SIN - The Root Cause of Most Conflicts.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?   | James 4:1 (ESV)

Regardless what the relationship, the reality is still the same; quarrels and fights are most commonly caused by sin. God has been teaching me a great deal about this lately, and unfortunately most of it has come by trial and error. When it comes to certain things, I'm a fairly passionate man. Don't ask my wife what things I'm passionate about because you might end up getting me in trouble, but all kidding aside I'm a man with fairly strong convictions on certain things. This is a good thing! God has wired every person uniquely and because of this we will be passionate about different things. Food, poverty, global warming, social justice, the sufficiency of scripture...these are all things that people hold a great deal of conviction over. And when there is true conviction, passion is sure to be present as well. 

It's a blessed thing when a church is full of passionate people...and the more diversity there is in the passions of the church, the more opportunities the local body will have to glorify God in how they live and serve together.

But be ye aware! What the words from James show us is that our passions (even if they are good things) can also be the cause for fights and quarrels. You've probably experienced this in some capacity in your own life, no? If you're living by the Spirit, your passions will drive you towards decisions which you believe honor God and bless others. But not everyone else is equally passionate about the same things. So in trying to get people to join your causes, you plead your case and pour your heart into your argument...but sometimes your convictions fall on deaf ears and others don't understand what the big deal is or simply can't relate. Where does this leave you? Do you lovingly accept their indifference and choose to move on in faith and obedience, or are you bothered by the lack of passion you've been able to stir up in others? Do you embrace the diversity of passions among your church body, or do you cast judgement on those who don't see things your way?

This is exactly what James is alluding to in this passage. It is true that God has wired you with certain passions...and he has done so in order that you might use those passions for his glory. But that doesn't mean he desires for you to do so on a holistic or corporate level inside the church. There will be certain passions that your church will embrace holistically and there will be other initiatives which will need to work on more of a grass-roots level. In these situations, individuals from the body work to promote their passions on a much smaller scale. This doesn't mean these passions are any less significant or important to the work God is trying to accomplish in the church or the world, it simply means that they don't have the same corporate buy-in as others things will. And that's OK. The question we need to ask ourselves in moments like these isn't, are my passions valid, but instead...will I be satisfied even if I'm the only one who's passionate (or convicted) about this?

Personal holiness and obedience must be key concerns in this conversation. God's word seems fairly clear that one day he will hold each person accountable for how they lived. But as I already stated above, the way God calls us to live, as individuals, is often times very different from how He calls others to live. 

We will have far more success in influencing others if we are satisfied in simply being faithful to the convictions and passions God has laid on our hearts. 

When others know the things we are passionate about and see us living faithfully and consistently into those convictions, they will see that we don't live for our own selfish ambitions or the approval of others, but instead we live to fulfill the call that God has put on our hearts. Our submission to God, in humility and obedience, will speak volumes to others and will have a far greater impact on people than our words ever will.

So, the next time you find yourself discouraged by the perceived lack of passion in others around the things God has convicted you about, remember that God has wired us all uniquely and he will hold us all accountable to the truths, convictions, and passions he has placed on our hearts as individuals and as a greater church body. Don't allow your personal passions and convictions to become idols, which dominate your thoughts and goals. We can easily turn godly things into ungodly things when we elevate them to an unhealthy place in our lives. It's great to be passionate about the things God, through his word, has convicted us on. However, if we allow these passions to consume and control us and drive us to ungodly decisions because others don't equally share with us in these passions...we are no longer honoring God. Instead, we have elevated self above others, which is not the path towards peace and unity, but is instead the path towards fights and quarrels.

"The root cause of most conflict is desires in our hearts that have become so strong that they begin to consume and control us. These desires can become little gods or idols that dominate our thoughts, goals, and actions. Since these idols are often good things we have come to want too much, we are usually blind to how wrong and destructive they are. Until they are exposed and cast down, genuine peace and reconciliation will be elusive." | Ken Sande - The Peacemaker

Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. These are the (2) greatest commandments and anything that falls short of this is sinful. God will not judge you based on how well you can sell, promote, and peddle your personal passions to other people. Instead, you will be judged based on how faithful and obedient you were to the convictions and passions God placed on your heart. Essentially, it's godly stewardship with a humble and loving heart.

For His Glory,

Jason

It is Christ Who Gives Us Strength.

In his book, True Community, Jerry Bridges points out that: 

"The difference between “Lord help me” and “Lord enable me” is a matter of partial trust in our self-efforts versus total reliance on Christ.” 

Paul tells the Church in Philippians 4:13 (ESV), “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” He doesn’t say I can do some things in my own strength and others in the strength the Lord provides me. He doesn't say with my own abilities and Christ's help I can do all things. Instead, he gives credit for his ability to do all things to the one who strengthens him.

