RC Sproul:
We fail on our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.
And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. –Judges 8:27 ESV
Gideon delivered Israel from the oppression of the Midianites. He was one of the big wigs in the book of Judges who won many battles in the name of the God of Israel. When the people asked him to be their ruler, he refused. He only wanted one thing: for people to give him their earrings, the spoils they got from the Ishmaelites. It was a seemingly innocent request, until he made an ephod out of it and snared himself, his family, and the nation with idolatrous worship. Continue reading Failing Slowly, Privately
When God called Moses up the mountain to give him the Law, the Israelites were so afraid of the holiness of God that they asked Him not to talk to them directly again. God heard their prayers.
Now the entire non-human world is silent. We told God, like we tell a child who is annoying us, to shut up and go to his room. He heard our prayer. After these many centuries, we are bored and fitful with the unrelieved pattern of human speech. Even our scientists, who earlier seemed to be the most determined of all to confine speech to the human, are trying to teach chimpanzees to talk, decipher the language of whales, and listen for messages from some distant star (Peterson, 1993).
Many of us are very disciplined in other areas of life but are remarkably undisciplined in our Christian lives. We know that in order to excel in our chosen fields, we need to practice, work hard, sacrifice, commit for the long haul, and endure intense training. We excel in our careers, play great basketball, make great music, fly high in our academics, and yet we flounder in the area of disciplined godliness. We understand the commitment necessary to excel in other things but we don’t seem to see the need for the same commitment to grow in Christ. Somehow, we think that becoming like Jesus doesn’t take much effort, as if we could just wake up one morning and suddenly we’re godly.
God uses three ways to change us and conform us to the image of Christ: people, circumstances, and spiritual disciplines. Of all three, only one is under our control: spiritual disciplines.
First, God uses people to change us. Proverbs 27:17 says is well: ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.’ Our relationships with friends, family, spouse, coworkers, neighbors, pastors, teachers and all sorts of people all mixed together create ample opportunities for us to learn, be corrected, be rebuked, be changed, and become godly in the process, however we react to them.
Continue reading What’s the Deal with Spiritual Disciplines?
In Romans 15, Paul mentioned that he has been meaning to go to Spain to preach the word of God. At that time, Spain was considered the end of the known world. No one knows if he actually went there but R. Kent Hughes believes it doesn’t matter:
To us arrival is everything, but to God the journey is most important, for it is in the journey that we are perfected, and it is in hardships that he is glorified as we trust him. Continue reading Reaching Spain
Jojo Agot 