The Woman Jesus Wanted Us to Remember

Today we dropped in again on to Dylan Tarpley at the blog One Thing. The blog’s title is based on this verse:

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. -Psalm 27:4

Although the site isn’t currently active, there is a wealth of material here for you to consider. Like this one!

Mary of Bethany

Every human being has some desire ingrained in their being to do something significant. We all want to be able to look back at the end of our life and know that we have done something that matters. For believers, there is a desire to make a significant impact for God. However, we are often misguided in the way that we go about doing this. The Bible is filled with many people who did extraordinary things for God, but there is one that Jesus called out among the rest, and that is the life of Mary of Bethany.

On the exterior, this woman lived a pretty insignificant life. We only hear of her a couple of times. We never hear her preach a sermon. We never see her perform any miracles. She never raises the dead, or heals the sick. In most circumstances, her life would be ignored or forgotten by most. Yet Jesus declared to those who criticized her extravagant devotion that anywhere the Gospel is preached, her story will be told.

Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. – Matthew 26:13

Think about this for a second. Jesus so valued her life that He literally wants everyone to know about her. I don’t know of any one else who received such an honor. There were many who walked in more power, and seemed to impact more people than Mary, yet she will be remembered in His eyes forever. 

This must cause a radical shift in the way we see our lives. We must learn to value what Jesus values in us. The Bible says that His eyes are searching throughout the earth looking for hearts after Him. This is so important for us to understand. He is not looking for good sermons, good songs, or more gifts – He is looking for hearts.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him – 2 Chronicles 16:9

I want God to use me in ministry, but I want Him to be moved by my ministry to Him first. You may never preach to the masses, or find yourself on a foreign mission field, but your life can be remembered by Him. Could it be that He measures our life’s significance not by our ministry, but by our devotion?

So as I write this, I find myself signing up all over again. Jesus, I’ll break my boxes for you – over and over and over again.

Examine Yourselves

We’re going to do something a little different today and give the writer credit at the end of the piece!

 ^{II Cor. 13:5 NLT} Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.

Five Tests of Genuine Faith

1. What place does my faith in Christ hold in my heart?

It is not enough that your beliefs are merely in your head and expressed by your words or feelings.   If your faith is real, it must possess your heart. That is, your faith will dramatically affect your desires, your interests, and the decisions you make.  Genuine faith will satisfy the deepest desires of your soul.

2.  How do I really view sin?

If your faith is genuine, you will be repulsed by the sinfulness of sin.  You will view sin as something that God truly hates, and something which renders people guilty and condemned before Him because He is holy.

You will view all sin, even the seemingly small sins, as something deserving of God’s judgment. You will see sin as the root cause of all sorrow and unhappiness, strife and wars,  quarrels and fighting, and sickness and death.

Above all, you will understand that sin is the thing which ruins people eternally, holds us captive, and destroys our happiness —unless we can find someone  outside of ourselves to rescue us from it.

3. What are my true feelings about Jesus Christ? 

Many professing Christians believe that Christ existed as a great person and teacher and may even view Him as the savior.  They may  belong to and be active in  church, but their intellectual belief never radically transforms their daily life in a deeply personal way.

True faith causes a person to fully embrace Christ as their personal Redeemer, Deliverer, Priest, and Friend — without whom they would have no hope at all.

The true believer trusts, loves, and delights in the Lord Jesus Christ. They view Christ as their only mediator, and means of forgiveness and spiritual happiness.  Genuine believers  find that Jesus Christ is the only source of true peace and comfort  for their soul.

4. Has my faith produced fruit in my heart and life?

True faith in Christ will produce a turning away from sin (repentance) faith, hope, love, humility, a spiritual outlook on life, gentleness, self-denial, self-control, unselfishness, forgivingness, honesty, love for other Christians, patience, and forbearance.

