Security

HT: Tim Challies

What He Says

Loved this from Paul Wilkinson - You Say / He Says 

YOU SAY 
GOD SAYS 
BIBLE VERSES

You say: “It’s impossible” 
God says: All things are possible 
(Luke 18:27)

You say: “I’m too tired” 
God says: I will give you rest 
(Matthew 11:28-30)

You say: “Nobody really loves me” 
God says: I love you 
(John 3:16 & John 3:34 )

You say: “I can’t go on” 
God says: My grace is sufficient 
(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say: “I can’t figure things out” 
God says: I will direct your steps 
(Proverbs 3:5-6)

You say: “I can’t do it” 
God says: You can do all things 
(Philippians 4:13)

You say: “I’m not able” 
God says: I am able 
(II Corinthians 9:8)

You say: “It’s not worth it” 
God says: It will be worth it 
(Roman 8:28 )

You say: “I can’t forgive myself” 
God says: I Forgive you 
(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

You say: “I can’t manage” 
God says: I will supply all your needs 
(Philippians 4:19)

You say: “I’m afraid” 
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear 
(II Timothy 1:7)

You say: “I’m always worried and frustrated” 
God says: Cast all your cares on ME 
(I Peter 5:7)

You say: “I’m not smart enough” 
God says: I give you wisdom 
(I Corinthians 1:30)

You say: “I feel all alone” 
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you 
(Hebrews 13:5)

Only Source

From @DailyKeller

Deepest Law of Acceptance

"In the cross God demonstrates the deepest law of acceptance. For to be convinced that I have been accepted, I must be convinced that I have been accepted at my worst. This is the greatest gift an intimate relationship can offer — to know that we have been accepted and forgiven in the full knowledge of who we are, an even greater knowledge than we have about ourselves. This is what the cross offers."

— Rebecca Pippert, Hope Has Its Reasons  San Francisco, Ca.: Harper & Row, 1989), page 105

HT: Of First Importance

Free To Be Me

The Freedom that Comes from Grace (Scotty Smith by way of Darryl Dash)

Grace is the end of all posturing and pretending.

• Because of grace, I no longer have to pretend to be someone different than I am. Grace meets me right where I am.

• Because of grace, I don’t have to measure up, because I couldn’t anyway. Jesus has measured up on my behalf, and it is enough.

• Because of grace, I can accept the harshest criticism, knowing that even worse is true of me than they know, but it’s all been dealt with by Jesus.

• Because of grace, I can be free from needing the approval of others, knowing that I already have the only approval that really matters.

• Because of grace, I can lean into honest relationships with others, knowing that I don’t have to fear being exposed when I’m dressed in the righteousness of Christ.

Confidence

“When Christ is my hope, he becomes the one thing in which I have confidence. I act on his wisdom and bank on his grace. I trust his promises and I rely on his presence. And I pursue all the good things that he has promised me simply because I trust him. So, I am not manipulating, controlling, or threatening my way through life to get what I want, because I have found what I want in Christ. He is my hope.”

— Paul David Tripp,  A Quest for More ,  (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2007), 107

HT: Of First Importance

Always Holding On

"...the more smitten I become by the fact that God's love for me, His approval and commitment to me, does not ride on my transformation but on Jesus' substitution. Jesus is infallibly devoted to us in spite of our inconsistent devotion to Him.  The Gospel is not a command to hang on to Jesus. It's a promise that no matter how weak your faith or how unsuccessful your efforts may be, God is always holding on to you. In this light, life is simply a chronicle of God's successes perfectly meeting our failures."

 -Tullian Tchividjian, One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace For An Exhausted World, Page 211

Reacting to the Threat

"...the gospel is more threatening to religious people than non-religious people, Religious people are very touchy and nervous about their standing with God. their insecurity makes them hostile to the gospel, which insists that their best deeds are useless before God. One of the ways we know that our self-image is based on justification by Christ is that we are not hateful and hostile to people who differ from us; one of the ways we know that our self-image is based on justification by works is that we persecute."

        - Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, page 128

Unshakable Position

I'm enjoying Pete Wilson's newest book. Here's some good stuff!

""..my goal these days...is to transition from a success-based identity to a position-based identity.

What is a position-based identity? It means that instead of gathering self-worth externally - from achievement - we try to receive it internally. We begin to understand that self-worth comes from who we are in Christ, not what we accomplish in this world...

...Positional-based identity doesn't come from your performance or from anyone else's evaluation of your performance. Rather, positional-based identity comes from how you feel about your position in Christ...

