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January 28, 2009

The Essence of Love and Faith – Part V

Posted by radicallybiblical under Theology
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This is a continuation of a series of posts on what the elements of love and faith are.

Adequate knowledge of certain essential propositions that is graciously given by the Holy Spirit of God which produces true agreement/surrender to these propositions is the same as personal trust in or reliance on Jesus Christ.

What Causes Faith? – God’s gracious work through His Word (Romans 10:13-17).

What Are the Components of Faith? – Knowledge (adequate Holy Spirit-illuminated understanding of the essential truth of the Gospel (I Corinthians 2:1-14)) AND Agreement (true assent or surrender to the essential truth of the Gospel which one adequately understands by the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit). Or to say it more concisely: Spirit-illumined, Scripture-informed understanding, which always and only leads to automatic, necessary, and yet still supernatural Spirit-produced agreement/surrender.

What Does Faith Cause? – As the instrumental cause of salvation, it is God’s ordained means to bring about true conversion unto and union with Christ, which results in (along with the rest of the order of salvation: justification, definitive sanctification, adoption, etc…) good works and the fruit of the Spirit to the glory of God (obedience, love, joy, peace, patience, gratitude, etc…).

“True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in his Word is true; it is also a deep-rooted assurance, created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others, but I too, have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation.” —The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 21

January 21, 2009

A Grandfather’s Wisdom

Posted by radicallybiblical under Family
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My grandfather, “Pappa”, recently began writing stories of his childhood, marriage, time at war, children, grandchildren, knife making, and things he has learned from life in general. When I learned of this, some of his sayings were brought back to my mind, like, “Don’t sweat the small stuff”. Many people have heard that saying before, but Pappa adds to it to make it personal “,…worry about the important things, like whether or not it will rain or the fish will bite”. Growing up I thought that may have been one of the silliest things I’d ever heard. However, the more I began to think about it I realized he was not telling me to lack concern for the day to day responsibilities, nor was he imploring me to place too much concern on the less important things. His lesson is this: We are not in charge; so if we are going to worry about the things we face in life and look ridiculous in the process, we might as well worry about things we enjoy or things that only God controls, after all, He is sovereign anyway and always.

Lately I find that life tends to worry me more, and I know that is wrong. I have read and even preached on Matthew 6:33-34. I ahve read and I know that I will not add one day to my life through worry, so why is it that the Bible does not hit me in the head the way Pappa’s proverb does? The answer is found in the lesson above. God is using His sovereignty through Pappa to illustrate the same principle in a different way. I often find that after hearing Pappa talk, when I reread that same passage of Scripture I read before, my attitude changes and I am more accepting of God’s principles. When we find ourselves fretting over the responsibilities of life we must remember that no matter what we think we control in this life, we are the the mercy of a loving, kind, and caring Father who longs for us to depend on Him, not on our abilities.

Grandfathers often say funny things in funny ways, but there is often much truth in their sayings. My Pappa is not perfect, but he is a perfect Pappa for me!

Rev. J.W. Myers

January 17, 2009