Reflections on Colossians 3:12-14

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

This is a passage I’m assigned to study and apply this week for school, and I was thinking through some applications, but couldn’t come up with many practical specifics for the week in terms of interaction, and so I made one of my applications to pray for opportunities to demonstrate compassion, kindness, meekness, patience, forbearance, etc. I don’t think I understood what I was asking in retrospect, but the Lord did place a nice, big opportunity before me.

What do I do? Grit my teeth and say, “Okay, Lord, if I have to.” That doesn’t sound like the spirit of this passage at all. And could there really be a superficial level to compassion, forgiveness,  etc. If so, it really isn’t any of those. I was thinking today about friends I’ve had in a community that was not Christian. Was there a degree of compassion, kindness, patience, and love among us? Yes. Would there be if one had a complaint against another? Not really, and definitely not in the spirit of the New Testament.

“But it’s not like I’m being mean to anyone.” Does not being outright mean reflect obedience to this passage?

The way Christians love one another is radical. It stands out (John 13:35). It is the fruit of true salvation (1 John). And it is optional only insofar as obeying God is optional. He places us among His other beloved sons and daughters, who are 1). not perfect, and 2). not exactly like us (as in, do things differently/have different personalities). And we are to obey this passage in that context. And I mean really obey it.

Pursuit of Holiness, 2

“The apostle John said, ‘My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin’ (1 John 2:1). The whole purpose of John’s letter, he says, is that we not sin. One day as I was studying this chapter I realized that my personal life’s objective regarding holiness was less than that of John’s. He was saying, in effect, ‘Make it your aim not to sin.’ As I thought about this, I realized that deep within my heart my real aim was not to sin very much…I realized God was calling me that day to a deeper level of commitment to holiness than I had previously been willing to make.”

– Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, pp.92-93.

Pursuit of Holiness, 1

“If holiness then is so basic to Christian life, why do we not experience it more in daily living? . . . Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are more concerned about our own “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God.”

-Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p. 16

What a Motive

Ann Hasseltine, three years before she married Adoniram Judson in 1812, wrote this:

Ever since I have had a comfortable hope in Christ, I have desired to devote myself to him in such a way as to be useful to my fellow-creatures. As Providence has placed me in a situation in life where I have an opportunity of getting as good an education as I desire, I feel it would be highly criminal in me not to improve it. I feel, also, that it would be equally criminal to desire to be well educated and accomplished, from selfish motives, with a view merely to gratify my taste and relish for improvement, or my pride in being qualified to shine. I therefore resolved last winter to attend the academy from no other motive than to improve the talents bestowed by God, so as to be more extensively devoted to his glory, and the benefit of my fellow creatures.

If

Over a year ago, I read a small book by Amy Carmichael titled “If.” It’s composed of a series of if-then statements, with all of the “if’s” followed by “then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Oh how deeply some of these have struck my soul. I love Spurgeon and Luther and Edwards and all, but I also love finding stuff written by women who set such an example in their radical devotion to the Lord and obedience to His Word.

After I read this book, I typed a lot of it up and sent it to a friend. I like how now when I come across something that strikes me, I could just post it here on the blog. So as I’m reminded of this book yet again, I thought I’d post a few among the many of these if-then statements that both comfort and convict me tonight:

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points, in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting “who made thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received?”…

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought…

If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior than for my worried self when troublesome things occur…

If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the concerned should say, “You do not understand,” or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the others’ highest good…

If I fear to hold another to the highest goal because it is so much easier to avoid doing so…

If the moment I am conscious of the shadow of self crossing my threshold, I do not shut the door, and in the power of Him who works in us to will and to do, keep that door shut…

If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or the twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness…

If I feel injured when another lays to my charge things that I know not, forgetting that my Sinless Savior trod this path to the end…

If I feel bitterly towards those who condemn me, as it seems to me, unjustly, forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself they would condemn me much more…

If something I am asked to do for another feels burdensome; if, yielding to an inward unwillingness, I avoid doing it…

If the praise of man elates me and his blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself…

If I do not forget about such a trifle as personal success, so that it never crosses my mind, or if it does, is never given a moment’s room there; if the cup of spiritual flattery tastes sweet to me…

If in the fellowship of service, I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous (i.e., to myself, for myself)…

If I avoid being “plowed under,” with all that such plowing entails of rough handling, isolation, uncongenial situations, strange tests…

If I forget that the way of the cross leads to the cross and not to a bank of flowers…

If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the cross…

Then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If the Lord wills

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

I was thinking today about how many unexpected changes occur in my life. Whether it’s the day-to-day schedule changes (e.g. change in lunch plans with a friend), or changes on a larger scale (e.g. residence or employment), many things do not turn out as I expected. In fact, five years ago today, I would never have expected to be where I am now.  And five years from today, things can look very different from what I may plan today. Now James here is not forbidding wise planning. He does not say that, but exhorts us to plan considering our utter dependence upon God: HE wills, and things happen.

