God's approval becomes an energy source for our identity.
"Thus says the LORD: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.' " - Jeremiah 9:23-24 ESV
We boast about the thing that gives us power.
Jesus is the love, justice, and righteousness of God manifested in a man. He is the divine One who was born as the perfect person. Jesus is God's delight.
If we have believed our boast becomes that we are somehow hidden in Christ and a blessing has been put on our life because God sees His Son when He looks at us.
Wisdom, might and riches are what the natural man goes to as it's power source. That is the boast of our natural self apart from God. The person who lives in the approval that only comes from an exchanged life has a different source because they have access to a different identity.
Jesus has done this for us. We were His enemy and He set this up before the world began and in the fullness of time He came and died on a tree so that He could rise from the grave and take us with Him.
That is my boast today. I boast in the cross. My wallet, my method and my huge biceps are not my real power. Knowing the LORD is my power and it has become my identity.
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Showing posts with label Approval. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Approval. Show all posts
Friday, September 21, 2018
Thursday, September 20, 2018
The Statement That Fills The Void
This is what fills the God-shaped hole in every human heart.
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'" - Matthew 25:21 ESV
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." - Romans 1:18-21 ESV
We need an infinite person to say 'Well done!' but the fall of man has made that seemly impossible.
If we don't get this the 'logic of the market' prevails. We start to look at relationships like profit/loss statements. Does this person help me? Does this person pull me down? A parent may say 'well done' and that means something but it is not enough. A person we respect greatly may say it. We can say, 'Well done.' to our self and other people can say it but this is a big statement said by small people. It doesn't fill that void. Our soul can't believe it because the boat still leaks and takes on water when trouble comes.
"And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.' " - Matthew 17:2-5 ESV
Those men must have been overwhelmed. They just heard what all of creation has been longing to hear since Adam was expelled from the garden. They heard the infinite God approve of a man. They heard what every person longs to hear and angry people who turn their back on God think they will never hear. The hopelessness that comes from thinking that void will never be filled is really at the root of why they are angry.
"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, '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 ESV
Part of the truth that frees us is that Jesus has won approval back. He came to represent all mankind and satisfied the anger of God and satisfied the standards of God. We can now hear the words 'Well done!' said to us in Christ and because of Christ.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
If the perfect, approved of, Savior saves us because we believe we are truly saved. If it is based on our effort our soul knows that that effort is flawed. Our performance can never produce something that will fill the void. It doesn't merit a 'well done' from an infinite God.
Jesus really is 'the praise' for all mankind and the right response from us is praise for Him and what He has done for us.
--
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'" - Matthew 25:21 ESV
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." - Romans 1:18-21 ESV
We need an infinite person to say 'Well done!' but the fall of man has made that seemly impossible.
If we don't get this the 'logic of the market' prevails. We start to look at relationships like profit/loss statements. Does this person help me? Does this person pull me down? A parent may say 'well done' and that means something but it is not enough. A person we respect greatly may say it. We can say, 'Well done.' to our self and other people can say it but this is a big statement said by small people. It doesn't fill that void. Our soul can't believe it because the boat still leaks and takes on water when trouble comes.
"And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.' " - Matthew 17:2-5 ESV
Those men must have been overwhelmed. They just heard what all of creation has been longing to hear since Adam was expelled from the garden. They heard the infinite God approve of a man. They heard what every person longs to hear and angry people who turn their back on God think they will never hear. The hopelessness that comes from thinking that void will never be filled is really at the root of why they are angry.
"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, '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 ESV
Part of the truth that frees us is that Jesus has won approval back. He came to represent all mankind and satisfied the anger of God and satisfied the standards of God. We can now hear the words 'Well done!' said to us in Christ and because of Christ.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
If the perfect, approved of, Savior saves us because we believe we are truly saved. If it is based on our effort our soul knows that that effort is flawed. Our performance can never produce something that will fill the void. It doesn't merit a 'well done' from an infinite God.
Jesus really is 'the praise' for all mankind and the right response from us is praise for Him and what He has done for us.
--
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Study Out Your Approval
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
If you study you will find that God approves of you. He doesn't approve of people because they study. He approves because of Jesus. Jesus IS approved and God only sees us as hidden in Christ.
Teachers who teach God disapproves of those who walk by faith in His Son will be ashamed because they didn't rightly handle the truth.
