Thursday Devotional for January 21st, 2021
Thursday Devotional for January 14th
Thursday Devotional for January 7th
I’m Just a Nobody
Check out this music video from Casting Crowns. What does this have to do with Deuteronomy? Come to worship on Sunday and find out!
Respectable Sins 10: Unthankfulness
Jerry Bridges begins his chapter on unthankfulness with the story of the ten lepers as found in Luke 17. The ten men cried out for mercy, and Jesus healed them of their leprosy. Only one of the ten returned to offer thanksgiving to Jesus. Bridges summarizes our reaction: “How could those nine men be so ungrateful as to not even turn back and say a word of thanks to Jesus?” But the trouble here is that we are often just as ungrateful. Our lives are full of innumerable things for which we could give thanks to God, the greatest of all being the miracle of new life through Jesus Christ. Bridges says it simply, “Taking for granted all the temporal provisions and spiritual blessings that God has so richly bestowed on us, and so failing to continually give Him thanks, is one of our ‘accepatble’ sins.”
Bridges reminds us that being thankful to God is not just a nice thing to do but, in fact, the “moral will” of God. Romans 1:18-32 provides us with a picture of a society descended into moral anarchy. The cause is clear: “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” (v. 21). So we see that being ungrateful is the beginning of a path which leads to moral chaos. Really raises the stakes, doesn’t it?
We have a moral imperative to give God thanks for his many blessings to us, most of all for our salvation in Christ. Bridges goes farther, however, and makes it clear that our gratitude is to be offered in every circumstance. This is not acting as if everything is okay. It is giving thanks by faith. Specifically, the faith by which we give thanks is rooted in the promise of Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Because we trust the God who made this promise to his people, we give thanks even in the darkest times. The alternative is a descent into the kinds of sins that Bridges discusses in the coming chapters: pride, selfishness, impatience, lack of self-control, and anger.
What are some temporal blessings for which you are thankful to the Lord today? In what areas of your life can you apply the promise of Romans 8:28? Have you taken the time today to simply tell God “thank you” for the gift of salvation in and through Jesus?
Respectable Sins 9: Discontentment
Are there circumstances in your life which provide many opportunities for grumbling, complaining, bitterness, or anger? If so, then Bridges’ focus on the sin of discontentment may be helpful to you. He begins by suggesting that there is a place in the Christian life for “legitimate discontentment.” This type of discontentment might be directed at needed areas of personal growth or at prevailing sources of injustice and evil in society. I think that it is important to make this distinction. The Christian belief in the sovereignty of God over all things does not require God’s people to passively accept whatever happens. I would argue the opposite. Because we believe that Jesus is Lord, then we should work for positive change in our personal lives and in the culture around us. There remains, however, a variety of discontent with our circumstances which “negatively affects our relationship with God.”
Think about our present situation concerning COVID-19. There are plenty of reasons for Christians to be active at this time. We all need to take precautions to protect the health of ourselves and others. There are people in unique seasons of need, and we should be prepared to help them and speak to them about Jesus. If we conclude that acts of injustice are being performed, then it is right for us to identify and speak out against these acts. And yet, we need to do these things with balance and care. God is in control. He has purposes and plans which he is working out in the midst of this season. He has blessings for his people that exist because of this virus. If we believe in and rely upon God’s providence, then we should be seeking what the Lord has for us in this time and refusing to live with sinful discontentment and related anger and bitterness.
Bridges helps us to see that we so commonly live with discontentment, complaining about various things in our lives, that it is difficult to even think of this as sin. As he does in the case of anxiety, Bridges asks us to turn our attention to Psalm 139. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (v. 16 ESV). Or again: “For you formed by inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (v. 13 ESV). From these verses, we see that God attends to both our days and our bodies. And if God is doing this, shouldn’t we consider the possibility that God has special blessing for us in whatever circumstances we are facing?
In what ways – either personal or societal – do you experience legitimate discontentment? When considering discontent as a sin, when do you find yourself most likely to grumble or complain? Ask a friend or a family member to help you identify things that lead you to discontentment. Ask God to help you see that he is sovereign over even these things.
