Rivers and Ravens in Desolate Places

I would be lying to you if I said that I was strong enough or wise enough all of the time to not be bitter when those I thought I could rely on to be there for my wife and I in this difficult situation fail to do so. I am admittedly an idealist and as such sinfully and quite irrationally expect from others what I more than likely could never or would never do for them, myself. I am not in anyway proud of that nor content to be so. It is just the reality of who I am at this moment. (You are welcome to pray for me if you feel so inclined).

BUT- God in His never-changing always faithful in-spite-of-us way continues to provide everything we need  in spite of the reality of who we are or those we are privileged to call our friends. In fact He continues to do one better. He continues to speak to both of us and bless us in our daily needs through other unexpected sources and saints. And that is actually the point of my writing this.

You see it turns out that far from being intentionally thoughtless or unconcerned (as it tends to feel for me at times) many of our friends are simply human and busy or just overwhelmed and unsure of what to do or how to help. And given that it is an incredible & unexpectedly difficult situation that I find myself in, they are really justified in being and doing so. And I need to give them that space to do and be so as they are led and trust that God Himself will supply all of our needs for meaningful spiritual & emotional connections not to mention the other very practical financial needs we have as a family.

There really is no reason in the long run why I should be so offended and hurt by the absence of certain friends or financial provisions. Would I respond any differently were I in their shoes? Have I in the past? Probably not. But more importantly is it really their fault anyways? And who am I to judge anyway? I am no one of any particular importance or prestige...just another dependent human being cleaving to the grace of God, waiting for His power and his love to see me through. 

But here is the other thing that I am beginning to see in all of this: there is a very important and meaningful even providential reason why those I wanted to rely upon are absent. They were never meant to be my help through all of this to begin with...at least not all of the time or in the way I expect. God did not lead my wife and I to this valley to deepen our dependence on ourselves or other people. But rather He led us here to deepen our dependence on Him, to deepen our dependence on His Spirit, His sacrifice His provision and His love. And it is only my selfish disposition, sense of entitlement and lying heart that prevents me from seeing that in the moment. 

The truth is like Elijah (thank you Lance), Cindy & I have been led here, to demonstrate for the watching world the ALL-sufficiency of Christ. God did not lead us here to rely upon methods and men, to give praise to them or show how great they are. He led us here to flex His own omnipotent muscle as our Provider and Healer as our guardian and Shepherd, to show the might in his little pinky (I mean metaphorically of course...you theologians who are reading this) both to those who know us and those who don't. 

He led us to this cancerous wilderness to feed us with unexpected ravens and natural rivers: to bless us with the love of people we've never met before, to provide through ministries we did not know existed before, to stretch our faith to the breaking point and expand our understanding of His unsearchable unquenchable love so we can know Him more completely and glorify Him more openly. 

And when I think of it that way I feel rather blessed for the silent moments late at night when Cindy has gone to bed or when my phone fails to ring or a friend chooses not to drop by. I feel privileged to cry in my truck to a worship song on my way to work when no is looking. I feel honored to have to wait and wonder how God will provide for our next meal or take care of the impending bills that don't seem to ever go away. 

Anyways who am I to think that this hardship is not a blessing from God when it so clearly is? Who am I to feel unloved by an absent friend, a silent phone or a lonely evening? Am I really so different were I to watch from the outside? Why should I give in to my emotions when The Lord is so obviously present and near? I am a child that's who, simple desperate and lonely, sure, but also a child none the less who can only ever benefit from trusting in his fathers providential tender loving care. Are we not all, who call upon His name?

I pray that as you read this you are touched by God's Holy Spirit, that you will pray with me to ask for the courage to wait for the ravens and be content with the rivers no matter how dirty they appear, because one thing is true whether we admit it or not. If God has led you to the wilderness (as he has my wife and I) then know for certain that they are there. We just have to have the courage to ask for the eyes to see them and a heart to receive them. Lord bless you as you as you read this or pray for our family in this season. We feel privileged to know you (if we do) and share with you(if we don't). I pray this word has touched your life or will touch your life in the future as God has chosen to use it to touch mine. 

Chris

The Presence of Death and Life in Mortal Sickness.

