Christ Our Wisdom

1 Corinthians 1:30 declares that Christ Jesus “became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.” All we truly need is found in our Lord! “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3), and this includes wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I've been studying 1 Cor. 1:30 lately, and will share a short series of posts on my gleanings.

So, firstly: Christ Our Wisdom

The Book of Proverbs has much to say about the wisdom of God. “The Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Prov. 2:6). Christ is the perfect fulfillment of this wisdom that was with God from eternity past— “The Lord possessed Me [wisdom/Christ] at the beginning of His way, before His works of old” (Prov. 8:22). In Christ are stored up all God’s treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3).

Without Christ we would be spiritually blind and ignorant of the things of God! Paul describes this condition as “futility of their mind… being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart” (Eph. 4:17, 18). What a privilege then, that Christ enables us to see God’s truth! “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).

May we be ever thankful that our Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son to declare to us more about God and His wisdom and truth (see John 1:18). The more we learn about God, the more we will desire to be holy like Him. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” (1 Peter 1:14-15).

Heidelberg Catechism Week 26

69. Q. How does baptism remind you and assure you that Christ's one sacrifice on the cross is for you personally? A. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing and with it gave the promise that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body so certainly His blood and His Spirit wash away my soul's impurity, in other words, all my sins.

70. Q. What does it mean to be washed with Christ's blood and Spirit? A. To be washed with Christ's blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven my sins because of Christ's blood poured out for me in His sacrifice on the cross. To be washed with Christ's Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed me and set me apart to be a member of Christ so that more and more I become dead to sin and increasingly live a holy and blameless life.

71. Q. Where does Christ promise that we are washed with His blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism? A. In the institution of baptism where He says: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." This promise is repeated when Scripture calls baptism the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung:

Baptism marks us out as a follower of Christ and assures us that by faith we have been forgiven by God... It signifies our dying and rising with Christ. It signifies our sprinkling with the blood of Christ. It signifies our union with Christ... At the most basic level, the water of baptism reminds us that our sins have been washed away.

The next questions of the Heidelberg Catechism continue this section regarding baptism, so I'll wait until that post to continue with a few more thoughts about the topic.

Lazy days of summer

My dear one,

I fear my summer laziness and melancholic tendencies have been playing off of each other. I give partial credit for my recent gloom to the fact that my birthday crept up on me last week. I try in vain to ignore the fact that each passing year means the further diminishing of my chances that you will ever find me...

I was ill for several days recently with some kind of summer bug. It had been years since I slept ALL DAY! Thankfully I got back on my feet in time for my responsibilities at my church's Vacation Bible School. The theme this year was Pilgrim's Progess, and John Bunyan himself showed up each day to read a children's adaptation of his classic allegory. I had the charge of 13 little "pilgrims" during the week. How precious to hear 160+ little voices singing "He Who Would Valiant Be"!

I do believe I'll need a bit of valor myself for the coming two years, as I've just been appointed as the director of a local organization within my field. I shudder at this responsibility - for although I have been happy to be on the board for several terms in various capacities, I am not one to want to "spearhead" anything! Quite content to serve in the background, thank you very much! About the only good thing I can see about all this is that it will look good on my CV (something which the administration of my institution seems to care about, ha!). Can you tell my heart is not in this? I just want to hole up as little ol' me! But if only you were here to whisper in my ear that you're proud of me... perhaps then I could find some joy in the tasks that lie before me!

Every once in a while I feel a little catch in my heart when I observe a smile that reminds me of what yours would be like, or see handwriting that I imagine you to have, or remember a voice that I could predict as belonging to you. Such fragile threads of hope my heart still holds to!

A summer concert series in which I participate has an upcoming concert featuring classic tunes of George Gershwin and Jerome Kern. Several of which have long been favorites of mine - because they have echoes of you in them, of course. I hope you realize that these songs have been written so that one day you can help me learn to dance!

Until then, my dear one...

Psalm 48

Verses 10-14...
As your name, O God, 

so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. 

Your right hand is filled with righteousness. 

Let Mount Zion be glad! 

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice 

because of your judgments! 

Walk about Zion, go around her, 

number her towers, 

consider well her ramparts, 

go through her citadels, 

that you may tell the next generation 

that this is God, our God forever and ever. 

He will guide us forever.

These verses invite and exhort us to praise (to the great and eternal God), remembrance (with our fellow members of the body of Christ), and testimony (towards those still outside of Christ). Those three terms - praise, remembrance, and testimony - as soon as I write them, strike me as a good summary of worship, in which we seek to magnify the name and excellence of God. Is my life characterized by these activities of worship? Am I living out the belief that my God will continue to guide me as I abide within the shelter of Christ's righteousness?

