Take Five to Sing Amazing Grace

by | Oct 1, 2011 | Learning Story

I don’t remember how I discovered Page CXVI. I do remember that I bought one of their hymn CD’s, then after listening to it fully, bought the other two. It even passed Robert’s music test (he is very particular about Christian music, insisting it must contain more than the same chords played over and over and over:). So I was thrilled to hear they have a new album coming out, and this morning had the chance to listen. I know it’s a busy Saturday, but if you’re reading this, you have 5 minutes to mess around:). Click, close your eyes and listen. And remember it’s not just any old amazing grace. And let this get stuck in your head for the rest of the day:

I will sing to you this song of thanks

For giving me abundant grace

You broke the stones around my heart

In you I been redeemed.

Hymns IV by PageCXVI

How to Hope in the Reality Gap

by | Sep 30, 2011 | Learning Story

“13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:13-16

“Like Abraham, we too must live by faith and die by faith, receiving in part, but not yet receiving in full, what God has promised.

That’s what it means to live in the reality gap. We live in the real world of joys and sorrows, of successes and failures, of ups and downs. We live in a fallen world, where things and people fall apart. That’s reality – and reality is often painful, when those who suffer and die are our loved ones. But the Christian recognizes a reality beyond this reality, a world beyond this world, a story beyond history. He or she knows by faith that the painful reality that we see all around us will one day pass away. It will be replaced by a world in which God will dwell with his people, in which he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Rev. 21:3-4). Then we shall see him face-to-face and the reality gap will finally be gone. As Augustine puts it, ‘There we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise. Behold what shall be in the end shall not end.” In the meantime, we live, like Abraham, by faith – the faith of those who know that the light of the end of the road is the welcoming presence of Jesus, leading us to our new home.”  Iaian Duguid, Living in the Gap between Promise and Reality: The Gospel according to Abraham.

Studying Sin to See Our Savior

by | Sep 28, 2011 | Learning Story

This week’s Learning God’s Story of Grace lesson is on “The Fall: Wrecking Shalom.” On the Facebook page for the book, I posed the question, “Why study sin?” It’s truly astonishing to me to read the story of the fall and to see how it nails me and how I relate to other people. Kevin Twit has done a great job of summarizing thoughts on idolatry, and I copied in his summary of Tim Lane and Paul Tripp’s book, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making. Why study sin? To see how desperately we need a Savior and to see how amazing God’s grace is.

“God created us to be other-centered but sin traps us in the “inward curvature of the soul” (Luther’s phrase.) This can’t help but have a huge impact on our relationships. Tim Lane and Paul Tripp summarize the six ways sin affects us this way (see the chart on page 36 of their book “Relationships: A Mess Worth Making”)

1. Sin makes you self-centered – When you reject God you create a void that you try to fill with yourself.

2. Sin makes you committed to self-rule – When God’s wise and loving rule over you is replaced with selfrule, other people become your subjects and are expected to do your bidding and bow to your control.

3. Sin makes you self-sufficient – When you reject God, you believe that delusion that you are not dependent. And if you don’t believe you are dependent upon God you will rarely be dependent upon others.

4. Sin makes you self-righteous – When the holiness of God is not your standard you will set yourself up as that standard which makes you want to show other people their “sin” but never want to look at your own.

5. Sin makes you self-satisfied – When you fail to find satisfaction in God you will use everything else (material things or relationships) to try to find satisfaction. You will never live for something bigger than yourself – everything becomes a means to the end of you being satisfied.

6. Sin makes you self-taught – When you are you own source of truth and wisdom, you will never develop the humble teachable spirit that is vital for good relationships.” from Kevin Twit, http://homepage.mac.com/kevintwit/3%20Idolatry%20and%20Relationships.pdf

Why Not Be Glad?

by | Sep 26, 2011 | Learning Story

When Monday follows a sweet weekend of rich feasting on and with family, it can feel a little dreary, even on a beautiful sunny day. But this morning I am choosing to rejoice and delight, egged on by a wonderful passage of Scripture it is my privilege to study and write about. Read it with me and be glad as God commands but also gives reason…

“Behold, I will create

new heavens and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered,

nor will they come to mind.

18 But be glad and rejoice forever

in what I will create,

for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight

and its people a joy.

19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem

and take delight in my people;

the sound of weeping and of crying

will be heard in it no more.

20 “Never again will there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not live out his years;

he who dies at a hundred

will be thought a mere youth;

he who fails to reacha a hundred

will be considered accursed.

21 They will build houses and dwell in them;

they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,

or plant and others eat.

For as the days of a tree,

so will be the days of my people;

my chosen ones will long enjoy

the works of their hands.

23 They will not toil in vain

or bear children doomed to misfortune;

for they will be a people blessed by theLord,

they and their descendants with them.

24 Before they call I will answer;

while they are still speaking I will hear.

25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

but dust will be the serpent’s food.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.

For reflection: what stories in your life are you NOT rejoicing over today? How will the tears and sorrow of those stories be changed in the new heavens and new earth? Ask God to encourage your heart with patience as you wait.