 I am beginning to realize that even in sickness there is a certain presence of death which permeates the air of the room that sickness is in, even if the person infected is not necessarily going to die as a result of the sickness. After all any sickness is really just a symptom of the curse, an abnormality of creation, the result of a degenerating and broken world.  And although the Creator has sent his son into the world to redeem it, it is none the less still destined to be destroyed as a result of the curse. In fact it is in that very promise that we place our hope in as believers.  We are waiting for the restoration of all things. And in order for that restoration to be completed death must first fulfill its purpose and put an end to everything that is in subjection to it, including our fallen mortal bodies. As I sit here on the couch beside my wife on the eve of her first chemo treatment, I am overwhelmed by that reality.

I am overwhelmed by the simple reality that even though suffering is difficult and sickness painful, if we are a believer in Christ then it is none the less working toward our blessing. That is because it is also working to destroy that which has already been destined for destruction anyways so that we can experience everlasting life free from that very sickness and death which all of our life has haunted us. In other words far from being the source of our fear, death has become the instrument of our hope. For, when Christ by the power of the Spirit, had overcame the grave He was granted the power to release as many as He wills from its grasp as well. So that death is now turned in on itself. Far from ending us it is now the instrument of our salvation.

This was the conviction of Paul the Apostle and it undeniably permeates his writing. He understood as I am only now beginning to understand, in my spiritual adolescence as a believer, that death far from being the end of life is actually the inauguration of it, in Christ. So death is not really just death for the believer but the death of death. And that death of death is really life everlasting for the person who believes in Christ and has been set free from the power of sin and death through His sacrifice. So sickness far from being the despairing reality that my flesh would have me to believe that it is is really just a road marker on the long narrow difficult path to my hard won future life.

Now that in no way takes away the pain of the actual experience. And it in no way takes away from the awful reality that I must shortly watch my precious wife suffer through her first two weeks of chemo therapy. It doesn't make it any easier to shoulder the burden of caring for our family.  And it certainly doesn't make the loneliness of our journey any less so. But it does give my wife and I a certifiable hope that we can hold on to, a secure and lasting anchor that we can rest in together. And I am thankful for that.

I am thankful that in addition to forgiving my sins, giving me a wife and a family to love and be loved by, that the God of all creation has also provided me a sure and lasting future hope to hold on to in the here and the now. I am thankful that in addition to that hope He has also surrounded me with other saints who are holding on to the same unchangeable hope who are willing to remind my wife and I of that hope as often as we have need. I am thankful that in spite of my selfishness and sinfulness (also the product of death…another topic for another time…) or my wife’s (she’s still a sinner saved by grace) God is none the less still working out these terribly difficult circumstances for not only our own individual good but also the corporate good of His entire body.  

These are my thoughts the night before treatment number one. If you think of my wife and I please continue to keep us in your prayers. For while we both know the truths I have written about here and hold on to them like a child to their father’s leg, we are still only human and easily subject to the turbulence of our own every changing emotions not to mention the physical realities of my wife’s sickness. May the Lord keep you and ground your hearts and minds in the future Hope that Christ has affected on our behalf, his faithful patient pilgrims. 

Be a man! (But what does that actually look like?)

"When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,

'I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man,

and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn...'" -Kings 2:1-3

The world says "be a man" but what does that actually mean? If I were to sum up for myself what I believe the world is saying to me as a man it is this: "Live for yourself. Think only of your own needs. Sacrifice everyone & everything to get what you want. Be the most important person in the room. Get all of the attention and praise you can for being you. In other words, be a child." But the words of King David to his newly appointed heir stand in complete opposition to this. They are poignant heart felt words, filled with all the heartbreak and wisdom of a man who truly knew what it meant to be a man for better and for worse.

David tells his son to show himself a man and then goes on to explain exactly what he means. He tells him to be strong, to keep the charge of the LORD, to walk in HIS ways, to keep HIS statutes, HIS commandments, HIS rules and testimonies. And then He tells him why: So he will prosper in everything that he does and everywhere he goes. SO to recap: The world says live for yourself. David tells his son to live for God. The world says make your own rules, do what you want, be your own boss make a name for yourself by being the most important person you can be. David says, submit to the laws statutes rules and commandments of God and you will prosper.

