This is Love

Has the gospel changed you? That’s a question the Apostle John wants his readers to ask themselves. Throughout 1 John, the apostle testifies to various truths of the gospel and the subsequent changes it has on our lives. The gospel is more than just something we believe in when we come to faith in Christ. It’s more than a truth we assent to. The gospel of Jesus’ saving grace for us in his life, death, and resurrection, does something to us; it changes us. Because we are united to Christ by faith and have the Holy Spirit living within us, we are no longer the same. We are transformed. And one of the ways the gospel transforms us is in our love for one another.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).

To read the rest of this post, visit Servant's of Grace.

Our Immense God

As a parent, I am often in high demand. Most days, as I work with one of the kids on an assignment, my other child is calling for me to come and help him with his. I have to tell him to wait until I finish with his brother. I can only focus on one task at a time.

Sometimes, my kids need me and I'm in another part of the house. They call and call my name but I don't answer because I can't hear them. Eventually they track me down and say something like, "Mom, I was calling for you! Why didn't you answer?"

There is much in my life as a parent that points me to a truth about God. Sometimes, it's a parallel truth, like the fact that I discipline my children for their good, as God does in my own life (though my discipline is far from perfect!). Other times, my life as a parent points to a stark contrast between myself and God, as in the examples above. While I can't be available to both my kids at the same time, God is always present for us.

One of God's attributes is his omnipresence. This means he is present everywhere in creation. There is no where we could go that God is not also there because he fills all of creation. He is not confined to space or time. There are no limits or boundaries that restrict him. And no one can hide from his presence. "Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!" (Psalm 139:7-8). 

This is hard for our finite minds to grasp—with bodies that can only occupy one space at a time. It's hard for me to imagine—as a mom who is daily tugged and pulled in different directions. We often try to think of God's omnipresence in terms we understand, but because God is a spirit, he doesn't take up space the way an object or person takes up space. He is everywhere all the time. "Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:24). 

Not only is God always present, he is always fully present. Theologians sometimes call this the immensity of God. This means he is completely accessible to us. He doesn't partially listen to our prayers because he is focused on another person's prayers at the same time. He doesn't get busy in one part of the world and neglect the other part. He is never distracted, stretched, overwhelmed, burdened, pulled, or pressured by the demands of others. He is fully engaged and attentive to his children.

God always gives us his full attention. Unlike my children calling and searching for me, we don't have to do that with God; he is right there with us. Unlike my children having to wait their turn to receive my attention, we don't have to wait for our turn with God. We never have to schedule an appointment. God is always with us.

Sometimes, we talk about how we sense God's presence more in certain circumstances or in specific locations. Some may say they sense God's presence when they sit on the beach or hike on a mountain trail. The truth is, God is not more present in those places than in others. It may be that he allows us to "feel" his presence more in some situations. It's also likely that when we are less distracted by our daily responsibilities and cares, we are able to focus our thoughts on God. When we spend time in his creation—rather than stuck behind a cubicle or with our face glued to a screen—we are reminded of who he is and respond in wonder and awe. With that said, there are times where we are promised his presence in a unique way: when we take the Lord's Supper and when we are gathered with the people of God in worship. In addition, there may also be times when God makes us "feel" his presence less, perhaps as a form of discipline or for some other divine reason (Psalm 89:46). It doesn't mean that he is any less present. He is always with us, even when we don't "feel" like he is.   

The doctrine of God's omnipresence is comforting and reassuring. We are never left alone. We are always—at all times and in all places—in the presence of God. We can cry out to him and know that he hears us. We can trust that he is always with us. This truth should make us respond in praise and worship,  "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable" (Psalm 145:3).  

What does it mean to you that God is fully present?

An Exciting Adventure

Do you have a bucket list? You know, that list of things you want to do or places you want to go before you "kick the bucket." If not a bucket list, perhaps you have a "One of these days" list. Fill in the blank, one of these days, I'd like to __________.