You are approved! Your past can't change that. Your present can't. Your future can't. Study and find out what grace means. Study and prove it to yourself then teach it to others.
"...Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not fear, only believe.' " - Mark 5:36b ESV
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Your senses are NOT going to tell you this. It must come from the Bible. It must be experienced by being with people who have studied this out also. Forgiveness is learned. This approval is based on God's justice already being satisfied by Jesus Christ.
Shun the teacher that says you don't measure up and won't unless you do a list of things. They will be ashamed.
Believe and receive. Get a PhD in that and you will have peace in crazy times. You will know how to bounce back when others don't. You will be a 'workman' that does not work for God's approval but reveals that God has already done all the work.
--
If you study you will find that God approves of you. He doesn't approve of people because they study. He approves because of Jesus. Jesus IS approved and God only sees us as hidden in Christ.
Teachers who teach God disapproves of those who walk by faith in His Son will be ashamed because they didn't rightly handle the truth.
You are approved! Your past can't change that. Your present can't. Your future can't. Study and find out what grace means. Study and prove it to yourself then teach it to others.
"...Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not fear, only believe.' " - Mark 5:36b ESV
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Your senses are NOT going to tell you this. It must come from the Bible. It must be experienced by being with people who have studied this out also. Forgiveness is learned. This approval is based on God's justice already being satisfied by Jesus Christ.
Shun the teacher that says you don't measure up and won't unless you do a list of things. They will be ashamed.
Believe and receive. Get a PhD in that and you will have peace in crazy times. You will know how to bounce back when others don't. You will be a 'workman' that does not work for God's approval but reveals that God has already done all the work.
--
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Three Ways God Takes Notice In Psalm 56
"You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me." - Psalm 56:8-9 NKJV
Wow...
God keeps a memento, a tally and writes something perceptive down about us all the time. What care that is!
We take photos, buy postcards and take rocks off the beach. We want a touchstone of some kind to remember our trips or special occasions. God does this even during our wanderings (Nowd - Strong's H5112). Even if we feel we are a fugitive or someone no one is noticing as they are wandering directionless God is taking note.
This isn't the tally of a time keeper saying, 'Late again... that's the third time this week.' This is the tally of a mother or father making marks in the doorway that say, 'In 2012 you were this tall.' It is the tally of someone who loves us.
We may not remember how many times we prayed for something but God has an exact count.
Our heartaches may be repressed in our memory but God knows and puts those tears in a bottle. God loves us like a mother who goes in their college bound child's room and sits on their bed and hugs their pillow.
"In God (I will praise His word), In the LORD (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" - Psalm 56:10-11 NKJV
Two words for God are here in this passage... Elohiym (H430), the triune judge, and the great unpronounceable essential intimate name Yahweh (H3068) that can only be said as an exhale. It is His word that reveals His mind. We only know of this scrapbook through His word.
"Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living?" - Psalm 56:12-13 NKJV
These vows are the vows of a worshiper. We can get bound up in love when we realize His attention and care. We are not alone. We are not forgotten. Someone understands our heart and our situation very well.
God is with us.
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." - Isaiah 61:10 ESV
--
Wow...
God keeps a memento, a tally and writes something perceptive down about us all the time. What care that is!
We take photos, buy postcards and take rocks off the beach. We want a touchstone of some kind to remember our trips or special occasions. God does this even during our wanderings (Nowd - Strong's H5112). Even if we feel we are a fugitive or someone no one is noticing as they are wandering directionless God is taking note.
This isn't the tally of a time keeper saying, 'Late again... that's the third time this week.' This is the tally of a mother or father making marks in the doorway that say, 'In 2012 you were this tall.' It is the tally of someone who loves us.
We may not remember how many times we prayed for something but God has an exact count.
Our heartaches may be repressed in our memory but God knows and puts those tears in a bottle. God loves us like a mother who goes in their college bound child's room and sits on their bed and hugs their pillow.
"In God (I will praise His word), In the LORD (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" - Psalm 56:10-11 NKJV
Two words for God are here in this passage... Elohiym (H430), the triune judge, and the great unpronounceable essential intimate name Yahweh (H3068) that can only be said as an exhale. It is His word that reveals His mind. We only know of this scrapbook through His word.
"Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living?" - Psalm 56:12-13 NKJV
These vows are the vows of a worshiper. We can get bound up in love when we realize His attention and care. We are not alone. We are not forgotten. Someone understands our heart and our situation very well.