These two world views could not be more different from each other. And I am humbled by that very obvious reality. For while I daily strive to follow the instruction of scripture to be a man (like David) I live in a world that defines being man as being a child. And while I strive to daily rely on the strength of God in every circumstance I live in a world that says be the strongest I can be at any cost. And I guess the point that I am trying to make is this. If I want to be a real man then I need to recognize what a man actually is. I need to surround myself with men who value being a real man. I need to saturate my mind with examples of real men. And as cliche as it may sound in this post modern age "real men follow Jesus". I'll take it even a step further.

Real men are saturated with, dependent on, fulfilled by and confident in Jesus Christ: His ministry, his person and his sacrifice. In other words real men submit...to God...no matter what. And this submission is practical, it is consistent, personal and active. We don't typically think of submission when we think of being a man. We think of others submitting to us and not the other way around. A common argument in marriage often revolves around the idea of a wife not submitting to her husband or a husband not loving her as Christ does. But the truth that Paul repeatedly conveys in his epistles is the reality that to love is to submit...to God. It is to rely on Him for our needs as a man. It is to sacrifice for the benefit of another at the cost of ourselves..speaking as a man.

And I guess the reason I am writing this is because God in His providential leading has led me to the place of having to take care of our family on my own (with certain help from others when they are available). With my wife Cindy being diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma and beginning Chemo in the next few days or so I have been put in the unusual position of having to rely on the Lord as a man in ways I have never had to before. And it is correcting me in ways I didn't know I needed to be before. It is redirecting my mind and my heart away from the worldly influences I did not previously realize my actions were being influenced by. It is showing me things about myself I never knew I needed to know. It is instilling in me the reality that weakness is not the disability I always thought it was, or the detriment the world says it is. And I guess I just needed to communicate that to someone else. Who knows maybe there's someone out there reading this who needs to hear it. I know I do.

Now you may ask, what does this have to do with David's words to Solomon. And the short answer is this. Standing on the cusp of death David understood the singular reality that in order to be a truly strong man and by extension a good & strong king, he needed to be a man who could take orders from his King, the true King of Israel, the true captain of his soul, the real commander of his being. You see if you or I desire to be strong in this life we must first learn to be weak and dependent, frail and incapable no matter what the world tells us. We must learn to be served by God in the gospel, to accept his help and his care, his instruction his power and His provision if we are to properly love others, serve others and care for them. If we are to lead we must first be led. If we are to be men (and women) of God we must choose to do what the First Adam failed to do and follow the example of Christ and do what He succeed in doing , in the power of His Holy Spirit. We must submit to the word of God, and not just the parts of the Bible we like either. We must be led by the Holy Spirit and submit to the full counsel of God's Word. We must submit one to another in the fear of the Lord because that is what it means to walk by faith and that is what it means to walk with God to rely on Him for your every need. That is what it means to be a christian.

But no one not even myself can do any of this on our own without first visiting and revisiting the gospel of Jesus Christ on a daily basis and the reality of what He did for us in our place. To be truly strong we must first be truly weak. To be truly weak we must see ourselves for who we really are. That is why we need the gospel. In that moment when David was confronted by Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba he was inevitably confronted with the reality of who he really was as a man and his need for God. He finally saw the truth and it broke him utterly and completely. Some might even say he never really fully recovered from it. But just the same in that moment he also saw and was confronted with the God of grace and mercy. And you might say he never really fully recovered from that either.

I cannot help but think that these two realities (the reality of David's sinful mortality and the reality of God's abundant grace were both present in David's thoughts in that moment when he spoke to the son of his forbidden wife Bathsheba. I cannot help but think that he trembled a little inside as he recalled his own failings and the mercy of God as he exhorted the son of the woman he took from Uriah. And it is that thought even now that humbles me and ministers to me as I write this. Who am I to receive the commandments of God? Who am I to receive the Gospel of His beloved son? Who am I to receive the the awesome privilege of caring for the needs of our family, of sitting beside my precious wife as she begins her chemo? Who am I that God would allow such an extraordinary opportunity to show Himself strong on our behalf? It is too much to bear if I think about it too long. But here we are.

