|
Tuesday Morning Epistles
Welcome to "Tuesday Morning," a weekly source of
strength and encouragement for Christians everywhere.
Recently I read an introduction to John Bunyan's
spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the
Chief of Sinners. Bunyan's more famous work,
The Pilgrim's Progress, was an allegorical story of
a believer's pilgrimage from new birth to death. His
Grace Abounding work records his inner struggles
from his childhood through the first term of his
imprisonment under Charles II of England. Early in life
Bunyan became "the very ringleader of all the youth that
kept (him) company, into all manner of vice and
ungodliness." His conversion was hardly instantaneous.
One author said that Bunyan's religious experience was
one in which trials and temptations alternated with joy
and peace for most of his adult life, "compelling him to
rely absolutely on Christ for his full
deliverance." He became a powerful apologist for the
spiritual awakening in England known as British
Puritanism, but he always portrayed the Christian life
as "warfare," in which a believer needed to turn
constantly to God to overcome the attacks from Satan.
If Seventeenth-Century England was a battlefield where
religious truth was fought constantly, I wonder what
Bunyan would say about the Twenty-first Century America.
Christians today face a spiritual adversary who seems to
have under his full control all things political,
recreational, religious, and social. Bunyan would say
that we should strive to engage the Lord in every aspect
of our lives. This week's "Tuesday Morning" is entitled
"Insider Information." It underscores the importance of
relying totally on God's Spirit to lead, guide, and
empower the believer. Read on whenever you are ready,
and then get ready for the truth God wants to share with
you this week.
Have a great one.
Tom Barnard
A Senior Encourager
________________________________________________________________ Insider Information Tom Barnard
n the Stock Market, “insider information” consists of facts about a corporation’s condition or planned activities generally not known to the public—facts that someone hears about and illegally uses for personal gain. Misuse of this information could lead to imprisonment and heavy fines for perpetrators.
There is, however, one form of insider information that is legal in almost every country in the free world. It is information that leads a person to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. It is the help that starts somewhere on the “inside” of a person and works its way to the surface. It usually begins when a person recognizes that something is wrong that cannot be made right without help.
The secular world likes us to believe that within each of us is an untapped natural resource—a talent or gift that we can use to get us wherever in life we want to be. This “I-did-it-my-way” myth says it doesn’t really matter how low you start in life; good times are ahead. Proponents point out many individuals who started at the bottom of the socio-economic level and—on their own—achieved success beyond anyone’s dreams. And they did it primarily through their own grit and determination. Many businesswomen and men, starting near the bottom of the corporate ladder, have indeed risen to become leaders in their chosen field. But what these myth-builders fail to say is that frequently behind a person’s success is a mentor, a parent, a grand-parent, a spouse, a friend—someone who was instrumental in helping that person achieve success.
In the Christian life there is no such thing as “do-it-yourself” holiness. As Max Lucado says in his book, When God Whispers Your Name,
“Do-it-yourself Christianity is not much encouragement to the done in and worn out. Self-sanctification holds little hope for the addict.”
Lucado continues,
“At some point we need more than good advice; we need help. We need help from the inside out … Not near us. Not above us. Not around us. But in us. In the part of us we don’t even know. In the heart no one else has seen. In the hidden recesses of our being dwells, not an angel, not a philosophy, not a genie, but God.”
We all make mistakes. And worse. We make choices that land us in deep trouble. Saying, “I didn’t intend for it to turn out this way,” won’t get it done in terms of correcting our mistakes.
Have you ever wondered how many Bible verses include the “If” word? Here are a few of them:
Pray this prayer with me: “Father, I tend to try to fix things myself, rather than call out for help. But that doesn’t work so well with me. So, I am asking you to help me. Take my mistakes and turn them into opportunities. Remove my despair so I can see you at work. Help me discover the faith of my childhood. Accept my confession and forgive my sins. Renew the hope that has been missing from my life. For whatever you do to help me, I will forever praise your Name. Amen.” |