“Sheer scholarship alone cannot reveal to us the gospel of grace. We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of knowing Jesus Christ personally and directly…My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of God came not from exegetes, theologians, and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in the presence of the living Word and beseeching Him to help me understand with my head and heart His written Word.” -Brennan Manning

“O that God should desire that my interpretation and that of all teachers should disappear, and each Christian should come straight to the Scripture alone and to the pure word of God! You see from this babbling of mine the immeasurable difference between the word of God and all human words, and how no man can adequately reach and explain a single word of God with all his words. It is an eternal word and must be understood and contemplated with a quiet mind. No one else can understand except a mind that contemplates in silence. For anyone who could achieve this without commentary or interpretation, my commentaries and those of everyone else could not only be of no use, but merely a hindrance. Go to the Bible itself, dear Christians, and let my expositions and those of all scholars be no more than a tool with which to build aright, so that we can understand, taste, and abide in the simple and pure word of God; for God dwells alone in Zion.” -Martin Luther (1522)

It seems a little ironic that I would use quotes from other men about looking to the word of God above all other things (like quotes from wise men for example)..However, I was challenged by these words, which in turn brought me to the Word of God, and that’s why I wanted to share them. These words are rich indeed, and full of true statements. But nothing is richer or truer than God’s word itself. The Spirit uses these words from these men to poke and prod at the hearts of his people, but no word except God’s Word can give life and hope to the hearts of His people. It is because His words point to Christ. My hope is that we would treasure the Word of God for the sake of knowing Christ.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” -Psalm 19:7-10

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” -1 Cor. 1:18

“All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” -Isaiah 40:6-8

There is no shame in the new country, and no disgrace will be found there. Why? Because the Lamb is there. Where the Lamb is, disgrace is not. For he was disgraced to the highest degree possible on the cross for us, leaving us pure! This identity can be ours here, now, and for eternity if we accept it. Jesus Christ is the Lamb, he is our only hope.

We will forget the shame of our youth, how? Because we will behold this God face to face: “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called…’For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”(Is. 54:5,10)

“Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!” (Ps. 24:8-10)

We will forget all shame because He forgets all shame, and when we see him fully, our eyes will never again be fixed elsewhere.

Who responds this way? The Pharisees’ motive for going to the synagogue wasn’t to worship the Lord, it was to accuse him. Yet, Jesus was compassionate towards them. This text says Jesus was angry, but it defines the anger. This would be an example of righteous anger. His anger had to have been towards the sin itself against his perfect father, because it caused him not to be bitter towards these men, but to love them. He was grieved because their hearts were hard. Jesus knew his Father and the nature of sin, 1) that it offends and mocks the perfect God wrongly, and 2) that sin deceivingly steals joy and keeps us in a place of bondage where it grows to destroy and kill.

The Pharisees were out to destroy Jesus. The sadly ironic thing is that the very process of their man hunt was destroying themselves, not Christ.  Jesus’ response stemmed from:

1) Confidence in his identity in his father. His father said to him, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11) Because he was sure of his father’s love for him, he was free to love man. His identity was defined by his full acceptance by his father.

2) A love and compassion for these Pharisees. If you love someone, of course you will be saddened if you know they are being deceived. Jesus’ grieving displays his mercy towards these men, despite their evilness towards him.

A psychologist, John Bargh asked a number of students to take part in a “word-scramble” test. The students were asked to come into a classroom where they received a piece of paper with a list of five-word sets. They were told to create a grammatical four-word sentence as fast as they are able. An example would be:

1. sunlight makes temperature wrinkle raisins

The students were given 5 minutes to unscramble a series of word sets. When they were finished they were told to meet Bargh in the hallway where they would turn in the scramble and receive further instruction. This study was done with two different groups, one of the groups received negative words dispersed in the scrambles such as “aggressively”, “bold”, “rude”, “bother”, “disturb”, “intrude”, and “infringe”. The other group received words like, “respect”, “considerate”, “appreciate”, “patiently”, “polite”, and “courteous”. When the students were finished and would come to turn it into John Bargh, he was always intentionally in the middle of a conversation with someone. “Bargh wanted to learn whether the people who were primed with the polite words would take longer to interrupt the conversation than those primed with the rude words. He knew enough about the strange power of unconscious influence to feel that it would make a difference, but he thought the effect would be slight.” However, he was surprised  to find that almost all of the people primed to be rude interrupted him after 5 minutes, where as 82% of  people primed to be polite never interrupted at all.

The students coming in thought they were participating in a study about words, little did they know they were being influenced by the very words they were trying to de-scramble. There have been many other similar tests done that reveals we are very subtly influenced by things we see/hear/read.

