Wordy Wednesday: Frozen Chosen (j/k?)

I’m probably gonna have big time blogger’s remorse after I hit the “publish” button for this post.  Just throwing that out there.

I recently read a blog that catalyzed me to write on this issue.  It’s a subject that doesn’t get talked about a whole lot---kinda like the big elephant in the room that no one is willing to acknowledge.  Today, though, I think I’ll talk about the elephant and tell you why I believe the elephant is true and GOOD.  This will be a timely reminder for me, too---we all need to remind ourselves sometimes of why we believe what we believe, you know?

So, here it goes---Election 101: A very condensed version of why I believe God chooses us and not the other way around.

(By the way, I think I’ll throw in some random pictures of Sam as comic relief, ‘cause it’s probably gonna get stuffy in here.)

1. I believe there is nothing good in me.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada.  I was born with a sinful, depraved nature that would never desire God first.  If there is any interest in or love for God in me, He put it there.  This is actually a very humbling thought.  Folks who think the doctrine of election is haughty couldn’t be more wrong.  Having no merit is a happy, humbling confession, because it gives no glory to us and all glory to God. 

2. I believe that Christ alone saves sinners.  He doesn’t need our help.  Salvation is a gift, not an earned reward.  I have to beat this into my brain on a daily basis.  It’s hard to fathom that there’s not one single good work that I can muster up to gain God’s approval.  His children were bought with a pricy sacrifice---Christ’s blood---and now they are His.  And He who began a good work will complete it to the end. 

3. I believe God is sovereign over all things: the good, the bad, and everything in between.  There is no Plan B.  Happenings in my and your life---past, present, and future---were ordained by God for our good and His glory.  Suffering and hardship isn’t an accident.  But, take heart, because the tough times in life are used as a surgeon’s knife, not an executioner’s whip.  Be thankful for them.

4. I believe God has a common love for all people, but He has a special, covenantal love for His children.  I’ve heard it explained before like the marriage relationship.  A husband may love others, but he has an extraordinary love---a different, unique love---for his wife.  It’s the same with Christ and those He has called to Himself.

5. Finally, I believe those God has saved will persevere until the end.  I believe He awakens the spiritually dead and makes His grace irresistible to them until their last breath.  And I believe out of gratitude for this grace, His children delight in doing His law and worshipping Him, not out of obligation but desire.  We still have a “flesh” that needs denying {everyday.  all day.}, but we can think on/believe the gospel and rest in knowing He doesn’t leave us to ourselves.

Whew!  How ya like that for Wordy Wednesday?!  Obviously, these aren’t ideas that came out of space.  There’s a bounty of scripture to support election.  If I gave you all the references, we’d be here all day!

Here’s three books that I highly recommend if you’d like to dig deeper than my awfully diluted version above.  They helped me sort through a lot of questions I had concerning free-will vs. predestination:

-Desiring God by John Piper

-What is Reformed Theology? by R.C. Sproul

-The Bible (hehe, but for real…start in Romans)

Wordy Wednesday: Ryle

Well, it’s 10:15, and I almost dropped the ball on Wordy Wednesday.  It kinda snuck up on me.  Since I don’t already have a post written in my head {does anyone else do that?}, I think I’ll just make a list of one-liners that I’ve enjoyed thinking on this week.

Scott is taking an 8-week class at our church where one of our pastors will be guiding him through a book called Holiness by J.C. Ryle.  I picked up the book to skim through it the other night, and before I knew it, I was just a highlightin’. 

Here’s a few of my favorite highlighted lines from Chapter One: “Sin”

• “The plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity.”

• “…a “sin,” to speak more particularly, consists in doing, saying, thinking, or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.”

• “The fairest babe that has entered life this year, and become the sunbeam of a family, is not, as its mother has perhaps fondly called it, a little “angel,” or a little “innocent,” but a little “sinner.”  (Um, yes, I can attest to that one…") 

• “After all, I am convinced that the greatest proof of the extent and power of sin is the pertinacity with which it cleaves to man even after he is converted and has become the subject of the Holy Ghost operations.”

• “Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction.”

