Burdens

Cast your burden on the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;

Ps 55: 22a

Making All Things New

Jon Bloom post:  New Every Morning, New Every Moment

So many of us love these words written by Jeremiah, the lamenting prophet, which have sustained us in dark days:

The steadfast love of the Lᴏʀᴅ never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22–23)

Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah says that God’s steadfast love and mercies never cease and yet they are new every morning? How is something that never ceases, new?

Every Single Moment Is New

We might say that Jeremiah is simply speaking phenomenologically, meaning itappears like God’s love and mercies are new with each new day, even though it’s not really new. But I don’t think that’s true. Jeremiah is not merely being more than poetic (which he is). I think there is a very real sense in which God’s enduring love and constant mercies are not only new every morning, but new every moment.

“God’s enduring love and constant mercies are not only new every morning, but new every moment.”Tweet

Every single moment is new. Every moment is a completely unique creation by God the Father through God the Son who is upholding the universe at that moment by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:2–3). Never is a moment neglected. Never is a moment repeated. Each moment is a new, infinitely powerful and complex word spoken by the Word with deliberate intention (John 1:1). Every moment God makes he decides to be utterly faithful to his character and his purposes. Every new moment God commits to fulfill what he says he will do.

“Old” Is the Real Illusion

When it comes to experiencing things as new or old, I think we tend to interpret our phenomenological experience backwards. The real illusion is not that old things appear new to us (like God’s mercies or a sunrise), but that new things ever appear old. We think of things as new or old mainly because of our mortality. We, and all terrestrial life in this age, die. So we observe creation as it changes and life as it progresses toward death and call it aging. But that’s phenomenological; that’s how it appears. In reality, every thing is new every moment.

God is not old. God is. He calls himself the Ancient of Days to help us time-bound creatures grasp something of the vastness of his eternal nature (Daniel 7:9). But time itself is a creation of God. He is not defined by age.

Neither are you in essence young or old. You are. Young and old are phenomenological terms we use to describe our experience of time in this age and where we think we are on the progression toward physical death. But that’s a relative measurement. Measured against God or the created universe we are extremely new. But in reality, we exist in each brand new moment and each momentary experience is new. And everything we do is new. Whatever you are doing, no matter how many times you have done something similar before, you are not doing the same old thing. You are doing something new, something that has never been done before and will never be done again. We always exist in the new and always do what’s new.

“Behold, I Am Making All Things New”

In the age to come, I doubt very much that we will speak of things being old. All things will always be new because we will live with a far greater, unfiltered awareness and wonder of the continual creation of God without the time constriction of impending death. I think we will find that a world of wonderful mystery is packed into the promise, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). And I think we will find that there was more than we’ve ever imagined packed into the statement, “the old has passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

God’s steadfast love and mercies for you are indeed new every morning. In fact, they are new with every new moment as he commits with a continually fresh resolve to keep his great faithfulness working for you.

Enjoy the gift of this new moment, whatever it brings, knowing that he who is “making all things new” for you is working all things together for your eternal, ageless good (Romans 8:28).

Wash Me, Savior, or I Die

Gratitude Not Presumption

Bethany post:  843 Acres: The Rejection of Offerings

Offerings: Employing a courtroom image, the Psalmist envisions God as prosecutor, witness, and judge. He has indicted Israel: “I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine” [1]. What is wrong with their offerings? Doesn’t he want us to make offerings?

Presumption: Yes, he calls us to offer our gifts—even our lives—to him as offerings. [2] The problem with the offerings of Israel, though, was that they were being presented to God with presumptuous and arrogant hearts, as if God needed their sacrifices. As if he was the dependent and needy one, not them. Yet as Paul tells those in Athens, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” [3].

Abundance: Why is God so insistent that we understand his independence? One reason is that he wants us to rest in his abundance, sovereignty, and generosity. Also, though, he wants us to see Christ. When we see that we bring nothing and he offers—indeed, in Christ, has offered—everything, our hearts offer gifts to him in gratitude, not presumption. As Thomas Brooks explains, “The only ground of God’s love is his love. The ground of God’s love is only and wholly in himself. There is neither portion nor proportion in us to draw his love.”

Prayer: Lord, Every day, we wake up with the hope that we will offer our lives to you. That we will contribute to the common good in our work, that we will seek your face in the morning, that we will love others to life in the gospel. Yet sometimes we act as though you need our work to accomplish your plans. Forgive us for our presumptuous hearts, as we increasingly know that “the one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me” [4]. Give us hearts of thanks. Amen.

Not I. Yet I. By Faith.

John Piper post:  How to Find Strength in the Strength of God

How do you do a task in the strength of another? How do you exert your will to do something in such a way that you are relying on the will of another to make it happen?

