Prayer by Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Used by AA and known as the "Serenity Prayer" (AA believes you must come to an end of yourself and realize you cannot help yourself before God can help you).
"Woe unto him who strives with his Maker" (Is. 45:9). Remember, He is the Potter, we are the clay.
God raised Jesus from the dead and is still in the resurrection business; changing lives is His domain!
William Ernest Henley, the author of Invictus, claimed to be the master of his soul and captain of his fate, and thanked whatever gods may be for his unconquerable soul--what a humanistic outlook!
The twentieth century saw the self-improvement and positive thinking takeover of Christian thought as the pop culture. It sold and people bought it; well, it worked and some most people believe that the test of an idea is whether it works (pragmatism), not whether it is true (for example, yoga works but is a dangerous undertaking for the Christian to dabble in). Evil can work and even be efficient. However, Christianity works, because it is true; it isn't true because it works. The cliches "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it," and "Try it, you'll like it," and "It works for me!" are invalid to believers--don't experiment! God even makes the wicked to prosper if they go by the rules and are wise, but that's not the gospel. Things may work as applied from the Bible, but that's not the essence of Christianity--our commission is to preach the gospel message, and this is applicable to everyone.
If you can market your dogma to the unbeliever it is not the gospel, because only His sheep will hear His voice and not that of a stranger. There are many false prophets out there telling people what they want to hear, and whitewashing the bad news that we are sinners in need of salvation, not that we are good enough to be saved. The gospel has bad news too--we are lost in need of a Savior and we must get them lost first before we preach the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Christ.
We must "look to the rock from which we were hewn and the quarry from which we were dug" (Isa. 51:1). We are simply clay in God's hands and He is our Potter. Thinking that Christianity is a philosophy and just a matter of getting a good attitude is a recipe for disaster and failure. We are setting ourselves up for calamity when we think that we are ultimately in control of our lives and what happens is that we give ourselves the glory and credit for our success. Our future is in God's hands (cf. Psalm 31:15). If you think about it, you can achieve it by faith. What we should say is with William Carey: "Expect great things from God, but attempt even great things for God!"
What we have to come to realize is that Christianity is not a system of rules and regulations, a catalog of dos and don'ts or a standard of achievement to reach. It isn't a matter of being "in the know" or "knowing the scoop," as it were, but of knowing a person and having a relationship with Him who can change your life. "Victory in Jesus!" This is the lowdown: We give God control of our lives and He transforms us into new creatures, not just improves upon the old self. Self-improvement is no improvement because we want God-improvement. We don't just wake up every morning and resolve to be positive but to love Jesus more and walk closer with Him as He guides us in the way. The better we know Jesus, the more we will love Him and the closer we will follow.
Christianity is not a creed or doctrine, but a relationship and it is just like knowing your kin--it doesn't satisfy just to study them and know their rules--you have to take the challenge and get to know them personally and apply your knowledge. We turn our creed into deeds and put it into practice (as we bear fruit in every good work, we increase in the knowledge of God, according to Colossians 1:10). We are commanded to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ" in 2 Pet. 3:18.
We have the power of choice and do indeed make choices all the time and are responsible for them; the problem is that we make bad choices and cannot take control of our lives--we must let God take over and cease trying to save ourselves. Ovid said, "I know the better ways and I approve them, but I follow the worst" We are infected with sin as a virus and our old sin nature or old man is still much alive and active after our salvation--we must do less trying and more trusting. God wants to approve and say, "Great is your faith," not "You sure try hard." We can get an E for effort, and fail in God's perspective because we gave ourselves the credit. We have the power to make choices, but that doesn't mean we have an absolute free will--we cannot be what we want to be like God who is what He is and can be what He wants to be. We cannot say that we will henceforth never lie or never have a lustful thought if that is our easily besetting sin. "Who can say I have made my heart pure, I am pure from my sin?" (Proverbs 20:9). We all have a sin that easily overcomes us and besets us according to Hebrews 12:1 and is exhorted to set it aside and walk in faith as we learn that God can set us free. We are not born free but must be set free in Christ. We are no longer under sin and sin has no dominion over us as believers according to Romans 6:14. Instead of turning over a new leaf every day and resolving to do better, learn to walk closer to Christ and let Him make you the person He wants you to be. It is not about putting a new suit on the man, as they say, but putting a new man in the suit.
We are forgiven from the penalty of sin at salvation, but we learn to overcome the power of sin and it's influenced in our walk. There is no overnight transformation into perfect people because we are all works in progress and God isn't finished with us yet. He isn't finished until He sees Himself in us like a silversmith refining silver looks for his reflection to know the silver is pure. However we should be are of this: God says in Philippians 1:6: "Being confident of the very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." God never gives up on us--it is us who give up! God can always use us for His glory because that's what He saved us for: (cf. Isaiah. 43:7) and we are a blessing to others: "So will I save you and ye shall be a blessing" (Zech. 8:13). Our trials and tribulations are not only met to teach us but to be a light to others and give us the wisdom to encourage them. There is no one philosophy that we can ascribe to our faith because it is more than a philosophy--it is a relationship (this has become a cliche but must be stressed). We all need the attitude check and change to grace-orientation because the best attitude is gratitude.
