We Christians have a remarkable tendency to focus almost exclusively on the fruit of the problem. We do this as parents with our children, pastors with our parishioners, husbands with wives, and wives with husbands. We do this with ourselves.

The Gospel, on the other hand, always addresses the root of the problem. And the root of the problem is not bad behavior. Bad behavior is the fruit of something deeper. Our chief problem, as Jesus made clear, is :not what goes into a man," but the defiled heart - the root.

Christian growth consists not of behavior modification but of the daily realization that in Christ we have died and in Christ we have been raised. Daily reformation, therefore, is the fruit of daily resurrection (Romans 6:1-11). To get it the other way around (which we always do by default) is to miss the power and the point of the Gospel. In his book God in the Dock, C. S. Lewis makes the point that "you can't get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first." Behavior (good or bad) is a second thing.

"Life is a web of trials and temptation," said Robert Capon, Episcopal priest and author, "but only one of them can ever be fatal, and that is the temptation to think it is by further, better, and more aggressive living that we can have life." The truth is, you can't live your way to life - you can only "die your way there, lose you way there... For Jesus came to raise the dead. He did not come to reward the rewardable, improve the improvable, or correct the correctable; he came simply to be the resurrection and the life of those who will take their stand on a death he can use instead of on a life he cannot."

Moral renovation, in other words, is to refocus our eyes away from ourselves to that man's obedience, to that man's cross, to that man's blood, to that man's death and resurrection.

Learning daily to love the glorious exchange (our sin for His righteousness), to lean on its finished-ness, and to live under its banner is what it means to be morally reformed!

--
 

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

In the movie Flight, Denzel Washington plays a troubled-but-talented airline pilot who manages to successfully land a crashing commercial jetliner despite being under the influence of more substances than you could count and whose alleged inebriation causes his heroism to be called into question.

Flight spends most of its time painting a graphic, realistic, and relentless picture of the life of an addict and, therefore, of the life of a human person. It echoes Paul's words from Roman 7, "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing" (v. 19), but with one important difference: Washington's character thinks he knows what he's doing! It's always worked out before, and even when things seemed to be going tragically wrong, he was able to perform in ways that no other pilot (even a sober one) could.

In the film's most powerful scene, a fellow addict (played by Kelly Reilly) tells Washington's character that she's worried about him. "Worried about me?" he responds indignantly. "Worry about you! We're not the same... I choose to drink!" "It doesn't seem much like a choice to me," she replies. Reilly's character has added the "I do not understand what I do" of Romans 7:15 and tears the blinders from Washington's flight from himself.

For every scene in which Washington promises sobriety (When it is in his obvious legal interest to remain sober), there is a companion scene, showing us his continued spiral toward bottom. In the end, it is the bottoming out that leads to freedom. "I might be a chump," he says in a final scene, "But I couldn't tell any more lies."

The most common lie we tell is one to ourselves - that we have it all together, that we know what we're doing, and that we're in control. It takes bottoming out to lead us the the Promised Land. "My grace is sufficient for you," the tagline might as well read, "for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

--
 

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

An impartial God is a scary thing. 1 Peter 1:17 is a hard thing to hear, as we're accustomed to thinking of a relationship with God as perfectly loving and as an escape from fear, rather than a source of it. What Peter is describing here is really the thing that makes a relationship with Jesus unique.

We think that we want impartiality. We imagine our lives on a sort of cosmic scale: all the bad stuff we do gets piled on one side and all the good stuff we do gets piled on the other. At the end, whichever side weighs the most, well, that'll determine how it goes for us, right? Peter is acknowledging that this is the natural human way to think. But he cautions us: "Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear" (1 Peter 1:17). When the standard is godliness, fear must win the day. A fair God is a dangerous God, at least to those of us who fail to live up to His holy standard.

But there is good news, and it is shocking to our sensitivity: God is unfair. God does show a special partiality. He is partial to His Son. And this is good news for us! The Bible says that everyone who believes has been clothed with Christ. That metaphor is used specifically to help us understand this verse. When God looks at us, He sees His Son! He's not fooled. We're not pulling a fast one, bacsue Jesus Christ is God Himself! But we get sovereignly covered with the righteousness of the One to whom God shows partiality. Wearing our normal clothes, we're in trouble. Clothed with Vhrist, though, we partake in all the glory that comes with being the favorite. Not because of who we are, but because of who ransomed us and who paid for our freedom from the tyranny so hard to be acceptable, and always being worried that we haven't done enough.

