Jesus has been putting a lot things in my path which have brought about marinating and meditation. So, I’m going to mention them in a list, even though there is probably enough in each to do a separate post.

The Excellencies of Jesus

1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

I was really convicted with this verse recently in regards to my motivation to share the good news. We can often get tripped up trying to remember some gospel outline or we end up stumbling over all the info that we dump on the person. But this verse seems to simplify things a lot. It says that I was chosen for salvation – why? – so that I would proclaim the excellencies of Jesus Christ! I am not communicating some dry, saltine cracker of truth, but rather a life-giving Savior who has done so much for me.

The interesting prerequisite to this motivation is that I see Jesus as excellent. If Jesus Christ is not all-beautiful, all-glorious, and the sweetest and greatest thing that my soul has ever tasted, then I have nothing to share. I think if I understand all the implications of the first part of that verse, then I my eyes will be opened more to the excellencies of Christ and I will be propelled to declare the gospel from something deeper than a mere guilt trip about failing to do so. I don’t necessarily need some program to train me in order to present the gospel, for I have been chosen by a sovereign God and redeemed by an excellent Savior, so what am I waiting for?

God’s great love for us

For some reason, I have acquired a view that God chose me unto salvation out of obligation; as if He had to save me because He had planned to do so. I have viewed God’s saving work in my life as a somewhat cold and impersonal doctrinal fact. Essentially, I’m saved because God chose me. I didn’t deserve it, but He willed for it to happen, so it did. Those are the facts of truth.

Although those facts about my salvation are true, I am missing a key element in understanding my salvation in all its elements, namely my justification, sanctification, and glorification. I have failed to factor in the love of God. I’m not referring to my love for God, but God’s love for me. I seem to have a good idea of living for the love of God but I am thoroughly deficient in my understanding of “the great love with which He loved us” (Ephesians 2:4).

I have a hard time understanding why and how God would devote so much love to something so sinful as myself. It’s as if I read the passages which speak of God’s love for the believer and think, “He can’t really love us that much. That must be superlative language, just a metaphor. That love is just an obligatory love.” I am ashamed to say that I have stripped God, who is love (1 John 4:8), of His amazing love. Why should I doubt that love? Is not His crucified Son a testimony enough? I still don’t understand the vastness of that love and I still don’t understand why He would love me.

Familiarity With The World

I find it interesting that the little maxim – “Familiarity breeds contempt” – doesn’t hold true when it comes to the world. The human soul will continue to run after the pleasures of sin because the more it interacts with them, the more it likes and the farther it will go. I guess there is a sense in which it does hold true, in that sin never satisfies. So, when someone indulges in one sin and becomes familiar with it, it doesn’t pack the same punch that it once had, so he has to move on to something different. Either way, it is the testimony of the Scriptures and history that if you give your heart and life to the world, you will grow increasingly cold to the things of God and increasingly in love with sin.

Passion in Life

On Sunday, Crossroads surprised Rick Holland by celebrating his 10 year anniversary as their pastor. Many great things were said, but one thing that stuck out to me was this: “Rick doesn’t take up hobbies, he takes up obsessions. He is passionate about everything he does.”

I pray that I am a man of passion – that I will always be affected in my heart to action. But with that comes a prayer that I would passionate about the right things. I want to look back at my life when I’m old and see that I directed my time, energy, and love to that which will last for eternity. My passions have to be directed. If the river of my passion runs free, it can be a raging torrent of water, helping some things and destroying some things. But if it is harnessed, channeled, and directed through the dam of Scripture, then it will produce ten times the benefits. (Sorry, that was a horribly cheezy analogy. I don’t think I shall ever put ‘dam’ and ‘Scripture’ in the same sentence.) Anyways, I want to be passionate for God things.