Resolution Three

Resolved, to see myself as I truly am, a beggar before God, and to live as if this were true in my interactions with others.

Washington, D.C. is not known as the cleanest of cities. I suppose every large city has "beggars" (not a politically correct word!), but there seems to be a lot of them around D.C. I personally walk by four to five regulars every day. Too often we have a high perception of ourselves. Truth is, however, before God we are far less than beggars! At least the homeless guy that I pass on the street shares many commonalities with me, while I share none with God.

I am indeed a beggar before God. I stand with nothing in my hands. If you're like me, I've even found my times of worship and prayer can be tainted with sin!

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (2 Cor. 9:15)

Resolution Two

Resolved, to place value on and pursue only activities which bring God glory.

There is an old Reebok commercial that says, "Life is short, Play hard!" Well, I agree with the first statement. Life is short. Also true is the statement, "You only go around once." If we put those together, we get one shot with a short life. How can we make it count for something? The world would have us enjoy our one shot at a short life. "Play hard!"

My own life is often filled with enjoyable things. And God did create us to enjoy life. The often quoted verse of 1 Tim. 6:17 says,

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

But it is interesting to note that the emphasis of this verse is not toward enjoying life, but placing our hope in the right place. It is not combatting those who are aesthetics and ignoring the secular for the spiritual; but those who, like us, are materialists and are placing their hope in their things. Even though God did create us to enjoy life, enjoyment of life is NEVER found in the things of life; instead as we place our hope in Christ, we are able to enjoy life. And when our hope FOR life is set beyond the things OF life we can find true enjoyment. No matter what our life situation is.

The best way to enjoy and to have a fulfilling and meaningful life is to fix our hope on Christ; as we do this it practically impacts the way we live. We will find ourselves pursuing only those things that have significance. I'm still trying to work out the ramifications of this. What actually has significance? My tendency in the past has been to ignore the secular for the spiritual, but I am not trying to say that we can only enjoy and pursue spiritual things in life. When God created the world, He took delight in His creation. One of His creations was mankind. As men and women, we can image Creator God and create many different things with our lives. In his book on common grace, He Shines in All That's Fair, Richard Mouw says,

Let me be concrete: I think God takes delight in Benjamin Franklin's wit and in Tiger Woods's putts and in some well-crafted narrative paragraphs in a Salman Rushdie novel, even if these accomplishments are in fact achieved by non-Christian people. And I am convinced that God's delight in these phenomena does not come because they bring the elect to glory and the non-elect to eternal separation from the divine presence. I think God enjoys these things for their own sakes.

I am inclined to agree, yet realize the danger of overemphasizing this truth would be placing too high a value on man's creations. So, God is glorified as we use our creative energies and image Him in this world, yet I don't find the pictures given us in Revelation have too many man made creations around the throne praising God. I think this area calls for much discernment, probably more than I have.

In the end, I am convinced of one thing - that God's greatest glory can be pursued in those activities which make much of Christ. When Christ is uplifted, God is glorified. If Christ is debased or marginalized, God is not glorified. It is my resolution to make each activity in my life a part of the pursuit of making much of Jesus.

Resolution One

Resolved, that my life would be about finding my joy in going after God's glory and not my own.
Our lives need purpose. A life without purpose is an empty one. For the the Christian, our purpose must be both based on and found in God. This resolution states my intent of basing my life on God and living for His glory.

Originally, I wrote "Resolved, that my life would be about pursuing God's glory and not my own." As I reflected on it, something seemed to be lacking. God's glory is, of course, the chief end of man according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism. But I realized that I had left out the other side of the coin; that which John Piper so vividly illustrates in Desiring God. It was Blaise Pascal who wrote:

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

Pascal is saying that happiness (or the pursuit of it) is at the very core of a person. And Piper's driving point is that God has designed us to find our ultimate joy and happiness in the pursuit of God's glory. If (as a person) I cannot help but pursue joy; then I am deciding to pursue joy in God, for it is only here that true joy may be found. This is easy to say, but not so easy to live. But it provides a foundation for the rest of the resolutions and is my overarching theme.

