Author Archives: Randy Peterman

I Call Shenanigans on Legalists

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I’m tired of hearing folks beat up other believers over some thing they need to be doing.  The latest one I just watched part of (until I couldn’t take any more and had to shut it off) was about how Christians need to be really overt and blatant about being Christians on Facebook or MySpace.  I’m not sure how your religious status on Facebook ties into your actual walk.  I am sure how your life and status updates in general can reflect your walk, but I’m pretty sure that they’re not the things that show your spiritual growth.  I love the idea of folks wanting to see passion in the lives of believers, but what about growth?  Growth is not just that you can quote Bible verses to people.  Growth doesn’t mean how intense you are about others “living according to the Bible” (by which they almost always mean rigid rules and standards).  Growth has very much to do with what Peter closed his second Epistle with:

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There are subtleties in these last two verses that make me want to scream and shout at legalists.  The apostle is warning the readers to watch out for those who twist God’s word to their own destruction in the verses leading up to this thought.  He warns them with this in full view so that they would watch to not be carried away by the error of unprincipled men.  In the context of Paul there are two ways I have seen people take the message out of context: 1) Paul really was a closet legalist and wanted to see people burdened by the Law  or 2) Paul was too gracious (as in Romans 5 & 6).  Here’s the real deal: If you’re not being accused, like Paul, of saying people should be liberated to sin because you’re teaching grace like Romans 5 & 6 state clearly, then you’re not preaching grace appropriately.  And like Paul writes in those very same chapters: sin should not abound because grace is a motivator and motivates us to stop sinning and to be living a life of abundant abiding.  The measuring stick is not the Law, it’s grace.  Grace is a tough measuring stick because it is infinite.  Deal with measuring growth by grace like Peter suggests: grow in your understanding of it.

If you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not just by studying to be better, but by pursuing Him and His grace, you will grow in a measurable way: in context of grace.  Grace, as a motivator, leads us to righteousness, but it doesn’t lead us to a rigid system that burdens and beats up.  Grace leads to conviction unto relationship, legalism leads us to guilt and more flesh based works to try to make up for past failings.  I call shenanigans because there is no good deed that goes unpunished in a legal system.  Its not good enough.  It isn’t meritorious, it isn’t paying God back.  Grace is always sufficient.  Always.  Because its our justification in Christ that brings about our measurement in grace, it always measures up infinitely.

Christ when speaking to the woman at the well in John 4 talked about living water.  The woman at the well was obsessed with getting that living water and which well it came from.  Christ was referring to spiritual things that brought life abundant.  When legalists bring out their rulers for success and growth I scoff.  I used to have one of those rulers.  I used to pull it out, measure myself by it in front of other believers, and then go back to my sinning in private.  The legalist has outward works to judge by, but the heavenly minded believer doesn’t even see the ruler.  The legalist can sin in private without being caught (until they’re being caught and are then found in scandal) while the grace based believer finds himself out of fellowship and quickly comes back to the Father through the past forgiveness of sins due to the totally adequate work of Christ on the cross.  The legalist is constantly looking back wishing with regret that he had never sinned before while the gracious believer is constantly looking back at awe that the Lord forgave such a sin as the ones the believer committed.  One would give anything to change the past, the other sees that Romans 8:28 is true: God can use anything, even shenanigans, for good.  Give up the Law my Christian friends and the rulers that come with it, instead walk by faith in grace, grow in your knowledge of Grace, because it gets it definition, its source, and its motivation from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Things You See Looking Down:Position, Not Just Condition

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When you’ve got a heavenly perspective you don’t mind seeing believers as co-saints, no matter how gnarly they are, because you have an eternal perspective.  In fact the fact you get to fellowship with someone who is a co-believer is exciting.  A positional aspect is judging a lot of extraneous stuff that just doesn’t matter, but a heavenly, positional aspect builds up the believers and they rejoice in their eternal security, their eternal position, and their seating with Christ in the heavenlies.

Things You See Looking Down

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I’m going to start a new series of posts called “Things You See Looking Down.”  This is based on Colossians 3:1-3 which tells us that we’re seated in the heavenlies with Christ.  This calls us to have a heavenly viewpoint on earthly scenarios.  Thus, we’re looking down from a heavenly viewpoint on life.  This will be a series of short posts and I don’t know how long they’ll last, but as I see things from a heavenly perspective, I’ll try to post them here.