God is with us.
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." - Isaiah 61:10 ESV
--
Monday, April 8, 2013
Living Approved of is Living in Loyalty
"The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself. Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." 2 Tim 2:11-15 ESV
Live in the finished work of Christ. His shed blood is the proof of our approval. This is an issue of loyalty and allegiance. It is disloyalty to God to come to Him and present yourself and act as if you are 'unapproved' by Him because of performance. God will be faithful to us no matter what we do. To deny our approval is to deny Him. If we deny what Christ has done we forfeit the experiential benefits (mental, emotional and perhaps logistical benefits) that come with the life of a believing believer.
The Bible is our tool to find and rediscover our approval again and again. If we learn to use our tools we won't we shamed workers. Instead we will become craftsmen in grace.
Even in this there is no condemnation... but we can suffer loss in the midst of Christ's victory needlessly.
There are days when I must rediscover my approval. I look for it like my misplaced car keys. There is no starting my day without it. Without those keys I must find some difficult way to get to my destination because I can not drive there.
He says earlier in the chapter:
"No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." 2 Tim 2:4-7 ESV
We can meditate on those three roles... the soldier, the athlete and the farmer. If we live as approved ones what can happen in our lives? How are we like these three people?
What territory can be taken if we live as soldiers in the delegated authority of the finished work?
Do athletes work some other trade? Yes, Sometimes. But, what about the professional ones? They do what they love and all of life is a sport to them. They play and play and play. They function in the rules of their sport and win. One of the rules we live in is approval. We can't win without it.
A farmer who sees his season through until the end gets to benefit from the crop. He sows a message of approval and keeps sowing and watering and finally reaps a crop.
Soon it will be time to start my day... to face the world. Right now I ask God to fill me with His Spirit. Right now I put my shoulders back and chin up and live in God's approval. I might even whisper it aloud to myself just so my ears can hear it. I sing a little song like 'Redeemed - How I Love to Proclaim It', 'Amazing Grace' or some other worship song that can be sung to an audience of two... God and I. He hears it and loves it and I hear it and it reinforces the eternal in the world I live and walk in.
If I stumble today I can hum my little song and smile. It will help me find God's smile again as I dust myself of and go on. Perhaps if there is a little skip in my step because of God's approval I won't stumble at that thing at all.
Live in the finished work of Christ. His shed blood is the proof of our approval. This is an issue of loyalty and allegiance. It is disloyalty to God to come to Him and present yourself and act as if you are 'unapproved' by Him because of performance. God will be faithful to us no matter what we do. To deny our approval is to deny Him. If we deny what Christ has done we forfeit the experiential benefits (mental, emotional and perhaps logistical benefits) that come with the life of a believing believer.
The Bible is our tool to find and rediscover our approval again and again. If we learn to use our tools we won't we shamed workers. Instead we will become craftsmen in grace.
Even in this there is no condemnation... but we can suffer loss in the midst of Christ's victory needlessly.
There are days when I must rediscover my approval. I look for it like my misplaced car keys. There is no starting my day without it. Without those keys I must find some difficult way to get to my destination because I can not drive there.
He says earlier in the chapter:
"No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." 2 Tim 2:4-7 ESV
We can meditate on those three roles... the soldier, the athlete and the farmer. If we live as approved ones what can happen in our lives? How are we like these three people?
What territory can be taken if we live as soldiers in the delegated authority of the finished work?
Do athletes work some other trade? Yes, Sometimes. But, what about the professional ones? They do what they love and all of life is a sport to them. They play and play and play. They function in the rules of their sport and win. One of the rules we live in is approval. We can't win without it.
A farmer who sees his season through until the end gets to benefit from the crop. He sows a message of approval and keeps sowing and watering and finally reaps a crop.
Soon it will be time to start my day... to face the world. Right now I ask God to fill me with His Spirit. Right now I put my shoulders back and chin up and live in God's approval. I might even whisper it aloud to myself just so my ears can hear it. I sing a little song like 'Redeemed - How I Love to Proclaim It', 'Amazing Grace' or some other worship song that can be sung to an audience of two... God and I. He hears it and loves it and I hear it and it reinforces the eternal in the world I live and walk in.
If I stumble today I can hum my little song and smile. It will help me find God's smile again as I dust myself of and go on. Perhaps if there is a little skip in my step because of God's approval I won't stumble at that thing at all.
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