For the Christian, there's no hurry or time limit to such lists because we know that the end of our life here on earth is not the end. Those things we'd like to do or places we'd like to see are opportunities we can look forward to in the new heavens and new earth. Because of that, I tend to keep a "one of these days" kind of list. 

What's on that list? Well, one day, I'd like to take a drawing class. I'd like to go to seminary. I'd like own a cabin in the mountains. I'd like to learn to bake things that don't come in a box. 

And I'd like to visit Israel.

This month, our family has the opportunity to go on a trip to Israel with a group from church. We are excited to see the places we've only read about in Scripture—to see where David and Goliath fought, the town where Jesus was born, the places where he taught and performed miracles, and the olive grove where he cried out to his Father in prayer. I am also excited to share those places with my children. 

I see this trip as more than just a vacation but as an opportunity for spiritual growth. I am praying that what we see and learn will enrich our faith and draw us closer to our Savior. My kids and I will be journaling each day about what we've seen and learned and I look forward to sharing some of those thoughts and reflections with you. 

If you'd like to follow our journey on Instagram, you can find me there @christinarfox.

Where do you seek life?

Psalm 119:25-32, “25My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
26When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
27Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!
29Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your law!
30I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
31I cling to your testimonies, O LORD;
let me not be put to shame!
32I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!”

When life is hard when obstacles block your way, when burdens weigh heavy, and when the reality of your sin threatens to undo you—where do you seek life? Sometimes we look for life in things, sometimes in our circumstances, and other times in passing pleasures. This passage from Psalm 119 reminds us where life is found—in God and his word.

Seeking Life

VV 25-27: Whether David was in the midst of a trial or simply acknowledging the reality of life in a fallen world, he felt the weight of something. In verse 25, David asked God to give him life. This isn’t a reference to physical life; rather, David sought a spiritual life. In the face of his troubles, David sought God and his word. Unlike any other written word, God’s word is a living and active (Hebrews 4:12). It is the truth which sanctifies (John 17:17). It is used to bring us to faith (Romans 10:17). It changes and transforms us (2 Timothy 3:16). As Moses wrote, it is our very life (Deuteronomy 32:47).

To read the rest of this devotional on Psalm 119, visit Servants of Grace. 

God's Wisdom and Decision Making

Have you ever had to make an important decision and felt stuck as to what to do? Perhaps you stood at a crossroads with two paths before you and you didn't know which one to take. 

You may have asked yourself questions like: Do I take this job or that job? Sell the house or stay? Trust the doctor or get a second opinion? Serve in this ministry or another? Send our children to this or that school? Have our parent move in or find them alternative living arrangements? 

When my thyroid biopsy came back as inconclusive, the doctor recommended surgery. (You may remember me writing about that here). He said it was the only way to know for certain whether the growth was cancerous or not. He gave me numbers and statistics (none of which I understood) and said we could remove the growth or wait and see. But he recommended surgery. I had a decision to make. Do I have the surgery? Or do I test and retest and wait and see? Do I trust the numbers and statistics? Do I trust the doctor? 

I don't know about you, but when I have a decision to make, my mind is consumed with it. It vacillates back and forth between the options. It's all I can think about. I worry and fret and mull over it. I lie awake at night unable to sleep. I consider all the potential consequences to the choices. What I want most of all is for a clear answer to step up and knock me on the head. Because what I really fear is making the wrong choice. 

And so I wondered, what is God's will in this? What does he want me to do?

God's Will and Making Decisions

Theologians often refer to God's will in terms of his sovereign will and his preceptive (or revealed) will. God's sovereign will refers to the fact that he ordains all things. Everything is under his control, including every detail of our lives. Nothing can or will happen outside of his will. He is never surprised or taken off guard by what happens. Whatever choice we make, we can be sure it is God's will. "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). We don't know God's sovereign will. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29). We don't know his plan for us for tomorrow, next week, or next year. His secret will is not for us to know. But, as believers, we can take great comfort in the doctrine of God's sovereignty. That's because not only is God sovereign, but he is also our good Father who loves us. He always does what is right and good for us. Whatever decisions we make, we can be assured that God will use it for our good and his glory (Romans 8:28-29). 