By way of scriptural backing, Romans 11:36 is a great place to start, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen." The scripture that explicitly says this best is probably Revelation 4:11...

You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.

Resolutions (Heading)

I want to write a series of posts detailing (primarily for myself) what each of these mean, why I put it in this list, the scriptural backing, and the practical application. But first I need to address the heading...

Relying solely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ who by his life and death has become my justification and sanctification, I do purpose the following:

It is critical to recognize that anything we do that is pleasing in God's sight, is not because of our own goodness (Is. 64:6), but exclusively because of Jesus. Righteousness is not something that we can achieve, but something we are given. (2 Cor. 5:21) Would I never make a resolution, my standing before God would not be different in the slightest.
Christ's death appeased the wrath of God and payed for the penalty of our sins, but his life gave us our righteousness. His 33 years of sinless life are counted as mine!
Based on this understanding, these resolutions are written as my attempt to state my convictions. Imperfectly lived, but still convictions. Or one may say convicting convictions.

Reflections on Resolutions (Day 3)

Well, just wanted to write down what is running through my head three days after writing those hard core resolutions down! I'd love to say that I'm now a different person, but guess what? The same sinner woke up the next morning! I do have a couple of high level observations, though.

Convictions unstated are rarely lived out.
When we don't write our or state our convictions, it is very easy for them to disappear. There was something in the writing down and "publishing" of those resolutions that I can look back to and remember. By reading them again, my dedication is renewed. It reminds me that, "Yes, that's the way I want to live."

Resolutions help us evaluate how we spend our time.
It may sound a little overboard, but as I check my activities against these resolutions, I have been more efficient and intentional with my time.

Resolutions should be generic enough to have room for added depth.
What does living life pursuing God's glory look like? Can this include watching football? Does God delight in acts we might classify as common grace? If so, to what degree should they be pursued? If the resolutions have too much detail they would cease to have effectivity as my life changes. Keeping them generic will help them have continuing effect down the road.

Resolutions must be Biblical.
It can be easy to make resolutions without firmly grounding them in the Word. One of my future endeavors is to take each point and back it with God's Word. Otherwise, I am drifting in a sea of Matt's thought. Scary!

Now the real question - have I kept them? Maybe you've missed my drift - NO! The point is not to keep them perfectly but to give guidance.

May God give more grace!

Resolutions

Ok, finally got around to compiling some of my own thoughts... I pulled from JE's format because I liked the force of conviction with which he listed his resolutions. I know that these are not something to be kept perfectly, but hope that by God's grace they will form a reminder to me on a consistent basis of what my life is about. This week God had to grapple with my heart as He revealed to me my lack of true dedication to Him. I realized Lewis' quote in The Weight of Glory described me when he said:

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

I tend to fool around with tv, computers, reading, fun, etc... when infinite and eternal joy is offered. It is to be found in life lived to God's glory. If you don't get what I mean, go read Desiring God.

So, here they are...

Relying solely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ who by his life and death has become my justification and sanctification, I do purpose the following:

1. Resolved, that my life would be about pursuing God’s glory and not my own.
2. Resolved, to place value on and pursue only activities which bring God glory.
3. Resolved, to see myself as I truly am – a beggar before God – and to live as if this were true in my interactions with others.
4. Resolved, to never live lackadaisically, but to live with all my might.
5. Resolved, to make the Gospel my meta-narrative.
6. Resolved, to love my wife and give up myself as Christ did for the church.
7. Resolved, to never accept lazy spirituality.
8. Resolved, to always place others above myself and to regard myself as nothing.
9. Resolved; to lead my wife, family, and in any other sphere God may place before me.
10. Resolved; to repent from my failures, plead the righteousness of Christ, and make reconciliation with those I hurt.