Here are some passages from the Bible that press this question on us:

• “By the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). So we are to do the sin-killing, but we are to do it by the Spirit. How?
• “Work out your own salvation . . . for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13). We are to work. But the willing and the working is God’s willing and God’s work. How do we experience that?
• “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Paul did work hard. But his effort was in some way not his. How did he do that?
• “I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29). We toil. We struggle. We expend effort and energy. But there is a way to do it so that it is God’s energy and God’s doing. How do we do that?
• “Whoever serves, let him serve as one who serves by the strength that God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11). We serve. We exert strength. But there is a way that our serving is the effect of God’s gracious power. What is that way?

Introducing A.P.T.A.T.

In 1983 I gave my answer in a sermon, and to this day I have not been able to improve on these five steps summed up in the acronym, A.P.T.A.T. (rhymes with Cap That).

In 1984 J.I. Packer published Keep in Step with the Spirit, and gave the very same steps on pages 125–126. He calls it “Augustinian holiness teaching.” It calls for “intense activity” but this activity “is not in the least self-reliant in spirit.” Instead, he says, “It follows this four-stage sequence”:

First, as one who wants to do all the good you can, you observe what tasks, opportunities, and responsibilities face you. Second, you pray for help in these, acknowledging that without Christ you can do nothing—nothing fruitful, that is (John 15:5). Third, you go to work with a good will and a high heart, expecting to be helped as you asked to be. Fourth, you thank God for help given, ask pardon for your own failures en route, and request more help for the next task. Augustinian holiness is hard working holiness, based on endless repetitions of this sequence.

My five steps omit his first one (“note what tasks are in front of you”). I divide his second step into two: A. Admit (his word, “acknowledge”) that you can do nothing.P. Pray for God’s help for the task at hand. Then I break his third step into two. He says “expect to get the help you asked for.” Then with that expectation, “go to work with a good will.” I say, T. Trust a particular promise of God’s help. Then, in that faith, Act (A). Finally, we both say, T. Thank God for the help received.

1. Admit
2. Pray
3. Trust
4. Act
5. Thank

Trust God’s Promises

I think the middle T is all important. Trust a promise. This is the step I think is missing in most Christians’ attempt to live the Christian life. It is certainly my most common mistake.

Most of us face a difficult task and remember to say, “Help me, God. I need you.” But then we move straight from P to A — Pray to Act. We pray and then we act. But this robs us of a very powerful step.

After we pray for God’s help, we should remind ourselves of a specific promise that God has made. And fix our minds on it. And put our faith in it. And say to God: “I believe you, help my unbelief. Increase my faith in this promise. I’m trusting you, Lord, here I go.” Then act.

Paul says we “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7) and “live by faith” (Galatians 2:20). But for most of us this remains vague. Hour by hour how do we do this? We do it by reminding ourselves of specific, concrete promises that God has made and Jesus has bought with his blood (2 Corinthians 1:20). Then we don’t just pray for help hour by hour, we trust those specific promises hour by hour.

When Peter says, “Let him who serves serve in the strength that God supplies,” we do this not only by praying for that supply, but by trusting in the promise of the supply in specific situations. Paul says that God “supplies the Spirit to you by hearing with faith” (Galatians 3:5). That is, we hear a promise and we believe it for a particular need, and the Holy Spirit comes to help us through that believed promise.

10 Promises to Memorize

So here is my suggestion for how to do this. Memorize a few promises that are so universally applicable they will serve you in almost every situation where you face a task to be done “in the strength that God supplies.” Then as those tasks come, Admit you can’t do that on your own. Pray for the help you need. Then call to mind one of your memorized promises, and trust it — put your faith in it. Then act — believing that God is acting in your acting! Finally, when you are done,thank him.

Here are ten such promises to help you get started. Of these, the one I have used most often is Isaiah 41:10.

1. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)
2. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
3. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
4. “‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6)
5. “The Lᴏʀᴅ God is a sun and shield; the Lᴏʀᴅ bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalms 84:11)
6. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
7. “Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” (Psalms 23:6)
8. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
9. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
10. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalms 50:15)

Never cease to ponder Paul’s words: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Not I. Yet I. By faith.

Full of Wonders

Jon Bloom post:  The Antidepressant of Wonder

Living in this world tends to make us feel thin. We feel, with Bilbo Baggins, “like butter scraped over too much bread.” Another beheading, another disease epidemic, another leader’s adultery exposed, another day struggling within and without against unrelenting evil. We feel world-weary.

But it’s not really the world we’re weary of; we’re futility-weary, evil-weary. We’re weary of the curse under which we groan in hope (Romans 8:20). But the world is not only infused with futility, it is also infused with glorious wonders that, if we will look, direct our attention away from evil to the God of hope (Romans 15:13) — who made the world (John 1:3), who rules it (Philippians 2:11), and who is redeeming it (Romans 8:21). Yes, evil must be faced and fought. But if the devil can, he will keep us focused on evil to tempt us to succumb to all kinds of evil ourselves and drive us into depressive neuroses that make us feel thin on hope and long to escape.

