," it wasn't that there was actually an "increase" in God's truth, but rather Paul's "lie" showed God's truth to be exceedingly true!

---------------
Introduction
Part 1 - The Law's Job Is Done
Part 2 - Till the Seed Should Come
Part 3 - The Law Did Not Cause an Increase in Sinful Behavior
Part 4 - The Strength of Sin Is the Law

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period. (Part 2)

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period.

• Part 2 - Till the Seed Should Come

The law “was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made…” (Gal 3:19). That’s a key word - “till.” As Paul continues:

But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3:22-25)

In the past I generally understood the above passage to mean that the law is a tutor that teaches “us” (individuals) that we are sinful, and then leads us (individually) to faith in Christ. I understood "after faith has come” to mean "after we (individually) come to faith." But as I look at the passage as a whole, along with what the rest of scripture says about the law, I now think it means something else.

The law has already done its job, once and for all. It doesn't keep doing it. It did it. “We (collectively – the human race) were kept under guard by the law, kept for 'the faith' which would afterward be revealed.” The law had a ministry for a period of time before this “faith” was revealed. The law led to Christ. That is, the law was a ministry that led to the ministry of Christ. It was added till the Seed appeared. But when the Seed appeared (2,000 years ago), with the law having previously confined us/guarded us (collectively - the human race) under sin, this faith was afterward revealed (2,000 years ago) and the guardian’s job of confining mankind under sin was complete. (The word "tutor" is better defined as "guardian." The Greek guardian was a slave who supervised or monitored the child. The child was not even allowed to step outside without the guardian. The guardian escorted/led the child to school, but didn't "teach" the child. In the case of the law, it was a guardian that "confined all under sin" and led "to Christ").

So the law's ministry was not a matter of convicting individual people, and then because of that conviction they would "be led to Christ." Rather, in a broad, sweeping, all-inclusive sense, the law provided en masse the actual conviction of sin (it imputed sin to all). The law’s work was then finished (2,000 years ago), and faith has come, “that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” A person can believe in Christ, completely apart from any knowledge of the law. I don't think Paul ever made the case that the law was put there to show individual people their need for a savior, as I have so often taught in the past. The law does show what sin is, but not for the purpose of showing man that he needs a savior.

---------------
Introduction
Part 1 - The Law's Job Is Done
Part 2 - Till the Seed Should Come
Part 3 - The Law Did Not Cause an Increase in Sinful Behavior
Part 4 - The Strength of Sin Is the Law

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period. (Part 1)

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period. 

• Part 1 - The Law's Job Is Done

The “conviction of sin” that came through the law wasn’t a matter of people feeling individually “convicted” of their sins. Rather, it was a broad conviction that imputed sin to the world, whether individual people realized it or not. The ministry of the law didn't require anyone to personally appropriate it. The law accomplished everything it was meant to accomplish, apart from anybody understanding it or feeling personally convicted by it or not. A man is confined to a prison cell, regardless of whether he admits guilt or "feels convicted," but rather because through the law he has been convicted.

Here are some of the functions that the law had:

• It condemned man (Rom 3:19, 2 Cor 3:9)
• It imputed sin to man (Rom 5:13)
• It brought death to man (Rom 7:9-11)
• It confined all under sin (Gal 3:22)
• It gave strength to sin (1 Cor 15:56)
• It was against man and contrary to man (Col 2:14)
• It was enmity with man (Eph 2:15)

Again, all of this applied whether anybody understood it or not or felt personally convicted or not.

And then here’s what happened to the law, after its ministry was fulfilled:

• It was wiped out, taken out of the way and nailed to the cross (Col 2:14)
• It was abolished (Eph 2:15)
• It was put to death (Eph 2:16)
• It was annulled (Heb 7:18)
• It was made obsolete (Heb 8:13)

All of this is what happened one time, in the past, 2,000 years ago. And that was that.

Here’s the point in all this. The law had a ministry in this world (past tense). It served a purpose. Its purpose was fulfilled and completed. Speaking of its own purpose and ministry, the law could very well have said “It is finished” on the cross, right along with Christ.

With the law’s purpose fulfilled, its ministry then ceased and it was nailed to the cross. It was abolished. It was annulled. It was made obsolete. It’s no longer enmity because it was done away with. It no longer stands in the way, because it was taken out of the way. It no longer condemns or makes anyone guilty because it already accomplished that, once and for all, and now it is dead, dead, deadski.

---------------
Introduction
Part 1 - The Law's Job Is Done
Part 2 - Till the Seed Should Come
Part 3 - The Law Did Not Cause an Increase in Sinful Behavior
Part 4 - The Strength of Sin Is the Law

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period. (Introduction)

Christ Is the End of the Law. Period. (Introduction)

While I think it happens to be true that one of the most unappropriated truths in the lives of Christians is that we have died to the law, I think perhaps there is another truth that is missed out on even more. The law itself is dead, having been nailed to the cross 2,000 years ago. Leading up to the cross, the law had several purposes, which were all accomplished (past tense), and its ministry has now ceased.  In this series I bring up various passages of scripture about the law that I previously interpreted differently, but that I now see in a different light. I lay down some thoughts that I’ve had for some time now. I’ve had a difficult time not going in this direction, and I thought I’d put it out there for anyone who seriously would like to consider it and/or discuss it.