[As this "Psalm series" continues slowly, I still somehow cling to the notion that I will find you at the end of the countdown. Though it most likely is not valid in the least, the pipe-dream spurs me on...]

Heidelberg Catechism Week 25

65. Q. It is by faith alone that we share in Christ and all His blessings: where then does that faith come from? A. The Holy Spirit produces it in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel, and confirms it through our use of the holy sacraments.

66. Q. What are sacraments? A. Sacraments are holy signs and seals for us to see. They were instituted by God so that by our use of them He might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and might put His seal on that promise. And this is God's gospel promise: to forgive our sins and give us eternal life by grace alone because of Christ's one sacrifice finished on the cross.

67. Q. Are both the word and the sacraments then intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation? A. Right! In the gospel the Holy Spirit teaches us and through the holy sacraments He assures us that our entire salvation rests on Christ's one sacrifice for us on the cross.

68. Q. How many sacraments did Christ institute in the New Testament? A. Two: baptism and the Lord's Supper.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung: 

Next to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the Reformers wrote about the sacraments more than any other issue. And while they also fought among themselves over the sacraments, the Reformers did agree on a number of key points:

• We are not saved by the sacraments but by faith alone. The sacraments are means of grace only insofar as we receive by faith the gospel truths promised in the elements.

• The number of sacraments instituted by Christ was only two: baptism (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38) and the Lord's Supper (1 Cor 11:23ff; Acts 2:42). The Catholic Church has five other sacraments, none of which are explicitly instituted by Christ and attached to a promise. 

• The sacraments can in no way add to or repeat Christ's one sacrifice on the cross. The sacraments do not "accomplish" anything, because Christ's work is already finished.

• The sacraments are signs and seals. They do not create faith; rather, they confirm it, make us understand the gospel promises more clearly, and assure us of our salvation. They are holy signs symbolizing the spiritual realities of the gospel, and seals reminding us of God's sure promises.

The Heidelberg Catechism goes on to demonstrate in subsequent questions/answers how the sacraments are meant to nourish our faith, strengthen us, prop us up, and assure us of God's favor.

Heidelberg Catechism Week 24

62. Q. Why can't the good we do make us right with God, or at least help make us right with Him? A. Because the righteousness which can pass God's scrutiny must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law. Even the very best we do in this life is imperfect and stained with sin.

63. Q. How can you say that the good we do doesn't earn anything when God promises to reward it in this life and the next? A. This reward is not earned; it is a gift of grace.

64. Q. But doesn't this teaching make people indifferent and wicked? A. No. It is impossible for those grafted into Christ by true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung: 

The gospel won't be good news if we haven't heard any of the true, bad news... You and I are worse than we think and we can do less to please God than we ever feared on our most dismal day.

It all starts with meditating on the holiness and excellence of God, by which we get a truer picture of our sinful ingratitude, rebellious lawbreaking, selfish priorities, and natural enmity towards God - and thus realize our need to be made right with God!

DeYoung: 

We do nothing to undo our bad doings because we have nothing to contribute but more sin (Isa. 64:6). The reward of eternal life is not a wage we earn but a gift we receive. Undeserved mercy is the good news and scandal of Christianity.

What good news! But then some may ask, "Why do good deeds and deny yourself if sch works can do nothing to merit divine favor anyway?" Gratitude! The structure of the whole Heidelberg Catechism points in this direction, as it is often summed up in three words - "guilt, grace, gratitude."

Psalm 49

Verses 16-20...

Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, 

when the glory of his house increases. 

For when he dies he will carry nothing away; 

his glory will not go down after him. 

For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed 

—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself— 

his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, 

who will never again see light. 

Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish. 

I am so often guilty of the wrong thinking that this passage warns against. When I see the successes of my peers, I can easily sink into discouragement. And when I witness fellow brothers and sisters in Christ being showered with God's blessings (blessing which have been denied me), I fight feelings of bitterness and envy.

I must remember that "he will carry nothing away." Much more important than earthly privilege and prosperity and pomp, is the understanding and wisdom and spiritual blessings that only the true Light can give.

I see the moon...

When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, 

the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, 

what is man that You are mindful of him, 

and the son of man that You care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

My dear one,

What a beautiful moon was out tonight! When I gaze at the moon it brings back memories of my mother's bedtime rituals with me when I was a very small girl. No matter the weather, every evening included our raising of the bedroom window to peer out into the darkness... Sometimes a biting cold and swirling snow, sometimes humid stillness punctuated with crickets. We'd always look for the moon together.

