Sunday, January 27, 2008

Sinners in need of a Savior, Any Way you Look at it

I've started to read Jerry Bridges' "Discipline of Grace", and have already stumbled across some important gems. As he sets up the book, he talks about the difference between a pharisee and a tax collector. The pharisee has mostly "good" days and thinks that because of his faithfulness, he has somehow earned God's favor. The tax collector has mostly "bad" days and thinks that because he feels guilty, he can't be blessed or used by God. But in fact, both are in the same situation - both are sinners, deserving death, in need of God's mercy. Both can come to God with a repentant, humble heart, and expect forgiveness and possibly even blessing - this is the beauty of the gospel, that "Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

The gospel message frees us to be honest about our sin with ourselves and God. "We can call sin exactly what it is, regardless of how ugly and shameful it may be, because we know that Jesus bore that sin in His body on the cross. With the assurance of total forgiveness through Christ, we have no reason to hide from our sins anymore"! This helps both the pharisee and the tax collector, by humbling us in our pride, and showing grace to us in our weakness. Hallelujah that I can freely say, "I am a sinner" and yet at the same time, "I am forgiven"!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Is the Education of American Women Problematic?

As I read Carolyn McCulley's recent post (http://solofemininity.blogs.com/posts/2008/01/trend-spotting.html) on the growing state of educated women in the US, I couldn't help but wonder how real a concern this is. Yes, I do believe that women are becoming more educated than they have been in the past. No, I do not believe that is wrong. So what is the problem? Here are some of my thoughts on the possibilities:
- Women are using their education and knowledge to "lord it over" their husbands, whether or not they are more educated than their spouse.
- Men are giving in to the "authority" of their more educated spouses, possibly because they don't care, or because they'd rather have someone tell them what to do instead of figure it out for themselves.
So what are we, as women of God, supposed to do in response to this? Do we simply stay at home, forget education, and seek to be "barefoot and pregnant" (as some might 'lovingly' term it)? I suggest an alternative - coming from the Authority on all life:

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will give her no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
...She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
...Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.
...Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
...Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. (Proverbs 31:10-31)

In this day and age, I believe the author of Proverbs would agree with the idea that women can and should pursue education as they are interested and able, and use it in such a way as to benefit her family. Whether this is by helping to provide monetarily, educating their children in the home, or advising and encouraging her husband, all are important and respectable ways for a woman to use her education for God's glory. It is an action that is not selfish, seeking to become smarter or greater than her husband, but one of love and interest in helping out in any way possible.

Forgiveness, Part II

In the following quote, Dave Harvey shares an example of true forgiveness at work between a couple that was torn apart by the sin of adultery, and then reunited by God's saving grace at work in their hearts. As I read through this amazing story of God at work in the hearts of His people, it is a reminder to me that it is truly only by His grace that any of us are saved, that any of us do not fall into greater sin than we do. Here, the husband who committed the sin speaks about his experience coming back to his wife and starting over:

Our story is one of God's faithfulness to an unfaithful sinner. The depth of my sin stands in stark contrast to the inexhaustable glory of God's grace. From this tragedy, I know in a unique way that no one is ever too far removed from the grace of God.

It took years for God to restore our marriage. Though the memory of our dark years will never be erased, there is an undeniable cleansing of the past. When scripture says that the Lord will restore the years that the locusts have eaten, I feel as if that passage was written with us in mind. ...I know this is only possible because of the shed blood of our Savior. He has given me a righteousness not my own which overwhelms all my sin.

...I wish so many things were different. I wish I had never committed adultery and caused such pain. I wish that I could tell my children that I had been faithful to my wife from the day we were married. However, because of my sin, these are only wishes. And ultimately, my wishes pale in comparison to God's plan. I will likely never know in this lifetime why God chose to use my sin to get us to where we are now. However, we are beyond asking those questions because they are eclipsed by the glory of God's forgivenss and blessing. By God's grace we no longer look back with regret but rather forward with anticipation to what he has called us to do.

The memories remain, yet they no longer influence our lives. Each year, our marriage is sweeter and more satisfying than the one before. By fixing our eyes on the Savior, he has done far more abundantly than all we could ask or think. How amazing is that?!

How many times must I forgive?

A selection from "When Sinners Say 'I Do' ", by Dave Harvey:

...In the eyes of our compassionate and loving God, sin is sin, guilt is guilt, and all sin is against his limitless holiness...but...God was inconceivably benevolent toward the ungrateful servant (representing us) who by his behavior demonstrated that he had completely missed the significance of what had been done for him. ...As one of the Puritans in the Valley of Vision prayed, "Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person sinned against." ...Sin is infinitely wicked because it rejects the one who is infinitely holy and good. The more we recognize the perfection of God's holiness, the more obvious this truth becomes.

How can we not forgive our brothers and sisters, and even our enemies, if God has forgiven us so much? If we do not forgive them, we become like the ungrateful servant, who, after being forgiven our 10,000 talent (think, $1 billion) debt, we go out and find the brother who owes us 10 denari (think, $10). So too, will God call us to account for our actions - "You ungrateful wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?" (Matt. 18:33)