Category Archives: Life

The Authority of a Transformed Life

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Theology doesn’t matter much to those who observe genuine transformation.  In John Chapter 9 Jesus heals a man born blind.  His neighbors immediately begin to talk about it.

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”     – John 9:8-11

When Jesus makes big and obvious changes in us, the world can’t help but notice.  While a pathetic Christian life makes for a pathetic Christian witness, a transformed life wields remarkable authority.  Once the changes are made all we need to do is give Him the glory for the great things He has done. 

Let’s allow Him to do all that He wants to within us and give the world something to notice as we change.

Knowing How to Calm Down

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There are times when our striving over a thing reaches its proper limits.  When this happens we need to know how to quietly trust in the Lord.  That unanswered prayer, that stressful situation, that massive uncertainty we have in an area that we feel we ought to understand better – all these may be areas we need to deliberately give over to Him.

David understood this and offers his own example to us in a brief psalm.  He intentionally calmed and quieted his soul, knowing that some things needed to be placed in God’s hands and left there.  There is a beautiful peace and humility involved in this kind of intentional trust.

Psalm 131

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1  Lord, my heart is not haughty,
     Nor my eyes lofty [or “arrogant”].
     Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
     Nor with things too profound [or “difficult”] for me.

2  Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
     Like a weaned child with his mother;
     Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3  O Israel, hope in the Lord
     From this time forth and forever.

Putting the Past Behind Us

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When the Lord brought the Israelites over the Jordan and into the Promised Land, He instructed them to set up a memorial.  They were to take twelve stones, one for each tribe, from the midst of the Jordan and set them up as a reminder on the side to which they were crossing.

And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” – Joshua 4:20-24 (NKJV)

With slavery to sin and some major struggles behind us, we are free to enter the new life of faith.  New battles await us.  New victories need to be won.  We need not, in fact we dare not, go back to Egypt or to wandering in the wilderness. 

The Israelites arrived in the land only by God’s power.  But it would take just as much faith in Him to stay there.  In the same way, the Lord brings us by faith into a victorious Christian life of faith.  We dare not return to fight the battles of the past.

Complete Dependence

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We normally like to be self-reliant.  Our culture here in the USA certainly teaches it.  We see it as a virtue, a strength, the only real alternative to laziness or a lack of ambition.  There is a point, however, at which the idea of self-reliance becomes self-deception.

Life is fragile.  We can’t hold onto it forever without a great deal of help.  Therefore, it’s an unpleasant blessing to be taught to depend on God.  We may not like it much, but it’s a lesson we need to learn.  The Israelites learned it by means of the manna in the desert.  This humbling experience was designed to test them, and teach them to get their eyes off of their provision (that constant focus of independent, self-reliant men), fix their eyes firmly on the Provider and keep their ears open to His every word.

And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” – Deuteronomy 8:2-3 (NKJV)