• “We are too apt to forget that temptation to sin will rarely present itself to us in its truest colors, saying, “I am your deadly enemy, and I want to ruin you forever…”.  Oh, no!  Sin comes to us, like Judas, with a kiss; like Joab, with an outstretched hand and flattering words.”

• “Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world.”

• “Awful and tremendous as the right view of sin undoubtedly is, no one need faint and despair if he will take a right view of Jesus Christ at the same time.”

• “We need not to be afraid to look at sin, and study its nature, origin, power, extent, and vileness, if we only look at the same time at the almighty medicine provided for us in the salvation that is in Jesus Christ.” (I especially liked this one---it’s highlighted, circled, and starred.)

Wordy Wednesday: List Momma

Whoop whoop…today’s post ain’t just words.  I got a picture for ya.

But first, can I get a WAR EAGLE?!  I’m sorry, but I held back all my trash talkin’ until this past week.  I murmured not a single word the entire football season---not on Facebook, not on this blog, not over the phone, not to Scott.  However, I unleashed Monday night. 

Because it was a fantastic game.

Because I was so proud of my school.

Because I’m sorta redneck like that.

Because I love Auburn for more than just their football team.

Because Nick Fairley is 300 lbs. of awesomeness.

Because we haven’t won a stinkin’ National Championship since my grandmother was like eleven years old.

Amen and amen.

Alright, onto what I had actually planned to write about: a blog friend of mine recently posted about her way of getting things done around the house.  It got me thinking about my own system of getting things done and reminded me of how beneficial making a hard copy {not mental} list of prioritized “must get done today” things can be.

Organizational skills don’t come naturally for this Momma.  So, here’s how I have do it.  But this is just my two cents.

I wish I could tell you this is how I roll every single week, but I’d be lying.  Some weeks are better than others.  But at least it gives this extremely left-sided brain an idea of what to attempt to accomplish on a day-to-day basis.  Key word: attempt.

What’s your strategy for the “must get done” things in life?  Please enlighten me and fan my flame.  

The Ark

I wish I had a really cool, catchy phrase to title today’s post.   

But I don’t.

I do want to try and write about something a little deeper than turnip greens, cleaning supplies, and chalkboards, however.  So consider Wednesdays that day. 

Maybe we’ll call it “Wordy Wednesday.”  No pictures.  Just words.  Wordy Wednesday. 

Corny much?

ANYWAY, I came across the story of Noah and the Ark this morning and walked away gleaning a new taste of grace.  Sure, it’s a great story about a man God entrusted to build a huge boat, to herd in animals two-by-two so that they’d be protected from the forty days and nights of floodwaters, and, ultimately, a rainbow that was sent as a sign that God would never again flood the entire earth. 

All of that is true.  But the story is even better than that.  Much better. 

God knew, even ordained, the storm that would come upon the earth.  It was a storm no one could withstand.  You know the story: it was forty days and forty nights of constant, beating water.  And there was nothing, not a single thing, anyone could do to make it stop. 

So God commands Noah to construct a safe dwelling from the flood of fury.  He commands Noah to build an Ark---a sufficient and trustworthy boat that could and would endure the horrific storm so that Noah and his people didn’t have to.

Noah, his family, and the couples of animals couldn’t withstand the rain own their own.  There was no umbrella to duck beneath, no raincoat to put on, no cave to hide in.  Not a single drop of their own effort would be good enough to fight the flood.  Nothing could save them.

Except the Ark.

Being merciful and kind, God provided a Way for Noah and his family to escape the rainfall of wrath.  Instead of blotting them out with a furious downpour, He provided the Ark---a Rescuer, a Substitute, a Savior.

Are you getting the point?

I’m no theologian, but goodness sake.  It all points to the Cross.  It foreshadows what was to come!        

Now to some of you, this isn’t new news.  Perhaps you’ve always had Christ at the forefront of your mind as you’ve read Old Testament stories.  But, for me, the mercy I know and trust became even sweeter this morning.  It was like discovering a new facet in an already stunning diamond. 

Praise the Lord for the way He reveals Himself to simple, depraved minds such as mine.  I’m feeling extra thankful today.