The manifestation of these virtues will vary and will continue to grow over time, but the seeds of their beginning will be found in every true child of God. By their fruits they may be known. (Matt. 7:20)

5. What are my feelings and habits regarding the “means of grace”? i.e.  church attendance, fellowship,  private devotional life.

Do you find worshipping with other Christians on Sunday to be a mere duty and drudgery or is it a true delight and refreshment to your soul? Do you look forward to partaking in the Lord’s Supper? Are these things you couldn’t stand to live without or do you have an attitude that you could take it or leave it?

How do you feel about your own personal Bible study and prayer life? Even though you may sometimes struggle to maintain it, do you know in your heart it essential to your well being?  Do you love the Bible and  does it come “alive” for you?  When you pray do you sense that you are really communing with God?

If the means of grace, whether public or private, are not as necessary to your soul as food and drink are to your body — you may well doubt whether your faith  is real.

In conclusion, if you want to know  whether your faith in Christ is genuine and true,   examine it carefully and honestly. If your heart is right in the sight of God you have no cause to fear by doing so. However, if it is wrong, the sooner you find it out the better.

---

The original author is  J.C. Ryle from the book Practical Religion, published in 1878. (That’s 127 years ago.) This adaptation by Diane Bucknell was found at a website called Theology for Girls (yes, really) which is where the link at the top of the piece will take you.

If Ever I Loved Thee, My Jesus ‘Tis Now

^{Psalm 116:1} Ilove the Lord because he hears
    my requests for mercy. (CEB)

^{Psalm 116:1} I love the Lord, because He has heard [and now hears] my voice and my supplications. (AMP)

^{I John 4:19} We love because he first loved us. (ESV)

David Michael Lee is one of the latest bloggers on the Faithful Bloggers aggregator. This appeared on his blog as More Than Just Words on a Page. Give him some encouragement by clicking the title and reading this at source.

The other day I was talking to a good friend of mine about blogging. He was asking if I took a special class or studied it in college. I had to be honest and tell him that my English teachers would find it rather hilarious if they knew I was keeping a blog and writing on a regular basis. Let’s just say I wasn’t the best student (as evidence by the frequent rate with which I destroy grammar and the English language on this blog).  Sure, I’ve dreamed of writing a book one day, but whenever my thoughts get semi-serious, I bail. A blog is so much less intimidating.

So why even keep a blog?

In 1862 a 16-year-old kid named William Ralph Featherston put pen to paper to write a love letter of sorts. I like to think that if blogs existed back then, William would have just written a post and clicked “publish.” But there were no blogs so his letter went unnoticed. William would pass away at the age of 27. Three years after William passed away, a man named Adoniram Gordon put music to William’s “Love Letter” and got it published in a hymnal the same year. You may know the love letter by its official title…..

My Jesus, I Love Thee

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now.

I love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now.

In Mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Near as I can tell, William Ralph Featherston has no idea that his love letter ever made the impact on the world that it did. Just today, the words of that love letter have been rocking my world as I heard the song. I’m just one of the many, many people who cherish this old hymn. I’ll never get to meet William this side of heaven. I’ll never be able to thank him (or Adoniram Gordon) for putting it together. Yet it’s words have impacted my life.

His poem is so much more than words on a page.

At the end of this road, I guess that’s the goal of this little piece of real estate on the internet too. I don’t have a platform, vision or even mission statement. I’m not looking to write books or sell advertising space. I guess I just put it to paper (or the web) like William did all those years ago.

My greatest hope is that my kids and grandchildren will forever have an archive in my own words to look back on.

Hopefully they see my heart.

Hopefully they read my thoughts.

Hopefully they’ll know that for me… what I write is more than just words on a page.

While online journals aren’t for everyone, if you feel even the slightest call to write, I encourage you to give it a try. You never know where your writing might reach someone. Today’s piece also contains one of the richest lyrics in all hymnody. Take an extra minute to soak in its words.

