Planning for the New Year

One of the many books we got for Christmas this year is quickly becoming one of our favorites!  It's Organized Simplicity by Tsh (pronounced "Tish") Oxenreider, & it's not just about getting your house in order (although it is that) - it's about getting your whole life in order.  Your life's purpose, your time, your money, & your home - getting all of these under control & simplified & (most importantly) getting all of these to work together toward a common goal.  Keeping what's truly important, chucking what's not.  All of this, as she says, doesn't happen naturally; you have to plan for it & then live out that plan.  It makes perfect sense & is really resonating with both Michael & me.  We've already gone to her website & printed off a lot of her downloads (which we highly recommend), & we're already using the Daily Docket to create more productive days.  Her "20 Questions" & "Goal-Setting Questions" have spurred a lot of discussion in our home, as well.  And, to be perfectly honest, we're both rather intrigued by her whole "'poo-free" practice!  We might be giving that a try this coming year - after all, we're already big proponents of fluoride-free toothpaste & eschewing antiperspirant for chemical-free deodorant!

Last evening, in the spirit of planning a simpler life - & in keeping with my newly filled-out Daily Docket - I came up with a month's worth of meal plans, including an alternate 5th week, for us to rotate through.  I have tried spending time each week to come up with a new meal plan, but I get overwhelmed trying to wrack my brain for something new all the time.  So!  We now have 5 weeks worth of meals already planned out that we can simply switch out at the start of each week & be on our way!  Breakfasts & snacks stay the same each week, & supper is leftovers from lunch.  The only thing that changes from week to week is the lunchtime meal.  So much easier!

Then, this morning, I open up my email to see that Beth has sent me a New Year's post from my favorite preacher (John Piper, in case you're new here), & what is he talking about?  Yep!  Planning!  His post took me through the Proverbs to show examples of planning & wise ways to plan.  He showed me how Paul, God the Father, & Jesus all planned (present tense for the Father & the Son) & set out to accomplish those plans.  His conclusion was that we should look to the Scriptures as our guide, that we should plan for the most important aspects of our lives - especially including our spiritual lives - & that we should do so not just once at the start of the year, but regularly.  As usual, it's an excellent post that I highly recommend everyone reading & putting into practice.  And, when you do read it, notice the date that it was actually written!  My immediate thought was that God's Word is truly timeless & always applicable to our lives!

Bad News: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town ~ John Piper

Bloodlines ~ John Piper

A couple of weeks ago, I posted the teaser for John Piper's "Bloodlines" documentary; here it is now in full.  If the teaser left me almost speechless - & seriously jonesing for the book - that's nothing compared to the full version!  It's extraordinary!  Thank goodness we already got the book in!


Bloodlines Documentary with John Piper from Crossway on Vimeo.

John Piper & Kevin DeYoung on Holiness

I have been sharing a lot of 3rd party articles & videos, I know, but I hope you've settled down to it, because I'm going to be sharing a lot more!  I've been reading & watching a plethora of truly excellent material that I just know you'll want to know about, if you don't already.  To kick off my continued sharing, let me begin with these 2 stellar videos featuring John Piper & Kevin DeYoung discussing holiness.  Seriously good stuff!

Bloodlines ~ John Piper

John Piper: Bloodlines Documentary Trailer from Crossway on Vimeo.

This almost leaves me speechless.  All I can say is, I love this man, & I'm looking forward to this book!

One Thing the 9/11 Terrorists Got Right ~ John Piper

The basis of our behavior is what we believe about our future. “Your reward will be great.” But this reward is fellowship with the sovereign, self-sacrificing Christ. And that hope makes us joyfully endure persecution. Murdering infidels is not the door to this reward. Suffering for the sake of their salvation is. . . . Learn from the terrorists: Don’t throw your life away pursuing their future. And don’t throw it away on the American dream. Fall in love with the final future glory. “Rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).  (Read the rest here.)

Preparing Our Hearts For Easter

Lent is a big part of my Lutheran heritage.  My usually renounced vice is desserts of all kinds.  I remember actually having nightmares that I accepted a chocolate chip cookie in the lunch line in the course of my first Lent.  I also remember feeling quite accomplished when I won a game & gave up my Snickers reward during another Lenten season.  The point of Lent - as I understood it - is to spend 40 days fasting from some earthly pleasure in recognition of Christ's sacrifice for us.  Somehow, the fact that it is a time to be spent in prayer, repentance, & giving along with that self-denial was lost on me.

