10 Questions to Ask Yourself at the Start of a New Year

This is from Don Whitney, professor of Biblical Spirituality at Southern Seminary (you can access his handout here).

Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them, and to evaluate their slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them.
 

Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going.

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

In addition to these ten questions, here are twenty-one more to help you “Consider your ways.” Think on the entire list at one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month.

1. What’s the most important decision you need to make this year?
2. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way you could simplify in that area?
3. What’s the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?
4. What habit would you most like to establish this year?
5. Who is the person you most want to encourage this year?
6. What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it?

I hope you can make some time to stop and evaluate your life this new year.  May God help us live lives that are marked by an increased love and obedience to Him each passing year.

Plan to be in the Word this Year

If you have not had a Bible reading plan, this is the year to do it. Like most things, without a plan you will quickly end up wandering somewhat aimlessly. That isn't to say God doesn't use our "unplanned" devotional or Bible reading time, but it is to say that having a plan can be very beneficial.

For the past few years Beth and I have worked through the Bible in two year increments. We read through the Old Testament in two years and the New Testament once each year (so by the end of two years we had read the OT once and the NT twice). This year we are doing something similar, but we are using DA Carson's "For the Love of God" series.

DA Carson's "For the Love of God" Series
One nice thing about this is that you don't have to buy the books to use it. It is available online at the gospel coalition here. You can even sign up to have the daily readings and Dr. Carson's one page devotional emailed to you.  Here is a description of blog:

For the Love of God is a daily devotional designed to walk a person through the Bible in a year while assisting the reader in discovering the riches of God’s Word. Originally published by Crossway Books (volume 1 in 1998 and volume 2 in 1999), this “blog” is really not a blog at all, but a free digital version of the devotional provided by TGC and Crossway. Our hope is that this daily devotional will deepen your understanding and appreciation of God’s Word—for the love of God.

The Bible reading plan is based on Robert Murray M'Cheyne's reading plan and is designed to take you through the Bible in one year (You can find M'Cheyne's plan here).  But, you can use it much like I described our two year plan above.  Simply read the first two passages listed for each day's readings this year along with Dr. Carson's commentary*.  Then, next year, read the second two passages listed in each day's readings along with Dr. Carson's commentary.  This should take you through the NT and Psalms once a year and the OT once in two years.

I have to be honest, this will be the first year I've tried this particular plan.  So, the DA Carson blog emails might not work out completely like I am thinking, but as best I can tell it should.

Navigator's "Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan"
Another option is to pick up the "Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan" from the church foyer.  You can read through the whole Bible in a year or divide the readings in half and finish the whole thing in two years. To access this plan online click here.

Make a Plan
Whatever you do, make a Bible reading plan.  You don't have to have it cover the entire Bible, but I strongly encourage you to read through the entire Bible if you have not done it.  So make a plan for the new year and then discipline yourself to stick with it.  Growth in godliness requires discipline.

If you have any suggestions or resources for Bible reading, please share them in the comments section. 

*This is assuming you start in 2012.  If you start this plan in 2013, you will probably need to start by reading the second two passages each day if you want Dr. Carson's commentary to relate to that day's reading (I believe they go through the first volume one year and the second volume the following year and so on).

Update on Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

Here is the latest update from Voice of the Martyrs on the Iranian pastor imprisoned and facing a death sentence for being Christian:

Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian pastor sentenced to death for apostasy, will remain in prison for at least one more year. The presiding judge ordered authorities to keep Youcef in prison, using whatever means necessary to force him to recant his Christian faith and convert to Islam. VOM [Voice of the Martyr] contacts believe the order's intent is to keep Youcef in prison for an extended period so that the international Christian community will forget about him. The Iranian courts may then feel free to carry out the death sentence.

Please continue to advocate on his behalf so authorities will know he is NOT forgotten.

 Continue to pray that God will give him and his family sustaining grace and that his testimony would be a means of salvation to the guards and others around him.

Bethlehemian Rhapsody

Thanks Leelund for drawing my attention to this video.  Enjoy the puppet show....