Resolutions and The New Year

By God's grace we have entered 2007. The changing of the calendar is, along with the birthday, one of those days that God has placed in our lives that can cause us to pause for a little reflection. In this way, New Year's resolutions are a positive thing. How do I want to be different at this time next year? The old saying, " If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit your target" is true. Being intentional is important. I haven't sat down and really given the thought I want to to this year's goals, but to help me to that end, I wanted to put out the first eight resolutions of Jonathan Edwards (written at age 20)... These are not as my resolutions, but are helping me begin to think deeply about life and the end to which we are living. Numbers 6,7, and 8 hit me like a ton of bricks.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God' s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many soever, and how great soever.
2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new contrivance and invention to promote the aforementioned things.
3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.
4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.
6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.
7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.

Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5

"Eventually I want to serve God full time..." When you hear this statement, usually the person has in mind being a missionary, pastor, or the like. It is a broadly accepted misnomer in the evangelical church today. Abraham Kuyper made the statement, " There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!' " This call rings as true today as ever, but the question that remains for me is "What does that look like? Great, idea, but what does that really mean?"

 

Well, Dr. John Piper has written a book called "Don't Waste Your Life". After the first few chapters you will be ready to run off into the jungle or to jump in seminary; however as you progress through the book, you will find that this is not his intent. Yes, there are those who are called to this, but what about the rest? Chapter eight is entitled "Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5" and includes the following pointers:

 

1. We can make much of God in our secular job through fellowship that we enjoy with him throughout the day in all our work.

2. We make much of Christ in our secular work by the joyful, trusting, God-exalting design of our creativity and industry.

3. We make much of Christ in our secular work when it confirms and enhances the portrait of Christ's glory that people hear in the spoken Gospel.

4. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning enough money to keep us from depending on others, while focusing on the helpfulness of our work rather than financial rewards.

5. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning money with the desire to use our money to make others glad in God.

6. We make much of Christ in our secular work by treating the web of relationships it creates as a gift of God to be loved by sharing the Gospel and by practical deeds of help.

 

These above points are as true for the stay-at-home mom as for the stockbroker, or in my case an Oracle DBA. I think especially for the mom, the temptation can be to see children as the end all of her ministry. Adding these other aspects makes it a well rounded, God glorifying job - capable of transforming even the most inane drivel into something pleasing to our Father.

The Audience of One

Only madmen, geniuses, and supreme egotists do things purely for themselves. It is easy to buck a crowd, not too hard to march to a different drummer. But it is truly difficult - perhaps impossible - to march only to your own drumbeat. Most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, do things with an eye to the approval of some audience or other. The question is not whether we have an audience but which audience we have.
This observation underscores another vital feature of the truth of calling. A life lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before an one audience that trumps all other - the Audience of One. -- Os Guinness, The Call, p. 70

This passage really hit me as I thought about how much of my life is geared around audiences. Okay, so I'm not a theatrical actor, but it in one sense I am an actor. Much of who I am is because I think others will think more of me if I appear a certain way. After reading this, I realized that there is no person in the world (including my wonderful wife) whose opinion really counts. This is not to say that others cannot help us see ourselves more accurately, but rather that there is only one Supreme Opinion that in the end truly matters. He is the one that I must be striving please. All other opinions of me are mere window dressing. If I am living my life to please God, whether or not I please another living being on this earth doesn't matter. If they are pleased with me as well, great; if not, only One opinion truly counts.

The necessity of a split personality

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Psalm 43:5

It struck me, in reading the Psalms this morning how often David talks to himself. It is one thing to know the truth; yet when it comes to real life, it is another to actually live that truth out. Our need is not simply to learn more, read another book, explore another truth; it is to live the truth that we know. One of the ways that these truths will come to rest in our hearts and lives is to stop and truly examine our souls. Examining ourselves truly in this way will expose our hearts. And then, the exposed heart needs to be reminded of our Savior. I love the idea of preaching the gospel to ourselves daily, but in addition we need to be accurately assessing our soul. If I am struggling with fear or doubt, I want God's truth to illuminate that area. Unless I truly evaluate my soul it's easy to simply go through another exercise and not bring the truth to bear in the area of my struggle. So get the split personality going as we speak truth to ourselves.