Christ didn't come to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive. He made us the way we are and has a purpose for doing it in His outreach. You may develop a great personality and a wonderful disposition and still be a failure as a believer, hardly knowing your Lord. We can be a success in one domain and a failure in another--no one succeeds in everything. Remember that Paul was choleric, Peter was impetuous but sanguine, and Jeremiah melancholic, but God used them the way they were. John the Baptist was sure eccentric, but God never told him to go get some help! Christianity is about transformation, not an improvement! God meets us where we are and accepts us, but we will not stay that way after He works on us.
The problem is that we have an innate nature that God has to deal with and we are subject to that nature just like a dove eats seed and a vulture carrion by nature--we cannot change our nature, but God can change our character and still let us have personality and individuality. Point in fact to heed: we act according to our nature, not contrary to it, according to our depraved and fallen will (we all even fall short of our own ideas). It is not about getting a balanced, well-adjusted, and respectable life, but one of touching others in their time of need. God loves us the way we are and we don't have to change to be more acceptable--and so we should accept one another too--we are not cookie-cutter Christians. The way you are is the way God made you, believers shouldn't have a problem with that.
I've heard it well said: "God doesn't make junk!"
In the final analysis, it is not a matter of willpower, but of faith--not trying, but trusting! "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit" (cf. Zechariah 4:6). Religion is a do-it-yourself proposition and lifting yourself up by your own bootstraps--thank God there's hope for the weak and needy. The goal of our salvation is God-confidence, not self-confidence. In the final audit of our lives at the Bema or Judgment Seat of Christ, we shall be asked whether we learned to love and trust Christ and apply what He taught us, not given a personality inventory checklist. Progress is what God wants, not perfection.
There is rhyme and reason behind the madness: All things work together for good for them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). The catch-22 is that we must see how bad we are to be good, and we don't know how bad we are until we've tried to be good! We must come to Christ on the lowest possible credentials crying for mercy to us as sinners who cannot save ourselves and need Jesus--this means dying to self not becoming self-confident that we can be all we can be and do anything we put our mind to; the people furthest from God are those who are self-sufficient and don't see their need, loving their own sin too much to recognize it. Soli Deo Gloria!
"Woe unto him who strives with his Maker" (Is. 45:9). Remember, He is the Potter, we are the clay.
God raised Jesus from the dead and is still in the resurrection business; changing lives is His domain!
William Ernest Henley, the author of Invictus, claimed to be the master of his soul and captain of his fate, and thanked whatever gods may be for his unconquerable soul--what a humanistic outlook!
The twentieth century saw the self-improvement and positive thinking takeover of Christian thought as the pop culture. It sold and people bought it; well, it worked and some most people believe that the test of an idea is whether it works (pragmatism), not whether it is true (for example, yoga works but is a dangerous undertaking for the Christian to dabble in). Evil can work and even be efficient. However, Christianity works, because it is true; it isn't true because it works. The cliches "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it," and "Try it, you'll like it," and "It works for me!" are invalid to believers--don't experiment! God even makes the wicked to prosper if they go by the rules and are wise, but that's not the gospel. Things may work as applied from the Bible, but that's not the essence of Christianity--our commission is to preach the gospel message, and this is applicable to everyone.
If you can market your dogma to the unbeliever it is not the gospel, because only His sheep will hear His voice and not that of a stranger. There are many false prophets out there telling people what they want to hear, and whitewashing the bad news that we are sinners in need of salvation, not that we are good enough to be saved. The gospel has bad news too--we are lost in need of a Savior and we must get them lost first before we preach the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Christ.
We must "look to the rock from which we were hewn and the quarry from which we were dug" (Isa. 51:1). We are simply clay in God's hands and He is our Potter. Thinking that Christianity is a philosophy and just a matter of getting a good attitude is a recipe for disaster and failure. We are setting ourselves up for calamity when we think that we are ultimately in control of our lives and what happens is that we give ourselves the glory and credit for our success. Our future is in God's hands (cf. Psalm 31:15). If you think about it, you can achieve it by faith. What we should say is with William Carey: "Expect great things from God, but attempt even great things for God!"
What we have to come to realize is that Christianity is not a system of rules and regulations, a catalog of dos and don'ts or a standard of achievement to reach. It isn't a matter of being "in the know" or "knowing the scoop," as it were, but of knowing a person and having a relationship with Him who can change your life. "Victory in Jesus!" This is the lowdown: We give God control of our lives and He transforms us into new creatures, not just improves upon the old self. Self-improvement is no improvement because we want God-improvement. We don't just wake up every morning and resolve to be positive but to love Jesus more and walk closer with Him as He guides us in the way. The better we know Jesus, the more we will love Him and the closer we will follow.