Substitutionary Atonement: One for All

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This year I’ve really gotten into watching baseball.  I think its in part because of my brother-in-law Kurt’s excitement for sports and my grandpa’s love for baseball.  Baseball is a pastime in this country and I am a fan.  I live near the Colorado Rockies’ stadium in Denver (20 minutes or so away) and I keep track of their activities with some regularity.  This last Friday their head coach, Clint Hurdles, was released from his position and was replaced by their bench coach as the interim coach.  This change is one I don’t agree with as a fan, but they didn’t ask me.  Here’s where the theology comes in: the first basement Todd Helton, a believer, was interviewed and had this to say:

“We should be held just as accountable as anybody. Obviously, he takes the sword for us.  He didn’t have any bad at-bats, he didn’t throw any bad pitches. He’s the same manager he was two years ago [editor: when the Rockies went to the World Series]. We realize that. We realize that ultimately we are the reason he got fired because we played bad baseball. We definitely feel responsible.”

There are times when one person takes the fall for a group.  Christ, being the only acceptable sacrifice for the sins of mankind made the sacrifice.  We all deserved the penalty for our not ‘playing well’ – there is no minor leagues for real life where you get to figure out this being a human thing and then bring it to the big game.  Instead you get to screw up in front of everyone, blow it miserably in front of anyone, and ultimately stand before God as having failed to live up to His glory (Romans 3:23) – accept if Christ took your place in judgment on the cross.  Then you were identified with His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seating.  The Rockies players know that they were saved from being dropped into the minor leagues because of their coaches sacrifice.

We know that without the sacrifice of Christ we would have nothing to stand before God with that would give us any confidence.  Instead of the worry of judgment for punishment, we look forward to a judgment for rewards.  One where heaven will become a place for a bride and the bride groom.  It will be a perfect game, one with no outs, endless innings, and no injuries.  Oh, and I think that there will be no stealing of bases 😉

Propitiation in Marriage Counseling

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This afternoon I saw a twitter message from PWilson (Peter Wilson) regarding a rough day counseling a couple.  Then at Bible Study we went over I John 4:8-12.  As we hit verse 10 it hit me like a charging pachyderm that counseling a couple (or individual) in sin may just need to start over at the beginning.  It is our tendency to start counseling in the middle of the problem.  Start by making sure that everyone knows how everyone feels.  The problem is that its the middle of the problem.

To start correctly you need to start at the beginning: are both parties believers?  If that’s a no then you’re going to have to address that first.  I will let the counselor figure out how to deal with presenting the gospel as the core issue in the case of an unequally yoked couple.  After establishing the salvation of both people the next and most important question is this: do they both know who they are in Christ?  If the believer doesn’t understand who they are in Christ then its very, very easy to only see who they are in the flesh [Romans 1 looks really different from Romans 5].  Go over the Unfathomable riches in Christ (AKA The 34 things) with the couple.

Propitiation is the term used to describe the accomplishment of Christ’s work on the cross from God’s perspective.  From our perspective we’re saved and redeemed.  From God’s perspective His righteousness is satisfied through the totally adequate work of Christ on the cross.  If that sounds familiar it is because Grace can be defined as the unlimited, unmerited blessings of God through the totally adequate work of Christ on the cross.

The fundamental question that the believer must ask when confronted with the sin of himself, herself, or others is this: if God is satisfied that the sin has been paid for, why am I still focused on it?  It isn’t that sin doesn’t hurt, but it is that the penalty for the sin has been paid for.  The flesh wants to look at the flesh, but the Holy Spirit calls us to look to the heavenlies for a God-centric focus [see: Colossians 3:1-4].  The past cannot be changed, but it can be paid for – is it?  Sins can be confessed, forgiveness can be asked – has it been asked for?  Did God forgive it? Why can’t I?

Believers have to be given the key to walking without sin.  Counseling unto reconciliation is awesome, but if you take them that far you need to walk with them until they recognize that they must continue to set their mind on things above so that they can be free from the bondage of sin through reckoning [See Romans 5-6, specifically 5:21, 6:11].  Reckoning isn’t a psychological game you play, it is the recognition that having been identified with Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seating (Ephesians 2:5-6, Colossians 3:3).

