Did You Hear the News?

This was a blog post from The Gospel Coalition. Click here for the link!

"Most people in your city think that Christianity is all about advice—that it's a list of "do's" and "don'ts." They couldn't be more wrong.We react far differently to news than we do to advice. Imagine a young wife who, nine months earlier, sent her husband off to war. It's been a devastating, frightening, and lonely nine months. But a good friend comes over and gives her some sound and helpful advice to help her through. The friend tells her: "Be strong. Be patient. Stay busy. Find yourself a good hobby and some projects to fill your time until your husband comes home. Keep writing him those letters. Stay strong."

How is the young wife going to react? She'll likely appreciate the advice and try to absorb it. It will be a help of sorts, but the advice doesn't produce joy or relief.
Imagine, though, the same young wife in the same situation. Imagine that same friend coming over, but instead of offering good advice she speaks good news: "Did you hear the news? The war is over! Your husband is coming home! He's coming back!"
How will that young wife respond? Will she break down and cry tears of relief? Will she run into her friend's arms, screaming and celebrating? One thing is certain: she will rejoice! People react differently to good news than they do to good advice. Advice gives people more work to do. Good news gives people freedom.

News Brings Joy

Jesus didn't come with advice for us to absorb and follow; he came with news. The word gospel means "good news." It is news that brings joy. The gospel is history-making, life-shaping, paradigm-shattering news. It is news about something done, in history, that changes you, that changes everything, forever. Jesus does something so radical, so violent, so dramatic, and it seals this good news and makes a way for us to join the Big Story.

It is this news that makes Jesus so attractive; it is this news that separates him from all other religions. He didn't come dispensing advice on how to clean yourself up and make yourself better. He didn't offer a list of action items or set of instructions about things you must do to find God, freedom, rest, or peace. No! Jesus came saying you can be known, loved, set free, forgiven, and made new.

This new life is open to anyone. Anyone can be made new, made clean, set free, given a relationship with the living God. And it is free. There is no earning it. It is yours, no strings attached. The gospel says all this has been done. There isn't any more doing to do. It's not advice, so don't treat the gospel like mere advice. Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again to earn the way to God, freedom, rest, and peace for you.

Nobody else has ever spoken this way, arriving on the scene and offering news of a new life instead of advice about a better life. Founders of other religions and worldviews ask you to do something—to perform and obey—to bring your doing to the table in order to enjoy the benefits of karma, nirvana, inner peace, a better future, salvation, or whatever the benefit might be. Christianity is the one faith whose founder tells us not to bring him our doing, but our need.

 This article has been adapted from Justin Buzzard's new book, The Big Story: How the Bible Makes out of Life (Moody, 2013).

Sweatin' the Small Stuff

I have this horrible problem of constantly misplacing my wallet which leads me to panic a little inside because my thinking is that I lost my wallet and now someone can take my identity. Even as I typed that last sentence my chest sank in fear and I padded the right side of my butt just to check if I still had my wallet on me.

Whenever I misplace my wallet I tend to be a little dramatic. You could probably never tell on the outside but on the inside I AM FREAKING OUT. My mind and heart start racing and I think of all the horrible (sometimes unrealistic) possibilities of what could happen if the wrong person grabbed a hold of my wallet. When I am in the midst of my freak out I become irritable, I become short with people, and am not as nice as I know I could be to people who try to help me. I become unpleasant.

Its been about a year now since my last freak out. That's because God humbled me.

Right before I was about to leave the house I was doing my regular mental check list of the things I needed for work. (Phone? Check. Keys? Check. Wallet? . . . panic.) Inside of my wallet was the key that I needed to open up the place I was working at. Without my wallet we couldn't open up the store and I had maybe just ten minutes to find my wallet so I could open up the store on time.

I started flipping couch cushions, unfolding blankets, moving couches, and questioning everyone in the house about where my wallet was last seen. I tried to retrace my steps in my mind but I couldn't even remember if I had it on me last night. My wallet was nowhere to be found and I had no clue about where it could be.

That's when I calmed myself down and started praying.

I began to say to God, "I am sorry about my actions, Father. You know my need, Lord. I need to find my wallet but I am going to give you all of my anxieties, Lord . . ." As I was praying I was walking to my room one last time.  I placed my hands on the edge of the bed and began to kneel. On my way down to my knees I felt something under the mangled blankets I was throwing around on my bed. I lifted my blanket and there she was!

Even though my anxiety was blinding me from seeing my wallet right in front of me God made it clear to me that all my worrying was for nothing. My anxiety was foolish. I should not be sweating the small stuff.

Here are some verses on casting our anxieties on our Father:

Philippians 4:5-6
1 Peter 5:7
Matthew 6:27
Matthew 6:31-33
Lamentations 3:23

Fighting

There are times where we can feel so stressed and burdened by what is going on around us that it can actually drive us to complete silence with God. It's as if our own sin is acting as a gag on us completely keeping us from crying out to God. We start feeling like we are bound by sin and evil, unable to find our joy in God again. Unable to pray.

I was having a conversation with David Borrego (literally an hour before typing this) about stresses and finding joy again. He said to me, "See, what I do is just think about Jesus. I think about what the Gospel is as a whole. I try to fight the good fight. John Piper talks about fighting for joy and that's what I do I fight everyday."

That is exactly what I needed to hear. Lately, whenever I have been praying I felt as if I wasn't getting my point across or voicing my needs to God. But The Spirit knew exactly what I was trying to say even though I couldn't piece together the words, God understood what I was praying for (Romans 8:26). God, through David, told me to keeping fighting, to keep fighting for joy everyday. I have to remember what Christ did for the world and to be filled by this truth.



Here is a great blog post by Ray Ortlund about the inability to pray and how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/06/14/when-you-cant-even-pray/ . This influenced the blog today.

Righteous Headbanging!

I am a lover of all kinds of art that glorifies God. That includes metal. I understand that this might not be everyone's cup of tea but this is actually a ministry that glorifies God. This ministry has actually been a light in such a dark place that is the metal scene. Thank God for this metal ministry.

Now here is your new music of the month! Exiting The Fall!