The Difference

"I often tell my congregation that when it comes to battling sin in our lives, the difference between Christians and non-Christians is not that non-Christians sin whereas Christians don't. The difference is found in which side we take in the battle. Christians take God's side against sin, whereas non-Christians take sin's side against God. In other words, a Christian will sin, but then he will turn to God and his Word and say, 'Help me fight against sin.' A non-Christian, even if he recognizes his sin, effectively responds, 'I want my sin more than God.'"
-Mark Dever

(HT: Reformed Voices)

Thank you Laurie!!

I just wanted to give a shout out to Laurie Babcock who so generously and rather unexpectedly gave me a car safety kit sometime last January. It came in very handy on Sunday when I found myself stuck at the bottom of a hill.

Leah, who I will affectionately call my calamity partner, was also with me; we both had come in separate cars. We tryed cardboard, my floor mats, Leah's floor mats, Leah's ice picks, windshielf washer fluid, spinning the tires, Leah spinning the tires, and Leah trying to push. All to no avail. Oh, and did I say we did all of this was in our church clothes? (Random... we had both been joking earlier how we looked like Jehovah's Witnesses in our black pea coats and skirts... no offense but maybe that's why no one came to our aide right away?)

So after all that I opened up the trunk and start to rifle through the car emergency kit. And guess what was in there? A tow rope. So Leah and I thought it would be fun to experiment to see if her car could tow mine out. Guess what? It couldn't. : ) But apparently a neighbor had been watching us for some time and once he saw the tow rope he offered his truck. He said he would have come out sooner if he knew we had a tow rope! He said I should give the person who gave me that tow rope a great big thank you.

So, Laurie Babcock....Thank you!!!

Hudson River Crash

Every time I read or hear something about the Hudson River crash it takes my breath away and brings me to tears. The reports are amazing and beautiful all at the same time! Here's a few articles I liked:

A Shout-Out to Chivalry From a blog I subscribe to.
All Survive Jet's Splashdown in Hudson A very complete and well written news article combining fact, experience, and opinion.
Passengers of Flight 1549 share stories of survival Video stories about the heroism of the captain, crew, and passengers.
Hudson River Plane Survivor Describes Ordeal I like this one because it's in a written interview format.

Anyone have any good links to articles on the Hudson River crash out there?

Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty guardian.co.uk

The whole point of reading through your Bible

I'm reading through the Bible this year and I'm doing pretty well using The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan. It's a great reading plan because it allows for a few 'off' days each month so if you miss a day you don't always to read double to catch up. Well, anyway, I just saw this great post on Buzzard Blog regarding reading through your Bible:

The whole point of reading through your Bible on a regular basis is to begin to see and celebrate that the whole Bible is about the cross--about the gospel, about the good news of what Jesus has done for you.

Make it to the cross.

If you don't make it to the cross, if you read a few verses in Proverbs and a paragraph of commands in Philippians without detecting how these sentences connect to the blood-stained beam of wood where, "For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21), then consequences will follow.

If you don't make it to the cross, you'll make your Bible reading and your relationship with God about your performance rather than about Jesus' performance. You'll gravitate away from the gospel and towards religion. Anxiety and fear will take the place of confidence, joy, and rest. Legalism will replace freedom. If your eyes don't catch a glimpse of the cross as you turn the pages of Scripture, you're likely to spend much of your day staring at yourself, wallowing in endless introspection, rather than staring at your Savior, delighting in his costly love.

Cultivate the habit of making it to the cross every time you read your Bible.

I thought it was a great reminder for me to look for the cross in my reading. And, oh my, I can certainly relate to cross-less reading that involves 'staring at yourself, wallowing in endless introspection, rather than staring at your Savior, delighting in his costly love'. I'm so thankful that God has helped me to learn to see the cross more!

BTW, I love Buzzard Blog and I read it everyday (by RSS feed)! The articles are relatively short but very helpful. Always worth a stop!

Resolutions

I usually make the same resolutions every year in the hopes that one of these years I'll actually do them. My two resolutions are usually to 1. To maintain good spiritual health through regular Bible reading and 2. To maintain good physical health through regular exercise. When I was younger and full of energy I did fairly well in these areas but I feel like I get less motivated as I get older. Also, my work schedule is crazier and harder and I have new pesky injuries that prevent me from exercising at times. So I make resolutions and goals to beat back that laziness and try to assemble some sort of order in my life.

I'm going to use The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan (it's a good one because you can miss five days a months and still keep up) and this exercise program from PersonalTrainingPrograms.com. If you have access to a gym you can tailor your own program according to your needs with beginner to expert 2-5 day schedules. (I'm doing the 3 day beginner.)

Last year I made some headway on my resolutions. I exercised for a good portion of the spring and summer and read regularly over the fall and part of the winter. I struggle greatly with both as I am often quite lazy and not motivated. I lack intentionality and discipline in much of my life. All of that said, I'm not discouraged!

The Blazing Center posted a great article Reasons To Have Hope You'll Change to discourage any feelings of inability in making resolutions: "We should use all God’s means of grace to grow - reading and meditating on Scripture, prayer, fellowship, worship, communion. But our hope for change is our mighty Savior, not ourselves. So take courage - Jesus is at work in you!"

Oh yeah, and though this wasn't a resolution, I've also flossed regularly for most of 2008. It was, of course, after my dentist and hygienist said all my teeth would fall out if I didn't but, hey, whatever motivates you! : )

Self-forgetfulness

After a long absence, I've decided to return to blogging.

Between Two Worlds posted a link to a recent article on humility by Tim Keller. It's definitely worth reading. Here's a part I particularly liked:

"Christian humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less, as C. S. Lewis so memorably said. It is to be no longer always noticing yourself and how you are doing and how you are being treated. It is "blessed self-forgetfulness."

Humility is a byproduct of belief in the gospel of Christ. In the gospel, we have a confidence not based in our performance but in the love of God in Christ (Rom. 3:22-24). This frees us from having to always be looking at ourselves. Our sin was so great, nothing less than the death of Jesus could save us. He had to die for us. But his love for us was so great, Jesus was glad to die for us."

The more I grow in the Lord the more I notice that I think of myself less. I still think about myself quite a lot but there is wonderful freedom in NOT thinking about myself. And it's true. It's only God in the Gospel that can free us from noticing and focusing on ourselves.

The article also goes on to talk about the problems with moralism and the subtlety of performance-based acceptance. It's about 'grace, not goodness'!

The Hope of all the Ends of the Earth

O God of Our Salvation

Psalm 65

1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed.
2 O you who hear prayer,
to you shall all flesh come.
3 When iniquities prevail against me,
you atone for our transgressions.
4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple!

5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas;
6 the one who by his strength established the mountains,
being girded with might;
7 who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples,
8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

9 You visit the earth and water it;
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide their grain,
for so you have prepared it.
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.