I have talked with two specific elders who do counseling at our church and they both have shared this concept with me, but it was the sequence of Peter Wilson and I John today that spurred me to put this to written form.  Two marriages, that I know of, have been resolved, restored, and grow in Grace to this day because of the principles outlined above.  I hope that this might be helpful for you, Peter and the entire body of Christ.

Preserving the Unity

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Recently at Bible Study I had the opportunity to teach through Ephesians 4:1-3.  The verse reads, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” in the King James version.  What struck me about this was that I had failed to endeavor keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace on so many occasions that I was hardly qualified to speak on the topic from experience.  Instead I would have to humbly teach with examples of past failure: my life being an example of what not to do.  Without going into every failure, which could take far more time and introduce too much confusion, I abandoned unity because I had learned that doctrine divides and that good doctrine was to be prized above all and at the cost of anything.  While I’m still passionate about doctrine, the Lord has humbled me with the doctrine of Grace and its application in my own life.

You see Paul doesn’t start chapter 4 on its own, instead he starts it after a prayer that outline believers as family.  And before that he outlines who the individual is in Christ.  Nothing about the context of Ephesians allows for my radical and aggressive departures from various churches due to doctrinal differences.  Paul reminds the believer in 4:1 that he should be walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which he was called.  What calling is that?  The life of Christ being lived out through moment-by-moment relationship.  Each believer is called to this relationship with God first and foremost.  That way the life of Christ can be manifest in a daily walk.

Paul, not wanting to stop with the profundity that is a walk that is worthy of our calling, hits the believers up with an immense request in verse 2, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;”  BAM!  Its as if Paul was shooting for the very foundation of the fleshly nature and goes in for the kill: no more pride.  Pride is what hits me and causes me to want to be right and dogmatic about things.  I have dear friends who have endured this pride and still love me (and my family) despite this intensity.  My parents told me growing up that I should consider being a lawyer because I loved to argue.  Over time my love for arguing has disappeared.  I’ve seen the arguments tear people down, destroy relationships and ruin church bodies.  It is not that the doctrine was not important, it was, but that the way that things were discussed rapidly escalated to the point of injured soldiers who were wounded from once friendly fire.

Paul writes that the believers should be lowly or humble, meek or gentle.  With patience the believers should forebear or tolerate with love.  Love!  I hate the term tolerance because it is so often used outside of the context of love.  We tolerate neighbors with house colors and decorations we don’t care for, but we don’t often love them.  Worse is that in the church we could ignore love and simply tolerate brothers and sisters whom we should know intimately enough that we could pray for them without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17), and as the Lord does things in the life of the body we never stop rejoicing (I Thes.5:16).  What wound can be caused between friends when they’re gentle and humble with one another?  What blow struck with the slowness of patience can be described as cutting and haughty?

It is with this attitude of moment-by-moment relationship, walking in a manner worthy of our calling, being humble, gentle, patient and tolerating in love that we are called to then endeavor or preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  If I were to say, “Hey brother (under the Father Eph.3:14-15), I have been walking with the Lord and meditating on His word and contemplating this doctrine for a while (in patience), and I think that we don’t see eye-to-eye and I would love to spend some time going over God’s word with you to see what He says about it so that we can preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” then you would say that I have come with a noble and yet humble attitude.  I didn’t come with a sledgehammer, but instead with graciousness and love.

Doctrine is critical.  It is the clear delineation of what should be God’s revealed truth.  But doctrine does not give us the right to depart or destroy others in the body at the onset of a disagreement.  Yes, there are biblical grounds for separation.  Yes, there are times when believers should part ways because one or more of the parties involved are not behaving in a manner worthy of the calling, but we don’t jump to that conclusion with haste.  We rest in Christ, we seek to preserve the unity.

