[adoption] a picture of the gospel in my life...

 "but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of god." 

- john 1:12

"for all who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god.  for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “abba! father!” the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of god, and if children, then heirs—heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." 

- romans 8:14-17

"for in christ jesus you are all sons of god, through faith." 

- galatians 3:26

"but when the fullness of time had come, god sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. and because you are sons, god has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, 'abba! father!' so you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through god." 

- galatians 4:4-7

one of the things that stirs my heart the most about adoption is the picture of my adoption in christ.  i am a part of the family of god, i am a daughter of the king.  i can cry out to him as my abba father!  but that came at a price.  i was helpless and under the law. left to care for myself. to try and survive. to try and succeed. to please others so that i would feel loved. to prove to others that i was worth something.  to try to and be strong and defend myself. i tried to keep all the rules. i fought to be noticed and desired to be wanted.  hoping someone would choose me.

this was the story of my life and as hard as i tried, things never seemed to improve. until jesus entered. he bought me with a price. he paid my debt. he chose me.he chose me in all my filthy rags, failed attempts, dysfunctions, disorders, and he knew that i would even leave him and seek love elsewhere. but he chose me. he loved the unlovable. he has taken the girl who has tried to prove herself and told her that she has nothing to prove. she is fully loved and accepted.  of course i have trouble believing this sometimes, and i resort back to my old ways.  but he even loves the girl who forgets how much her father loves her and runs after other things. he loves the girl who can blow through an entire day without thinking about him, when he has been thinking about her since the creation of the world.

every time i think on such things, my mind goes to think of the millions of little ones out there who have no one here on earth to care for them. they are unknown, unwanted, despised, looked down upon or just overlooked. what a picture of the gospel! my child is out there right now and it scares me to think what he/she is going through right now. i can't wait to hold them in my arms and whisper the love of our redeemer into their ears. to tell them of the one who loves us like no one else can.  the one who really adopted us.

when i think of these things, all the challenges that i will face seem to not be so scary anymore. i know that my kid will have problems and that i am not going to be a perfect parent and together we are broken. but i know i have a redeemer who loves us more that we could imagine! how could i not share that. how could i not tell these little ones that?

oh i can't wait! i want to do it tomorrow!

[valley of vision] living for jesus...

living for jesus
from valley of vision

o savior of sinners,
they name is excellent,
thy glory high,
they compassions unfailing,
they condescension wonderful,
thy mercy tender.

i bless thee for the discoveries, invitations,
promises of the gospel
for in them is pardon for rebels,
liberty for captives,
health for the sick,
salvation for the lost.

i come to thee in thy beloved name of jesus;
re-impress thy image upon my soul;
raise me above the smiles and frowns of the world,
regarding it as a light thing to be judged by men;

may thy approbation be my only aim,
thy word my one rule.
make me to abhor that which grieves thy holy spirit,
to suspect consolations of a worldy nature,
to reprove evil,
to instruct with meekness those who oppose me,
to be gentle and patient towards all men,
to not only be a professor but an example of the gospel,
displaying in every relation, office, and condition
its excellency, loveliness and advantages.

how little have i illustrated my principles
and improved my privileges!
how seldom i served my generation!
how often have i injured and not recommended my redeemer!
how few are those blessed through me!
in many things i have offended, in all come short of thy glory;
pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

trip to phoenix...

a few weeks ago i got a free standby ticket to go see my friend ginger, who lives in phoenix. here are a few pictures of the adventures that we had. love this girl!

inconspicuous...

i came home to this yesterday. what it is? i am sure you can't tell. but it is two boxes covered by my doormat so that no one can see them.  our UPS man does this every time we get a package.  i think it only attracts more attention, but hey, he's the professional.  to give him credit, this technique has worked so far. no packages have been stolen. 

respectable sins: impatience and irritability

a short chapter that calls out a sin we all deal with. be it with our spouse, our kids, our roommates, behind the wheel of a car, with our co-workers, etc. it does not take a hard search to see this sin in our lives.  we tend to exhibit this sin most easily with those who we spend a lot of time with.