Today’s bonus: We used this recently in June…

R. G. LeTourneau is quoted as saying,

If you know the Lord
You will love the Lord
If you love the Lord
You will serve the Lord
If you’re not serving the Lord
You don’t love the Lord
If you don’t love the Lord
You don’t know the Lord

A Third Kind of Love

In three different contexts this week, I was confronted by the writings of A. W. Tozer.  One of these, earlier this week, concerned a piece he wrote that was titled, “Three Kinds of Love.”  At first, I thought this would be an explanation of the difference between phileos, eros and agape love.  But it turned out to be something quite different; he writes about the love we have for God. 

Rather than just run the excerpt today, I’m going to try to paraphrase what Tozer wrote…

He begins by saying that traditionally, religious writers talk about two kinds of love for God:

• The love that springs out of gratitude for God:  “I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications,” and “We love him, because he first loved us.”  Ps. 116:1 and I John 4:19, italics added.  This is a very basic, elementary kind of love that actually has selfish overtones: It’s a love that is driven by benefits we receive
• The love of the admiration of excellence: A higher level of love where the selfishness factor is reduced, and is replaced by a consideration of God’s glorious being; his power, knowledge and might become the driving factor; we love him because of all that he is.

But then, Tozer takes it to another level and introduces the analogy of a mother of what we would today call a special-needs child, in this case one who is considerably developmentally challenged.  (This was a rather progressive example in Tozer’s day; and I use it now with apology to those of you whose families are touched by the reality of a special needs child or children.)

He says that, “The child excites no gratitude in her breast, for all the benefits have flowed the other way; the helpless infant has been nothing but a burden from the time it was born.”  This is a child that won’t be helping set the table, won’t be taking out the garbage.

At the second level, “Neither can the mother find in such a child any excellence to admire, for there is none.”  This is a child whose artwork won’t be adorning the refrigerator door; whose report cards won’t be shown off to the aunts and uncles.

Yet she loves the child with a great intensity.  Her life and the life of her child are more intertwined than they were before she gave birth.  They are bonded emotionally.  It is what he calls “the union achieved by hearts; more beautiful than anything that can be experienced by flesh and blood.”

There is no element of because.

It’s not, “I love because;” because there is no because. It’s simply, “I love.”

This is the third kind of love, what he calls a supranatural love.

…

For the last 48 hours, I’ve been trying to process how the story of the mother relates to our love for God.  Tozer notes that we all have things to be thankful to God for; just as we all have moments where we are overcome by the excellence of magnificence, the great majesty of God. 

But I’m trying to find in my own heart the parallel to the third type of love, something that is not the product of logic, or enumeration of God’s attributes, or any other because.   

Tozer says,

If this all seems to mystical, too unreal, we offer no proof and make no effort to defend our position. This can be understood only by those who have experienced it.  In the rank and file of today’s Christians it will be rejected or shrugged off as preposterous.  So be it.  Some however, will read and will recognize an accurate description of the sunlit peaks where they have been for at least brief periods and to which they long often to return.

And such will need no proof.

today’s thoughts based on Three Degrees of Love as it appears on pp. 147-150 of the 1955 Christian Publications edition of The Root of Righteousness.

Love Songs to Jesus

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Matthew 22:37

It’s become fashionable of late to ‘dis’ worship choruses that express love to Jesus in terms that could equally be applied to an earthly lover. The term commonly used is “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs. I do agree that some of these songs should simply be performed by the writers and not have their lyrics projected on a screen for everyone to sing lyrics that reflect a position in Christ that they haven’t yet reached; or expect us to sing lyrics where the similarity to a secular love song is painfully close.

But what if the writer is genuinely overflowing with love to Jesus? Isn’t that exactly what we want to hear in a song expressing personal worship? Isn’t it also true that many of us find it really easy to sing about “How Great is the Lord,” but are less comfortable saying, “Lord, I love You”?

This song, by the group Jars of Clay surfaced many years ago. It’s not a congregational song per se, but a beautifully crafted expression of love.

