Saturday, January 24, 2009

God-given Righteousness

Charles Spurgeon is a bible gangster. I love this preacher.

I wanted to write about my new found God-given determination in everything I do. But I woke up this morning and started reading out loud an entire Charles Spurgeon sermon. And something he said/wrote shocked me - it hit me hard. He said this...

"Oh, to think that such an One as Jesus should be our Savior, that Heaven’s Darling should condescend to assume our nature and become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh! That He should live such a life and die such a death! That He should present to God a work so perfect, without flaw, without excess! Is there not room for praises here? Now we are as clean before the Lord because we have been washed in Christ’s blood, yes, we are as pure as if we had never sinned! And standing arrayed in Christ’s righteousness, we are more righteous, even, than Adam before the Fall, for he had only a human righteousness, but we have a Divine righteousness. In Christ Jesus, the second Adam, we are nearer to God than if we had been born of the first Adam while untainted by sin!
-Charles Spurgeon - 09.03.1876 - "Good News for Seekers" - Psalm 22:26

I can't believe the righteousness I have through Christ Jesus, and Him alone. I can't believe its power, its magnificence, and its glory. A divine righteousness rather than a human righteousness. Thank you God. It never hit me what kind of righteousness I was given until now. And to think before that Adam's righteousness before sin was at par with my God-provided one. Ha - what foolishness; what grace... simply amazing.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Tick Tock NonResolution

...tick... tock... tick... tock...
The familiar noise of the clock vibrates through my ears and catches my attention. Awake earlier than usual after a time of prayer - finally - prayer - I look up and gaze upon the shiny clock my family has in the living room next to the TV. I watch as the second-hand ticks away, second by second, tick by tock. Then comes a sudden realization that this sight is horrid to my eyes. Every second, every tick, every tock - it will never be redeemed again.

I have no resolution for 2009. No - instead - I have this prayer and this meditation.

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom
.
Psalm 90:12.

I think that upon this verse and this meditation rests everything I would put as a resolution. I have to redeem the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). Yes, it is true that every tick and every tock brings us closer to eternity with God in heaven (praise God), but for now we live in a world where time is limited - we are bounded by time. God alone knows the days of our lives.

Thus sayeth the Psalmist after being surrounded by his enemies
I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the LORD.
The LORD has chastened me severely,
But He has not given me over to death.

Psalm 118:17-18

I am alive today, in this new year, because God wills it. I have been chastened (disciplined) severely in 2008 - with extreme chickenpox on my 20th birthday, with the quarantine from school, hardcore flu, return of asthma, stolen credit card, and much more, but God has not given me over to death - not yet. Like the Psalmist who went through harsher things, I will live and declare the works of the LORD. Time is short yes, it is like a vapor in the wind - like a ticktock of a clock - so teach me to number my days, that I may gain a heart of wisdom.