Always Reforming

Let love be genuine. (Rom 12:9a) True love, Paul tells us, is genuine.  It is sincere and unfeigned.  It is, more literally, without hypocrisy.   Hypocrisy is deceptive.  It leverages and manipulates the truth for it's own agenda.  It hides itself, as the Greek word originally implied, behind a mask. This is not what love does.  Love is honest.  Love is vulnerable.  Love seeks the benefit of others, even at the cost of self-exposure and self-sacrifice. We are often reminded that love is not just a feeling; it is not merely emotional.  This is good and true, but our love certainly should engage our emotions.  It should be heartfelt and genuine. If you are pretending to love, you are not loving.  Even if your actions are outwardly appropriate--even if you're abiding by the letter of the law--you're not truly loving if your heart is not properly oriented. If your love is manipulative, it's not real love.   If your love ...

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30) Oh, that my heart would own these words! These words of the Baptist ought...must...be the resolution of every Christian.  The decisions we make, the paths we take, and that which we forsake must all flow from a desire to glorify Christ.  "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor 10:31)  This is the guiding ethic of the Christian life.   He must increase .  This is the easy part of the verse.  Exalting Christ sounds good.  We like to praise, to worship, to tell others about Jesus.  He must increase?  Amen! But... I must decrease .  This is the painful part.  This is the part that is so radically counter to both our culture and our natural inclinations.  Humility--how demeaning!  Submission--how passe!  Subservience--how repulsive! I must decrease .  The second part is indispensable to the first.  We cannot serve Go...

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.  (Romans 6:14) Christian, you have been freed.  Through the Person and Work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you have been set free from the guilt and corruption of sin.  The Fall has been reversed.   The guilt of sin no longer has dominion over you.  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).  No one, not even the accuser, can bring an accusation against God's elect (Rom 8:33).  Satan has no right to your body or your soul.  Resist him; he will flee (James 4:7).  The power of sin no longer has dominion over you.  "For one who has died has been set free from sin," Paul says (Rom 6:7).  "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:11).  We have been given the gift of true freedom--not freedom from restraint, but freedom from slavery to sin.  W...

Forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:32) To forgive as you have been forgiven is one of the foundational principles of the Gospel life.  If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven (Matt 6:15).  How can we who have been forgiven much not forgive what little our brethren have done to us (Matt 18:21-35)? We are to forgive others as God forgave us.  How did God forgive us? He forgave us completely.   No debt is left unpaid.  No sin is left unsatisfied.  The saving work of Christ requires no supplementation, from ourselves or from any other mediator.  As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us (Psalm 103:12).   He forgave us freely.   Our salvation is a gift (Rom 3:24).  We have not earned it, deserved it, or warranted it in any way.  We are forgiven, in fact, despite ourselves.  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:24).   He forgives us,...

For he himself is our peace... (Eph 2:14a) Jesus is our peace.   He is our peace with God (Rom 5:1).  Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, has reunited God and man.  We who were rebels--children of wrath (Eph 2:3)--have been restored to communion with our Creator through the Person and Work of the Incarnate One.   He is our peace with our fellow man.  Jesus Christ is the new Adam (1 Cor 15:45); those united to Him are a new humanity.  He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles (Eph 2:14b).  He has made one Body from many members (1 Cor 12)--united to Him, we are united to one another.  He is our peace with and within ourselves.  In Christ we rest.  We find meaning and purpose--telos.  We find identity.  Dying to self and living to Christ, we find that His yoke is easy and His burden light (Matt 11:30). He is our peace.  He is peace. And the peace of God, which surpasses all underst...

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain (Psalm 127:1a). Christian, whatever you do--whatever you build--is futile without the Master Builder.  Your blood, sweat, and tears are lost in the dirt without the plans, materials, and empowering of the Arch Architect.  Without the grace and wisdom of God making your efforts effectual, they are shallow and vain.   Did we in our own strength confide , says Luther, our striving would be losing . You can build a business, a family, or even a church, but it means nothing without the Father.  You can create a following, but it is transient without the Great Guide.  You can build a life, but it will soon be forgotten without the Creator's gaze.  Human ambitions can only build human institutions.  Carnal methods and strategies can only grant carnal success.   If you want to build something eternally meaningful--a truly Godly legacy--you must consult the LORD every step of the ...