The Deep, Bitter Roots of Disobedience

There is a reason God delights greatly in obedience and hates disobedience.  First Samuel 15:22 says that the Lord delights or finds joy much more in obedience than in religious ritual where there is no obedience (or where there is "partial obedience.").  So, why is this the case?  I believe 1 Samuel 15 shows us that the acts of disobedience (in action and thought) have deep and bitter roots.  The roots of our disobedience are all anti-the-glory-of-God.  I see at least four "roots," and I think every disobedient act or thought can be found rooted in one of these.

Misplaced Glory

1 Samuel 15:12 “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”

Disobedience finds root in a desire for my own glory instead of God's glory and praise. It strikes at the glory of God.  It seeks praise for self instead of God.  On the other hand, obedience, true obedience, seeks the glory of God and His name being made great.

Misplaced Pleasure or Desire
1 Samuel 15:19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

The word "pounce" appeared earlier in 14:32 where the people were starving and pounced on the spoil to satisfy their appetite.  Desires are not bad in and of themselves.  But, if I desire something God says is bad or I desire something that is good too strongly, I will let that desire rule me instead of God.  I seek my pleasure in things instead of God.  What an offense to the perfect and all-satisfying God of the universe.  I worship the gifts instead of the Giver. So, disobedience is so bitter because it raises pleasure in things above pleasure in God.


Misplaced Fear
1 Samuel 15:24 Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice..."

Disobedience is often rooted in a fear of human consequences more than a fear of the divine.  It fears men who can kill the body but after that do nothing instead of fearing God who can cast both body and soul into Hell.  It places the fear of the creature above the fear of God.  Obedience properly fears God.

Misplaced Trust
1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.

Divination is to seek insight and wisdom on what to do or how to live from some other source than God. It could be going to a palm reader.  But, we often do this in a much more domesticated way.  We often turn to our own wisdom or the world's wisdom.  We ignore God's Word and seek wisdom for how to live life from other sources.  We make other sources of "wisdom" our trust and confidence.  This leads to idolatry.  We put that new source above God.  It is our god.  And if we have made our feelings and thoughts higher than God's then we have made ourselves and idol- namely SELF.  So, disobedience is so serious because it places trust in something other than God and His Word.

Round-Up Won't Kill These Roots
All of these roots are an attack on the glory of God.  This is why all sin is ultimately an attempt to de-God God.  This is why disobedience is so serious and obedience so wonderful.

 These roots are deep.  They are too deep to be killed by a little Round-Up weed killer.  No, the depths of these roots prove that we need a redeemer who has killed the bitter root for us. This should call us to obedience, but more than that it calls us to recognize that we desperately need our redeemer.  A self-help book or 12 step program cannot sever the roots of disobedience.  They are too deep, too strongly rooted in our nature.  That is why God sent us a redeemer.  Jesus is our righteousness and He has given us new life so that we can continue to kill the already mortally wounded roots of disobedience in our lives.

Signs of Pride

As I mentioned in my last post, I am enjoying rereading Thomas Watson's book A Godly Man's Picture.  I mentioned the signs of humility he discusses.  Now I want to turn and look the picture of pride he paints. I pray this helps you, as it is helping me, kill pride and cultivate humility in your heart.  Humility doesn't naturally spring up in our hearts.  We must be careful to sow the seeds of humility and pray that the Holy Spirit will grow these seeds within our hearts.

Those who are proud....

1. Boast in their riches and by their clothing. 
• Immodesty (wearing clothing that is sexually provocative or simply intended to draw unwarranted attention to one's self) is nothing more than pride on display. Immodest dress is nothing "but the flags and banners which pride displays." (82)
2. Have a high opinion of their own excellences.
• "Those who look at themselves in the magnifying mirror of self-love appear in their own eyes better than they are" (82).
3. Despise others. 
• Because the proud is so big in his own eyes, he finds it easy to look down on others who are not as smart, funny, good looking (insert any other way we see ourselves as large).
4. Trumpet their own praise. 
• "A proud man is the herald of his own good deeds" (83).
5. Take the glory of God to themselves. 
• "Pride is the greatest sacrilege; it robs God of his glory" (83).
6. Are never pleased with their condition. 
• They complain about God. Maybe not directly, but in the way they complain about their circumstances (which God has placed them in).