God's preceptive will is his revealed will in the Bible. This is the will that God wants us to know. Everything we need to know for living in this world is written in those pages. There's no missing information we have to seek out in mysterious unknown places. It's not hidden somewhere, like in a scavenger hunt, and we just have to find it. It's all there.

The Bible teaches us what is sinful and what is not. It tells us the purpose for our life: to glorify God. It tells us how to treat others, how to steward what he has provided, how to love our family, how to live and work and rest. Most of all, it shows us our greatest need—redemption from sin—and reveals our great Savior, whose life, death, and resurrection is sufficient to free us from sin and enable us to live in righteousness. God's Word also teaches us about the Spirit, who lives within us, producing fruit of holiness and helping us to daily put sin to death. Ultimately, God's will for our life is that we grow in holiness, that we become more like Christ. 

When we struggle with making a decision and ask, "What is God's will in this?" often we want to know what pleases him. What he desires from us. We want his direction. We want to know if he desires us to choose A over B or B over A. This is an area where we often get stuck when we have to make a decision. What we want is to know the future before it happens. This is an area of God's will we can't know and don't need to know. The Bible is concerned with the moral decisions we make. It teaches us the way of holiness. The decisions we make that are not about moral decisions—such as, should we move to this or that city—are ones we simply need to make using the wisdom God has produced in us. We need to trust his sovereign will and obey his preceptive will. And the specific plans he has for our lives, we need to leave in his hands.  

"Obsessing over the future is not how God wants us to live, because showing us the future is not God's way. His way is to speak to us in the Scriptures and transform us by the renewing of our minds. His way is not a crystal ball. His way is wisdom. We should stop looking for God to reveal the future to us and remove all risk from our lives. We should start looking to God—His character and His promises—and thereby have confidence to take risks for His name's sake." —Kevin DeYoung in Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will, p. 39.

Seeking God's Wisdom

So what should we do when we have to make a difficult decision? First, we need to know where wisdom is found. God's Word tells us that wisdom originates in him. He is the source and fountain of wisdom. John 1:14 tells us that God's Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is wisdom incarnate. Isaiah prophesied about him, "And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD." (Isaiah 11:2). Paul tells us that Christ is our wisdom, "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). He says something similar in Colossians 3:2 "Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." When we don't know what to do, when we fail to do the right thing, when we freeze in fear over making a decision, Christ intercedes for us through his perfect life lived for us and sacrificial death on our behalf. He also gave us his Spirit who is at work in us, helping us to desire wisdom, teaching us the way of wisdom through the Word, and enabling us to walk in it. 

So when we have a decision to make, we need to turn to God's Word. As we read and study, we can ask ourselves: Is this choice sinful? By choosing this, am I doing something God has told me not to do or failing to do something God has told me to do? Does it conflict with God's calling on my life? Another question to ask is, will this choice bring God glory? Will it honor him? We can also ask ourselves, what does the Bible tell me about Christ, who he is and what he has done? How can I apply these gospel truths to my decision making? We can be assured that as we study the Word, and as our minds are conformed to it, we will discern what God's will is, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

Secondly, we should always seek God in prayer about our decisions. We should ask for wisdom and discernment. We should ask that our choices and actions bring him glory. As Paul prayed for the Ephesians, we can pray for spiritual wisdom, seeking to know and understand the hope we have in the gospel, "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:17-20). And, as Jesus taught us, we should pray that God's will would be done.  

Thirdly, we should ask others who are wise in the Word to advise us in making decisions. God has not left us alone, he's given us brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ who can give us the wisdom they have gleaned from Scripture. Many older and wiser believers have had to make difficult decisions in their lives and there is much we can learn from them (see also Titus 2). "Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed." (Proverbs 15:22).