Not this year!  While I am not participating in Lent in the sense that I'm not giving up desserts, I am finally preparing my heart through prayer, repentance, & giving.  Michael & I are reading our Bibles aloud together each day, as well as 2 other excellent books:  Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper & Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross edited by Nancy Guthrie.  I already feel that my heart is softer as I'm being drawn closer to God.  These books are incredible, & I highly recommend them!  And because I like you, here's a little taste to whet your appetite:

     "Let us meditate a moment on the passion of Christ.  Some do so falsely in that they merely rail against Judas & the Jews.  Some carry crucifixes to protect themselves from water, fire, & sword, & turn the suffering of Christ into an amulet against suffering.  Some weep, & that is the end of it.  The true contemplation is that in which the heart is crushed & the conscience is smitten.  You must be overwhelmed by the frightful wrath of God who so hated sin that He spared not His only begotten Son.  What can the sinner expect if the beloved Son was so afflicted?  It must be an inexpressible & unendurable yearning that causes God's Son Himself so to suffer.  Ponder this & you will tremble, & the more you ponder, the deeper you will tremble.
     Take this to heart & doubt not that you are the one who killed Christ.  Your sins certainly did, & when you see the nails driven through His hands, be sure that you are pounding, & when the thorns pierce His brow, know that they are your evil thoughts.  Consider that if one thorn pierced Christ you deserve one hundred thousand.
     The whole value of the meditation of the suffering of Christ lies in this, that man should come to the knowledge of himself & sink & tremble.  If you are so hardened that you do not tremble, then you have reason to tremble.  Pray to God that He may soften your heart & make fruitful your meditation upon the suffering of Christ, for we of ourselves are incapable of proper reflection unless God instills it."  ~Martin Luther, from Martin Luther's Easter Book, quoted in Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, pg. 11-12

May the Lord turn our thoughts from ourselves & from the things that so distract us so that we may gaze fully upon His beautiful life, death, & resurrection during this blessed Easter season.  Lord, prepare our hearts to worship & love You as You deserve to be worshipped & loved.  Break our hearts over our sin & bring us to wholehearted, life-changing repentance.  Fill us up so that our hearts & our very lives overflow with love & worship for You alone.  Amen.

Passion 2011

Michael & I watched a portion of Passion 2011 last evening, & I was quite impressed.  More than that, I was moved.  We tuned in to watch John Piper preach, but were obliged to wait through singing for what we considered the "main event".  The singing was followed by reports on money raised for various efforts & a video showing the impact of the global Passion tour.  At first, I was impatient to get on with Piper's sermon, but that quickly dissolved as my heart was drawn upwards in praise to God for what's being done through Passion.  I remember hearing about Passion years ago when I worked at Lifeway, but I haven't given much - if any - thought to it since.  I didn't really know much about it, but to my mind, I thought it was simply an entertainment for college-age kids.  Without any information, I formed the opinion that it was mostly fluff, lacking any true substance.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

Although we didn't hear much of it, what music we did hear was pretty solid.  I was particularly struck by an intentional lull in the singing so that people could go to God in prayer.  That was an awesome moment, to see heads bowed while music softly played; it was obvious that even the musicians themselves were taking advantage of this opportunity to worship God in prayer.  It was nothing short of beautiful.

When Louie Giglio stood on stage & reported the money that those in attendance have donated so far, I was taken aback.  In each & every instance, the goals that Passion set were met & then exceeded.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised - again, so far, because the event's not over yet - to sponsor Compassion children, to feed children in poor villages, to set girls free (I'm assuming from sexual slavery), to clothe the homeless, to send Bibles out, & a whole host of other things that I wish I'd written down.  I was in tears to see how these people who have just started out in their adult lives were worshipping God & proclaiming Christ as Lord by parting with material wealth.  Their selflessness led me to praise God as well!