Does God Give Victory on the Football Field?

Here is an interesting article by Owen Strachan on Tim Tebow's recent, amazing fourth quarter and overtime comeback victories. He provides helpful theology as we seek to think biblically about this issue which is such a big part of sport's conversations at the national level.

Signs of Humility

Killing pride and growing in humility is key to growing in godliness. Pride keeps me in the kingdom of self (for my glory) whereas humility frees me to live in the Kingdom of God (for His glory). This also means pride keeps me from true joy because it turns me in on myself and makes me the center of things. It is only in humility that I find joy because I am living as I was designed to be: a humble creature of God, basking in His glory. 

I have been rereading Thomas Watson's book A Godly Man's Picture and came across his section on how a Christian can know he or she is humble. I thought I'd summarize the things he mentions to help us evaluate ourselves and to give us practical areas to battle pride and grow and humility.

A humble soul...

1. Is emptied of all swelling thoughts of himself (doesn't think too highly of himself)
2. Thinks better of others than himself (Phil 2:3)
• "A humble Christian studies his own infirmities and another's excellences and that makes him put a higher value upon others than himself" (79). [note: careful not to think this means disregarding God's graces at work in your life or that you are to compare yourself to others in envious ways]
3. Has a low esteem of his good works
• "Pride is apt to breed in our holy things as the worm breeds in the sweetest fruit..." A humble person sees his good works weigh too little and "therefore desires that Christ's merits be put into the scales" (79).
4. Is living in light of his own sinful condition. He is not always speaking of his own goodness and successes.
5. Will justify God in an afflicted condition- a humble person won't complain in times of adversity because he knows that God is always better to him than he deserves.
6. Is a Christ-magnifier 
• "He gives away to Christ the honour and praise of all he does" (80)
7. Is willing to take reproof for sin 
• "The humble-spirited Christian can bear the reproach of an enemy and the reproof of a friend" (81).
8. Is willing to have his name and gifts eclipsed so that God's glory may be increased. 
• "He is content to be outshone by others in gifts and esteem, so that the crown of Christ may shine brighter." (81).
9. Likes the condition God sees best for him. 
• "A proud man complains that he has no more; a humble man wonders that he has so much." (81). In otherwords, the humble person doesn't have an entitlement mentality. He recognizes that his singleness or lack of a nice house or lack of exciting food is nothing to complain about for God has given him so much.
10. Will stoop to the lowest person on the social ladder. He does not have a "holier than thou" approach, but associates with the lowly. 

Battling Anxiety During Exams

Here is a link to an excerpt from an article by David Powlison on anxiety. A timely read as exams are looming.  Take some time to read it- it's worth the read.

The Link Between Disobedience and Unbelief

This past Sunday, I taught from 1 Samuel 13.  The main point I sought to draw out was the connection between unbelief and disobedience in the life of Saul and in our lives.  We often don't think of our acts of disobedience to God as symptoms of residual unbelief in our hearts.  That just sounds too serious or too horrible to be true of us, but I believe it is true.  Below are the three points of reflection and application I made about this subject:

True faith or unbelief is often demonstrated in how we respond to hopeless situations. It is often in the difficulties of life- a broken relationship, financial hardship, health problems- that we see what is really going on in our hearts.  How we respond, either by obedience or disobedience to God, shows what is in our heart: trust or distrust of God’s sovereignty, wisdom and goodness.   Every time we choose to sin, unbelief is a factor. We are failing to believe that obedience to God gives superior joy compared to the empty promises of sin.

Disobedience to God is so serious because it is actually a sign of unbelief .  This is clear in 1 Samuel, but made even more explicit in Hebrews 11:24-26.  In this section, contained in "the hall of faith," Moses is held up as an example of faith.  He obeys God even though it means giving up an easy life for a life of difficulty and suffering.  The reason he does it is he believed God's promises.  The opposite is true too.  When we disobey God, it is a sign that we are not believing his promises are greater than the fleeting pleasures of sin.  This is important to remember when you are battling a particular sin or helping someone who is.  When a person is sinning with pornography or indulgent spending or out of control anger, the primary issue is not a lack of self-control (though that is an issue).  It goes deeper.  It is believing the false promises of sin over the joy producing promises of God.  It is living by sight and feeling instead of faith in what God has said.