bridges defines impatience as "a strong sense of annoyance at the (usually) unintentional faults and failures of others. this impatience is often expressed verbally in a way that tends to humiliate the person (or persons) who is the object of the impatience"(116).

he defines irritability as "the frequency of impatience, or the ease with which a person can become impatient over the slightest provocation"(118).

impatience exposes our pride. we think our way of doing something is better. we think our time is more important. we think we are smarter, sharper or better, etc. we are hardly putting someone else before ourselves. we do not think that someone else is as valuable as christ would see them. as with pride, in the midst of our impatience, our own faults diminish. 

bridges also points out that someone else does not cause our impatience.  they just provide an opportunity for the flesh to assert itself. "the actual cause of our impatience lies within our own hearts, in our own attitude of insisting that others around us conform to our expectations"(117).

in the latter half of the chapter, the author talks about our response if we are the object of someone elses impatience.  there are two improper responses: 1) start a "war of words." say something back that is sharp and cutting so they will know they cannot talk to you like that. 2)inwardly seethe and resent the person who has sinned against you (i think bridges wrote that one for me.)

he says that biblically we have two options: 1) follow the example of christ who "when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued trusting himself to him who judges justly" (1 peter 2:23) and 2) confront the person, but "only when you have resolved the issue in your own heart and can speak to the other person for his or her benefit, not just to make your own life more pleasant" (119).




impatience is an easy sin to let slide, but i know this chapter has made me examine why i get so irritated and annoyed and 9 times out of 10 it is purely selfish. 

respectable sins: lack of self-control

for me this chapter exposed many things that i know, but that i have yet to do anything about. good stuff.

"like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit." proverbs 25:28

bridges opens with this verse, reminding the readers that in biblical times a wall was a city's main line of defense.  if the wall was down, they were vulnerable to so many attacks.  a lack of self-control in any area of our life should be a good warning sign to us that trouble is on the way or it has already snuck in without us knowing it. bridges is quick to tell us that many christians think they have self control because, "we have boundaries from out christian culture that tend to restrain us from obvious sins, but within those boundaries, we pretty much live as we please. we seldom say 'no' to our desires and emotions"(110).

bridges goes on to talk about three areas that most christians fail to exercise self-control. the first is eating and drinking.  he is quick to point out that this is not just for people who have a "weight problem," but for anyone that lets their craving for food or drink or even their enjoyment of food or drink drive them.  be it ice cream, chocolate, alcohol, soft drinks, or whatever. if we cannot live without it or cannot stop after a reasonable portion, we lack self-control. and it is dangerous. secondly he talks about temper. if we lash out quickly with any emotion, it shows a lack of self-control. and finally, he talks about personal finances.  the fact that most americans, yes even american christians, live above their means shows our lack of self-control. and just because someone is not in debt does not mean that this is not a struggle. many affluent people, indulge themselves in whatever their heart desires. this is obviously not a comprehensive list.  there are many other seemingly harmless ones, like too much time on the computer (guilty), watching too much television, impulse buying, watching or playing sports, exercise, etc.

bridges does not talk about this, but i wanted to make this point. this lack of self control can definitely be used to expose what our idols are.  the reason we cannot quit them is because we need them or we need to do them to serve our idol, the thing we consider most important.  it is going to be hard to quit these behaviors or control them without taking a look deeper to expose our idols. 

some of you may say, "i am not doing this because i am enslaved to something. i am doing this because i enjoy it and it brings me pleasure. or it helps me take my mind off of stuff." i would caution you to take a more careful look. look deep!  if you want to see if you are really controlled by something or if it is controlling you give it up cold turkey for period of time.  how many times a day do you think about it or want to do it?  do you have to do something to keep your mind off of it?  then sadly my friend, you are bowing to an idol or using this to numb you to the pain of the world or as a fix to keep you from something else. all wrong responses. if you are bowing to an idol, it often stems from something you do not understand of believe about the gospel.  why do you need that to feel good? wholeness never comes through the blessing, only through the blessor!