And the one thing that is sustaining me right now are those simple words from that experienced dying father to his young inexperienced son: "Show yourself a man". Oh how I want to. And I am sure you do as well (if you are a man reading this or even a woman). But I know even if I don't, even if I utterly fail to do what David is saying to do (and I will at some point) there is one who has not failed. And He never will. He has gone before me on my behalf to do what I could never do for myself, in spite of me. And it is He who urges me on even now to forget the failings of my past, to move forward in His strength in faith that He is who He says He is. It is he who gives me the strength in this adversity to carry on.

Precious saints of God (or whoever is reading this) will you come with me in prayer and in daily practice to that everlasting living final Davidic King and hear the words of His Spirit as he speaks to us through His servant David in the scriptures, "Be strong, and show yourself a man (a woman or a child),and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn..."? Let's choose to walk together as joyful submissive patient pilgrims and actively trust in the power and wisdom of the One who went before us, who speaks to us daily to be strong in His might no matter what that looks like. Let's show the world what it really means to be a man or a woman in this world by submitting to the One who gave us His very life. 

The Goodness of God in Adversity

I think if we're really honest with ourselves we'll admit that we only think of the attributes of God in terms of the abstract. We affirm the reality & nature of their existence but don't really see how they touch the sphere of our ordinary lives. That is why our prayers are so often characterized by anxiety worry or grief. We strain our voices tighten our eyes and clutch our hands together in the earnest hope that we will actually be heard, that God is really listening to us and cares about our needs. We believe that if we pray a certain way with a certain sincerity he will answer our prayers and if we don't then he simply will not. For while we believe that God is who he says he is in scripture and even sing songs in church in accordance with that belief, too often our lives fall short in practice of the reality we have professed. That's because it is so much easier to profess a thing than it is to actually live it out in practice.

While it would be so much easier if we could all just instantaneously understand and accept the plan and purposes of God in our current fallen state, that is not how we work as human beings. In order to really understand something & accept it we have to also experience something in relation to it in the sphere of our ordinary lives. That is not to say that our subjective experiences should be the sole validation of reality or can substitute for the instruction of Gods revelation in scripture, only that the Creator of the universe has given us certain human faculties which He has chosen in His wisdom to work in and through for our benefit and the benefit of others. And I think I am just now beginning to understanding that.

I think I am beginning to understand that God uses our individual trials & suffering to affirm to us in daily experience what He has revealed to us about Himself in Scripture through the revelation of His Son. I think I'm beginning to see that these unthinkable difficulties exist to ground our hearts & minds in the reality that God is exactly who He says He is in His word, that Christ did not speak or work in vain, that He is in fact the Son of God in power, that the Apostles were in fact led by the Spirit of God, that the salvation we now experience today in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the continuing work of God in redemption for everyone who believes, and all of this in spite of what I perceive. 

I think I am beginning to understand perhaps for the first time in my life, that these individual trials like the one that has so unexpectedly beset my family of late, which is daily taking the life of the woman I love before my very eyes, is in fact so much more than just the natural consequences of the fall (although it is certainly that too). It is much more than just the natural deterioration of my wife's body or the natural effects of entropy over time. It is much more than anything I could ever think or imagine. It is in spite of all other appearances a divine confrontation between my wife, myself our family and our friends and the One who made us and subjected us to the weakness of this planet for his own transcendent purposes. It is a divine opportunity to grow in our perception of and dependence on the goodness wisdom & mercy of our God, an opportunity to mature in the way we worship Him & trust His leading, not to mention the way we treat other people. 

And while I know that this recent revelation will not necessarily ease the pain or suffering of watching my precious wife deteriorate in her health or make the trial go away altogether, I know that it is the reality none the less and a beautiful one at that. For above all else this trial and with it the revelation of its special purpose carries with it the divine opportunity to fellowship with the Son of God in His own earthly suffering and glory here on earth, to deepen my perception of reality and the One who created it. And that in and of itself is a glorious thing. For as there is no suffering in eternity either in heaven or in the newly restored future planet earth this is the only place that we may worship and fellowship in it. This is the only place we may deepen through it. That is why I have chosen to share it with you my dear friend whoever you are that would read this, so that you too might benefit from it and so prosper and deepen in your own trials and difficulties as faithful patient pilgrims. 