The moon riding alone through the night sky assures me that there is something lovely in solitary quietness. Yes, there is beauty in loneliness because it leads me to seek the Lord.

"The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing" (C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces).

"What else does this longing and helplessness proclaim, but that there was once in each person a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? We try to fill this in vain with everything around us, seeking in things that are not there the help we cannot find in those that are there. Yet none can change things, because this infinite abyss can only be filled with something that is infinite and unchanging—in other words, God himself. God alone is our true good" (Blaise Pascal, Pensées).

Dearest, may you find God to be your true good, indeed your truest and best blessing, as you perhaps look out tonight on the same moon... 

All my love, 

Me

Psalm 50

Verses 14-15...
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High, 

and call upon Me in the day of trouble; 

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

God wants us to worship from the heart. Worship isn't a matter of making sacrifices that serve as bribes to satisfy His demands. After all, He already owns the entire created order (vv. 10-12)! He does not need us or the rest of creation for anything - our God never experiences need. Yet we can glorify Him and bring Him joy by offering our thanksgiving (vv. 14, 23a), delighting in His presence (vv. 14-15) and living a just and kind life in fellowship with His people (v. 23b). As God's people, members of the holy city of Zion, we have the privilege of reflecting His glory and beauty (v. 2). May we love Him supremely and love our neighbors as ourselves!

Today's dilemma

My dear one,

I faced a dilemma today, and I am still not sure if I made the right decision. I chose the option of silence, fearing that any action might appear to be "breaking logs and throwing leaves too vigorously," rather than the intended "cracking twigs and rustling leaves." Especially since the Lord seems to have closed that chapter with a whispered, "No - not now, at least." Perhaps this tendency of mine, this hesitancy, this quietness, seals my fate. But nothing is impossible with God. If He wants you to pursue me, then He must give you the wisdom to know if, when, and how to initiate a closer friendship.

In other news, I spent some time this evening determining what to do about tomorrow's election ballot for the state primaries. I have not been following any of the races closely, but always want to make somewhat-informed decisions at the polls!

And finally, by way of encouragement, I share with you some thoughts from my pastor's sermons yesterday, both of which were especially heartening to me in this season of life. In the morning he spoke on the Christian's fullness of joy ("that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" - John 15:11). It is Christ's desire that His people be filled with His joy, which rests in their union with Him!

• Is our joy hindered because of sin? Christ is able to cleanse us of all our sin.
• Is our joy hindered because of trials and difficulties in life? Christ has promised to give us grace in the midst of all our trials.
• Is our joy hindered because friends have left us? Christ is the Friend that sticks closer than a brother.
• Is our joy hindered because our circumstances have changed? Christ never changes.
• Is our joy hindered because of health problems? Christ's strength is made perfect in our weakness, and He is sovereign even over our health issues.
• Is our joy hindered because of the sins of others against us? Christ was sinned against and reviled not when He was reviled.
• Is our joy hindered because we feel worthless, poor, needy, and we think no one cares? Christ loves us with an everlasting love. Psalm 40 tells us that though "I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me."
• Is our joy hindered because we feel let down? Christ was wounded in the house of His friends - He understands what it is to be treated that way, but He faced it all with joy.

And then in the evening he spoke on God's promise to Abraham ("Is anything too hard for the Lord?" - Genesis 18:11). 

• God's covenant is unchanging: He promises to save, sanctify, sustain, satisfy, seal, and secure His people. 
• In God's set time, He did as He had promised for Abraham (note the 25+ years that passed from the time God first gave Abraham the promise of his son Isaac!). Our times are in His hands. Our ways are not His ways. 
• God fulfills His promises for His own glory. 
• Because of Christ, God's promises are sure - all His promises find their "Yea" and "Amen" in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20)!

Heidelberg Catechism Week 23

59. Q. What good does it do you, however, to believe all this? A. In Christ I am right with God and heir to life everlasting.

60. Q. How are you right with God? A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.

61. Q. Why do you say that by faith alone you are right with God? A. It is not because of any value my faith has that God is pleased with me. Only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me right with God. And I can receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than by faith alone.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

The answer to question #60 served as my introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, when I chanced upon it on a devotional blog several years ago. I was immediately struck by the beauty of this concise summary of the doctrine of justification. 

