3.16 on 3/16
Today is 3/16 (March 16th). This is a great day to give another shameless plug for the book I am writing.
Visit 316book.com to interact with the 3.16’s of the Bible.
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Check back often as chapters are being added regularly.
More Loved and Accepted in Christ Than We Ever Dared Hope
The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time.
This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin.
Tim Keller, Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: Living in Line with the Truth of the Gospel (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 2.
God Doesn’t Just Hand out Prizes
If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone.
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1952).
Running Ashore on Christ
It is neither shame nor pride for a drowning man to swim to a rock, nor for a ship-broken soul to run himself ashore upon Christ.
God’s People Redeemed for God’s Purposes
God’s people do not exist for their own benefit but for His benefit. In our interpersonal relationships, we must remember that we are dealing with God’s property, His people redeemed for His purposes.
Erwin Lutzer, Pastor to Pastor (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1998), 120.
Listening to God before We Speak for Him
Holy men of soberer and quieter times than ours knew well the power of silence. David said, I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue. There is a tip here for God’s modern prophets. The heart seldom gets hot while the mouth is open. A closed mouth before God and a silent heart are indispensable for the reception of certain kinds of truth. No man is qualified to speak who has not first listened. It might well be a wonderful revelation to some Christians if they were to get completely quiet for a short time, long enough, let us say, to get acquainted with their own souls, and to listen in the silence for the deep voice of the Eternal God. The experience, if repeated often enough, would do more to cure our ulcers than all the pills that ever rolled across a desk.
Chosen as His Children
God Uses Broken Things
God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
We Are Valuable Because Christ Chose To Love Us
Believers were purchased at high cost; understandably, we are God’s property. If the value of an object is determined by the price paid for it, then we are valuable indeed. We are not purchased with silver and gold but with the costly blood of Christ. The cross of Christ is an everlasting testimony to how much believers are actually worth to God! Of course, we are not valuable in and of ourselves; we are valuable because he chose to love us. in choosing to die for us, our Lord affirmed that we are infinitely precious to him.
Erwin Lutzer, Pastor to Pastor (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1998), 120.
Life Is Worship 