I remember a college professor once talking to our class about choosing between A and B. In the example he gave, it was the choice between attending two colleges. He said that if a choice is not sinful, if we have prayed and sought God's Word for wisdom, as well as the wisdom of others, then we just make a choice. We simply move forward. Such a choice is not a moral one. (Unless of course, one choice is sinful or would keep us from glorifying God.) We make our decision and trust that God will use the decision for his glory and our good. We rest in his sovereign control over all things because we know that he is good and loves us. We remember the gospel and who we are in Christ, and know that nothing can separate us from God's love. 

In the end, I chose to have surgery. And I'm thankful to report that the growth was not cancerous. Though it wasn't an easy decision to make, the process of thinking and praying through the decision reminded me of my need for Christ, my dependence upon him, and his daily provision of grace for me. I rested in the truth of his sovereignty and that nothing would happen apart from his will for me.

I am certain that more difficult decisions loom on the horizon for me, as they do for all of us. But God has provided all we need for the journey and we can move forward in confidence, not in ourselves and our own wisdom, but in the wisdom of Christ, revealed to us in the Word.  

Note: I am a member of the Amazon Affiliates program and links to books in this post are connected to my affiliates account with Amazon.com. 

Importance of Being Small

There is nothing I enjoy more than hiking in the mountains. I love being surrounded by towering trees, the musty smell of leaves under my feet, the sound of creatures scurrying in the brush. I enjoy the labor of a hike and then being rewarded with an amazing view: the panorama of craggy mountain peaks and the sweeping valley below. It's quiet and majestic. God's handiwork on display.

We recently took a trip to Washington to see the mountains outside of Seattle. The iconic view of the mountains surrounding the city was blocked because of smoke from fires in the north. As we drove farther out of the city and into the mountains, we started to see the peaks rise before us. We hiked beautiful trails, blanketed with wild flowers. One section of the trail had a magnificent view of Mt. Ranier. We marveled at it its snow capped peak, knowing that what we saw would have been even more amazing had there not been a smoky haze in the sky. 

Such experiences in creation remind us of an important truth: we are small.

In our daily lives as humans, it's easy to think that we are bigger than we are, that we rule our own kingdoms. The power of man seems invincible. We walk among the Babels our world has created—every day knocking down the old to build the new and better—and often marvel at their immensity. We develop amazing technology at a rapid pace, so impressive, we can't even lift our heads to look at creation around us. Humanity boasts of its discoveries, theories, and systems, and calls others to bow down in worship. With each check mark scratched on our daily lists, we can feel successful and accomplished. Some even look down on those who don't measure up or keep the pace or who aren't as "enlightened" as they are. Every day, we read accounts in the news of some new development or invention, some even going so far as to play the role of God in lives of others. 

And in all of it, we forget that we are dust.  

David wrote in Psalm 39: "O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah. Surely a man goes about as a shadow!" (vv. 4-6). 

Moses reflected on the brevity of life and the eternity of God: "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night." (Psalm 90:1-4).

Indeed, like the psalmists, we need to remember that we are dust. That we are not invincible. That we are the created and not the Creator. That we do not rule and reign over all things. That we are merely stewards of creation. That we are small.

As it says in Isaiah: "Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness." (Isaiah 40:21-23).

Because we quickly forget, we need constant reminders. We need to be regular students of the Word, reading and studying to know more of our God and the splendor of his holiness. We need to get away from our carefully constructed lives and see the wonder of our Creator in the world he has made. We need to develop a right view of ourselves, as humble dependents, embracing our smallness and responding in worship to the One who rules, reigns, sustains, and determines the length of our days. The very same God who entered our smallness by taking on human flesh, "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:6-8). 

We are small. That is the truth. It is an important truth. We are dependent creatures which exist solely by the grace of our Creator. May our heart's prayer echo that of Moses: "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12).