More than just a Laborer

Following the analogy of the hired workers in Matthew (Matt. 20:1), the Christian walk may be compared to an employment in the trades. One can either advance in their productivity as a believer through practical consistent application of the fundamental revelation they have received in Christ to become the best servant they can for the kingdom of God. Or they can sit idly by & watch as their "coworkers" do all of the "heavy lifting" (this of course profits no one, least of all one's self). Or in contrast to these, they may also in addition to their ongoing contribution to the body in practical service ("work"), profit by studying in greater detail the profound mysteries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ("the Trade") & so be conformed to the Image of their Creator ("Employer") as they meditate on His work. 

And this will inevitably make them more than just a better tradesman (servant). It will make them a more complete reflection of their employer & their employment to the outside "unemployed" world to the benefit of everyone around them including themselves. I don't know about you but this is my desire in the new year, to be a greater more complete reflection to the outside world of the One who utterly & completely saved me from the judgment and wrath I justly deserve. I want to reflect and promote the revelation of Jesus Christ in more than just what I say and do. I want to reflect the righteous author of all reality in what I am in Christ by the Spirit according to the riches of The Father's grace. These are my remaining thoughts this last day in December & consequently the last hrs of this year. God bless every one of you ever patient pilgrims as you pursue the same goal. 

A Marital Reality

More than likely you will find a natural albeit often unrecognized individual or mutual rejection of reality at the heart of every broken marrital relationship. That is because marriage whether we like it or not is a revelation of reality. It is not a revelation of reality as we'd like it to be but as it actually is. And for the majority of us that is always more than a little jarring to deal with.

That is partly due to the fact that there is very little preparation today from the outside world for the sort of reality a marriage reveals. The society we live in today is largely comprised of self-focused relativistic human beings who naturally and instinctively prefer to flee from the pressures and discomfort of reality in general let alone the sort of reality a marriage reveals. So it is no surprise that rather than prepare us for marriage our society tends to actually deter us from it instead. And the same can be said for the entertainment music and advertising industries as well since they are also largely comprised of those who subscribe to the same mindset. 

In general it is because of the inward spiritual corruption of the human heart that human beings are so naturally instinctively and illogically repulsed by reality. It unsettles us precisely because it brings us both into conflict with our own individual need for necessary often impossible change and therefore our indisputable need for the Savior. We dislike change of any kind to begin with but especially where it most concerns our own individual need for moral and spiritual development. As such the problem with marriage is that among other things it forces us to take a good hard look at ourselves in the mirror, to see ourselves for who we really are, so we can recognize our own dire need for personal development (and thus a need for the savior) and want to repent. 

But the mirror that marriage forces us to look into is not some mirror of our own design. It is not one that we can easily manipulate or control (at least for the most part. There are always exceptions). The mirror that we are forced to look into in marriage is that of another human being, one that is as frail and selfish as we are, one that will never leave our side even if we want them too (if they have committed themselves as they promised to in their initial vows). And that is the perplexity of the marital relationship, that we must look into the living mirror of our spouse day in and day out and see ourselves for who we really are whether we like it or not.

Now from the very beginning we were created to reflect our Maker, to multiply and fill the earth with His image and likeness. And as such (whether we like it or not) we each naturally reflect the person or thing we most focus our attention upon. That is to say we ultimately resemble whatever we love, adore, fixate on or give our selves to. And in the case of marriage you have two human beings joined together each resembling the other for better and for worse as they co-habitate with each other day in and day out.  

Worse still is the fact that each does more than just resemble the other. Over time they will also reveal to each other the quality (or lack thereof) and degree of the other's character. And this is especially evident in the heat of an argument where each typically attempts to "appropriate" the other's perceived faults as a means of "winning" said argument or in an attempt to deter from or deflect the other's argument against them. Now add to this the permanence of the marital agreement and you are just beginning to get a taste of what marriage has the potential to do to a person mentally emotionally psychologically and spiritually especially if either or both parties are  not prepared for it. 

Now as I said before each spouse is meant to serve as a permanent lasting sanctifying reflection of who we really are whether we know it or not or like it or not. And this is for the express purpose of shaping us into the man or woman that we were originally created to be to begin with. Really this is the purpose of any and every extra familial relationship that we might have as far as the Creator is concerned. It is just that the life long commitment we make in marriage which ultimately cultivates actual intimacy serves to make it a far more effective means of personal purification than say a really deep friendship that we can still technically arbitrarily write off any reason we like any time we like. 

