Life2gether

My pastor, Tony Rose, preached at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary today.  I told him it was “Vintage Tony Rose.”  Tony has a unique gift in preaching the gospel as a means of soul care to pastors.  I encourage you to watch and listen to this challenging message entitled, We Must Rest in the Gospel Before We Can Run with the Gospel.

Tim Keller on how he personally became acquainted with the pervasive influence of idolatry in his own life:

It wasn’t until I began to search my heart with the Biblical category of idolatry that I made the horrendous discovery that all my supposed sacrifices were just a series of selfish actions. I was using people in order to forge my own self-appreciation. I was looking to my sacrificial ministry to give me the sense of “righteousness before God” that should only come from Jesus Christ. (Read the whole thing)

Today a friend of mine graciously gave me a copy of Tim Keller’s book, Counterfeit Gods.  Normally I don’t do this, but I was so intrigued with the title of the Epilogue (Finding and Replacing Your Idols) that I started reading there first.  Keller poses one main question in this section, namely, “How do we discern our idols?”  Here’s the outline of his very helpful and very challenging response:

1. Look at your imagination.  What do you think about in the privacy of your heart?

2. Look at how you spend your money.  Patterns of spending reveal idols.

3. Look at what you are really living for.  What is your real–not professed–god?

4. Look at your most uncontrollable emotions.  When you pull your emotions up by the roots, you will often find your idols clinging to them.

This is such a needed word for parents and for the entire faith community.  Piper is right on when he says, “Little children don’t get the gospel easily, because adults don’t get it easily.”

When Justin Taylor spoke at our church, he encouraged us to pick up J.I. Packer’s book, Knowing God, and read the 19th chapter on our adoption as sons.  If you have the book, I encourage you to do so.  For me, this section was especially challenging:

 

Do I, as a Christian, understand myself?  Do I know my real identity?  My own real destiny?  I am a child of God.  God is my Father; heaven is my home; every day is one day nearer.  My Savior is my brother; every Christian is my brother too.  Say it over and over to yourself first thing in the morning, last thing at night, as you wait for the bus, any time when your mind is free, and ask that you may be enabled to live as one who knows it is all utterly and completely true.  For this is the Christian’s secret of –a happy life? — yes, certainly, but we have something both higher and profounder to say.  This is the Christian’s secret to the Christian life, and of a God-honoring life, and these are the aspects of the situation that really matter.  May this secret become fully yours, and fully mine.

Download this free e-book at the Resurgence on how to develop a natural process of discipleship in your local church.

Here.

Jonathan Dodson from his article, Stop Going to Church:

We spend just enough time “at church” to be religious, but nowhere near enough time to be family.

I encourage you to read the whole thing here.

Helpful words on how to have a good fight with your spouse at the Young Married Life Blog:

If you’re not engaging in conflict [with your spouse], I’d be surprised, and possibly concerned. Marriage is the blending of two lives together. Undoubtably, you have different views and opinions on a variety of issues related to how to live life. Don’t be afraid to wrestle those through.

One thing that makes fighting confusing, and even scary, is that often we don’t know what we are fighting about. What started as a silly argument about whether or not to go out to eat can quickly turn into a knock-down, drag out brawl. The first and often most difficult step to a good fight is to define what you are fighting about. There are three types of conflicts in marriage:

1. External (we disagree about what kind of toothpaste to buy)
2. Relational (you hurt my feelings)
3. Dynamic (there is something not working in our relationship).

Very often, when it seems like you’re fighting about an external conflict, you are really fighting about a relational or dynamic issue that you can’t identify or about which you feel too vulnerable to bring up. So, the toothpaste argument might really be about not wanting to feel controlled by your spouse. Or the fight about where to spend Thanksgiving is more about wanting your husband or wife to chose you over their family of origin.

Don’t be afraid of a good fight. It can simply be sparks flying as iron sharpens iron. But be careful to define the conflict. If you don’t know what you’re really fighting about, you can’t resolve it.

This is pretty funny, but has a great point.  Kids can teach us so much, can’t they?