Just the other day I was reading a book and came across this sentence, "There is never a day when we have immunity from difficult circumstances." How true is that? Everyday there is some kind of circumstance that threatens to rob us of our joy and enjoyment in God. As I pondered more on that statement, I came to realize that there is a great burden I carry into every morning I wake up: Healthy living. The weight of living healthy is often too much to bear for me. I think about how far I have to go, all the failures I had the day prior, and how hard it will be the rest of the day to avoid the many temptations to eat poorly and be lazy. Can you relate? Are you struggling to live healthy? Be comforted by the fact that you are not alone. The point of this series of blog post entitled A Gospel-Centered Approach to Healthy Living is to give you practical, yet biblical, advice for healthy living. I will first lay a theological basis for why we should be committed to healthy living followed by practical steps you can take everyday on your journey for living healthy.
My hope is that by reading this series of posts, you will be filled with hope in knowing that you can change, encouraged by knowing how you can change, and excited to share what you have learned and experienced with others who feel with the weight of living healthy. The journey won't be easy, but it will certainly be worth it.
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I've been blessed with many great teachers and professors in my lifetime. From elementary school all the way through college I have learned a great deal from teachers. However, anger has taught me more than any teacher I have ever had. Thats right. Anger has taught me so much about myself. More than any other teacher I have ever sat under. The same can be true for you, but you must first know what anger is. In knowing what anger truly is, you will then see how I can boldly say that anger has taught me much about myself. What is anger? Anger must be broken down into two sections: desire and circumstance. There must always be a circumstance that starts the flame of anger and a desire that fuels the flame to grow. 1. Anger is sparked when we have an expectation that goes unmet. This is the circumstance. We expect something to happen and when it does not happen, we get angry. Think about the last time you were angry. What expectation did you have? How did it go unmet? What was your response? 2. Anger is the response we have when what we love is threatened. That is the desire. When we have an expectation go unmet and we respond in anger, it is because there is something we love that is being threatened. This brings a whole new light to anger doesn't it? See, anger in and of itself is not wrong. It is perfectly okay to get angry as long as the motivation is the good of others and the glory of God. For example, if I find out that someone close to me has gossiped about me, my response is anger. Is that wrong? It all depends. Is my anger fueled by a heart attitude that wants the best for my friend? Or is my heart driven by vengeance and pride? Anger that is fueled by a selfish, all-about-me desire is wrong. When we respond in anger, it can teach us a lot about what we truly love and care about. In the moments when expectations go unmet and we respond in anger, we must always ask 'What am I loving right now?' Is it your hurt? Is it yourself? Is it the other person? When we are angry, we must always ask 'What am I loving right now?' Anger can teach us a lot about ourselves. The question is, will you let it teach you? Will you sit back after you respond in anger towards someone or something and ask that vital question 'What am I loving?' Will you do the hard work of getting to the root of your anger? Friends, we must. When we act out in self-fueled anger, God is mocked and people get hurt. Together, lets allow our anger to teach us. In the end, we will learn more about our shortcomings and better love the people God has placed in our lives. There is nothing that compares to a good friend. If you have one, you know this is true. If you don't have one, you also know this is true. Not only are good friends hard to find, but they are hard to be thankful for. If you are anything like me, of which I'm willing to bet you are, you go through everyday life forgetting what a great blessing good friends truly are. I was reminded of this last week while reading 2 Samuel 11 and 12. In this popular Bible story, King David sleeps with the wife of one of his elite soldiers Uriah, impregnates her, then tries to deceive Uriah into thinking the child is his, and then kills Uriah. All in all, David was in sin, ruining his life, and acting like everything was okay. Have you been in a spot like that before? Maybe you haven't had an affair or murdered anyone, but you are going through the motions in your walk with God, continually choosing sin over righteousness, and you walk around pretending like everything is alright. I'm so grateful because I have been in that place time and time again, yet the Lord is so patient and kind. So much so that He often sends a friend to meet me where I am. This is exactly what He did in David's life. In 2 Samuel 12 God sends Nathan to David. The Scripture records Nathan telling a story to David, in hopes that David will see himself in the story, so that he might repent and be restored in his relationship with God. While I could certainly go into more detail here, I want to hone in on verse 7. At the end of telling the story, David points out the evil