And that is why in my own personal opinion so many marriages fail today. We do not typically recognize the value or the purpose of the sort of permanence or life long commitment upon which a healthy marriage is built to be effective. In general we prefer to live without conflict. You will rarely meet a person who knowingly looks to be uncomfortable unless perhaps they are a masochist at heart. And that is exactly what conflict generally does. It breeds discomfort. And ironically enough as strange and disconcerting as it is for the majority of us to accept, that is precisely what a marriage does. It breeds continual often mutual personal discomfort.  It breeds discomfort precisely because it is in fact a conflict, an epic lifelong conflict of the will between two equal opposing forces. 

It is a life long contest between the reality we naturally reject and the ideology we naturally crave. It is a war of the will between a human being and their Maker as He naturally reveals Himself to them in the way that he has created the natural universe to function around them. But it is also a battle of the mind, one where the desire for true intimacy squares up against the fear and dread of it, where the need to be "fully known and fully loved" by others (as my friend Holly would say) takes its stand against the natural drive to escape from others into the deepest recesses of our own personal solitude. And oddly and ironically enough the only real victory that comes about in this sort of competition is our willful surrender in it not our resistance to it. 

And it is in this one crucial aspect, that marriage perfectly mirrors the relationship we have with God as believers. For just as it is not the "victor" who defeats reality but the "loser" who accepts it that is truly victorious in the marital relationship, so it is not the Christian who resists the will of God but the one who accepts it that is truly victorious in their relationship with Him. That is to say, it is not the one who holds out the longest or who is the most stubborn or resolved to be un-corrected who is actually victorious in marriage. It is the one who genuinely humbly even joyfully surrenders the most willingly to the "correction" of reality as it confronts them in their human spousal counterpart, who truly "wins"in marriage. 

And the same is true of the Christian walk. The spiritually mature believer in Christ does not flee from Spiritual reality. They embrace it wholeheartedly. They accept their natural inability to please God on their own, they recognize their inescapable need for the continual application of God's saving work in Christ on their behalf. They know where they'd be without His love and His sacrifice. They know the constant revelation of their failure is only a reflection of the reality that they will always need Christ. And they not only accept that. They are grateful for it and rejoice in it because they know they need it. 

And that is also how it is in a healthy marrital relationship. Our mutual failure to love the other as we have promised is indicative of our mutual need for not only each other's sacrificial love but also the sacrificial love of the One who made us as well. In the institution of marriage God the source of all wisdom and knowledge accommodates to us the natural finite means whereby we may now see our mutual need for Him and other people. And that is why I opened this piece by saying that a broken marrital relationship is really an indication of a natural albeit often unrecognized rejection of reality. 

For in marriage we are daily faced with an inescapable question and a choice. Are we going to look into the mirror that God has provided for us with our own choosing and accept the reflection they reveal to us? Or are we going to shut our eyes to the truth they reveal and demonize them instead? Are we going to attempt to break the human counterpart we've committed ourselves to until the reflection staring back at us is more appealing to our ego than it was? Or are we going to look with humility and adjust as we are led by the Spirit of God himself? Are we going to cover the inadequacy they expose to us with a metaphorical fig leaf we have created for ourselves? Or are we going to accept the reality they present to us in our marital relationship to them? Are we going to flee into the arms of some fleeting temporal fantasy or accept the tangible reality presented to us in our spouse? Are we going to fight the truth every step of the way to our mutual harm or lay down and surrender to it for the sake of our mutual benefit? The choice is up to us if we are married. But we should always know this, and know it well. Whatever we choose, in the end the reality will ALWAYS win.

 

In general we all need to resist the temptation to have your own way especially at the cost of reality. But husbands I am especially talking to you as one myself. As a husband we often think that our wife is called to submit to us and we are only called to lead them. But that is only half true because we are called to submit as well. We are called to submit to God in Christ as HE leads our family. And we are called to submit to the Word of God as He instructs us through it. We are called to submit to the institution of marriage itself so we can be malleable and useful to Him in it. And to that end we are also called to submit to the practical reality He reveals to us daily through our spouse so we do not get in the way of His leading in our family. Any leader who doesn't think that he has to submit to God or His word is sadly and sorely mistaken. For the true essence of being human is being in submission to and dependent on the One who made us. And it is because we fail to see that as MEN and apply it as such that MUCH of the world is the way it is today. (But I digress.)