For His Glory,

Jason

You Need Help!

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Every one of us needs help. We are not God. We have needs. We have weaknesses. We have confusion. We have limitations of all kinds. We need help.

But every one of us has something else: we have sins. And therefore at the bottom of our hearts we know that we do not deserve the help we need. And so we feel trapped.

I need help to live my life and to handle death and to cope with eternity — help with my family, my spouse, my children, my loneliness, my job, my health, my finances. I need help. But I don't deserve the help I need.

So what can I do? I can try to deny it all and be a superman who doesn't need any help. Or I can try to drown it all and throw my life into a pool of sensual pleasures. Or I can simply give way to the paralysis of despair.

But God declares over this hopeless conclusion: Jesus Christ became a High Priest to shatter that despair with hope and to humble that superman or superwoman and to rescue that drowning wretch.

Yes, we all need help. Yes, none of us deserves the help we need. But no to despair and pride and lechery. Look at what God says. Because we have a great High Priest, the throne of God is a throne of grace. And the help we get at that throne is mercy and grace to help in time of need. Grace to help! Not deserved help, gracious help.

You are not trapped. Say no to that lie. We need help. We don’t deserve it. But we can have it. You can have it right now and forever. If you will receive and trust in your High Priest, Jesus the Son of God, and draw near to God through him.

Original Post: HERE

The Word of God

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

The Word of God is our only hope. The good news of God’s promises and the warnings of his judgment are sharp enough and living enough and active enough to penetrate to the bottom of my heart and show me that the lies of sin are indeed lies.

Abortion will not create a wonderful future for me. Neither will cheating, or dressing provocatively, or throwing away my sexual purity, or keeping quiet about dishonesty at work, or divorce, or vengeance. And what rescues me from this deception is the Word of God.

The Word of God’s promise is like throwing open a great window of bright morning sun on the roaches of sin masquerading as satisfying pleasures in our hearts. God has given you his good news, his promises, his Word to protect you from the deep deceptions of sin that try to harden the heart and lure it away from God and lead it to destruction.

Be of good cheer in your battle to believe. Because the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and it will penetrate deeper than any deception of sin has ever gone and reveal what is truly valuable and what is truly worth trusting.

Original Link: HERE

The Joy of Marriage

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor. (Ephesians 5:25–27)

The reason there is so much misery in marriage is not that husbands and wives seek their own pleasure, but that they do not seek it in the pleasure of their spouses. The biblical mandate to husbands and wives is to seek your own joy in the joy of your spouse.

There is scarcely a more hedonistic passage in the Bible than the one on marriage in Ephesians 5:25–30. Husbands are told to love their wives the way Christ loved the church.

How did he love the church? “He gave himself up for her.” But why? “That he might sanctify and cleanse her.” But why did he want to do that? “That he might present the church to himself in splendor”!

Ah! There it is! “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). What joy? The joy of marriage to his bride, the church.

Jesus does not want a dirty and unholy wife. Therefore, he was willing to die to “sanctify and cleanse” his betrothed so he could present to himself a wife “ in splendor.” He gained the desire of his heart by giving himself up for the good of his bride.

John Piper - Desiring God

God is Always Up to Something Good

Trials sometimes make us doubt God's presence, but we must be careful not to view them as evidence of God absence, but instead we should cling to the truth in God's word which says,

Romans 5:1-5 (ESV | emphasis added)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The past year has been one that has stretched me in ways I've never been stretched before. I've been tested in my faith, my theology, and my character. Many of these trials have come in shapes that I never would have expected, where God...in his providence...chose to pin some of the things I value most in my life against each other. While at first glance these situations could easily be viewed as the work of the enemy, hindsight has proven them to be the work of God. You see, the truth is that even the things the enemy attempts to use for his own evil gain, sift through the sovereign hands of God...and God is always up to something good in the life of the Christian. God works tirelessly, in the lives of his elect, to conform them into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. And regardless if it's a trial or a blessing, the aim in God's act is always the same.

I'm not sure where this post will find you in your faithwalk and Christian journey, but I'm hopeful that as you read it and (hopefully) listen to the song that I've included (below)...that your heart will be filled with joy at the work God is doing in your life. I pray that God will grant each of us the ability to look beyond our current circumstances and by his grace will give us the ability to "taste and see that the LORD is good" (Psalm 34:8). I pray that each of us will have enough faith in God's goodness and sovereignty over all things, that we'll be able to trust in God's word and cling to the promise that, 

He who began a good work in [us] will be faithful in carrying that work on to it's completion. | (Phil. 1:6)

“Though You Slay Me” (featuring John Piper) from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Holiness and Submission to God's Word

Called to Be Holy | 1 Peter 1:13-16 (ESV)

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”