The Greek for the word preserve or keep there implies a guarding or maintaining of something that is whole, to prevent the decay of that thing.  Unity is fragile, but in Christ it is not only positionally existent, but very easily possible for Him to preserve.  The Holy Spirit has preserved His word for thousands of years and there is not much of a chance that you or I could ruin that.  We’re called to a life that is rich and abundant together.  Consider that togetherness the next time you start to feel your blood pressure rise.  Consider tolerance in love.  Consider the opportunity you may have one day in the future where your failures could be offset by the illustration of God’s work in your life to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Issues in Dispensationalism: Was Jesus in the Old Testament or in the New Testament

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My buddy Trint privately messaged me and asked for my take on this particular blog post: I’m Possessed.  The author of the post wrestles with how he should apply the content of the post and looks for an out so that he doesn’t have to wrestle with the guilt of not fulfilling Christ’s command.  The good news is that I think that there is a very simple and low-guilt out: hermeneutics (AKA Proper Bible Interpretation).  There is also another out: Grace (AKA the fact that you’re not under the Law any more, as you have died to this world and its systems with Christ if you are a believer).

While on the surface it looks like this post may be about money and possessions, its really a about the issue of which dispensation Christ was in and how we deal with the life of Christ before His death, burial, resurrection and ascension.  How do we as believers address the complexities of what Jesus did and said verses what we’re called to do as His possession?  I believe that fundamentally the question that was asked by the author of the aforementioned blog post is flawed because it presupposes that everything that Christ spoke was directed towards the disciples, the New Testament church, and the believer today.

I’m co-teaching a class on Bible Interpretation at church (Link to Series for download) and rather than start in the middle of why this is a poor approach to interpreting this passage I’m going to go through the processes we’re teaching and attempt to see if I come to the same application that the author of the post comes to.  Join me as we look at observations, interpretations, applications and appropriations.  For the record I don’t for some second think that the author of the other post is attempting to misrepresent the passage, I just want to challenge myself and all believers to be consistent in our interpretation and theological calling to be noble minded like the Bereans (Acts 17:11).

Observation of the passage calls for evaluating language, culture, history, context and as many pertinent facts as we can observe objectively about the passage and its contents.  Lets go through those systematically and see what objective elements pop out.  We’ll also want to ask who, what, where, when, why, and how to make sure we’ve got the right focus of the passage.  I’ll be using the resources publicly availabe at blueletterbible.org for you to follow along with if you want to check my references.

Context

The context of the passage appears to be Christ speaking to his disciples and in verse 13 one disciple asks Christ to speak to his brother so as to instruct the brother toward equality in dividing the inheritance that the man was to receive.  Christ then launches on a series of principles that seem to outline first that Christ was not interested in making that call about the inheritance (v. 14).  Instead Christ was interested in motive and source of life (coveting v. 15).  Christ’s parables subsequent to motive point out God’s provision (vs. 16-31).  Seeking the things of God will show God’s provision for the needs of the believer.

Language

The language of the Luke passage is Greek.  I’m not going to delve into each Greek word, but I will highlight the bits and pieces that seem to carry the most weight in the selected verses.

Fear Not:  The Greek here is two words: phobeō mē.  We’re all familiar with the English transliteration and adaptation phobia, and the Greek carries with it just such a context [BLB].  The verb tense is present, middle, imperative, which means that the person listening to Christ is to take the command to heart.  The negation of the fear indicates that we should not for any reason let fear rule in the context of this passage.

little flock: The Lord uses a metric indicator to reflect the size of the disciples despite the first verse of the chapter reflecting that a general throng had gathered around the smaller circle of the disciples.  Flock was used analogously of the group of disciples and is apparently common figurative language as all five times that it is translated that way in the KJV the figurative subject is a body of saints (vs. Luke 12:32, Acts 20:28, Acts 20:29, 1Peter 5:2-3).

your Father: interestingly we see Christ identifying the disciples as being sons of the Father.

good pleasure: The Father’s pleasure is is aorist, active, indicative which indicates to us that it is a past action with ongoing results, it is being done by the father to the disciples and it is spoken factually.

the Kingdom: if you want to see theologians argue bring up the kingdom.  However, the disciples, as best as we can tell, would have recognized the kingdom as the coming kingdom of the Messiah [Grk reference].  A rulership that would entail political power, peace, and a fulfillment of the New Covenant (See Jeremiah 31:31).

Sell: The Greek here is imperative and active.  You sell your stuff as soon as is expedient.

alms:  Alms would be a gift.  A benevolent and generous gift that was not earned by the recipient.

a treasure: A storage place for valuables, or the valuables in the storage place.

in the heavens: The dwelling place of God above all of creation.

where your treasure is: is is present, indicative.  It reflects the fact of where your treasure is now.