If we would really know the God who created us in His image and redeemed us from the tyranny of ourselves and sin than we must first come to Him in brokenness and surrender to the reality He alone has created His universe to function with. And nowhere is that more naturally and practically applicable for us than in the institution of Marriage. If we would know him then, we must accept that wonderful and difficult reality that lies before us in marriage, and rely upon the mercy of God there to see us through it as He reveals Himself to us in it, as His tireless faithful Patient Pilgrims.

The True Christian Reality

For as long as I can remember the cry of the modern evangelical Christian church has been, "It's not a religion, its a relationship."  That is to say being a Christian is more about having a personal relationship with God than it is about being a part of a religious system. And while I confess that I myself have held to this belief before, I have to say now and largely without a doubt, that as well intentioned as it might be, it is still ultimately and fundamentally wrong. That's because the idea itself is an oversimplification of the very truth it professes to defend. 

The reality the Bible conveys to us cannot finally be restrained by such overtly simplistic human categories  because it's ultimately rooted in something much higher than we are. And as such it cannot be confined by the religion/relationship distinction paradigm we have created for it. In fact we would do well to stay away from any distinction which is not already explicitly taught in the scriptures themselves when defending the validity of our faith. If we absolutely must communicate in such limited terms then we should do so with great care. For the bible communicates to us something far more transcendent than anything we could ever come up with: a very distinct specific and necessary redemptive reality. 

Or to be more specific it presents to us the unified witness of a particular reality that is currently being cultivated in actual space time history in the life of every believer who puts their faith in the historical Jesus Christ and the finished work He alone has accomplished on their behalf for them. Such a work is neither purely subjective nor simply objective in the final analysis. It is not an abstract philosophical principle. And it is not an existential personal revelation. It is not even another generic religious observation. So it should not be treated as such. It is in the most realistic sense imaginable the actual restoration of the cosmos through the finished work of Jesus Christ. 

So when we say that we are Christians we are not simply saying that we now have a general relationship with "the Man Upstairs or that you should have one yourself (this is too abstract). We are not saying that we have found a truth or even "the one true truth" (because that too is also abstract). We are not even saying that we have found our true purpose in this life. So we can help you find yours (this again is only abstract). And we most certainly are not saying that we have found the ultimate temporal fulfillment on this earth (because you guessed it; that too is abstract). Though each and every one of these (with certain exceptions) are valid in their own right they do not fully and finally encapsulate what it really means to be a Christian in this world because they are all only abstract, human in their origin.

In contrast to this the truth that God conveys to us in His word, which we affirm as Christians, is not simply or finally abstract in the end because it is not human in its origin. It is rooted in something much higher than we are. It is rooted in a reality, a systematic comprehensive and personal reality. Or to be more specific (as Edmond Clowney would say), it is rooted in a person, the person of the Trinity. So when we say that we are Christians what we are really saying is that we identify with the person and work of Jesus Christ as He has been revealed to us by the Father through the Holy Spirit in the physical world historically. 

We are testifying to the reality that the God of the Bible is not only real himself but also the cornerstone of every other universal reality. We are testifying to the fact that He alone has made us, created us in His own image and delivered us in spite of ourselves from the judgment we justly deserve from Him by sending His own Son. We are acknowledging that He alone has restored us to the rightful place of original fellowship with Himself in the work of Jesus Christ. And we know this because He has literally sealed us with His very own Spirit as a down payment on this reality. The result of which is a newly restored perception of reality in general.

And this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the foundational cornerstone upon which the entire visible Christian church is originally built. But I rarely if ever hear it proclaimed as such today (as it really is conveyed in the scriptures). Instead more often than not it is presented to us as a sort of conventional superior spiritual option designed to better improve our temporal station in this world. Or it is treated as a somewhat dated but ultimately useless abstract philosophical ideal designed to enhance our understanding of the universe in general but can do nothing for the condition of our soul. It is rarely if ever treated as a universal reality. And when it is, it is not treated as a very transcendent or applicable one. 