More and more I’ve been seeing how fragile and impressionable we humans are. We are influenced more than we know by things around us. This is both scary and humbling. It’s scary to me because it makes me realize how much I’m not in control. I’m being influenced all day long without knowing it. My mind takes in information, processes it, and then subtly influences the way I respond in stressful situations, what I decide to do with my time, whether or not I’m going to respond graciously when someone hurts me, ect. It’s humbling because I realize how weak I am, how easy it is for me to lose sight of what is good and true. I am small. However, it is comforting to know that I am being held and kept by the hand of the living God.

It really does make sense though when you think about it. The Bible talks a lot about renewing our minds. Why? Because we need it.

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13)

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot.” (Rom. 8:5-7)

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom. 12:2)

We are given instruction to renew our minds because our minds’ default is wickedness and death. When I wake up in the morning I need to be reminded that my needs have been met, that I am fully forgiven, that I am fully loved, that I am fully known by Christ. If I don’t, chances are I will try to get my needs met by another means, and chances are, I will be left disappointed, frustrated, and empty every time.

God promises us that “his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lam. 3:22-23). This is part of his character, his love is steadfast and unceasing. His mercies are new every morning because we need them every morning-desperately! He doesn’t tire of giving us grace, he doesn’t hesitate to love us tenderly, and he doesn’t think twice about being patient towards us when we sin against him. This is because of what Christ did on the cross. So let us fill our minds every morning the knowledge of this great love and be influenced to love.

But the inquirer denies that he has a good opinion of himself and owns himself a sinner. Now a man may SAY this, but really to KNOW it is something more than SAYING. Besides, he may be willing to take the name of sinner to himself, in common with his fellow-men, and yet not at all own himself such a sinner as God says he is—such a sinner as needs the cross, and blood, and righteousness of the Son of God. It takes a great deal to destroy a man’s good opinion of himself; how difficult it is to make a man think of himself as God does! What but the almightiness of the Divine Spirit can accomplish this?

Unbelief, then, is the belief of a lie and the rejection of the truth. Accept, then, the character of God as given in the gospel; the Holy Spirit will not give you peace irrespective of your views of God’s character. It is in connection with THE TRUTH concerning the true God, “the God of all grace,” that the Spirit gives peace. That which He shows us of ourselves is only evil; that which He shows us of God is only good!”

-Horatius Bonar

On a deeper level, studies show that humans have needs for joy/happiness. Happiness contributes to the overall health of a person. At the same time God has also given us deep desires to be happy. Because we have these desires, we search for happiness. We find temporary happiness through all sorts of things, but not lasting happiness. Our deepest longings for joy can only be met through Jesus Christ, because God has provided us with him. And God did this for us to satisfy our longings and to display his character. “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” (1 Tim. 1:16)

“Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart.” (Ecc. 3:11) Or as Blaise Pascal says, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing.  It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.”

God is gracious, and wise to make our bodies with desires for needs and also provide us with the thing that satisfies our deepest need!

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

I have a shelter in the storm
When troubles pour upon me
Though fears are rising like a flood
My soul can rest securely
O Jesus, I will hide in You
My place of peace and solace
No trial is deeper than Your love
That comforts all my sorrows

I have a shelter in the storm
When all my sins accuse me
Though justice charges me with guilt
Your grace will not refuse me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
Who bore my condemnation
I find my refuge in Your wounds
For there I find salvation

I have a shelter in the storm
When constant winds would break me
For in my weakness, I have learned
Your strength will not forsake me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
The One who bears my burdens
With faithful hands that cannot fail
You’ll bring me home to heaven

All things were created through Christ, and for Christ, to show us Christ, that we might glorify Christ. It’s quite an exercise to stop and look around, and think about “all things” that God has created for the purpose of revealing his Son to us. God created bread and the concept and feeling of hunger so that he could say, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) We as humans can resonate with this analogy. We know what it’s like to feel physically hungry. Here, Christ is referring to a deeper hunger all humans possess; a spiritual hunger that only Christ can fill. Christ satisfies our spiritual hunger like a warm meal satisfies our empty stomachs.

God created light and darkness so we could better grasp, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5) We know what it looks like for a lamp to be turned on in a dark room, suddenly the room isn’t dark, the light illumines and dispels the darkness around it. It is impossible for darkness and light to co-exist. Christ has entered this world bringing life to dead things just as light enters a dark room.

There are thousands and thousands of these pictures, all revealing Christ; marriage and the role of husbands and wives (Eph. 5:25), a vine that bears fruit, (John 15:4), a shepherd and sheep (John 10:11), our nakedness and clothes (Gen. 3:21), the cornerstone of a building (1 Peter 2:6), snakes (Numbers 21:9), a cleft in a rock (Ex. 33:22), adoption (Gal. 4:5). God even uses the evil things in the world to serve as pictures of his great love towards us; He is the redeemer of the prostitute/sinner (Hosea 3:1), He has come to set free the slave (Gal. 5:1).

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Ps. 19:1)