Eternally Assured

" Today on weary nations the heav'nly manna falls, to holy convocations the silver trumpet calls. Where gospel light is glowing with pure and radiant beams, and living water flowing, with soul refreshing streams"  (O Day of Rest and Gladness - Christopher Wordsworth) "It is not insignificant that the liturgy of Sunday worship was developed early on in the church, to remind us that while God has prepared good works for us to do, we walk in them from the place of resting in the resurrection" - Ragged: Spiritual Disciplines for the Spiritually Exhausted by Gretchen Ronnevik I love consistency. I love my everyday rhythm of rolling out of bed, walking to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee, and powering on my computer to begin a day's work. After work I enjoy watching an episode of "Call the Midwife".  To help me sleep, I've recently enjoyed listening to Harry Potter on audiobook and remembering the experience of reading the books for the first time...

" The rich young ruler understood that. It’s why he walked away from Christ in shame ( Luke 18:18–30 ). When Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give everything to the poor, He wasn’t offering the young man salvation by works. The money itself wasn’t the point—it was a question of his willingness to do whatever the Lord told him to do. What would he give up for the sake of his eternal soul? It was a test of his obedience and what he valued most in his heart. And he failed miserably. Reconciliation to God doesn’t happen on our terms, according to our schedules, when it’s convenient for us. It’s a radical redemption and transformation, and it requires us to be penitent, submissive, and completely sold out for God’s purpose and work. Nothing less is acceptable" - Excerpt from Reconciled by the Response of Obedience I recently read an article from a well known ministry titled  "Reconciled by the Response of Obedience"   I was saddened by reading it and also v...

"Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" - Hebrews 12: 1-2 "...and the same apostle says that we are 'justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus', and therefore we cling to this foundation, which is firm forever..." - Snippet from Belgic Confession Article 23 - The Justification of Sinners "In a word, Christ is our wisdom, because he is the subject, the author, and the medium. He is our righteousness, that is, our justifier. Our righteousness is in him, as in the subject; and he himself gives this unto us by his merit and efficacy. He is our sanctification, that is, sanctifier; becau...

  Enough: adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose to satisfy desire (dictionary.com)  Why I hate this word I have a love/hate relationship with this word because much of my Christian life was defined by it. The constant question that plagued me was "Am I doing enough?" Did I read the bible enough that day? Did I pray enough? Did I serve my neighbor enough? Did I love God enough? Did I surrender enough? Am I passionate for Christ enough? Did my life adequately display enough sanctification for me to be qualified to take comfort in the Gospel?  Do I even believe the Gospel enough?  I wonder how many Christians walk around with their minds constantly plagued by questions like this. I wonder and my eyes fill with tears, because I know that it is absolutely exhausting.  I often think about the hours of sermons I listened to that subconsciously urged me to keep looking to my "enough" to placate my conscience.  I knew acutely that the answer to a...

Why is he called "Christ" meaning "anointed?" Answer: Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and teacher who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our deliverance, our only high priest, who delivered us by the on sacrifice of his body and who continually intercedes for us before the Father and our eternal king, who governs us by his Word and Spirit and who guards and keeps us in the deliverance he has won for us (Heidelberg Q&A 31)  I want to define what it means to "surrender all" to Jesus as I heard it and experienced it as a young Christian. The idea of total and complete surrender was used in context of coming to saving faith. In order to be  assured of a right standing with God, I had to surrender every facet of my life to Christ.  I was always confused and scared when I heard the concept explained in this manner, particularly when it came to con...

My friend released a chart last year on twitter that shared tensions she experienced with some Reformed teachings and how Lutheranism helped her to resolve the m.  You may find the full chart  here .  The introduction to the chart states the following:  "This is a very basic and simple chart I put together to demonstrate some of the implications I experienced with some Calvinistic and Reformed theological teaching. The first column shows some questions that came up for me, and the second column represents the way that Lutheran thought has resolved these doubts. I still love Reformed theology in many ways, but this chart represents a simplified look into why Lutheranism has been comforting to me"   I have spent a good amount of time thinking about the implications on her chart. With her permission, I thought it would be a neat idea to try and address her tensions from a Reformed perspective .  I will address one concern at a time. The last post will inc...

"Moreover though we do good works, we do not found our salvation upon them; for we do no work but what is polluted by our flesh, and also punishable; and although we could perform such works, still the remembrance of one sin is sufficient to make God reject them.  Thus then we would always be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our poor consciences continually vexed, if they relied not on the merits of the suffering and death of our Savior" ( Belgic Confession Article 24  )  I recently came across a devotional that went through the Lords Prayer. You can find the link here for context. The article started with the following sentence: "The implications of the Disciples prayer are profound and far-reaching." I continued to read and quickly found that the implications inferred that obedience, faithfulness, and sincerity qualifies a person to pray to God with the confidence that they will be heard. There were no qualifiers in that statement for the ...