Following this was a video showing the impact of the global Passion tour.  I'm not going to pretend to know anything about this, but the video was incredible.  It showed hundreds of thousands of students from all over the planet worshipping God, even in places where Christianity is illegal & persecuted!  What struck me most was how the students in one city prayed for & dontated to help the next city on the tour.  Their hearts were poured out in love & support for Christians they will most likely never meet.  To see students in Kampala, Uganda giving & praying for Paris, France was astounding.  At first, I felt like that should most definitely be reversed; students in rich Paris should be giving & praying for poor Kampala.  But, isn't that just what the hearts of regenerated believers should be like?!  Yes, Kampala has more need than Paris - monetarily speaking - but the heart of a believer rejoices at the opportunity to give, even out of their own need!  After all, Paul praised the Macedonian churches in 2 Corinthians 8 for giving out of their "extreme poverty", even pleading for the opportunity to do so!

Finally - although, by that time it didn't feel like "finally" - Piper stood up & preached an excellent sermon about God being our foundation rather than self.  His question was, "Do you feel more loved by God when He makes much of you or when He enables you to make much of Him?"  He went on to show that there is a foundation to our happiness:  either self or God.  God does make much of us, which Piper deftly illustrated using Scripture, & we rejoice in that, but He does so for His own glory.  Apart from his list of 7 ways that the Bible shows that God makes much of His children, my favorite part was Piper's assertion that we are far too precious to God for Him to allow us to be our own foundational happiness, to be our own god.  Because He loves us so - & because only He is worthy of that title - He alone will be our God.

All in all, I was rather impressed by what I saw last night of Passion & think that I'll be paying more attention to it from now on!  You might want to tune in, too!

How To Kill Sin ~ John Piper

Even though I've been a Christian for decades, I've sometimes wondered if I'm truly saved because I still struggle with sin.  About a year & a half ago, I was overcome with sadness due to this heavy burden of uncertainty.  Michael & I were listening to a Paul Washer sermon & he began talking about this very thing.  I sobbed with relief into the linens I was putting away as he assured us that only someone who was truly a child of God would ever be concerned about their salvation.  An unbeliever couldn't care less.  Words fail to express the balm that this truth was to my chafed & weary soul.

But, I'm still left with my dilemma of sin.  Like Paul, "I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." (Romans 7:18-19)  Can't you just hear the utter exasperation in his voice?  His cry of "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" reverberates through my soul.  This is just how I feel!  I can't get out of this!  I keep sinning & can't free myself from this death sentence!  Who will free me?!  Only Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Yet, while I stand before God cleansed of my sin & perfectly righteous through Christ's atonement (praise be to God!), I still sin.  I am a righteous sinner.  And I want to just be righteous.

As Christians, we hate sin because God does.  We love what He loves & hate what He hates.  So, we hate the sin in ourselves, even while we often feel powerless to overcome it.  And we are.  But God isn't.

"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)

There are certain sermons that stand out to me, & John Piper's series entitled "How to Kill Sin" tops my list.  In it, he deals with this verse & how we as believers are to "put to death the deeds of the body".  Just a hint - it's not by white-knuckled effort.  Each sermon in this series is positively, absolutely excellent!  Follow these links & download parts 1, 2, & 3.  We copied them to discs, & I've listened to them while driving & cleaning the house.  I . . . LOVE . . . THEM!!!  Seriously, I've listened to them enough to where I'm starting to be able to quote them!

Through these sermons, I'm encouraged to wield the sword of the Spirit to kill my sin.  I hope you are, too.

Radical Christian Sacrifice ~ John Piper

The beauty of this message simply cannot be overstated.  It is chock full of profoundly edifying, convicting, & empowering words from God's word.  But one of our favorites is this little poem & Piper's response:

"'Must I be carried to the skies

On flow'ry beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize

And sailed through bloody seas?'

NO!!!  How could you ever want such a thing?!  How could you ever . . . want . . . such a thing?!"

Evangelism & Social Justice - Not Either/Or

Michael found this on Between Two Worlds & we both loved it!  I thought it was quite fitting to share it in light of my last post's mention of how "I heart John Piper".  ;-)  I don't think anyone explains things quite like he does!