Every day, unexpected things happen (In fact, before I even got beyond this sentence, I accidentally published this post!). Although I can look at the uncertainty of life and be tempted to fear, I am reminded today of the great comfort that this uncertainty, this reality that I am not in control of my circumstances, brings. The reality is that God rules and decrees and sustains and commands. It is in the sovereignty and providence of God that I was born in 1987, became a believer not long ago and now stand before God Most High who has ordained even my most bitter of providences in infinite wisdom, love and mercy. I have no idea what the future holds, but I know all things work according to God’s will and He does all things perfectly. There is immense comfort in that, not in my ability to carry out my plans.

I want to add this to my wardrobe

1 Tim. 2: 9-10 women should adorn themselves…with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

Father, Let Me Dedicate…

Sometimes I can have my own ideas of how I want God to be glorified in my life. Much to my dismay, my life is full of surprises. Now in trying to obey Phil. 4:8, I aim to think true thoughts, instead of sitting around and considering all the “what if’s” of life. And although I may not know how everything will work together for my good, I know it will. I may not know why today’s immense discouragement is here, but it is, and God is good for sanctifying me through it. I may not know what tomorrow will bring, but I will hope in God, and think the best. And so, the beautiful words to this hymn bring comfort to the soul today even as they come as a rebuke to be more devoted to the glory of God than I now am.

Father, let me dedicate, all this year to Thee,
In whatever worldly state Thou wilt have me be:
Not from sorrow, pain or care, freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer, glorify Thy Name.

Can a child presume to choose where or how to live?
Can a Father’s love refuse all the best to give?
More Thou givest every day than the best can claim
Nor withholdest aught that may glorify Thy Name.

If in mercy Thou wilt spare joys that yet are mine;
If on life, serene and fair, brighter rays may shine;
Let my glad heart, while it sings, Thee in all proclaim,
And, whate’er the future brings, glorify Thy Name.

If Thou callest to the cross, and its shadow come,
Turning all my gain to loss, shrouding heart and home;
Let me think how Thy dear Son to His glory came,
And in deepest woe pray on, “Glorify Thy Name.”

Be Doers of the Word

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

I’m going through Susan Heck’s book, With the Master in the School of Tested Faith, a verse-by-verse Bible study on the Epistle of James, and reached her notes on James 1:22, with this convicting paragraph:

The way James states it, doer of the Word, instead of do the word, puts the emphasis on the kind of person a Christian should be, not just some act she performs. She is a “doer of the Word” –that’s just what she does! …It’s one thing to run a race; it’s something else to be a runner. It’s one thing to teach a class; it’s another thing to be a teacher. It’s one thing to bake a cake, but it is another thing to be a baker. Runners are known for their running. Teachers are known for their teaching. Bakers are known for their baking. Likewise, doers of the Word are known for their obedience to Biblical truth. The direction of the life is one of real obedience to God’s revealed will, not a sporadic obedience or a partial obedience.  Would others say about you, “Now she is a doer of the Word”?

And she had this humorous note on the “hearers only” part:

I once heard a story-perhaps apocryphal-about a new pastor who preached a wonderful sermon his first time in the pulpit. The pulpit committee knew they had done well by calling this man to their church, until the next Sunday when he preached the same sermon again. They were somewhat perplexed. So when some members of the congregation asked the new pastor why he preached the same sermon again, he replied, “When you start living the first message, then we will go on to the next one.”

What a strong reminder to be a doer of the Word.

Just some thoughts and blogging intentions…

I thought it would be appropriate to include a post on here discussing my blogging intentions. I’m often so tempted to post a quote or youtube clip or hymn or something similar rather than ever write anything of my own. The reason for that is because I find that the quote or clip simply have something beneficial and worthwhile to communicate. And sometimes what I come across excites me so much that I simply want to share it with others. So if you notice an increasing pattern of such posts, you’ll know one of the likely reasons why. And as for the lack of content that I’ve written myself, well, that’s because I’m not a writer and have never particularly enjoyed writing, and there’s not much I’m usually able to come up with.

So why blog, you ask? Somehow, I just like it. So we’ll see what becomes of my posting (and writing). My intent with this particular post is not to determine a posting frequency goal, but simply to express my purpose with the blog. Of course for the Christian, an underlying desire is for God to be glorified whether we eat, drink, or for the blogger, blog (1 Cor. 10:31). Therefore the first intent that comes to mind is the glory of God. This blog is for Him. Should His glory not be considered before I ever direct my gaze to the “publish” icon. A second intent is the edification of readers. Although not my exclusive account of things to consider as I blog, several other critical factors that do come to mind include: faithfulness to Scripture, gospel-centeredness, and Bible saturation. As for content, this blog will consist simply of what I’ve been learning (or as the title suggests, my “musings”) as I grow in my walk with Christ.

Thanks for visiting!