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What place does “striving” have in sanctification? A response to Heath Lambert

This is Part 3 of 3. You can read Part 1 here. You can read Part 2 here.

Recap

In yesterday’s post, I quoted Heath Lambert as saying that sanctification involves striving and moral effort (trying to be good). My contention, and that of others, is that our sanctification, godliness, holiness, power over sin, and pleasing God are all taken care of in Jesus (His perfect life, death, resurrection, ascension, and seating), and we have no striving to do to accomplish it; we are only to look to Him in faith for all these things to be accomplished.

But Lambert uses several Bible verses to support his point (laid out in Part 2), so it’s important to look at them all. Here they are, with my commentary. Continue reading “What place does “striving” have in sanctification? A response to Heath Lambert”

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Reconciling the “resting” and the “striving,” with some thoughts from Heath Lambert

This is Part 2 of 3. In Part 1, I expressed the consternation I had experienced over Scriptures about “resting” and “striving” that seemed like they didn’t fit with each other.

So what do those “resting” verses really mean?

The Lord used several means to help me in my understanding: my Bible studies—especially Galatians, Romans, and Colossians—a sermon, and some key books. Even though I didn’t understand at that time the importance of asking the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to the Scriptures, still He had mercy on me.

The resting (in case you had as much trouble getting it as I did) is NOT about becoming a couch potato, lol. Continue reading “Reconciling the “resting” and the “striving,” with some thoughts from Heath Lambert”

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Struggling with “striving”: When should I strive and when should I rest?

My despair

Back in 1994 when I was studying Leviticus (because it was my wilderness book), I wrote this in the margin at Leviticus chapter 2 (the boldface is added now):

II Peter 1:4 says that we as believers should be “partakers of the divine nature.” This passage shows the priests literally partaking of that which represents the divine nature of our lovely Lord. Then that bread of life becomes a part of us and we are influenced and strengthened by it. In all these ways mentioned, we should be striving to be like Him: the sweet-smelling life, the full anointing by the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of His sufferings. How far, how far I have to go!

Do you hear the wailing in my voice? Continue reading “Struggling with “striving”: When should I strive and when should I rest?”

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What is real Christianity?

As we do the work of the Lord, in whatever capacity He has called us, to whatever degree He strengthens us, we’ll keep in mind the truth of who He is and who we are and to the life to which He has beckoned us.  We praise Him and look to Him on this day.

 

 

 

 

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For my Mother (1927-2018)

 

This post was originally written in February of 2011 (“Mother’s Day in February”), when I thought my mother might not survive. She lived another 7.5 years and passed away last night, October 27, 2018.

*****

The sands of time are sinking . . .

“Mother, you’re in the hospital. You had a stroke. Remember?”

Slow nod, barely perceptible. Eyes closed, a cloud of silver hair on the pillow.

The dawn of heaven breaks . . .

And there she is, at the piano with me, black hair, bright eyes, big smile, cheery voice.  Continue reading “For my Mother (1927-2018)”

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New website page: The beliefs behind the blog

My husband Tim said it’s bound to stir up controversy, but I said, “Well, it’s the stuff I blog about all the time anyway; it’s just codified now.”

Someone asked me if I had the gospel clearly stated on my website anywhere, and I told her it was in some blog posts but thought it would be good to have a separate page for it. That page became “The beliefs behind the blog,” much more than just a statement of the gospel.

It’s here.

So, let me know if I’m missing something.  Comments aren’t allowed there, but you can comment on it here, or you can write to me about it at rebecca@heresthejoy.com.

Thank you. And keep remembering that our only hope, our only righteousness, is found in Jesus Christ alone, who is our Victorious Conqueror.

waterfall

 

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Is exposing evildoers a violation of the ninth commandment? a response to Tim Challies (part two)

Recently Tim Challies wrote a two-part blog series about the ninth commandment (“Thou shalt not bear false witness”), what can be seen here and here. Part one of my response was posted yesterday. Today I’m continuing to respond to the questions he asks that he says are prompted by the ninth commandment. Continue reading “Is exposing evildoers a violation of the ninth commandment? a response to Tim Challies (part two)”

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Is exposing evildoers a violation of the ninth commandment? a response to Tim Challies (part one)

A few days ago Tim Challies posted two blog posts about the ninth commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” here and here. He focused on how the ninth commandment applies in a day of social media.

Tim Challies and I go way back. Just kidding; he doesn’t know who I am, except as the author of a devotional book he had his daughter read and promoted in the video I referred to in my explanation of awkwardness in this Facebook post. (The awkwardness is born of the crossover between my two fields of writing: first, missionary books and biographies, and then, abuse in the worlds of fundamentalism and conservative evangelicalism, which is Tim Challies’s world.) Continue reading “Is exposing evildoers a violation of the ninth commandment? a response to Tim Challies (part one)”

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What about “repressed memories”? A response to John MacArthur

In a recent post I quoted John MacArthur as saying this:

Nearly everyone now is searching for some kind of victimhood. Psychologists would tell them they were probably victimized as children but they can’t remember it so they should go into repressed memories just for the sole purpose of uncovering some supposed victimhood so they can have some place to belong in this completely victimized culture.

If you’re not a victim of anything you have no moral authority and nothing to say, get out of the conversation. Everyone needs to have had at least a micro-aggression, some category of victimhood to divest yourself of the responsibility for the fact that your life is the way it is because of your own sin.

Continue reading “What about “repressed memories”? A response to John MacArthur”

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“Why are you so negative?” A response to “positive” people

Not long ago someone told me about her pastor’s sermons, almost all of which scolded his listeners for being “so negative” and urged them to be “more positive.” That led me to post a question about the topic on Facebook that led to an excellent discussion.

When I posted my question, I wanted to be spurred in my own thinking by my friends, and I wanted to hear the experiences of others. Mostly I wanted to think Biblically about discerning good from evil, warning others about evil, asking for help regarding evil, grieving evil, and other necessary kinds of speech that could be interpreted as “critical” or “negative.” Continue reading ““Why are you so negative?” A response to “positive” people”