Friday, January 29, 2010

Fighting the Accuser

From Ray Ortlund's blog:

“When the devil accuses us and says, ‘You are a sinner and therefore damned,’ we should answer, ‘Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.’ ‘No,’ says the devil, ‘you will be damned.’ And I reply, ‘No, for I fly to Christ, who gave himself for my sins. Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by setting forth the greatness of my sins and try to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hated, contempt and blasphemy against God. On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners. . . . As often as you object that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins. So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably.’”




Martin Luther, commenting on Galatians 1:4, “. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins.”

Monday, January 25, 2010

Thoughts while mopping from 1 Cor 7:17

1 Cor 7:17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.

My permaresolution, if I may make up words, this year and those to come is to strive to live in this: to live in the kaleō, or calling, or vocation that God has merizō, or apportioned, or dealt to me.

Now, I think I find this an easier task than some because He has apportioned to me a beautiful wife and two mighty sons. Ok, well, they aren't yet mighty in the way I'd most like, but that's the process isn't it?

I resolve to not try to be something that the Lord as not called me to be. I'm not a famous man. Not a virtuoso guitarist. Not a multimillionaire. Not some revolutionary theologian.

I am a husband and father, a redeemed sinner, a working man, a small-time musician, a theologian in desperate need of grace.

There you have it. My first post for the year. I'm getting a bit slow to post on this blog, but I'm sure it ramp up eventually. I've got to have some time, sometimes. Right? We'll see...