Pressing on? or Deluded Hypocrite!

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Php 3:12 -14

Our safety is seen in the words “because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” In other words, our security is not based finally on our grip on Christ, but his grip on us. The crucial thing to see is that the firmness of Christ’s grip on us produces our pursuit of him.”I press on . . . because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” John Piper

Worldly indifference and spiritual disinterest are not the results of Christ “making me His own” … and yet what exactly do I value in the day to day busyness of my life? Is it Christ?

I think if I am to be truthful to myself and to Him, I value my work, the money (even if it is used in part for the advancement the kingdom), my rest, my health, my family….my comforts. Not that my Lord does not want me to have these thing, but do I value them more then Him? Does He get first place in just fleeting moments of my week?

So I ask myself and I ask God…”How do I pursue you, Lord when I am neck deep in the busyness of this world? “

Piper asks a better question and isn’t that why I read Piper… “What does the eternally secure saint do that confirms he is a secure saint and not a deluded hypocrite?”

The apostle Paul tells us point blank…

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ Php 3:7-8

Ouch! Am I a secure saint pressing on?

Or a deluded hypocrite who shows up at church every week, makes it for prayer time, prepares the PowerPoint for worship time, adds to biblical and theological discussions, attends the weekly Bible study and gives the Lord a few moments each day in the Word and prayer….because that is who I am and I am supposed to do these things. But after this I pursue my job, the money, my rest….

Am I a secure saint, pursuing Christ? Or a deluded hypocrite?

The answer to that questions has eternal ramification…

It should shake me up. And it does.

In some way or form I have been asking myself and Christ, that very question for some time. It has been easy to ignore any answer from Him or myself, because I have been so busy with all these things in the world that I am pursuing. I have been….well..deluded.

I have been waiting for Him to point me in the right direction…which tells me I am less of a deluded hypocrite then I might think because I am at least noticing my delusion. But how long do you NOT pursue Christ and get away with it… Is it possible that I just might be a full fledged deluded hypocrite?

Well, He is shaking me up and I do hope he keeps shaking me up and gets me back on the track soon. The comforts and ‘rewards’ of this world are very alluring. I have a lot of them and I like them, so being delusional is really attractive.

How about you? If you are not sure if you might be wavering into the realm of deluded hypocrite, then read John Pipers article here. All you secure saints need not bother with it.

After a little Piper conviction, let us  just keep running the race together shall we? With our eyes firmly on the prize – Jesus Christ. I’ll help you up and dust you off when you fall  and you can wait for me when I fall face first in the mud. It’s okay. The beauty of this race is that just being in it and moving forward secures the prize for us, no matter how many times we fall or how bad we fall.

Even if we stop running and stand at the side of the track for a while thinking we are actually running when we are not, the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Encourager never leaves us there for too long. Someone comes along and says “Your not moving, you know. You had better get those legs going again or you won’t make it to the finish line” And we look down and realize we haven’t moved an inch. In our minds we were moving right along with all the others.  A little deluded? And we realize just how stupid and self centered we have been (read repentance because this is sin) and so we get back in to the race and adjust our muddy glasses and there He is!

Press on with me saints!

I know who I am

THE  BELL

I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God’s child. (John 1:12)
I am Christ’s friend. (John 15:15)
I am united with the Lord. (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price. (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ.  (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth. (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ. (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation. (  Rom.  8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant.   (Phil 3:20)
I am free from any charge against me. (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God. (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God. (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God. (2 Cor 1:21-22)
I am assured all things work together for good. (Rom. 8:28)
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit. (John 15:16)
I may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Eph. 3: 12)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life. (John 15: 1-5)
I am God’s temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ. (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).. I have been justified. (Romans 5:1)
I am God’s co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God’s workmanship. (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil.1:5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven. ( Col  1:14). I have been adopted as God’s child. Eph 1:5)
I belong to God.
Do you know
Who you are?

Jesus’ humility

John Piper writes…

Jesus’ humility was not a sense of defect in himself, but a sense of fullness in himself put at the disposal of others for their good. It was a voluntary lowering of himself to make the height of his glory available for sinners to enjoy.

Jesus makes the connection between his Christmas lowliness and the good news for us: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

read the whole article here

Creator of the Stars of Night (Conditor Alme Siderum)

CREATOR of the stars of night,
Thy people’s everlasting light,
Jesu, Redeemer, save us all,
and hear Thy servants when they call.

Thou, grieving that the ancient curse
should doom to death a universe,
hast found the medicine, full of grace,
to save and heal a ruined race.

Thou camest, the Bridegroom of the Bride,
as drew the world to evening tide,
proceeding from a virgin shrine,
the spotless Victim all divine.

At whose dread Name, majestic now,
all knees must bend, all hearts must bow;
and things celestial Thee shall own,
and things terrestrial Lord alone.