so how do i practice this self-control?  it is a bit deceiving because it sounds like we can do it on our own. but we cannot!  to have self-control in all areas of  our lives we need help.  that is why self-control is listed as a fruit of the spirit. the same spirit that raised christ from the dead resides in us and can give us self-control.  we have to be dependent on him.  he is probably going to have expose our idols and why we love some things so much before he enables us to have self-control. he will reveal to us how the gospel is all satisfying and we do not need this.  then our desire for it will be conquered with the sweet taste of the gospel. and each time we battle it, we need to remind each other of just that.

respectable sins: selfishness...

this is not one of my favorite chapters in the book, not because it was the most convicting, but because i think it could have addressed more and pointed us more to the gospel. bridges does tie it in a little bit at the end, but for a behavior oriented moralist like me, this chapter sounds all to familiar to the "change your behavior stuff" i grew up thinking.  i will go ahead and summarize, but i am also going to expound a lot too.

bridges starts the chapter with an illustration about kids not wanting to share and taking a toy and saying, "mine," or "i don't want you to have it." children hardly looking out for the interests of others.  he points out that as we get older, those thought patterns do not go away, they just flesh out in more socially acceptable ways.  none of us would throw a temper tantrum if someone else got what we wanted, but i think we could all admit to a time when we were jealous or mad that someone got some thing that we did not. we all struggle with selfishness.  and it is much easier to point out in someone elses life rather than our own. in fact we can identify it easily because we act and think the same way.

he addresses four specific areas of selfishness in this chapter, admitting that there are so many more!

first, he talks about being selfish with our interests and talking about ourselves and what we like rather than listening. i think we do this for many reasons. a) we like ourselves. we are our favorite subject. everyone should know about something as great as us. b) we are insecure. if we sell ourselves as great or noble or generous or whatever, then people will like us and think we are great and affirm us. c) or we just do not care about someone else and don't want to get involved with listening to them, so we will just keep talking. we are indeed "lovers of self" (2 tim 3:2).

secondly he says we are selfish with our time. "i am entitled to my time and don't ask for any of it. "do you know how busy i am? i have things to do." "that is not my job. someone else needs to do that." the root of what we are saying can boiled down to this, "sorry, i have my own kingdom to build." bridges points out that we are called to bear one another's burdens (gal 6:2). sadly, we often do not want to or we are just too busy to even notice others burdens.

thirdly, bridges talks about being selfish with our money. i don't think anyone could argue against that.  the bible tells us over and over again how we are to care for those in need (the poor, the widow, the orphan, the homeless) but how much of our budget actually goes to that?

lastly, he talks about being inconsiderate. we often do not think about the impact our words or actions have on someone else. we are often so concerned with our agenda or our pressing need, that we do not think about how we express it or we trample over others in the process.

bridges writes, "the selfish person not only is indifferent to the needs of others but actually expects them to meet his needs and desires" (106). so true!

so what is the gospel response to this? it is more than just "quit thinking about yourself and think about others." it is a call to look at the gospel. not only is jesus a perfect example of someone who was unselfish, but his gospel frees me from my selfishness. because i am loved by him, i do not have to worry about talking about myself, i can actually listen and hear others. because i know that he is on control, i do not have to worry about interruptions to my plan or my time. in fact, the notion of my time does not exist. i know that all is his and that the reason i am here is to glorify him and if there is an interruption, i know that he has something that will bring glory to his name, more than my plan, even if it ruins all of my plans. his power and provision in the cross and resurrection free me from the love of money. rather than storing up here or working to buy things here that will make my life more comfortable, i look for how i can use all that i have so that he can be glorified and i trust that he will provide.. and because i do not have to worry about myself, the gospel causes me to think of others to want them to know love like this. as i look around, i seek ways to build the body and serve others so that christ can be glorified. i am not worried about me because i know that christ is more than enough.