In open fields of wild flowers,
she breathes the air and flies away
She thanks her Jesus for the daises and the roses
in no simple language
Someday she’ll understand the meaning of it all

He’s more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips
Someday she’ll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He’ll call her and she will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and she’ll pray,

“I want to fall in love with You”

Sitting silent wearing Sunday best
The sermon echoes through the walls
A great salvation through it calls to the people
who stare into nowhere, and can’t feel the chains on their souls

He’s more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on our lips
Someday we’ll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He’ll call us and we will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and we’ll pray,

“I want to fall in love with You”

It seems too easy to call you “Savior”,
Not close enough to call you “God”
So as I sit and think of words I can mention
to show my devotion

“I want to fall in love with You”

“my heart beats for You”

Lord, give us a heart that overflows with love for you; not gratitude for all you have done for us, but one that loves you for who you are.

A Hunger Deep Inside My Soul

Both on and off the blog, I get comments from people who remember particular songs and are able to find them here. Especially a couple of the older songs from the three different Psalms Alive CDs Maranatha Music produced many years ago. 

We often underestimate the power of song.  Psalm 84 has been the source of many worship songs.  We can think of a few, but imagine the themes of scripture expressed musically over the past 2,000 years; the songs that were lost over the ages, and the songs that were written for use in one local church setting that were never heard beyond that church’s walls.  Here’s “How Love is Your Dwelling Place” from Psalms Alive (Maranatha Music).

The hunger deep inside the Psalmist’s soul for God’s word, God’s law and statutes, and being in God’s temple is a recurring theme throughout the Psalms. When you read the text of the Psalm you’ll also recognize a popular worship chorus from our own generation in verse 10 (and if you grew up Pentecostal or Charismatic, one from your parent’s generation in verse 11). It’s interesting that the writer’s desire to be in God’s presence is twice expressed in language that could refer to a tabernacle or building, and how that contrasts with our world today where we see declining church attendance and even church closures.

Psalm 84

New International Version (NIV)

    For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

 ¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
   LORD Almighty!
² My soul yearns, even faints,
   for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
   for the living God.
³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
   LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
   they are ever praising you.

 ⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
   whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
   they make it a place of springs;
   the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
⁷ They go from strength to strength,
   till each appears before God in Zion.

 ⁸ Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty;
   listen to me, God of Jacob.
⁹ Look on our shield, O God;
   look with favor on your anointed one.

 ¹⁰ Better is one day in your courts
   than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
   the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
   from those whose walk is blameless.

 ¹² LORD Almighty,
   blessed is the one who trusts in you.

Here’s a version of Better is One Day by the group Petra:

Do we regard the presence of God with the same passion?  Can we say with verse 10 that in terms of the things of this world, the presence of God in ratio to the things of this world rates at better than 1,000:1 ?

Action Prayers

Paul Clark, Operations Pastor at Fairhaven Church in Centerville, Ohio posted this as the church recently completed an “Action Series” of messages by having the congregation join in this prayer.  As I studied this, I added some emphasis to the action petitions in each section.

Father, I thank you that your beauty and glory are beyond anything I can comprehend. Please open my eyes to your wonders so that my heart is filled with awe.

Father, I thank you that your love for me is astonishing; far beyond anything I can understand. The cross of Christ demonstrates the depth of your love. Help me to believe that Jesus’ sacrifice is the ultimate proof that I am your treasure.

Father, I know that your extravagant love demands something special from me. I offer you all of my life. I will hold nothing back. Help me respond wholeheartedly.

Father, help me to realize that your extravagant love can transform me. It can make my heart pure and holy and acceptable in your sight. Please fill my thoughts with becoming more like you.

Father, I want to love you passionately, from the depths of my soul. Please create in me that kind of love. Help me to feel it intensely. Help me to share it freely. Help me to give it back to you authentically.

Father, I am amazed that you have chosen me. You have a future for me that’s worth everything. Please give me a vision of eternity so that I would live each day on purpose, being one step closer to that day.