--
 

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Hebrews 12:1  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Four of the most misunderstood words in the Bible: "Therefore let us also..." There are two ways we can read these words in the context of running a race under the supervision of the "Great cloud of witnesses." One is moralistic, and the other is according to the Gospel, and these four words make all the difference.

When we first read these words, we could think the Bible is preaching moralism. We get a list of Old Testament heroes, a list of great things they were able to do, and then we get "therefore let us also," followed by a list of things we're supposed to do! And then, as we read the passage again, we realize there was a key to properly reading this passage. The key rests in the list of heroes: Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. They are painfully flawed, to man. It's the list of who's who in the great cloud of witnesses that enables us to see that the writer to the Hebrews is preaching something much more powerful than moralism: he is preaching the very Gospel of the crucified and resurrected Christ.

It is in our nature, because we desperately want to have something to contribute, to read Hebrews 12:1 this way: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Therefore, because of the great cloud of witnesses around us, let us run the race that has been set before us with endurance, as they did. This, clearly, is moralism. But the writer here has something much deeper in mind: because you  are like the great cloud of witnesses, you are able to run the race with endurance. We don't run the race to become something; we can run the race because we are something.

Moralism says to run the race with endurance in order to become the thing we should be. The Gospel says that what enables us to run the race with endurance is that we have already been made the thing we should be.

We are chosen, like David, Gideon, and the rest. Because of this, we can run with Christ's endurance, needing none of our own.

1 Kings 19:11-12 And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

Our God is all-powerful. When He wants our attention, He will get it! Sometimes He does it in unexpected ways.

Elijah was frightened. He'd experienced great victory against the prophets of Baal - proving that God alone was to be worshiped. But that hadn't stopped the contract put out on his life by wicked Queen Jezebel. Elijah ran away, afraid for his life and certain that he was the only one left who truly believed in God.

When God wanted to speak to His discouraged servant Elijah, He took him up on the mountain and told him that He Himself would pass by. Then came a wind powerful enough to shatter rocks, an earthquake and a fire - but the Lord was not in any of those things. Instead, His voice came to Elijah in a quiet whisper (1 Kings 9-13).

When Elijah heard the voice, he went out and talked to God. Elijah told the Lord his fears and worries. The quiet and soothing voice of God responded with comfort and with a further assignment, getting Elijah back on track.

When you are weighed down by fear, doubt, and worry, you may need to sit quietly and simply ask God to breathe on you. He will restore your weary soul and speak to your heart with His gentle whisper.

--
 

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Exodus 15:11  Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

Many have attempted to set themselves up as "gods." Confucius and Budda were men of great wisdom. Hare Krishna spoke of peace. The Dalai Lama tells others how to show kindness and compassion. Movements, cults, and full-fledged religions surround these men, but they all have one thing in common - they were and are just human beings. Confucius, Buddha, and Krishna are dead and they never rose from the grave.

Like those self-made gods, Jesus spoke of peace and love and showed compassion to those who needed it the most. Unlike them, however, He was capable of more: he healed the sick and even raised the dead. He walked on water and calmed the raging storm. He offered Himself to God as payment for our sins that we might not face the judgment of God. And He did something else that no one else has done - He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, never to die again! Now,He sits at the right hand of God interceding for us and forgiving our sins.

So stand up and give Him the praise! The Lord strong and mighty, He is the only one worthy. There never was and never shall be anyone like Him. No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth is like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

--
 

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

Sometimes we wonder if God hears our prayers. We pray and plead, and then we wait. Sometimes, the waiting is the hardest part. But we can rest assured that God does hear us when we call - He will answer our prayers and give us a new song, a hymn of praise to sing of our joy!

Take Abraham for example. He prayed and asked God for a son; twenty-four years later. God granted his request and Isaac was born. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" the angels asked Abraham in Genesis 18:14. In the heart of Abraham was song of hope, a song of peace - God had blessed him with a child.

We can have that same joy when we put our trust in the Lord! We can sing a new song, one of hope and peace, liberation and victory. "The music He gives sets the nations free." As His children, we know He hears our prayers as well as our praises. His song sets us free!

--

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,