...Is the root of your identity in the truth that right now you are loved?
 
Do you believe that right now you are accepted, that right now you are enough because you are the beloved child of the King?

Basing your identity on that reality is the only way to treat an achievement addiction. It's the only way to tear down the ladder and destroy the treadmill of achievement and success. Because if you do that, your life will be rooted in something that cannot be shaken."

 - Pete Wilson, Empty Promises: The Truth About You, Your Desires, and the Lies You're Believing, pages 42-45

Revelations in Disappointment

Phil Keaggy (one of my favorite musical artists of all time) had a song on his "Love Broke Through" album entitled "Disappointment....His Appointment." Disappointment, he said, can be God's appointment for good in our lives. What is God saying to us in our disappointment?

From Michael Kelly at Forward Progress - Five things the Gospel has to Say about Disappointment.

So what might the gospel have to say about disappointment? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Your worth is determined not by the outcome of this situation. It’s determined and set by the cross of Jesus Christ. So regardless of how this turns out, you are secure in Him.

2. Because you feel so disappointed right now, you can ask the Holy Spirit what that disappointment reveals about your heart. Perhaps you have placed this hope, this relationships, or this job in higher esteem than you ought. Repent, and return to your first love that still passionately loves you.

3. Praise God! Evidently, there is some pitfall in your future that you are not aware of. God, who is working for your good, sees and knows all things. Thank God that He is protecting you from yourself, for surely you would fall into some kind of sin or trouble had things worked out the way you thought they should. Thank God He’s wiser than you are.

4. You do not have to be ruled by your emotions in this moment. You can choose joy in Christ. But learning how to do that only happens during seasons of disappointment. You are free, in Christ, to be okay in Christ.

5. Jesus loves you. He really, really does.

Everything You Need, You Already Have

From an interview by Timothy Dalrymple with Tullian Tchvidjian regarding approval and acceptance.

When you realize that you already possess everything you need in Christ, you recognize that you don’t actually need anything from anybody.  Everything you need, you already have in Christ — you don’t need anything more, so now you can now spend your life giving yourself away.  That invests your life as a leader with unbounded courage.

Now, I can walk into a meeting to announce an important decision and not be worried that some in the room might not like it, and fight against it.  I can live my life with unfettered sacrifice because I don’t need to win.  I’m free to lose, and that’s something leaders face all the time.  So much of their own sense of value and worth and identity is wrapped up in success as the world defines it.

But when you realize that because Jesus won for me, I’m free to lose, because Jesus succeeded for me I’m free to fail, that makes you a powerful leader.  You can live your life with reckless abandon, realizing on the one hand that, like Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  Everything I need I already have.  There is nothing anyone can strip away from me that I actually need.  I’m free to be unpopular, free to make tough decisions, free to stand on principle and do what’s right even if people will resist it.

It changed me as a leader.  I have more courage.  I’m able to lead more boldly.  I’m able to lose and not have to walk out of a meeting getting my way.  I can be sacrificial.  I can give myself away, because all I need is Christ.  I don’t need anything else.  I’m now free to give everything I have without needing anything in return.  I can love those who hate me, I can turn the other cheek when I’m slapped in the face, because my dignity and my sense of value is not wrapped up in what I have in this person or this project.  It’s wrapped up in Jesus.

That changes everything.

 BTW, I highly recommend Tullian's book Jesus + Nothing = Everything.

Harvests from My Twitter Feed

I've been enjoying my new Twitter account this month.  Here's some interesting harvests from my Twitter feed.

Security is not to be found in your wisdom and strength, but in the moment by moment grace that meets you in your weakness. @PaulTripp

If we don’t see how Jesus fits into the Big Story the Bible is telling we invariably reduce the gospel to postmortem hell avoidance. @BrianZahnd

Stability= the realization that God is not elsewhere. @dlongenecker1

 GK Chesterton: "The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank." @TonyReinke

"Sin has been pardoned at such a price that we cannot henceforth trifle with it." (Spurgeon) @NancyDeMoss

Security is not found in the temporary acceptance of people, but in the eternal acceptance of the Father by the grace of Jesus. @PaulTripp

Are you following me on Twitter yet?  I'm @bg_simmons

For All Us Losers

"The gospel is good news for losers, not winners.  It's for those who long to be freed from the slavery of believing that all of their significance, meaning, purpose and security depend on their ability to 'become a better you.'"