But all around us reality is dense with wonders, layer upon layer. These are antidepressants that God has provided in abundance, surrounding us on every side, and they are there for the taking, even in the most mundane things. Let me give you an example.

Seeing the Phenomenal with a Football

Autumn is descending on America. And when autumn comes, it brings football (the American variety where a foot rarely touches the ball). On most afternoons in most neighborhoods after school’s let out you will find in some yard or field a couple boys tossing a football (with their hands). Next time you see this, stop and watch for a few minutes. If you really look you will see wonders.

In fact, all the glory converging upon you in that moment might be overwhelming! There may be a breeze carrying scents of an evening meal sizzling on a grill, the light from a nearby star giving the leaf gold of deciduous trees turning dormant a molten glow as it drops toward the edge of this spinning ball on which you live, the green life bursting from the ground beneath boys’ pounding feet, the miracle of human laughter and language. And the mind-blowing phenomenon of a football being thrown — and caught! Let’s just think about that for a moment.

“If you really look you will see wonders.”Tweet

As you watch these two, say, 11 year-old athletes play, you’re also watching them perform very advanced mathematics and physics equations. You hear the boy holding the ball say to the other, “Run a post!” The other takes off at full sprint for about ten yards, then angles to his left and looks over his left shoulder. Meanwhile, the boy with the ball drops back three or four steps while watching his receiver, stops, cocks his right arm, steps forward and heaves the ball into the air. The ball travels about 18 yards. It’s a decent spiral but it’s a little high and ahead of his target. So the receiver increases his speed, jumps off his left foot, stretches out his right arm, tips the ball into the air with his right hand, lands on his feet off-balance while twisting to his right, still adjusting his speed, and catches the ball with both hands while falling onto the green life that cushions him and rolls over a couple times while maintaining possession. You can’t help yourself shout, “Nice catch!”

Nice catch, indeed! And so much more! It is also incredibly good math — for both boys! The first boy, in about three seconds, calculated distance, velocity, thrust, and trajectory in order to hit a moving target. His calculations were very close. The second boy, in about two seconds, calculated the velocity and trajectory of the approaching object, made split-second recalculations to his original estimate, adjusted his speed, height, and extension and then recalculated again, adding a right-hand rotation, a grasp, a tuck, and a roll.

How did they do that? If you were to work out on paper the equations that took these boys five seconds to complete, how long would it take you? Could you do it at all? I couldn’t. Neither could these boys. But they did it in their heads nonetheless, all the while imagining themselves as Peyton Manning and Wes Welker.

Or ponder it in a whole different light. What was happening anatomically to make those movements possible? Or muse on the marvel of the human hand. Or contemplate the complex consciousness that processes such math and such imagination at the same time.

Recapture the Wonder

Now draw those wonders up into the question, Who made that mind or those members or that math? Take a deep breath, dive into ocean of wonder right where you are and explore new depths of Psalm 92:5–6:

How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep! The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this.

Read the whole of Psalm 92 and listen to the psalmist glean spiritual truths from natural phenomena. “God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). And he gave it to us, not to ignore but to imbibe. Even in its fallen state the world pulses with hopeful health.

“God’s world is full of wonders and these are wonderful antidepressants.”Tweet

So if you’re feeling thin, if that depressive burden of curse-weariness is weighing on you, don’t turn on the TV or pop in a DVD. Rarely will you ever find soul-reviving wonder there. Take your Bible, a tablet, and pen and go for a walk or sit somewhere and watch. Maybe look for a couple of boys throwing a football. Watch deeply and prove the truth that G.K. Chesterton wrote,

There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person. (Heretics, opening sentence of Chapter 3)

God’s world is full of wonders and these are wonderful antidepressants. Biblical wonder does not deny the horrors of the world. But bumblebees can remind us that there is a gracious power to fear far mightier than ISIS beheadings, sunsets can remind us that there will be a glorious end to sex trafficking, and a football can remind us that there is always more going on than meets the eye and that God’s calculations are perfect.

Sharing His Story

Joe Carter post: Redemption of a Modern-Day Psalmist

For more than twenty years, Christians have been singing the praise music created by singer-songwriter Dennis Jernigan. Yet few people know the story of how, before he began to follow Christ, Jernigan was caught up in a destructive homosexual lifestyle. Embracing his desires only lead to more pain and loneliness, but through music he was able to find a sense of peace. Through music, Jernigan says, God changed him in ways he could have never imagined. After re-dedicating his life to Christ in his mid-20s, Jernigan was inspired to "begin his ministry recording music, sharing his story, and leading others to freedom."

Sing Over Me is a new documentary about Jernigan’s life, his struggles, and his triumphs through God’s grace. The film will be available for purchase on DVD and video-on-demand on October 1, but Free Verse Films has allowed TGC to offer free viewing of the entire documentary throughout September. 

Watch the Trailer

Watch the Entire Documentary