Culture

The Jewish culture generally operated with the mindset that material blessing was a sign of spiritual right relationship.  God promised material blessing to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and to the Hebrews if they followed Him and made Him their God.  Christ’s apparent countering of this by saying sell this sign of blessing would have had some sort of shock value.

History

Historically wages were earned with hard labor.  There were not normal cases of overnight millionaires (figuratively speaking) and an inheritance was a valuable thing to receive because it may allow you to break free of debt, help establish a stronger business through investment capital, or could be used in various trading businesses to increase overall wealth.  Many households had very simple possessions and were not lavish.  Tax collectors like Matthew would have come into the house and evaluated the apparent wealth based on the possessions and then demanded a payment for Rome.

5 W’s and an H

Who: Christ is speaking to the disciples about God’s character

What: earthly possessions, heavenly possessions, faith

When: every day life

Where: wherever the disciple is

Why: because the disciple was concerned over the inheritence

How: God’s provisions

Interpretation

The interpretation is a summary or re-statement of the passage or verses that attempts to collect the observations into a coherent statement.

My close disciples and followers, you should have no fear over earthly provisions because the Father in heaven will give you the food and clothing and shelter that you need as He brings about the fulfillment of the kingdom.  Take the worldly things that are of value and sell them in faith because those things rust, fade, and lose value.  Instead look forward to the treasures that are in heaven by walking in an abiding relationship with the Father because where you treasure is, and that should be in heaven, there your heart is.

Application

Application looks at the passage at hand and looks for a subjective principle, a fact that can be relied upon, a truth that can be enacted, or an appropriation.  There are two kinds of applications: direct and indirect.  You will need to determine if there is a direct application for you by looking at the intended audience of the interpretation!  If you are not the intended audience (and in this passage you are not)  then there may be an indirect application of principles or truths to rely on.  I’ll list a few applications based on the interpretation and you can meditate on this as well and bring up other suggestions.

Direct application

  • The disciples could rely on the Father for provision
  • The disciples could abide in the Father (see John 15) and that intimacy would build up or store treasures in heaven that would be rust free
  • The disciple who had asked the question about his inheritance could relax about equal distribution because the earthly blessing would eventually lose value even if it had short term value

Indirect Application or Principles

  • The believer can rely on God for provision
  • This passage confirms our need to be heavenly minded just like Paul instructs the believers in Colossians 3:1-3
  • We need to rely on the Lord for our value and not on our stuff

Conclusion

You can see that while these two lists are not exhaustive, the New Testament saint, because he is not the specific recipient of the instructions from Christ has nothing to fear about not fulfilling this passage’s imperative commands.  We can look at other New Testament passages such as Acts 2:44-45, Romans 12:13, Philippians 4:18-19 and evaluate God’s commands regarding provisions in the body of Christ.  There are plenty of opportunities to serve the Lord as we abide in Christ and walk by the Spirit, but we don’t need to worry about commands for Old Testament Saints (and even though the gospels are under the New Testament moniker, they are not directed towards New Testament Saints).

By carefully applying hermeneutics and by making sure that you understand the context of the passage you’re studying you can walk in confidence that you are under grace, you can walk confidently in your position in Christ, and you can boldly assert your Christian liberty.  This doesn’t liberate you from righteousness empowered by the Holy Spirit (see: Romans 6), but it liberates you to be motivated by grace, which is the only true motivation in the life of the believer.

Oh, and I do lift up before our Lord the provision of the autistic son of the author of that post.  We come before you Lord in confidence that you have brought us all together as believers to seek out opportunities to server one another.  We pray (even via the Internet) for your provision for the autistic child, Your peace in the life of the parents, and we pray for the doctrine of agency to be manifest in the lives of your flock.  Amen.

Spiritual Gift Verses Spirit Directed Theology

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This morning ladylighthouse asked on Twitter:

Anyone have any positives or negatives regarding spiritual gifts tests???