    - Tullian Tchvidjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything, page 49

Psalm 23 Reversed

Most people know Psalm 23. It's quoted at so many funerals and presented on so many cross-stitched plaques and pictures that it is a part of our common culture. But have you ever tried to imagine a life that is the opposite of Psalm 23? David Powlinson has, and puts it this way.

Antipsalm 23

I’m on my own.
No one looks out for me or protects me.
I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing’s quite right.
I’m always restless. I’m easily frustrated and often disappointed.
It’s a jungle—I feel overwhelmed. It’s a desert—I’m thirsty.
My soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can’t fix myself.
I stumble down some dark paths.
Still, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
But life’s confusing. Why don’t things ever really work out?
I’m haunted by emptiness and futility—shadows of death.
I fear the big hurt and final loss.
Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,
but I’d rather not think about that.
I spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
I find no lasting comfort.
I’m alone . . . facing everything that could hurt me.
Are my friends really friends?
Other people use me for their own ends.
I can’t really trust anyone. No one has my back.
No one is really for me—except me.
And I’m so much all about ME, sometimes it’s sickening.
I belong to no one except myself.
My cup is never quite full enough. I’m left empty.
Disappointment follows me all the days of my life.
Will I just be obliterated into nothingness?
Will I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
Sartre said, “Hell is other people.”
I have to add, “Hell is also myself.”
It’s a living death,
and then I die.

Makes the meaning of the familiar words more clear, doesn't it?

Hat Tip: Justin Taylor:

Whoe Lotta Shakin' Going on

I don't know about where you live, but where  I live and in my life there's a whole lotta shakin' going on!  Heres what my friend Ron Brakin says about it at 'How shaky R U today?

I can’t think of anyone I know who is not “going through it.” Shaky job. Shaky marriage. Shaky kids. Shaky finances. Shaky health. Shaky spirit.

There’s just a whole lot of shakin’ goin’ on. Everywhere on the face of the earth.

And we are surprised.

Even after God warned us in Hebrews 12 that, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’”....

.....Get it? Everything’s being shaken. But these are also wonderful words of comfort and encouragement. He’s assuring us that we don’t need to be shaky, even when everything around us is being tossed like a salad.

 lMuch more at the link.  Good job, Ron!

Gospel Tweets

 Here's some Gospel Tweets  from Tullian Tchividjian's Twitter feed:

• The gospel doesn’t simply ignite the Christian life; it’s the fuel that keeps Christian’s going and growing every day.
• The gospel reminds us that we become more mature when we focus less on what we need to do for God and more on all God has already done for us.
• The gospel tells me my identity and security is in Christ–this frees me to give everything I have because in Christ I have everything I need
• Christian growth doesn’t happen first by behaving better, but believing better–believing in deeper ways what Christ has already secured for you
• The gospel tells us we don’t need to spend our lives earning the approval of others because Jesus has already earned God’s approval for us
• When you understand that your significance and identity is anchored in Christ, you don’t have to win—you’re free to lose
• Christian growth doesn’t happen by working hard to get something you don’t have. It happens by working hard to live in light of what you do have
• The world says that the bigger we become, the freer we will be. But the gospel tells us that the smaller we become, the freer we will be.
• When you are united to Christ, then all that is Christ’s becomes yours: Access to God and affection from God can never be lost
• The gospel explains success in terms of giving, not taking; self-sacrifice, not self-indulgence; going to the back, not getting to the front
• The gospel empowers us to live for what’s timeless, not trendy–to follow Jesus even when it means going against what’s fashionable
• Because of Christ’s finished work, sinners can have the approval, acceptance, security, freedom, love, righteousness, & rescue they long for
• The only antidote there has ever been to sin is the gospel—and since we never leave off sinning, we can never leave the gospel.
• Because of Christ’s propitiatory work on my behalf I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, praise or popularity.
• The gospel never starts with what we need to do; it always begins with what God has already done; to get it backwards is to miss the gospel
• The vertical indicative (what God’s done for me) always precedes horizontal imperative (how I’m to live in light of what God’s done for me)
• What we need practically can only be experienced as we come to deeper understanding of what we are positionally—whats already ours in Christ
• When you are united to Christ, no amount of good work can earn God’s favor and no amount of bad work can forfeit God’s favor
• Jesus came not to angrily strip away our freedom but to affectionately strip away our slavery to lesser things so we might become truly free
• The irony of the gospel is that we truly perform better when we focus less on our performance for Jesus & more on Jesus’ performance for us

The Source of Humility & Confidence

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued and that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time.”

 - Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 181.

Hat Tip:  Of First Importance