O Thou whose coming is with dread,
to judge and doom the quick and dead,
preserve us, while we dwell below,
from every insult of the foe.

To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, Three in One,
laud, honor, might, and glory be
from age to age eternally. Amen.

…..traditional Advent hymn

Gratitude List

Feeling very tired tonight. Busy day with lots of challenges. Work can be draining, but somehow I do enjoy the challenges and some days I almost feel like I am actually helping people. Today I made two families very happy and their “thank you so much for all your help” …well those words just make my day …the other ten I am not sure. Trying to be a thankful person. My boss is happy too and very appreciative of all I do. That makes me very happy and content too.

My days do fly by. Glenda came in to my office today. You do know you wrote Oct 17th on that last dated note don’t you…um it is November she says with a smile. I sigh….”I will write a correction” she tells me knowing I do not have time. A ‘correction’ because once on file always on file.

It seems one moment it is 7:45 am and I am unlocking my office, turning on my computer, hanging up my jacket and settling in with my extra large decaf coffee from Intermission House and four messages on the phone. In a blink of an eye my cup is empty and Heather arrives at my office door…”coffee time, come on girl!” She comes from the other side of the office to get me. She knows it is hard for me to drag myself away. I am thankful for her.

It is 10:00am and the office is gathering in the staff room. I will just return one more call, write one more dated note….and I look at the clock. Coffee time is long gone and lunch is around the corner. No wonder I feel hungry. Finally at 1 pm I head to the staff room to heat up lunch, pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes and head to the bathroom.  I have discovered I can use the bathroom in less than 2 minutes.

No one is in the staff room so I take my heated leftovers back to my desk. The question now looms…can I get out the door on time today? Two o’clock, I ‘m doing okay catching up on messages, returning calls, typing, typing and more typing. Everything said and done is recorded in clients files. Three o’clock and the gang is at coffee and  I have one hour to finish up, tie all the loose ends and make sure nothing was left undone. It is never enough time. Four o’clock comes and goes, 4:20pm, I am close, one more dated note on file. Glenda pops her head in again…are you going home? Yah, in a minute, almost there.

Flying out the door at 4:45pm. But the day actually felt like about 5 hours, maybe even less. And you know I like my job. I like being busy. Nothing in my office is ever boring. And some days I get thank yous from two families.

so…on to my gratitude list because there is so much to be thankful for.

101. I have a job that pays me well, challenges me and allows me to help people live better lives. I have friends at work who care about me and let me know. Now that makes going to work so much nicer.

102. My house is quiet tonight and when I finish this I am going to bed. I can crawl into my bed and open the good book and be thankful because He is my Rock and my Foundation.

102. My husband is on the other side of the world but when I get up in the morning there will be an e-mail from him telling me he loves me. And I love him too.

103. My car is on empty and the light is on telling me to fill it up. That means leaving earlier for work tomorrow morning. But I have heated seats and I think next to electricity that is one of the best inventions in the whole world. That,  and remote starts. So I leave a Little early and get gas. Maybe I will pick up my coffee first and enjoy it while I wait for the fill – yes I will indulge in the full service lane I think.Thankful for heated seats, my decaf coffee and full service fills.

104. I have three new pair of shoes. No I don’t have a shoe fetish. The opposite actually. I NEVER buy shoes. It has been over a year – maybe two. It is so obvious that my husband tells me to go out and get some shoes. I love my TEVA sandals and my feet love them, …so why cram my poor feet into something for 8 hours that will make them hurt. I wear my Teva sandals and my Teva sandals alone until it snows.

However, winter is coming…so I bought some dress shoes for dinners out (Badly needed), some cool dansko clogs that are so comfortable and some sensible leather shoes to wear with slacks. I feel blessed. I love my new clogs. Are they not so cool? And they are incredibly comfortable. I am wearing them as I type.

105. My son is enjoying his first job in his new career. He is a firefighter in Thompson Manitoba. Thankful he is enjoying this new work. Hoping there will be some firefighting positions in Saskatoon soon so he can come home.Thankful tha I can pray for him and for his safety.

106. Fabric softener. Does wonders for making clothes smell so good. I am out of it. I need more.

107. Pictures of an alligator. Yes I saw an alligator in South Carolina while visiting my sister and he stood still for me for 10 minutes while I changed lenses and zoomed in on him. Way more fun then my gecko pictures. Although I was able to get a lot closer to the geckos.hehe

108. No blizzards yet. My husband is out of town and I don’t want to shovel snow by myself. Thankful.

109. Harold likes the gift we brought him home from S. Carolina. Liars dice. It is a game of dice the pirates are playing on Pirates of the Caribbean II. We have played it several times together. Thankful that it is giving us opportunity to spend time with him having fun. Thankful for board games – they allow conversation and quality time together.