For some of you, this may not be groundbreaking at all. For others, if it makes you go hmmmm, that’s ok with me. If you find holes in it, wonderful. Tell me. If it fills in some of your own holes, beautiful. I've thought about this and studied it for a while now, without really talking with people about it a whole lot, and with never having heard most of this taught by anyone else and I'm simply at a point in which I'd like to begin discussing it more in depth with others. If this is something you have heard elsewhere, or have taught yourself, I'd be intrigued to know and to see your sources so I can compare notes.  If this is too long for you, but yet still interests you, by all means take time to read it in chunks rather than all at once.

I welcome your thoughts. It took me eight days to put this together (amid juggling all the other stuff of life), and I'm willing to take more time discussing it with those who are seriously interested in the subject matter.  If you have any further insights to any of the words or passages that I bring up, or to the context of the words and passages, it could possibly help if you bring them into this discussion

This is essentially doctrinal. It's not about "living the Christian life," although I certainly do think that the teaching of doctrine can play a large role in how people go about their daily lives, and that's one reason (of many) why all of this is so important for me to work out on my own and with others.  This isn't about myself or anyone being right or wrong.  It's about wanting to grow in the truth.

---------------
Introduction
Part 1 - The Law's Job Is Done
Part 2 - Till the Seed Should Come
Part 3 - The Law Did Not Cause an Increase in Sinful Behavior
Part 4 - The Strength of Sin Is the Law

GIG 258 - What Is Your Motivation?

What is your motivation for doing the things you do? Is it duty? Is it "musts" and "shoulds?" Or is it the living out of desires that God has placed in you? What are your motivations, dreams and desires? What are your gifts and callings? Do these things all work together?

This week Kap and Joel talk about their own motivations for doing the things they do in life, including this very podcast, and talk about you living from the dreams and desires that God has implanted in you.

Click here to listen to the Growing in Grace podcast.

You're Only Human (Second Wind)

You better believe there will be times in your life
When you'll be feeling like a stumbling fool
So take it from me you'll learn more from your accidents
Than anything that you could ever learn at school

Don't forget your second wind
Sooner or later you'll get your second wind

It's not always easy to be living in this world of pain
You're gonna be crashing into stone walls again and again
It's alright, it's alright, though you feel your heart break
You're only human, you're gonna have to deal with heartache


You've been keeping to yourself these days
Cause you're thinking everything's gone wrong
Sometimes you just want to lay down and die
That emotion can be so strong
But hold on 'till that old second wind comes along
(You're only human, ooo-ooo)

You probably don't want to hear advice from someone else
But I wouldn't be telling you if I hadn't been there myself
It's alright, it's alright, sometimes that's all it takes
We're only human, we're supposed to make mistakes

I'll Never Let You Go

After my workout tonight I went upstairs to find my wife and kids fast asleep on the couch, with some peaceful lullaby music playing in the CD player. Very soothing stuff. I stood there for a bit and listened, and watched their peaceful sleeping faces. Music is so wonderful.

I came back downstairs to find an old friend of mine posting old heavy metal tunes on Facebook. :) I found myself really getting into some of the 'heavier' ones that he posted, and then I came across this "slower" one that I hadn't heard in many years, and as I listened with my headphones on (so as not to wake anyone), I found myself also being soothed with this "power ballad" love song.

GIG 257 - Rest and Motivation

Are "rest" and "motivation" words that contradict each other? If we're operating from a position of resting in Christ, where does the motivation to "do" come from?

Click here to listen to the Growing in Grace podcast.

GIG 256 - Jesus Bore All Our Guilt and Shame

We were created by God to be loved, not punished. We were created without the capacity to bear the full weight of the consequences of the guilt and shame of our sin, and so our big brother Jesus stepped in and took it all upon Himself. His finished work was sufficient in every way. The law was a curse to us, but the Bible says that Jesus Himself became the curse for us. All the guilt and shame from our sin has been taken away.

Click here to listen to the Growing in Grace podcast.

"Don't think about it so much" (repost)

After giving my testimony during the online International Grace Party today, and speaking briefly about panic attacks that I had once suffered from, I came across this post of mine from January 15, 2008. I thought I'd share it again here.
--------

I like thinking. I like thinking so much that I do it all the time. :) Ok, so maybe it's not a matter of whether or not I like thinking. It just happens. However, in Christ I do have the power to take control of my thoughts and to not let them carry me away. Our thought life can be very destructive if we don't discipline and guide our thoughts with the truth of God's word.

Sometimes our thought lives lead to humor! One day when my son was 4 years old he had sort of a puzzled look on his face and finally he said, “Daddy, I try to stop thinking but I can’t.”

I wasn’t exactly sure if I’d heard him right so I said, “What???”

