Letter to the Suffering Christian

Letter to the Suffering Christian

Courtesy of howstuffworks.com/

Dear Christian,

     I can not express fully how thankful I am to God for the work I see him doing in your heart. Considering the great suffering through which you have experienced and are still experiencing, it is a testimony to the power of Christ: "What he meant for evil, God meant for good."
     Suffering is a reality for the believer; our Lord suffered and we are "filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions." It is one of those things our limited minds can not fully comprehend in relation to God's goodness and sovereignty in this world. Suffering is the place where our faith is most intensely tried; and, it is the place where we are our weakest. So what do we do? Do we "curse God" as Job's wife said? By no means! We say with Job: "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord." But how do we say that? By laying hold of God's many promises throughout Scripture that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose."
     The suffering which you have to bear in this world is great, but "greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." Remember, my dear Christian, that "Those whom he predestined he called, and those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he glorified."
     Take hope, Christian, because the body of suffering - along with all the emotional scarring - will be done away with when Jesus brings you into heaven. And there, you will receive a glorified body that has never been harmed in any way by anybody, and your mind and emotions will be completely free from the memories and pain: "and he shall wipe away every tear from your eye." And you shall spend ten billion upon ten billion - yea all of eternity - free from this present suffering. So hold onto Christ! He will see you through this suffering and carry you by his "strong right arm" into glory.
     You are ever in my prayers, and I have full confidence that Christ keeps you: you are in his covenant and "all who the Father gives me I will never let go." We serve a jealous God. He will not let you go no matter how great the suffering. Hold on.

In Christ,
Chase

The Seventh Commandment

Beware The Adulteress Woman

Courtesy of piereligion.org

     Living in an age of ubiquitous images, and the privacy of such, is a danger which the church is not taking seriously. The writer of the book of Proverbs, however, takes it very seriously. Read the first 7 chapters of the book and you will quickly realize the sober reality in which the author lives: Sexual sin is the deadliest snare for men.

     In reading chapters 5, 6, and 7 we understand that it is not because the sin of sexual immorality is more heinous than all other sins; but rather, men appear to be their weakest in resisting this temptation.

     So what hope does the author offer? Christ! "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..." and "Search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, but they testify of me." It is Christ who kept the seventh commandment perfectly, and it is Christ who covers our sin of violating it! 

     Does that deliver us from considering these warnings from Proverbs? Do not be a fool! The third use of the law is that we synergistically - empowered by the work of the Holy Spirit - might grow in conformity to the Person of Christ by loving and keeping his law. Therefore, heed the Proverbs!

     Do not consider these passages to apply only to physical relationships with married women; but, understand the complexity of the manifestations of adultery. The author warns "do not turn down her street:" Do you go in the neighborhood of inappropriate images on the web? He again warns "they go in the night to see her:" Do you take advantage of the privacy of a smart phone to view that which your eyes should not?" "She says my bed is perfumed and my husband will not return for several days:" Do you justify your lustful desires and satisfaction therein by saying "no one will ever find out?" Then BEWARE! For you are an ox being led to the slaughter and at the end of your life you will say "How I hated correction, how a spurned discipline!" The gates of Sheol are opened ever wider to allow in all the oxen being led to the slaughter.

     So what hope is there? This temptation overwhelms me! Then pray to him who was tempted in suffering in every way but without sin, and he will deliver you! But work for the sake of the glory of Christ! Heed the warning of the Proverbs and the rest of Scripture! Do not turn down her street! Do not desire her beauty! Do not go around in the night! Pray to God to deliver you from evil! Read the Scriptures, pray the Scriptures, go to church, fight the fight of Faith and be a man!

Holiness in Babylon

           In the opening chapter of Ephesians, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him."
           I would like to focus on the phrase "...that we should be holy and blameless before him." There may be nothing considered less in America than holiness for the sake of the glory of the true and living triune God.  Our culture is wrapped up in humanistic hedonism; we have no desire nor room in our lives for God's throne.  We have erected the idle of false hedonism in our hearts. Pleasure promised through the world's many devices has captured our desire. Money, sex, drugs, recreation, entertainment, and a multitude of other things promise fulfillment, and we place our faith in these things. Even many of those belonging to the visible church live as if these things are that for which we were created.  The creation? How petty a thing to worship!
            Men and women were created for so much more: the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. How do we glorify him? Faith! And faith produces the fruit of the Spirit: "...that we should be holy and blameless before him."  Objection: the pursuit of holiness is a difficult journey.
             Answer: (1) "...even as he chose us..." Paul states here and with more clarity in Romans 8 that God chose us by his almighty electing will to not only secure our justification, but our glorification also! It is Christ that died and was risen and is now seated at the right hand of the Father; he has filled us with his Holy Spirit to conform us to his image of holiness! It is the very power that raised Christ from the dead that now dwells in us to fight the good fight! Sanctification is, of course, synergistic; but, that in no way belittles the fact that God has secured our glorification and filled us with his Holy Spirit to grow in holiness!
               Answer: (2) Who builds a tower without first counting the cost? We are at war with our sin nature, the world, and Satan; did you expect it to be easy? If your right eye causes you to sin then pluck it out and cast it from you! Would you rather that your whole body be thrown into hell? Or, in a more modern sense: if your computer causes you to sin then throw it out the window! Would you rather that your whole body be thrown into hell? This is war, not playtime; fight the good fight, equip yourself with the armor of God, make war!
                Remember: Christ in you, the hope of glory! It is by the grace of God that we will grow in sanctification; therefore, pursue the means of grace.