I gave a reply that pointed out that First Corinthians 12:11 indicates that the Holy Spirit gives the gifts and its not about you now and forever, but about Him and His timing.  This got me thinking about how my theology has drifted from “Spiritual Gift” oriented theology to “Spirit Directed” theology.  One looks for the Holy Spirit to work in my life in one particular area, the other says, “My life is yours: take it and run.”  One is focused on one aspect of the relationship that the believer has with Christ and the other is focused on the entire life of growth that comes from moment-by-moment relationship with God.

There are a few key passages that lead me to think that Paul’s references to Spiritual Gifts were given for specific knowledge on a specific topic, but were not for us to take as the primary focus of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.  The passages include Galatians 5:22-23 (the Fruits of the Spirit), 2nd Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:1-16, and Colossians 3:1-3.  This list is hardly exhaustive, but the verses mentioned each have an element of relationship that is critical for us to take into account in the context of Spiritual Gifts.  In other words, we don’t discount the spiritual gifts, but we don’t focus on them alone.

Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22-23 is often referred to as the fruits of the Spirit passage.  Interestingly this is not exhaustive.  It is a brief summary of some basic characteristics that should reflect the life of Christ in you, but it is not an entire list.  God’s character is infinitely good and is reflected in many ways, as His life pours out of you, you should be blown away by the extremely long list that is proven beyond this list.  The Holy Spirit, who is guiding the believer in a moment by moment walk empowers the believer unto righteousness.  The only way Ephesians 2:10 can be fulfilled is if we are abiding in the Holy Spirit’s direction and are living out the many fruits of the Spirit.  This relationship aspect to righteousness is exactly why we can defeat sin in our daily lives.

II Corinthians 3:18

This passage has had my attention for a little over a year now I think.  It has been quite refreshing to study this passage and each time see an element of Christ and His work that I somehow missed before.  The nature of the mirror is to reflect Christ, and we’re looking at what we’re becoming.  Not at what we are, but what we’re becoming.  The mirror shows us who we are in Christ.  The beholding of the Lord is part of our spiritual growth and the Holy Spirit moves in us to cause that growth.  The growth comes from what is already true of us in Christ being shown to us.  We grow because we reckon those things true (See all of Romans 6 for the concept of reckoning and its impact on our daily life).

Romans 12:1-16

By the mercies of God we do all of Romans 12.  As a logical result of His mercy we respond to Him by listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit causes us to do a tremendously long list of things that are not a Law, but instead reflective of a lifestyle.  The Holy Spirit moves in the life of the believer and causes a radical response that includes gifts (vs 6-8), but is very practical for a daily walk that meets the needs of 1) our vertical relationship with the Lord, 2) our horizontal relationship with other believers and 3) our relationship with the world.  As someone in my Tuesday night Bible Study put it: its like a layered snowball that builds on the previous layer.

Colossians 3:1-3

The Holy Spirit reminds us of Christ and the Father (John 16:13-14).  Colossians 3 reminds us of our heavenly position.  We are now seated in the heavenlies with Christ.  We are now to be setting our mind on things above where our life is.  The Holy Spirit, as we walk in relationship with Him, will be drawing our attention to our heavenly association and position.  Our condition, the situation in which we live, is to be viewed from a heavenly seat where we’re hidden with Christ.  We don’t see the trial as a meaningless something, but instead as an instrument the Lord is graciously using for our growth.

Conclusion

If we think about the Holy Spirit only working in us through a gift, we come up short.  If we think that we’re only going to be used in a finite manner instead of in a daily walk, we’ll be disappointed by our walk.  If, however, we embrace the concept of moment by moment relationship, the idea that the Lord uses the Holy Spirit in our life to bring about our sanctification, and we realize that we’re right now in the heavenly places and that the Holy Spirit draws us to that realization: we’re going to be more than conquerors.  We’re going to be more than just people who have a spiritual gift, we’re going to be people who change the lives of those around us.  I live that a lot, not because of me, but because of Him in my life: powerfully.

The Essence of Religion

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A quote from my Uncle, Eric Peterman, who puts things in a way I can really enjoy and understand them:

The essence of religion (and there are all colors) is to avoid the necessity of actual grace by contriving means by which I avoid offending God and by which I please God. In short, in that view I try to out-Grace God.

Grace needs to be amazing.  So amazing that we’re in awe of it.  If we try to live the Christian life without ‘using’ Grace we miss the point that it is the very life system by which we operate.