Respectable Sins 8: Anxiety and Frustration
Anxiety and frustration are certainly two key elements of our contemporary season. But we also experience such things in more mundane ways. Medical bills induce anxiety. A broken bicycle produces frustration. Slick roads make us anxious. Paper cuts are frustrating. How do we handle anxiety and frustration as Christians? With this chapter, I find myself for the first time in some disagreement with Jerry Bridges. He deals with anxiety and frustration as respectable sins. We should learn from him on these matters. At the same time, we should recognize that anxiety and frustration are a part of life in a fallen world and are sometimes outside of the category of moral brokenness. Anxiety can have psychological and physiological causes. Frustration is as old as the curse of Genesis 3. In a world which doesn’t function as it was created to do, we will find all things unsatisfactory and incomplete to some extent.
A key text concerning anxiety comes from Jesus in Matthew 6: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?…But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Have faith. The birds of the air and the lillies of the field do not worry, and we are far more valuable to God than such things. For Bridges, anxiety is sin because it is the opposite of the kind of deep trust in God which should mark the Christian life. To engage in anxiety about situations in our lives is to disbelieve that God is providentially in control of our lives: “…we tend to focus on the immediate causes of anxiety rather than remembering that those immediate causes are under the sovereign control of God.”
Frustration varies from anxiety because it “usually involves being upset or even angry at whatever or whoever is blocking our plans.” To battle this sin, Bridges turns to Psalm 139:16: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” To say that our days are ordained is also to say that none of the occurrences of our days is a surprise to God; he is working out his purposes for our lives through all of the things we experience on a day-to-day basis. Living with faith means, in part, asking God “if there is something I need to learn, or if there is something I need to be attentive to. Sometimes God uses events that tempt us toward frustration to get our attention, or even to push us further in an area we need to grow in.”
I think that we need to exhibit balance in this teaching. On the one hand, we should be vigilant against sinful varieties of anxiety and frustration. If these things lead us to anger towards God or a failure of love towards neighbor, then we know that we have crossed the boundary. On the other hand, anxiety and frustration will follow us all to some extent through life in a fallen world. And for this kind of anxiety, the answer is not so much forgiveness from God as it is healing from God. The good news is that God can bring this healing into our lives, even as he can forgive us for our sinful anxiety and frustration.
Does it challenge you personally to conceive of anxiety and frustration as sin? Why or why not? Have you clearly experienced sinful forms of these common things? What helpful tips have you developed to help you when you are experiencing anxiety?
Prepare heart and home for the three days!
Here is a simple tool (designed by Shana) for coaching our families during the Three Days (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday).
Holy Week @ FPC
As I write these words, the sun is out, the birds are singing, and we have officially entered our annual commemoration of the final week of Christ’s first ministry. Multiple things will be happening this week, and I am very excited about this year’s worship!
Maundy Thursday. We will be celebrating a unique Lord’s Supper this year. I will post a video Thursday morning containing a short message and the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper. You are free to partake of the meal at home, using your own elements. If you would like me to deliver sealed elements to your home on Thursday morning, contact me through email, phone, or a comment on this post. I will bring individual cup-and-wafer packets to you!
Good Friday. The EPC leadership has requested that we make this year’s Good Friday into a time of prayer and fasting, joining together with believers from other Presbyterian denominations, as well as the Anglican Church in North America. I will post a short meditation and time of prayer on Friday morning. The attached document contains a list of twenty-one prayer requests, coming from our Office of the General Assembly.
Easter Sunday. A special Easter broadcast will play on WCSR 92.1 FM at 7:30 AM. Please spend thirty minutes after the service in personal or family prayer and worship. From 10 AM to Noon, our cross will be on display on the front lawn of the church building. Feel free to stop by and add a flower or two, as a testimony of the hope that blooms eternal because of what Jesus did in his death and resurrection.
First Presbyterian Church of Hillsdale, MI 