Lessons Learned #9 (yep, still working on them)
The kids and I were talking yesterday about powerful
literature and movies, and discussing why so many Christian attempts are poorer
than their counterparts. We don’t get a
pass just because we ascribe to the Truth.
Excellence must be earned, and nothing short of excellence, in whatever
our calling, does not bring the highest honor to our Creator God; in fact,
sometimes it downright shames His Name.
While none of our accomplishment contributes the least pebble to our justification,
and unless the Lord uses it particularly, is not even indicative of our sanctification,
it is our responsibility as a use of the talents He has entrusted to us. Much of this is developing our gifts; much of
flows from developing our inner character to become more like Christ, to continually
be asking for the gifts of the Spirit.
I recently read an article on the fantasy genre, in which the
author was bemoaning the wretched collection of this literature by poor authors. He made the point, if you want to write like
Tolkien, you need to be a Tolkien. Well,
we all wish we were that brilliant. But
the point is, Tolkien studied hard, worked
hard, wrote laboriously and endlessly, started with the grammar and structure
and language of things, created whole worlds from which to build an enduring
story. We want too many shortcuts. Spiritually, too.
RC Sproul says, “I don’t know how many times, when giving
exams to college students, I have seen something like this written in response
to an essay question: “Dear professor, I
didn’t prepare adequately for this examination.
I’m so sorry. I won’t let it
happen again. Please be merciful to me
because I really do love Jesus.” These
students made the argument that I should not require responsible behavior from
them because of their profession of faith in Christ. When I saw a plea like that, I jotted a note
on the exam page, saying, “I am delighted to hear of the state of your soul,
and I hope you’ve grasped the doctrine of justification by faith alone, but
when grading my students, I practice justification by works alone.”
"I see it in Christian ministries—we think that because we’re
in Christian ministry, we do not have to be concerned about productivity. On the contrary, our calling as Christians is
the highest calling there it, and the idea of being productive is not the
invention of capitalism, it is the mandate of Christ. He saves us in our futility can calls us to
be fruitful. He makes it clear that if
He were to leave us to ourselves, we would be completely impotent. We would produce nothing worthwhile, because,
as our Lord says in I John 15:5, “without me you can do nothing”.
"What is the fruit Jesus is concerned to see in our
lives?...The fruit of a changed life, a changed character, a character that is strengthened
and nurtured by the source of holiness, Christ Himself…So Jesus said, those who
are in Me and do not bear fruit are cut off; those who do bear fruit are
cleansed, purified, nurtured, and pruned, so that they may become even more
productive….
Abide in Me, and I in
you. And as the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in
Me. John 15:3-4
"Here Jesus introduced that rich word abide, which has to do
with remaining close to Him. Jesus
declared that our productivity, our fruitfulness, is directly linked to our
abiding in him. As Christians, we will
bear fruit, but it will vary in degree. The
closer we stay to Christ, the more fruit we will bear. The more we wander out from the center and
neglect the means of grace that He has given to us, the less fruit we will
produce." –RC Sproul, Commentary on John
Good reasons for staying in the Word every day in
memorizing, reading, meditating. The other
day I took a shower in the bathroom one of our children uses, and saw she had
taped several 8x10 pages of Scripture she was memorizing in rows just below the
ceiling, 14 or 16 font. We all have
pockets of time. Thinking back on the
discussions about the pressures young mothers face, if the fruit of these exhausting
laboring years is the formation of the lifetime character of our children, can
we afford that fruit to be stunted, not ripe, full and flourishing, because we
did not stay close in daily fellowship with our, their, Father? We export what we import.
all photos courtesy of Thistledown Cards
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