110. Thankful for our friend Ken who made the long drive to spend an evening with us recently…and play Liars dice with us. Ken is a good liar. So is David. I am NOT! I lost! Thankful Ken feels he can just pick up the phone and call us and say. “How ya doing” Thankful that Ken loves to come for supper at our house. Gives me reason to cook a little something special. Thankful for friends who really care.

So much to be thankful for. God is so good to us.

Motherhood

I read a post today that encouraged me.

Motherhood. How many times have I wanted to start all over again and do a better job? Oh to go back and re-raise my children, to love them better, to encourage them more, to just be a better Mom. But we don’t get to do that do we?

Ann Voscamp wrote this in a post I read this morning…

I felt the strangling terror give way to realization. Motherhood does not require, thankfully, perfection. It simply requires commitment and humility.

Commitment – I gave a whole lot of that.

Humility  – I can always use more.

Perfection – not an ounce.

Read her post, mothers – I know you will be greatly encouraged.

Have a blessed day!

Gratitude list.

There is a lot of suffering going on in the USA right now as the bottom falls out of their financial markets, people loose their jobs and homes and many go without. I am sure there is much pain and much worry. So many have placed their hope in investments, jobs, savings…and with little notice they are gone.

And yet, North America is so blessed in so many ways. We live in homes 10 X bigger than really needed, have fast food restaurants on every corner, 24 hr shopping. It hurts when all these comforts are disrupted. It brings strife into our lives because our comforts and routines are in upheaval.

So today I want to continue my Gratitude List and remind myself of the gifts He gives me every day.

91. Electricity – right now I have light to see the keyboard and my computer is running so I can share with you my gratitude for the gifts He gives me daily. The electricity flows into my house without interruption.

92. Clothes on my back – I have several changes of clothes and I have a washer and dryer to wash them. If I don’t make a glutton of myself I can wear these clothes for months and months -even years. I have more than one pair of shoes. I have winter boots to protect my feet from the cold.

93. I have clean air to breath. It is good everywhere I go – the air – it keeps my red blood cells busy delivering O2 to all my cells. I am breathing, which means I am alive and He has more He wants me to do before He calls me home.I am needed by my Savior.

94. There were leftovers in the fridge when I got home from work tonight – that means that there was an abundance of food at our last meal. There are enough leftovers in the fridge for several more meals and after that a pot of soup. Yes food is plenty – good food!Food that keeps me healthy.

95. I am thankful that I know how to read. I can pick up the Word of God and read it! I grew up in a country that allowed/mandated that I receive an education. I grew up with parents that valued an education and provided it.

96. I am thankful that the Lord saw fit to provide me with a husband who knows and loves Him. He could have just saved one of us…but He didn’t. He saved both of us.

97. I have clean, drinkable water that comes right into my home. As a matter of fact, there are ten taps in this house that can give me clean, drinkable water at any moment. There are also ten taps that can give me hot water to wash my clothes, my dishes, my floors and my body.

98. My garbage gets picked up every week. I just put it on the curb and it gets picked up. This keeps my community and home germ free and fresh.

99. I am healthy and when I am not well I have doctors and specialists and medical experts and medicines available to me usually within a day or two.

100. I have a telephone and although my husband is almost 1000 kms away from me right now, I can call him if I need to and hear his sweet voice tell me he loves me. I am blessed.

Oh my God, Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects, my heart admires, adores, loves thee, my little vessel is as full as it can be, and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.
-The Valley of Vision

Prayer is needed

Pastor Terry Stauffer and his wife Juanita and their family suffered a terrible loss late Saturday afternoon in the tragic death of their 14 year old daughter Emily Joy. Please take this family to His throne. May He provide comfort and the peace now and in the difficult days to come.

I have copied the following from Terry’s web site.

It Is Not Death to Die

It is not death to die
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God

It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears

O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die

It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just

It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore

O Jesus, conquering the grave

Your precious blood has power to save

Those who trust in You

Will in Your mercy find

That it is not death to die

Original Words by Henri Malan (1787-1864). Translated by George Bethune (1847).
Music, Chorus and Alternate Words by Bob Kauflin.
© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI). Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Ministries.
From Come Weary Saints. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

The Convicting Spirit

Oh blessed Spirit,

Come, work repentance in my soul.

melt my heart by the mercy of God

Teach me to behold my Creator, my Saviour

to confide in His power and love,

commit my soul to Him

bear His image,

observe His laws

May I perceive nothing in myself but all in Jesus.

prayer from the Valley of Vision.

Baptism, the lost, loved ones

Please read Anne Voskamp’s moving account of her brothers baptism and her love for her lost father. And if the Lord so leads you tonight, remember the lost in your family, taking each one to His throne, one by one. Ask the Lord what He would have you do to draw them closer to/to show them the love of Christ.