He said, “I try to stop but it keeps doing it.”

I replied, “What keeps doing it?”

He said, "My head."

:D

There's no such a thing as a switch to turn off our "thinker." But again, we want to take our thoughts captive rather than being captive to our thoughts. In the past I've shared how I overcame panic attacks through scripture and through turning my trust over to God. Through a counselor who I met with in my late teens (shortly after my panic attacks began) I had come to see that my panic attacks were partly due to thinking about things too much and especially worrying about things. I didn't realize that I was over-thinking things and over-analyzing things, and worrying about things so much. Unfortunately, although my counselor did help me to see the cause of my problem, she didn't speak the truth that I needed to hear to overcome my problem. It wasn't until 2 or 3 years later that I overcame by the truth of God's word.

This post is mainly just a reminder to us all (including myself) that we can turn all our thoughts and worries over to God - all of our thoughts and worries - and walk in the truth of His word. He loves us and cares for us. We can cast all our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). We don't need to endlessly think about all these things. If we simply include God in our thought lives (He is, after all, One with us, as 1 Cor 6:17 says), then we can think restfully rather than anxiously. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Cor 14:33), and He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7).

I've been thinking about some of this lately, and my thoughts were highlighted through a conversation with a lady who works in housekeeping at some of the places I visit daily for my job, and through a humorous incident at home. This lady has shared with me lots of times about how she is a worrier and how she really thinks way too much about things. A few days ago we were talking about this again and she told me that most of the time she'll focus in on one thing and she'll be obsessed with that one thing and she can't let it go and she'll let it bother her all day long. She says that occasionally that one thought will turn into several thoughts and she'll be overwhelmed by many thoughts instead of just one. Can anyone relate? :)

Well, on Sunday evening here at home, my daughter opened the wrapper of a little Dove chocolate. Each individual wrapper has a saying on it, and my daughter read hers out loud. The wrapper says:

"Don't think about it so much."

Ha ha! I really got a kick out of that. I'm saving the wrapper to give to my housekeeping friend. And to top it all off, as my innocent and naive little daughter was reading the wrapper again, she looked somewhat confused and she asked, "Don't think about what so much?" "What is 'it'?" We laughed and we explained that "it" means "anything that you may be thinking about too much!"

I'm pretty positive that this saying will not help anyone to automatically stop over-thinking things. In fact it's one of those things that we could easily and unintentionally turn into a law or rule that in the end works the opposite of what we intended. However, I do think that it can be used as a good reminder that in our lives in Christ, we have been made free and we shouldn't let our thoughts control us and take us over.

My "testimony" during today's International Grace Party

Download/Play MP3 (22 Min, 7.5MB)
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download, or use Player below)

During today's online International Grace Party, I shared my testimony of coming to Christ and some of the process of growing in grace up till now.  As I look back on my life, it's fun to look back and put some of the pieces together that show how I've been shaped the way that I am today.  At each point in sharing my testimony, I was tempted to further elaborate on various things, because it's so wonderful to see some of the details in all the things that God has done.  But that would've taken far too long, so here's the nutshell version that I shared today.

By the way, the article that I wrote that I mentioned and began to read during my testimony is found here.

Gentile Judaizers

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily. (Gal 2:19-21, The Message)

One thing that intrigues me about these words of Paul is that they're the testimony of a man who had previously lived his entire life as a Jew - as a "strict and devout adherent to God's law" (see Phil 3:5, MESSAGE) - and was now making a great big deal about how he had come to know Jesus only after he had died to the law. It was a completely different life that he was now living.  In his former life he had been a "law man," but he had discovered that in order to truly be "God's man" he had to put an end to that!  He put a huge spotlight on this in his letter to the Philippians, highlighting his rather impressive credentials as that former law man, and then turned around and said that the only way for him to be found in Christ and Christ alone was for him to count all of it as rubbish and dung! (see Phil 3:4-10)

And yet in a very bewitching way, even with Paul's extensive explanations of the gospel of life in Christ apart from the law, all of the above is largely ignored in a good portion of the church today.  I can understand how the whole idea of life apart from the law might be resisted by Jewish believers who have lived under the law all their lives, as was the case of many in Paul's day. It's all they've known when it comes to relating to God, and it may take time and some "convincing" from the Holy Spirit before they embrace the pure gospel of grace and realize they need to count their "rule-keeping, peer-pleasing" ways as dung.

But what's the deal with this mentality also being prevalent among Gentile believers?  The law was never "theirs" in the first place, but now after believing in Christ... it suddenly becomes theirs?  Again, have they been oblivious to what Paul said?  If Paul, a Jew who had formerly been under the law all his life, had to count his law-keeping as dung - and not only that but to go so far as to die to the law - in order to be found in Christ - then why would Gentile believers put themselves under the law now that they've believed in Christ?

This is a major problem in the church today.  Gentile believers, who had never previously been under the law, are leading other Gentile believers in the way of the law!  It's one thing when Jewish Judaizers try to put Christians under the law, but aren't Gentile Judaizers even more bewitching?