I found a very interesting blog today on whether or not Christians read the Bible literally. It’s a question I’ve been asked before as well, and the answer is a resounding NO! I do not read the Bible literally (now, as Gru said, “Pause, for dramatic effect…”) Christians do not, and should not, read the Bible literally. Many of the things Jesus said should not and can not be taken literally (I am the vine, I am the gate for the sheep, etc). Glenn Stanton wrote a very helpful blog on this issue at The Gospel Coalition website. I’d encourage you to check it out. I’ll end the same way he did:

Francis Schaeffer, “said the faithful hold a “full” or “strong, uncompromising view of Scripture.” He never said “literal view” because to say so is literally not true.” Do you hold the same view of Scripture?

I’m so often frustrated by what I consider to be a very slow sanctification process. I so often feel like Paul in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” I came across a blog that talks about this very issue which you can read here. It talks about a man who came to Christ after many years of rebellion and was frustrated by the slow process of sanctification. The thing we so often forget is that we have so many different layers of sin that need to be dealt with! And at the very heart of these issues is pride and idolatry.

At the heart of every sin is ultimately thinking that something else is going to bring us more pleasure than God. How often do we try to take matters into our own hands instead of trusting them to God? How many times to we think that we have all the right answers instead of trusting what God has already done and said? As Calvin said, our hearts are idol factories. We are always looking for something else to put on God’s throne and worship.

Tied to idolatry is the issue of pride. I wrote a little blog about this earlier this week but want to add some more thoughts to that. Lewis writes, in Mere Christianity “It is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.” Ultimately what believers need to do, as I said earlier is not think less of themselves, but think of themselves less. That is the key to true humility.

Finally, sanctification may be a slow gradual process, but it is a process. I can look back on my life and be frustrated by what I’ve determined is too slow, but then looking back over a longer period of time I can see how much I’ve grown. For example, last year when I was working as a hospital software support guy, I had to be incredible patient with people, which is something I had been praying for for a very long time. Many of the people I was helping would comment on how patient I was with them (externally at least). After 8 months of doing that job I realized how much more patient I truly had become, not just externally. God uses so many different circumstances in order to bring about our personal holiness.

Growing up, one of my favorite missionaries was a man named Hudson Taylor. Hudson was the first Christian inland missionary to China who’s efforts, I think, have led to the incredible growth of the church we see there today. In fact, I was so touched by his story, that at the age of 5, I was convinced that someday I was going to be a missionary to China. As of now that hasn’t happened, but I’m not ruling out that possibility!

Today I came across a blogpost on a story in Hudson Taylor’s life before he became a missionary to China. In this story, Hudson is working as a medical assistant to a very passionate atheist and his job is to change this atheists bandages every day. Hudson prays for him every day and eventually begins to share the Gospel message with him. The man won’t listen and soon Hudson wonders if he’s doing more harm than good. Finally, Hudson decides to not share and as he’s walking out the door he looks back at the man with tears in his eyes and tells him that he can’t leave without sharing with him the Good News that has changed his life. (You can read the story in more detail here) The man accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord over his life.

How many of you continue to pray and share with someone like this, despite what seems like insurmountable odds? I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” But at the same time, God will not honor our own selfish motivations. James 4:7 says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.” We need to continually honor God with our lives, it’s not enough to simply pray and then expect God to fix all our problems, we need to live a life “worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph 4:1)

(HT: Challies)

I had the privilege of teaching a Bible study at my church this past Wednesday and taught from Matthew 9. A couple of verses from that chapter have really grabbed a hold of my mind this week, the two parables he tells in verses 16-17. I hadn’t ever taken the time before to slow down and think through what Jesus is saying with these stories. Jesus is telling us he’s starting completely over! He isn’t trying to take what’s been done before and repackage it for a new day (as the Pharisee’s were doing) but he’s starting everything new! Just as Aslan did in Narnia when he returned, bringing Spring back to the world and restoring everything to it’s natural order, Jesus has restored everything to himself (Colossians 1:20). This is also exactly what Jesus did for us at the moment of conversion. Instead of repackaging or patching up our old life, he gives us a completely new life in him. We are dead to sin because of Christ’s work on the cross. This is just like Paul said in Romans 7:6 “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” The ESV Study Bible says, “Christians are free from the Mosaic law and now enjoy new life in the Spirit.” Praise God for that new life!