Christianity is not a creed or doctrine, but a relationship and it is just like knowing your kin--it doesn't satisfy just to study them and know their rules--you have to take the challenge and get to know them personally and apply your knowledge. We turn our creed into deeds and put it into practice (as we bear fruit in every good work, we increase in the knowledge of God, according to Colossians 1:10). We are commanded to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ" in 2 Pet. 3:18.
We have the power of choice and do indeed make choices all the time and are responsible for them; the problem is that we make bad choices and cannot take control of our lives--we must let God take over and cease trying to save ourselves. Ovid said, "I know the better ways and I approve them, but I follow the worst" We are infected with sin as a virus and our old sin nature or old man is still much alive and active after our salvation--we must do less trying and more trusting. God wants to approve and say, "Great is your faith," not "You sure try hard." We can get an E for effort, and fail in God's perspective because we gave ourselves the credit. We have the power to make choices, but that doesn't mean we have an absolute free will--we cannot be what we want to be like God who is what He is and can be what He wants to be. We cannot say that we will henceforth never lie or never have a lustful thought if that is our easily besetting sin. "Who can say I have made my heart pure, I am pure from my sin?" (Proverbs 20:9). We all have a sin that easily overcomes us and besets us according to Hebrews 12:1 and is exhorted to set it aside and walk in faith as we learn that God can set us free. We are not born free but must be set free in Christ. We are no longer under sin and sin has no dominion over us as believers according to Romans 6:14. Instead of turning over a new leaf every day and resolving to do better, learn to walk closer to Christ and let Him make you the person He wants you to be. It is not about putting a new suit on the man, as they say, but putting a new man in the suit.
We are forgiven from the penalty of sin at salvation, but we learn to overcome the power of sin and it's influenced in our walk. There is no overnight transformation into perfect people because we are all works in progress and God isn't finished with us yet. He isn't finished until He sees Himself in us like a silversmith refining silver looks for his reflection to know the silver is pure. However we should be are of this: God says in Philippians 1:6: "Being confident of the very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." God never gives up on us--it is us who give up! God can always use us for His glory because that's what He saved us for: (cf. Isaiah. 43:7) and we are a blessing to others: "So will I save you and ye shall be a blessing" (Zech. 8:13). Our trials and tribulations are not only met to teach us but to be a light to others and give us the wisdom to encourage them. There is no one philosophy that we can ascribe to our faith because it is more than a philosophy--it is a relationship (this has become a cliche but must be stressed). We all need the attitude check and change to grace-orientation because the best attitude is gratitude.
Christ didn't come to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive. He made us the way we are and has a purpose for doing it in His outreach. You may develop a great personality and a wonderful disposition and still be a failure as a believer, hardly knowing your Lord. We can be a success in one domain and a failure in another--no one succeeds in everything. Remember that Paul was choleric, Peter was impetuous but sanguine, and Jeremiah melancholic, but God used them the way they were. John the Baptist was sure eccentric, but God never told him to go get some help! Christianity is about transformation, not an improvement! God meets us where we are and accepts us, but we will not stay that way after He works on us.
The problem is that we have an innate nature that God has to deal with and we are subject to that nature just like a dove eats seed and a vulture carrion by nature--we cannot change our nature, but God can change our character and still let us have personality and individuality. Point in fact to heed: we act according to our nature, not contrary to it, according to our depraved and fallen will (we all even fall short of our own ideas). It is not about getting a balanced, well-adjusted, and respectable life, but one of touching others in their time of need. God loves us the way we are and we don't have to change to be more acceptable--and so we should accept one another too--we are not cookie-cutter Christians. The way you are is the way God made you, believers shouldn't have a problem with that.
I've heard it well said: "God doesn't make junk!"
In the final analysis, it is not a matter of willpower, but of faith--not trying, but trusting! "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit" (cf. Zechariah 4:6). Religion is a do-it-yourself proposition and lifting yourself up by your own bootstraps--thank God there's hope for the weak and needy. The goal of our salvation is God-confidence, not self-confidence. In the final audit of our lives at the Bema or Judgment Seat of Christ, we shall be asked whether we learned to love and trust Christ and apply what He taught us, not given a personality inventory checklist. Progress is what God wants, not perfection.
There is rhyme and reason behind the madness: All things work together for good for them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). The catch-22 is that we must see how bad we are to be good, and we don't know how bad we are until we've tried to be good! We must come to Christ on the lowest possible credentials crying for mercy to us as sinners who cannot save ourselves and need Jesus--this means dying to self not becoming self-confident that we can be all we can be and do anything we put our mind to; the people furthest from God are those who are self-sufficient and don't see their need, loving their own sin too much to recognize it. Soli Deo Gloria!
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