In fact sadly many today who even profess to proclaim the gospel from a strictly orthodox biblical understanding do not always communicate it in the terms the bible relates it to us. Instead they present it as a sort of superior mandatory moral choice that you or I would be foolish to reject. Or they present it as a literal form of future fire insurance.  One might even go so far as to say that the prevailing belief of the modern day conservative evangelical church is to treat the gospel as a strictly moral imperative, an exhortation designed to facilitate and promote practical public service and worship. And while there is some truth in that sentiment I would argue that this alone (while helpful to some) may actually cultivate in us a sort of forced but faulty loyalty that is more indicative of a distant stoic or unemotional God than the one presented to us in the Bible. 

The gospel is more than just a call to active service, more than some temporal earthly comfort, more than a mandatory moral correction or even some temporal external form of repentance. And it is much more than just fire insurance. Being a Christian means more than just having a purpose, more than just knowing or "living it out". It is more than just being "missions" minded or even being "others" minded for that matter. It is more than just loving someone and it is more than just speaking the truth in love. It is not simply a right way to live. It is a restoration of our whole being that transfers into the way we think and speak and live. It is being conformed to the way we were created to live from the very beginning. And in a very real sense it is a supernatural event. 

It is the product of a Spirit directed new creation. The result of which is having a newly created natural ongoing preoccupation with Jesus Christ that is centered on Christ, rooted in Christ for the express purpose of being conformed to the image of Christ so we can truly know Christ, exude Christ and preach Christ to every unconverted unregenerate person outside of Christ to the praise and glory of you guessed it...Jesus Christ! The apostle Paul clearly understood this. That is why he wrote "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain"(Phil. 1:21). That is why the theme of it categorizes nearly every single one of his letters. He understood all too well what it really means to be a Christian. He understood that in spite of all the "superior" knowledge he had obtained as a zealous Pharisee he was still missing the one crucial thing that really mattered, the cornerstone reality upon which all other reality is hinged: Jesus Christ. And as a result he readily affirmed the stone he had previously and ignorantly rejected had become for him the chief cornerstone of his very existence (Ps. 118:22).

It is because of sin and death that we exist outside of the one who made us choosing instead to reject him and flee into the darkness. Because He is holy and because we enter this world naturally unholy broken and defiled from birth we cannot come to Him on our own apart from his intervention. That is why God has chosen in Christ to restore the breech that originally kept us from him. That finished work has now provided for us a way whereby we may enter into his permanent eternal gracious fellowship without defiling His own holy nature in the process. And this is the testament of every believer who puts their trust in Him: that God in Christ has restored to Himself they who formerly rejected Him by taking their place and fulfilling their debt so He could ultimately grant them the privilege of ruling by His side forever in paradise.

We identify with Christ as Christians and affirm with the saints of old that we are redeemed and sealed for the day of final permanent redemption to the reality God alone has affected by His Spirit in the work He accomplished in His Son on our behalf. That is what it really means to be a Christian. It means to live in and participate with the one true everlasting and final reality. It means to be a part of and proclaim the supernatural intervention and triumph of God over the cosmos. 

And more than any other time in human history I believe it is important for us as believers in Christ living in an increasingly corrupt and relativistic society to get that, believe it and proclaim it in the world around us. We need to recognize and affirm the true reality the Gospel declares, with not only our lips but also our lives, in public and in private, whether we are prepared or not. Because the last thing this society needs is another wishy-washy consumer driven message about our all important temporal personal fulfillment and happiness.

Let's walk by faith in Christ as the redeemed people we claim to be, looking to the One who made us and ultimately reconciled us to himself, to sustain us and empower us for this great work. Let's be the church we were created to be, a reflection of the true and living Christ who gave his own life for us on our behalf so we can live with Him as coheirs of the promise we now have in Him. Let's willing submit at any cost to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He directs us and conforms us to the image of the One who Redeemed us as His covenant kingdom children. 

For we were ultimately created for this purpose alone: to submit to enjoy and bear witness to the transcendent reality and victory He purchased for us in Christ as His blood washed Spirit filled Patient Pilgrim saints.