Five Ways Affliction Helps

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. (Psalm 119:67)

This verse shows that God sends affliction to help us learn his word. How does that work? How does affliction help us learn and obey the word of God?

There are innumerable answers, as there are innumerable experiences of this great mercy. But here are five:

Affliction takes away the glibness of life and makes us more serious, so that our mind-set is more in tune with the seriousness of God’s word. And mark this: There is not a single glib page in the book of God.

Affliction knocks worldly props out from under us and forces us to rely more on God, which brings us more in tune with the aim of the word. For the aim of the word is that we hope in God and trust him. “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). “These [things] are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31).

Affliction makes us search the Scriptures with greater desperation for help, rather than treating it as marginal to life. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Affliction brings us into the partnership of Christ’s sufferings, so that we fellowship more closely with him and see the world more readily through his eyes. Paul’s great heart longing was “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10).

Affliction mortifies deceitful and distracting fleshly desires, and so brings us into a more spiritual frame and makes us receptive to the spiritual word of God. “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin” (1 Peter 4:1). Suffering has a great sin-killing effect. And the more pure we are, the more clearly we see God (Matthew 5:8).

May the Holy Spirit give us grace to not begrudge the pedagogy of God through pain.

John Piper 

Perfectionism Is A Thief

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: 

Did you know that your performance doesn’t make you any more or less acceptable in God’s eyes?

If you think that God is going to accept you on the basis of your quiet time, your Bible study, or your service, you will fall into a trap of never knowing if you’ve done enough. You’ll never truly feel accepted.

Perfectionism is a thief. It promises rewards, but it steals both joy and satisfaction. Why? Because perfection is an unattainable goal! If you are a perfectionist, you’ve set an impossible goal for yourself, and therefore you will constantly be faced with frustration and failure.

Two things about you are true, without your “performance”—

You are forgiven in Christ.

You are righteous in Christ.

   

ACTION POINT:

Are you a perfectionist? Ask the Holy Spirit to free you from the fear of failure. Now make a conscious decision that you can be less than perfect and still be loved by God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Greatest Love

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)

Why should we emphasize that God loves, forgives, and saves “for his name’s sake” — for his own glory? Here are two reasons (among many).

1) We should emphasize that God loves and forgives for his own glory because the Bible does.

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (Isaiah 43:25)

For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. (Psalm 25:11)

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake! (Psalm 79:9)

“Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name’s sake.” (Jeremiah 14:7)

We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne. (Jeremiah 14:20–21)

God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25–26)

Your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)

2) We should emphasize that God loves and forgives for his own glory because it makes clear that God loves us with the greatest love.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” (John 17:24)

God loves us not in a way that makes us supreme, but makes himself supreme. Heaven will not be a hall of mirrors, but an increasing vision of infinite greatness. Getting to heaven and finding that we are supreme would be the ultimate let down.

The greatest love makes sure that God does everything in such a way as to uphold and magnify his own supremacy so that, when we get to heaven, we have something to increase our joy forever: God’s glory. The greatest love is God’s giving himself to us for our eternal enjoyment, at the cost of his Son’s life (Romans 8:32). That is what he means when he says that he loves us and forgives us for his own name’s sake.

John Piper

Justice, Mercy And Grace

BIBLE MEDITATION::

“...the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: 

There are three words that came together at Calvary:

justice

mercy

grace

Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.

But wait a minute; grace is more than that! It is grace that gives at great cost to the giver. It is not cheap. Grace cost the life of God’s Son. Jesus gave freely of Himself in agony and blood.

Did you know that grace has to chase us down? If God didn’t run faster than us, we would never be saved! Grace seeks to give to vile and wicked people that which they don’t deserve and can never deserve.

ACTION POINT:

Are you a grace-giver? Find someone today and do a favor for them – something for which they couldn’t possibly repay you. Perhaps it will even be for a stranger you will never see again.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Forgiveness Cycle

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:4)

Who forgives whom first?

On the one hand, Jesus says, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” (Luke 11:4)

On the other hand, Paul says, “As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:13)

When Jesus teaches us to pray that God would forgive us, “for we ourselves forgive,” he is not saying that the first move in forgiveness was our move. Rather, it goes like this: God forgave us when we believed in Christ (Acts 10:43). Then, from this broken, joyful, grateful, hopeful experience of being forgiven, we offer forgiveness to others.

This forgiving spirit signifies that we have been savingly forgiven. That is, our forgiving others shows that we have faith; we are united to Christ; we are indwelt by the gracious, humbling Holy Spirit.

But we still sin (1 John 1:8, 10). So we still turn to God for fresh applications of the work of Christ on our behalf — fresh applications of forgiveness. We cannot do this with any confidence if we are harboring an unforgiving spirit. (Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23–35. He refused to forgive his fellow servant who owed him ten dollars, though he claimed to be forgiven ten million. He showed by his unforgiving spirit that the king’s mercy had not changed him.)

Jesus protects us from this folly by teaching us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). That’s why Jesus says we ask for forgiveness because we are forgiving. This is like saying: “Father, continue to extend to me the mercies purchased by Christ, because by these mercies I have been forgiven, and I forsake vengeance and extend to others what you have extended to me.”

May you know God’s forgiveness afresh today, and may that grace overflow in your heart in forgiveness toward others. And may that sweet experience of grace in your life give you added assurance that, when you go to God to experience fresh, blood-bought forgiveness, you will know that he sees you as his forgiven and forgiving child.

John Piper 

God's Grace Takes The Initiative

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“We love Him, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When I was in the sixth grade, I wrote a love note to Joyce Louise Gentry. Then she became my bride and my beloved. Do you know, she still has that note? From that time on she began to take an interest in me. Do you know why? Because I first loved her.

Do you know what the Bible is? It is God’s love letter to you. It is God saying to you, “I have set my eye upon you. I love you!”

You’re not saved by doing good works. You’re not saved by joining a church. You are saved by the grace of God that said, “I love you” first.

ACTION POINT:

When was the last time you wrote a love letter?

When was the last time you received one?

Spend some time today and write a love letter to the Lord.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Included in the Covenant

There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God.

John Piper