The following is a post from The Blazing Center blog. The quote he points to from Packer is a classic and you may have heard it elsewhere. Definitely stuff worth thinking about and questions worth asking yourself.

Did you ever come across one of those quotes that made your draw drop? You know the kind I’m talking about. You read it, and read it again, and then realize that drool is leaking from the corner of your mouth because you’re staring and your mouth is hanging open. I recently had one of those moments when reading J.I. Packer’s classic book, Knowing God. Packer writes:

“If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.”

Does the thought of God as my Father control my whole outlook on life? Do I see every circumstance, every trial, every joy, and every sorrow through the lens of God as my father? No, I don’t.

I often worry about my little girl, Charis. Will she be healthy? Is she developing properly? Will she live a long life? How would all these fears and worries change if the thought of God as my loving, caring father controlled my outlook on life? If I was regularly aware that the God of the universe calls me ’son’, what would happen to my worries? Most of them would probably evaporate.

I’m often a legalist. When my spiritual ‘performance’ suffers, and I miss devotional times and pray weak, half-hearted prayers, I feel distant from God. If I was keenly aware of God’s intense, fatherly love for me, demonstrated most clearly on the cross, what would happen to my legalism? Legalism would be replaced by joy.

Aren’t you glad that God is your father? The God who made you calls you ’son’ or ‘daughter’, and we call him ‘Father’. I want to see life through the prism of God as Father.

What about you? Does the thought of God as Father control your outlook on life?

Proclaiming the grace of God is a privilege. It should forever amaze us that God uses us in His work. This struck me again as we discussed God’s grace this last Sunday in Grace Group.

God the Father is the Fountain of all grace, for He purposed in Himself the everlasting covenant of redemption. God the Son is the only Channel of grace. The Gospel is the Publisher of grace. The Spirit is the Bestower. He is the One who applies the Gospel in saving power to the soul: quickening the elect while spiritually dead, conquering their rebellious wills, melting their hard hearts, opening their blind eyes, cleansing them from the leprosy of sin.

In this section Pink is discussing the way in which the Trinity cooperates in planning, displaying, and pouring out the grace of God. In the midst of all this Pink states that the “gospel is the Publisher of grace.”

This set me to thinking- What does Pink mean here? How is the Gospel the Publisher of Grace? The Gospel goes out, it is actually published, as God’s people communicate it to the lost world around them.

Think about that- as the members of the Trinity work in perfect wisdom and irresistable power to pour out grace, you and I are dropped right in the middle of it all and given the privilege of proclaiming the message of grace. Wow!

Here are a couple of verses on this to chew on-

2 Corinthians 5:20- Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Romans 10:14-15- How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”

I came across the following post on the Desiring God blog a couple of weeks ago.

One of the things worth thinking about in this post is the idea that when we blame someone else for our sin we are depriving ourselves of the joy of going to the cross and enjoying God’s grace. Enjoy!

It started in the Garden. Adam said to God,

The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. (Genesis 3:12)

The first man, caught in the first sin, turns to blame his wife. And he extends the blame to God as well! He implies that he would have remained innocent if God hadn’t put Eve in the garden with him.

The blame-shifting in the Garden continues today. Our proud hearts send us desperately looking for someone else to point to every time we’re confronted with our own sin. There must be someone else—our spouse, sibling, parent, boss, co-worker, pastor, friend, or God, himself.

We are so desperate to justify ourselves that we become irrational. Here are 12 examples.

1) Anger

I wouldn’t lose my temper if my co-workers were easier to get along with, or if my kids behaved better, or if my spouse were more considerate.

2) Impatience

I would be a very patient person if it weren’t for traffic jams and long lines in the grocery store. If I didn’t have so many things to do, and if the people around me weren’t so slow, I would never become impatient!

3) Lust

I would have a pure mind if there weren’t so many sensual images in our culture.

4) Anxiety

I wouldn’t worry about the future if my life were just a little more secure—if I had more money, and no health problems.

5) Spiritual Apathy

My spiritual life would be so much more vibrant and I would struggle with sin less if my small group were more encouraging, or if Sunday school were more engaging, or if the music in the worship service were more lively, or if the sermons were better.

6) Insubordination

If my parents/bosses/elders were godly leaders, then I would joyfully follow them.

7) A Critical Spirit

It’s not my fault that the people around me are ignorant and inexperienced.

8 ) Bitterness

If you knew what that person did to me, you would understand my bitterness. How could I forgive something like that?

9) Gluttony

My wife/husband/roommate/friend is a wonderful cook! The things they make are impossible to resist.

10) Gossip

It’s the people around me who start the conversations. There’s no way to avoid hearing what others happen to say. And when others ask me questions, I can’t avoid sharing what I know.

11) Self-Pity

I’ll never be happy, because my marriage/family/job/ministry is so difficult.

12) Selfishness

I would be more generous if we had more money.

Making excuses like this is arrogant and foolish. It’s a proud way of trying to justify our actions and pacify our guilty consciences. And it keeps us from humbling ourselves before God to repent of our sins and seek his forgiveness.

Consider James 1:13-15, which leaves us with no way of escaping our own sin and guilt. We cannot blame God, for he “cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”

Instead, we have to accept the humbling truth that “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” This will end the blame game, and it will send us pleading for Christ’s mercy and grace.

I just finished creating a study guide for Mark Dever’s book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. In the process I found at least two places where he quoted Matthew 12:34.

“…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” -Matthew 12:34b

So, in thinking about your mission to take the gospel to your community this summer, take the principle of Matthew 12:34 and apply it to evangelism.

What is overflowing out of your heart and spilling into the lives of unbelievers?

Here is Dever’s conclusion,

The good news of Jesus Christ is crucial. Until you recognize that, I can say nothing helpful to you about evangelism. It will be no more for you than an unpleasant duty or an occasional impulse. When the message of the cross captures your heart, then your tongue-stammering, halting, insulting, awkward, sarcastic, and imperfect as it may be-won’t be far behind.” -p. 112

The following is from a recent post from the Girltalk blog.  Being a wife and being a mother is the most challenging and demanding job in the world.  But it is more than that- it is a ministry- a God-given ministry.  I hope this encouraging to those of you serving God in the home.

This first section is from a post entitled Homemaking is Not a Holding Pattern.

Saturday was the big move and now that my stuff is in the new house I need to start the whole process over again—albeit sort of in reverse: Cleaning, unpacking and getting rid of boxes, putting furniture back together, hanging pictures on the walls…creating a place for everything…

In the midst of all this packing and unpacking I’ve found myself thinking, “When I get through this move, then I can get back to more important things.”

This is not the first time I’ve succumbed to such faulty thinking. Throughout my career as a homemaker I’ve been tempted to look past the duties of the day to the more “important,” “significant,” or “exciting” work of tomorrow.

“When the baby sleeps through the night, then I can begin to…”
“When the children are a little older I’ll have more time to….”
“When this sports season is over than I can turn my attention to….”
“If they ever graduate from high school, then I can finally….” (more…)

Recently I was listening to some classic Keith Green and was struck by the lyrics from “Asleep in the Light.” Below is a video of him singing it live. O, for the grace of God to awaken our souls to His mission.