An Insurmountable Objection (June 15)

How Do We 'Rend' Our Hearts? (July 25)

HOW DO WE “REND” OUR HEARTS? (JULY 25) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/how-rend-our-hearts-july-25/ "'Yet even now,' declares the Lord, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments'" (Joel 2:12,13). JOEL’S MESSAGE FROM GOD, LIKE THAT OF ALL THE PROPHETS, WAS THAT THE PEOPLE SHOULD TURN AWAY FROM THE SINS THAT HAD CUT THEM OFF FROM GOD. Even when God’s long-delayed judgment had fallen upon them, it was possible, as long as life lasted, for them to repent and be restored to God’s favor and blessing. True repentance from sin is a matter of serious sincerity — much more than a quick “Sorry about that; I guess I could have done better.” With Israel, God pleaded for deep sorrow: “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” Hearts touched by the knowledge of sin will grieve in a way that shows up in things like weeping and fasting. But it is the heart that is the primary concern. An outward show of sorrow would mean nothing to God if the heart was not penitent. So God said to the wayward, “Rend your hearts and not your garments.” This does not mean that outward manifestations of godly sorrow are unimportant. The saying in Joel is an example of the familiar “not-but” construction found in the Scriptures: “Not [this], but [that].” When, for example, Jesus said, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27), He was not denying the importance of working for our physical food; rather, He was giving priority to our spiritual concerns. So it is with repentance. Outward expressions of grief are not to be suppressed, but it is in our hearts, first of all, that God looks for sorrow. So how, exactly, do we rend our hearts? We do it by confronting the awfulness of our sin, without self-pity or any evasion of responsibility. We grieve how we’ve selfishly rebelled against God’s love. And we yearn — we weep — to be with Him in eternity, whatever we may have lost by our sins in the here and now. "Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement; he is a rebel who must lay down his arms . . . This process of surrender -- this movement full speed astern -- is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death" (C. S. Lewis). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

You Never Know Who Will Be Receptive (July 24)

YOU NEVER KNOW WHO WILL BE RECEPTIVE (JULY 24) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/never-know-who-receptive-july-24/ "And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them" (Jonah 3:5). JONAH WAS RELUCTANT TO ACCEPT THE ASSIGNMENT TO GO TO NINEVEH AND PREACH A MESSAGE OF REPENTANCE. But finally he did go, and the people of Nineveh recognized that what Jonah said was true. They repented, turning away from what was sinful in their habits. If Nineveh existed today, it probably wouldn’t be high on our list of places to preach the gospel — yet Nineveh repented. I once knew an evangelist who frequently said, “Let the gospel do the culling.” In other words, rather than predetermine who we think will be receptive to the gospel of Christ, those of us who are Christians need to broadcast the message far and wide — and let the message itself determine who will respond and who will not. We may be surprised that some are more receptive than we thought they would be. We should learn to “never say never.” The fact is, receptiveness to the gospel is determined by hidden factors within a person’s heart. We can’t see these, but God can. He knows who is ready to hear, whether it is someone we might recognize as an honest hearer or not. Even in a place like Corinth, whose depravity was known far and wide, God encouraged Paul: “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9,10). We tend to see people only through the lens of their past. That is understandable because, unlike God, we can’t see their future; the only information available to us is historical. And unfortunately, if a person’s past is so sinful (as was the case with Nineveh) that we deem them unlikely candidates for God’s grace, then we probably won’t “waste the time” it takes to present the gospel to them. But what about our own need for the gospel? Looking only at our past (which may be much like Nineveh’s), we may not be able to see what God could make possible if we would repent and embrace the gospel wholeheartedly. But the gospel can be just as powerful for us as for anybody else. Yes, it will take courage and humility — but repentance is a doorway far too wonderful not to enter. "Repentance is another way of saying that the bad past is to be considered as the starting point for better things" (Dorothy L. Sayers). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

Those Who Take Refuge in Him (July 23)