in the man of the story. In response, Nathan says "You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says..." Wow. When we are seasons and in the trenches of joy-sucking sin, we need a friend. Not someone who will join us in acting like everything is alright, but a friend who will point out our wrongdoings, help us see sin for what it is, and remind us of what God says. I am grateful for the friends in my life that do those things for me. I'm asking God that He would help me be more thankful, will you join me? I recently read the news about a dear member of Liberty Baptist Church, Julie Cain, learning that cancer has spread to her sternum, lung, and more lymph nodes. Learning this news left me heartbroken. Heartbroken for Julie, her husband, family, and friends. Heartbroken because I know God didn't design things this way, but because of sin, our world is desperately broken and sadly cancer exists. Heartbroken at the thought of how heavy the weight of this trial must seem to Julie and her family. However, in the midst of this brokenness, I was reminded by the words of the Holy Spirit through Paul in Ephesians 3:20 that say God "is able to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." Tonight I am reminded: God is able. God is able to use this trial to prove His faithfulness through Julie's life so that all might know the joy one can have in Christ. God is able to use the Cain family testimony to reach people who want nothing to do with God, but in seeing the joy in the Cain family, they are drawn by God's lovingkindness and are united with Christ in salvation. God is able to use this trial in Julie's life to do so much. But most of all... God is able to cure cancer. I believe what God has said. I believe that He is able to do "immeasurably more than all we ask." I believe that when God's people get on their knees and pray, understanding we deserve nothing but owe Him everything and make bold requests in faith, God moves. I believe God is able. Do you? This is a plea for you to join me in believing God is not only able to cure Julie's cancer, but that He can do "immeasurably more." Let's gather around Julie and her family, get on our knees, and pray in faith for God to move because He is able. Will you join me? Share this post and let people know. Recently I read a book entitled Fallen: A Theology of Sin by a handful of various contributors. One section of the book, written by D.A. Carson, really stuck with me. Carson's section is titled "Sin's Contemporary Significance". In this section he writes,
"Despite the massive evidence that surround us on every side, many in our generation have come to think of themselves as essentially good people. Pollyannaish outlooks abound. If there are bad things in the world, they are primarily what other people do - other religions, other races, other political parties, other generations, other economic sectors, other subcultures. Doubtless every generation thinks of itself as better than it actually is, but in the Western world this generation has multiplied such moral blindness to the highest degree." Carson helps us understand the state of America right now. We live in a day of extreme violence and wickedness (just watch 30 minutes of CNN today) and yet people will always point to 'someone else' as the problem. This thought process has produced what Carson calls an intolerant tolerance in America. What this means is that our culture encourages us to be tolerant of all belief systems, yet in great irony, when a belief system claims another belief system is wrong, intolerance walks in. We live in a society that has placed tolerance as the supreme god. There is no cultural consensus on right and wrong, good and evil, holiness and sin, because tolerance has been elevated to the highest moral echelon. While these things burden me greatly, I am not surprised. Throughout the Old and New Testaments we see the incredible implications of sin. From Genesis to Revelation it isn't hard to see that because of sin, man's ability to live righteously is not only broken, but absolutely impossible (Jer. 10:7-8, 14; Matt. 15:19). What are we to do in light of this? Christians, we must live lives in a manner worthy of the gospel (Col. 1:10; Eph. 4:1; Phi. 1:27), preach the gospel (Rom. 10:14), and pray for our nation (Joel 3:12). While the world continues to rebel and live in rebellion against God, we must be walking examples of the gospel to bring hope. Unbelievers, repent and believe (Mark 1:15). Trust in Christ. By yourself, you can't and won't change. Place your faith in what Christ has done for you on the cross. I'm praying that God would lead me to greater boldness, love, and brokenness for America. Will you join me? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. However, through everyday life, that just sometimes seems impossible. If you find yourself in that place today, let me encourage you: today you can glorify and enjoy God. Starting on April 9th, 2015 I will be starting a teaching series entitled Killjoys: 7 sins that rip us of our joy and enjoyment in God with my friend R.T. Stringer at Liberty Baptist Church. In this series, we will hone in on seven specific sins that are roadblocks to us glorifying God and enjoy Him. I hope that you will join us as we dive deep into God's Word. For more information on my upcoming series, go here. |
About MeI am a Husband to Clarissa, Pastor at Liberty Baptist Church, reader of many books, and tweeter at @brad_merchant. Archives
July 2016
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