Humble Orthodoxy

Before coming to the Reformed faith, I lived my Christian life pretty much like I suppose a lot of Christians do. I went to church on Sunday, listened to my CCM radio station & CDs, & read my Daily Guideposts . . . well . . . daily. I loved God & longed to worship Him. Even to this day, death seems so joyful to me, because when that moment comes, I will see my Savior face-to-face. . .& that is a glorious thought! Since I was 15, I've had a true faith in Him, but it was seriously lacking in true knowledge of Him.

Enter Reformed theology. The first sermon from a Reformed pastor that I listened to was on expiation entitled "Jesus Died to Cleanse Our Filth" by Mark Driscoll. I remember cleaning my house while listening to it & having to sit down several times to just listen & cry. The second sermon was "15 Words of Hope" by John MacArthur. I listened to it on the way to AL to meet Michael's family, as well as on the way back. That sermon was my first exposure to expositional preaching, & it felt like breathing for the first time. I'd never heard anything so magnetic in all my life! I had no idea that sermons could bring about such deep understanding of Scripture. In that moment, I realized that the sermons I'd been hearing all my life had only scratched the surface of God's Word. For a few years, I had felt like something was missing in my church's worship service as well as in my own walk with God. I knew instantly that this was it. In short, I'd been drinking milk while unknowingly craving meat. And, boy, did John MacArthur serve up some steak! There was no going back for me.

I wholeheartedly believe Reformed theology to be true to Scripture. I've searched out God's Word & have found all of the Reformed doctrines to be biblical doctrines. But a problem soon arose in my zeal. I became brash & abrasive in defending Reformed theology & correcting erroneous beliefs. Michael has said that those who are new to the Reformed faith need to be locked up for a couple of years until their zeal mellows. This was SO me! It didn't matter who it was, if they espoused a belief that I knew to be unbiblical, I set them straight right fast! Now, there's nothing wrong with correcting error - in fact, it's wrong not to - but it does matter how you do it. And the only word for my manner of correction was harsh. Completely unloving.

It's been more than 3 years now since coming to the Reformed faith. I'm glad to say that God did convict me of my unloving attitudes. I realize now that I don't have to nitpick what people say, & if they are in error that loving correction is godly correction. I also came to the understanding that there are true believers in unreformed churches. None of us have it all figured out, & when we die & join our fellow believers before the throne of God, we'll see just how much we got wrong in this life.  We'll also see the one thing we all got right, by the grace of God:  trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our atonement for sin.

So, here are my three main admonitions to my fellow believers:

     1.) Search out the Scriptures & place yourself under men of God who dedicate their lives to presenting God's Word to the flock truly & accurately. (At the top of my list of well-known pastors are John Piper, John MacArthur, & David Platt.)  Commit to holding Scripture, not your personal opinions or feelings, as your measuring stick.

     2.) Be humble. Sometimes, the most loving thing you can do for someone is to show them their error. But, if you do have to correct someone who is in error, do so gently & lovingly, remembering that God is gentle & loving with you & such a spirit honors & glorifies Him. In this same vein, evaluate your own beliefs in light of Scripture, being humble enough to admit when you're wrong & change accordingly.

     3.) Remember that it's okay to disagree as long as both parties support their views with an accurate interpretation & application of Scripture. Just because someone doesn't believe something just exactly as you do doesn't mean they aren't true believers.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. . . . Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. ~ 1 Cor. 13:1; 4-5a

P.S. For anyone not familiar with Reformed theology or the Doctrines of Grace, I will be writing posts on this topic sometime in the near (hopefully) future.  Feel free to ask any questions you may have, though.

Ch. 1 - The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood

If you have spent any time with me at all, you know who my favorite pastor is. All together now . . . John Piper! You've no doubt heard me expound upon all of his worthy attributes in glowing terms, so I won't go into that today (maybe). Suffice it to say, though, that I'm thrilled that the very first chapter in Voices of the True Woman Movement is authored by him. I remember hearing this message on the CDs from the True Woman '08 conference. Michael & I listened to it repeatedly, it was so fantastic. The chapter is no less electric. I'll attempt not to constantly quote him word-for-word, but - I'll warn you - that will be hard, because he's got such quotable thoughts!

Three points stand out for me in this chapter entitled "The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood".