THOSE WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM (JULY 23) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/refuge-in-him-july-23/ "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness" (Nahum 1:7,8). IT IS A DIFFICULT WORLD. The expression “survival of the fittest” would never have been coined in a world where there was no resistance to be met, a world where everything was just right for every creature. But obviously, our world is anything but just right for any creature. To survive, and then to thrive, requires struggle, and to lose the struggle is to suffer in many heartbreaking ways. In such a world, the God of the Scriptures presents Himself to us as a God in whom people can find “refuge” — safety, sanctuary, and sustenance. In this life, the promise is not that the struggles will disappear but that there will be His provision of help. And with His promise of help, we can see that He is a God of hope. There are those, of course, who portray faith in God as nothing more than wishful thinking. The argument is that in a difficult world, people naively and superstitiously believe in an all-powerful “Heavenly Father” because they can’t bear to accept the alternative. Unfortunately, there are many for whom faith is nothing more than this. But the fact is, faith can be — and should be — the deliberate, rational choice to trust a God who has revealed Himself to mankind and proven over and over again that He can be trusted to be our refuge. If the God of the Scriptures does not exist, we will just have to do the best we can on our own. But if He does exist, we are fools not to seek His wisdom and strength. Really, it is no different today than it has been since the beginning of recorded history: human beings have always faced an ultimate choice. Do we lay aside our self-sufficiency and trust in our Creator, or do we double down on our self-sufficiency and trust in human effort and ingenuity? This is the basic choice we face. Either way, our choice has momentous consequences. And the worst thing we can do is try to have it both ways. So to my fellow believers, I say: if you don’t trust God, don’t say you do. God “knows those who take refuge in him.” So what does He know about you? Does He see trust? Or does He see just another worldly optimist? "God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves" (Dwight Lyman Moody). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

A Distinction That Will Be Unavoidable (July 22)

A DISTINCTION THAT WILL BE UNAVOIDABLE (JULY 22) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/distinction-unavoidable-july-22/ "They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him" (Malachi 3:17,18). THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH IN MALACHI’S DAY HAD BECOME CYNICAL ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. They were failing to make the moral judgments God expected them to make. But there was coming a new day — the day of the Messiah — when valid distinctions would be made. “Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” It is true that making accurate distinctions requires hard work. It also requires humility, cautiousness, openness, and a courageous willingness to have our previous perceptions corrected. But the fact that we may sometimes err and need to be straightened out doesn’t mean we can play it safe by the avoidance of any distinctions at all. It means that we make the best judgments we can — and then improve our judgments as we go along. Am I in a right relationship with God? What about my loved ones, friends, and neighbors? These are extremely important questions; they can’t simply be waved aside as being unanswerable. With regard to my own salvation, no less than that of the people around me, it is vital to see the truth of the matter. The last thing I would want to do is defer thinking about it until it is too late to do anything about reconciliation to God, for myself and those I love. We must not shy away from saying that there is a difference between those who serve God and those who do not (Malachi 3:18). Since this distinction will be so clear on the Judgment Day that it will be unavoidable, we need to be pursuing a more accurate assessment of the difference right now. Rather than dismissing the question by saying, “Only God knows who His people are,” we need to be prayerfully growing in our ability to make this distinction rightly. Yes, we must be humble. But we must also be honest. "Grant to us, O Lord, to know that which is worth knowing, to love that which is worth loving . . . Grant us with true judgment to distinguish things that differ, and above all to search out and to do what is well pleasing unto thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Thomas à Kempis). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

Life in the Son (July 21)

LIFE IN THE SON (JULY 21) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/life-son-july-21/ "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:35,36). THERE MAY NOT BE A MORE PREGNANT PHRASE IN THE SCRIPTURES THAN “ETERNAL LIFE.” It conveys a wealth of meaning beyond our present ability to understand (and certainly beyond my ability to describe). At the very least, let’s avoid the mistake of thinking that it is different only in that it lasts longer than our present life. It is indeed “eternal” because it is unending, but more than that, it is of a different quality. It is not only longer, but it is better. Notice that Jesus unequivocally affirmed that eternal life is “in the Son.” When Jesus said that he who “believes in the Son has eternal life,” He made a claim we must either accept or reject. But the witness of the writings in the New Testament is unmistakably consistent: Jesus Christ is the path to eternal life. At the end of his book, John said that he had written of Jesus’ signs and wonders “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). But notice the contrast John makes in 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Having separated ourselves from God by our sin, we stand in the realm of God’s condemnation, and if we refuse the pardon God graciously offers, then condemnation is where we shall stay. If a person rejects God’s forgiveness, he can only expect God’s justice — “the wrath of God remains on him.” Between the grace of forgiveness and the justice of punishment, there is no third, neutral category. Which motivates you more? Is it the joy of eternal life or the horror of eternal death? It is fashionable these days to downplay the fear of God’s wrath as if that motive were merely old-fashioned and not appropriate as a factor in modern people’s thinking. But in the Scriptures, the wrath of God is presented as the stark alternative to His blessing. The fact is, the world stands under the judgment of God, and the gospel entreats us to turn to Jesus Christ “who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). "Life eternal is the supreme good, death eternal the supreme evil" (Augustine of Hippo). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com