We can have unbelief even in religious ritual.   Saul demonstrates his unbelief by offering sacrifices.  Just because we do a religious thing doesn't mean we are demonstrating true faith.  Faith is not simply external action (though it should affect our actions).  It comes from a heart that is truly seeking God.

It is scary to think unbelief still resides in our hearts.  You may wonder, does this mean I am an unbeliever? If what I have said is true (that every sin is a mark of remaining unbelief) then all Christians still have lingering unbelief because we all still sin.  The difference is those who truly know God realize they still have unbelief and cry out "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief" (Mark 9:20-24).  In other words, "I believe, but my faith is weak.  Help me believe you God."  Those who don't offer this cry to the Father should hear the warning of Hebrews 3:12, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God." 

"Family Tensions and the Holidays"

Here is a good article to read before going home for the holiday's by Russell Moore.

Question Box: "How Can the Holy Spirit Indwell Sinners?"

Here is a question I received in the questionbox.  Submit your questions by clicking the questionbox link.

Question:

I have been wondering how it's possible that God can dwell in us through His Spirit even though we are still sinners? Because He can't be in the presence of sin, right?

Answer:

First, let’s look the question broadly and then we will zoom in on it.  We must understand that it is only partially true to say “God cannot be in the presence of sin.”  It is true because God is holy, holy, holy, and will destroy all sin.  However, it is not true because God is omnipresent (everywhere).  So, God is present everywhere, even where sin is being committed. We see this in Job where Satan comes before God with a proposition to test Job.  Here the father of lies is in God’s presence.  Furthermore, even in Hell God’s presence cannot be escaped.  But, His presence in Hell is not the same as His presence in Heaven.  In Heaven, His presence is experienced as joy, light, irresistible beauty, and glory.  His presence in Hell is experienced as heavy judgment, darkness, sadness, and torment (God is still glorified in demonstrating his righteous judgment, but it is not a wonderful glory for those in Hell).  So, in the big picture it is helpful to realize that it is not precise enough to say “God cannot be in the presence of sin.”  Instead, we say, “God is holy and so sinners cannot dwell in His Kingdom when it comes in its fullness.”  

Now let’s zoom in to the particular question at hand.  As a Christian, how is that God indwells me (through his Spirit) while I am still a sinner?  First, we affirm that the Bible says this is a reality.  Passages like Romans 8:9 make it clear that every child of God has the Spirit of God.  But that still doesn’t answer the question, “How can this be?”.  For that we could look at other verses in Romans 8, namely verses 3 and 10, but let’s look at Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1 begins with several verses about our salvation.  We were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (4). We are redeemed through the blood of Christ and forgiven of our trespasses according to the riches of God’s grace (7).  After rehearsing these, and other truths about the amazing grace of God in our salvation, Paul says, 

“In [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13-14). 

The Holy Spirit is given to us at the point of salvation (“when you heard….”).  The Holy Spirit seals us with God’s kingly seal, indicating we are His children and heirs of His inheritance.  So, it is at the point of our being forgiven of our sins in Christ Jesus that the Holy Spirit comes into us.  That means all our sins, past, present and future, have been covered by the blood of Christ, and we are justified.  That is, we are positionally holy and righteous by virtue of the work of Christ who obeyed God perfectly for us.  Even though we still sin in our daily lives, we remain justified and each of those sins has been covered by Christ.  So, it is no contradiction for the Holy Spirit to live in us: we are holy in God’s sight though we still fall short of holiness in practice.  And, it is one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit to make us more in practice what we already are in position (this is sanctification- the process of growing in holiness).1    

1Passages such as 1 Corinthians 6:17-20 tell us that we should put aside sin since we have been “joined to the Lord” and have the “Holy Spirit within” us.  These passages indicate that our unity with Christ is incompatible with sin. The Holy Spirit indwells each believer, making our body a temple of God.   So passages like 1 Cor. 6:17-20 give us a clear call to put aside sin based on our union with Christ and His Spirit.