1) "Wimpy theology makes wimpy women."  I know I said I would try to refrain from quoting Piper word-for-word. I'm going back on my word here, but I guarantee you'll thank me. There's no way I could put this like he does! "Wimpy theology simply does not give a woman a God that is big enough, strong enough, wise enough, & good enough to handle the realities of life in a way that magnifies the infinite worth of Jesus Christ. Wimpy theology is plagued by woman-centeredness & man-centeredness. Wimpy theology doesn't have the granite foundation of God's sovereignty or the solid steel structure of a great God-centered purpose for all things." And don't you find this true in real life? Don't you know women that use human-centered explanations for God rather than God-centered exultations in God? When trials meet this woman, she will whine, complain, get angry, blame Satan, or walk away from God altogether. And, in all truthfulness, she will be more than happy to have her influence come from the culture around her & her own fleshly desires than from God's Word. But, we do have to be careful to define the opposite of wimpy. This sentence made me laugh out loud: "The opposite of a wimpy woman is not a brash, pushy, loud, controlling, sassy, uppity, arrogant Amazon." HA! All of us have known or have been the wimpy woman, & all of us have known or have been the Amazon woman. Some of us have been both. But neither are strong, God-centered women. So, how do we become her?

2) Robust, God-centered theology makes strong, God-centered women.  I can attest from personal experience how life-changing God-centered theology is. Thinking about God correctly - & yes, there is a correct way to think about God - comes from a correct interpretation & application of Scripture. God has given us a way to know Him in His Word. And in that Word, we find a treasure trove that ultimately leads us to the way to know God - Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Savior. Only this robust, God-centered theology can make a young girl choose imprisonment for 38 years until her death rather than reject her faith. Or make a wife choose love & forgiveness for the people whom she & her family had spent 3 decades ministering to, only to have them burn her husband & two young sons alive. Or make her young daughter exclaim praise to God that He had found her father worthy to die for Him. Or make women with physical handicaps trust in God unwaveringly & even rejoice in their infirmities because they've been driven to Him. Or a woman who has lost both her husband & her mother & discovered cancer in her own body realize that what she needs most is not relief from her trials but forgiveness & cleansing from her sin of self-pity & self-centeredness (pg. 18-19 contains all of these examples). This very robust theology is the only thing that was able to free me from years of devastation & anger over my molestation. It was only when I realized how vile & wretched my sin is against our infinitely holy God, & yet He forgave me, that I was able to be cleansed from the sin committed against me. Only robust, God-centered theology leads to cleansing, freeing faith in Christ.

As incredible as all of this is, this only leads up to Piper's main point, which is that:

3) Women are distinctly created by God to bring Him glory in their femininity. Okay, here's the bottom line. Women & men are different. Not just anatomically, but we're created to be different. And our differences are created to complement each other, to bring out the best in each other. I glorify God in my femininity in a way wholly different from how Michael glorifies God in his masculinity. God designed it this way. How? In our roles. Ephesians 5:22-24 says, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, & is Himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands." This is the complementarian view of marriage, & it's thoroughly biblical. Remember, this is how we bring out the best in each other & glorify God distinctly. A husband is the loving, protecting, providing, sacrificing head of his wife - just as Christ is for the church. And a wife fulfills her calling in lovingly honoring, affirming, & supporting her husband's leadership in humble submission - just as the church submits to Christ. These are not interchangeable any more than you can interchange Christ & the church in these verses. After all, you can't have the church being the head of Christ & Christ submitting to the church, now can you? The extent to which we faithfully demonstrate these truths in our marriages is the extent to which we reflect Christ & the church to the world.

But, what if you're not married? Piper has a section devoted to how women can glorify God in their femininity through singleness, too. And he gives 3 beautiful examples of this:

     1) It demonstrates to the world that only faith in Christ grows God's family,

     2) It demonstrates to the world that your family in Christ is more permanent & precious than your family by blood,

     3) It demonstrates that marriage is temporary by pointing to Christ & the church, for whom marriage is simply a mirror.

"God's ultimate purpose in creating the world & choosing to let it become the sin-wracked world that it is, is so that the greatness of the glory of Christ could be put on display at Calvary where He bought His rebellious bride at the cost of His life." (pg. 19-20).

No wimpy theology there.