I think that I'm entering into a new phase of understanding faith.
It requires quiet endurance. Life is not always exciting. It repeats itself. Sometimes we are tempted with the same things, over and over. Sometimes we are tried with the same things we faced a few years ago--or 8 years ago. God knows where we need to be tested and refined. . . over and over. There is no fooling him.
Tonight the sermon at church was on Romans 7. The "do-do" passage. "Get it?" says the guy next to me. "It's a joke. About poop." I keep quite good company here in Prague.
The preacher speaks. The passage speaks. And suddenly, I can see it with new eyes--how the law does make us aware of our sin, and our fallen minds take it as a challenge to transgress. But we have died. We were crucified with Christ. And when one partner in the marriage dies, they are no longer bound by the same rules. So it is with us and the law. We died, and are no longer subject to this rule. We are spiritual people, subject to the Spirit. Yet. We have a base of sin nature, from which we are constantly attacked. Hm. There is a battle, in which we do what we do not want to do. But. The only thing that we need to be wary of is giving up the fight.
I double-dipped on sermons today. I listened to Tim Keller talk about Leah and Jacob. Poor Leah--all she wanted was to be loved by Jacob. She tried to satisfy him by world standards: she bore three boys, all after which she said, "He'll love me now!" but it just wasn't true. Jacob was blinded by his own disappointments and desires. Leah couldn't earn his love. But finally, after she bore her fourth son, she learned to rejoice in the Lord. She had called out to Him the whole time, but it took four sons to learn the lesson. After that she rested, and bore no more. Her worth and well-being was no longer in her child-bearing capabilities. It was in the God of her forefathers, who promised Salvation. He chose Leah, in all her weakness and misery and homeliness, to be in the line of our Savior.
In summary. The Christian life is a series of endless challenges, in which we battle the desires of our sin nature by calling out to God in order that we will really discover that what the world has to offer is only cosmic disappointment. God alone satisfies, and every struggle serves to point to our true treasure.
It requires quiet endurance. Life is not always exciting. It repeats itself. Sometimes we are tempted with the same things, over and over. Sometimes we are tried with the same things we faced a few years ago--or 8 years ago. God knows where we need to be tested and refined. . . over and over. There is no fooling him.
Tonight the sermon at church was on Romans 7. The "do-do" passage. "Get it?" says the guy next to me. "It's a joke. About poop." I keep quite good company here in Prague.
The preacher speaks. The passage speaks. And suddenly, I can see it with new eyes--how the law does make us aware of our sin, and our fallen minds take it as a challenge to transgress. But we have died. We were crucified with Christ. And when one partner in the marriage dies, they are no longer bound by the same rules. So it is with us and the law. We died, and are no longer subject to this rule. We are spiritual people, subject to the Spirit. Yet. We have a base of sin nature, from which we are constantly attacked. Hm. There is a battle, in which we do what we do not want to do. But. The only thing that we need to be wary of is giving up the fight.
I double-dipped on sermons today. I listened to Tim Keller talk about Leah and Jacob. Poor Leah--all she wanted was to be loved by Jacob. She tried to satisfy him by world standards: she bore three boys, all after which she said, "He'll love me now!" but it just wasn't true. Jacob was blinded by his own disappointments and desires. Leah couldn't earn his love. But finally, after she bore her fourth son, she learned to rejoice in the Lord. She had called out to Him the whole time, but it took four sons to learn the lesson. After that she rested, and bore no more. Her worth and well-being was no longer in her child-bearing capabilities. It was in the God of her forefathers, who promised Salvation. He chose Leah, in all her weakness and misery and homeliness, to be in the line of our Savior.
In summary. The Christian life is a series of endless challenges, in which we battle the desires of our sin nature by calling out to God in order that we will really discover that what the world has to offer is only cosmic disappointment. God alone satisfies, and every struggle serves to point to our true treasure.