Comments from DeYoung:

Faith is not what God finds acceptable in us... Faith is only the instrument by which we embrace Christ, have communion with Him, and share in all His benefits. It is the object of our faith that matters... Believe in Christ with all your heart, but don't put your faith in your faith. Your experience of trusting Christ will ebb and flow. So be sure to rest in Jesus Christ and not your faith in Him.

Somehow, I never grasped this important concept of the gospel until in my 20s. The preaching I sat under for so many years stressed human effort. I was led to focus more upon my performance and the strength of my faith. Yet God gradually opened my eyes to more fully understand the saving work He had done in my life. One book that received much highlighting during those days was Michael Barrett's Complete in Him. For instance, his statement, "The value of faith is determined by the object of faith. Saving faith is saving faith because its object is Christ," helped me identify the erroneous thinking I had come to assume - that I somehow had to exercise the right fervency of faith, and demonstrate it in the right way, in order to be assured of God's grace. No!! My faith is placed in Christ, the perfect Saviour whose righteousness and sacrifice are credited to my account, no matter how weak I feel at the moment.

Not what these hands have done 

Can save this guilty soul; 

Not what this toiling flesh has borne 

Can make my spirit whole. 

Not what I feel or do 

Can give me peace with God; 

Not all my prayers and sighs and tears 

Can bear my awful load. 

Thy work alone, O Christ, 

Can ease this weight of sin; 

Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, 

Can give me peace within. 

Thy love to me, O God, 

Not mine, O Lord, to Thee, 

Can rid me of this dark unrest, 

And set my spirit free. 

Thy grace alone, O God, 

To me can pardon speak; 

Thy power alone, O Son of God, 

Can this sore bondage break. 

I bless the Christ of God; 

I rest on love Divine; 

And with unfaltering lip and heart, 

I call this Saviour mine. 

(Horatius Bonar)

Summer Rains

My dear one, 

The sound of the rain pelting my window on this summer evening is a soothing one, wedded perfectly with the sounds of Ola Gjeilo's Piano Improvisations. I made some decaf coffee to further accentuate the pleasure of my evening, and now all that is missing is you. (Which reminds me ... if these letters ever read too much like a mere log of events, it is only because I note those experiences I wish to be bottled up, frozen in time, waiting to be fully relished when I have you at my side.) 

I have completed my summer school teaching, so summertime is officially in full-swing. An out-of-town friend stopped by yesterday, and I made breakfast for us to enjoy together as we used to do on a weekly basis. It was so lovely to be conversing with a real person over a meal. We caught up on family happenings, books read, personal insights... The time together was too short.

Oh, if only I could sit down for a delightful chat with you! I wish I knew what is important to you - your goals, wishes, priorities...

I was thinking this afternoon about how most people seem to be wrapped up in "now." They flash their credit cards for purchases they can't wait to save up for. They shop for convenience meals or opt for drive-thru window. They elect the political figures who promise fast, easy, painless fixes to economic problems. They carry around smartphones that chirp and ding to alert them of every new email and text message. This summer I have a renewed vigor in my efforts to protest such short-sighted living, pursuing instead the simple pleasures - turning off the electronic devices to read a book (yes, a book with real pages, not just a Kindle screen)... taking a walk in the morning coolness... preparing a home-cooked dinner of fresh natural foods... inviting friends into my home... purchasing needed items with cash... pursuing extended time in God's Word... Here's hoping you can take time to do likewise throughout these long summer days, my dear one.

Praying for you! 
- Me

Psalm 51

This well-known penitential psalm often looms dark amidst the others for me, perhaps because of the grave circumstances in which David wrote it. But I found afresh the beauty and hope of the psalm while reading it this evening. I was struck by the realization that there are so many more words of hope and peace than of the dark shadows of despair and torment.

transgressions
iniquity
sin
evil
bloodguiltiness
abundant mercy
steadfast love
cleansing
washing
renewing
truth
wisdom
right spirit
joy restored
clean heart
contrite heart
willing spirit
salvation
righteousness
singing praises

I read elsewhere today, as it so happens, some thoughts on Psalm 51 from Gloria Furman's Glimpses of Grace:

"In exchange for the shame of his sin, David asks the Lord to give him joy... Only a heart that has been cleansed by God's grace will bare itself to the world as a testimony to God's mercy and righteousness... God in his grace invites us to be continually repenting of our sins and rejoicing in Christ's provision of righteousness for us." 

What beauty there is in the gospel!

Reaching for the Moon

I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing this song tonight on my Pandora station, and it made me think of you...

The moon and you appear to be
So near and yet so far from me.
And here am I on a night in June,
Reaching for the moon and you.

I wonder if we'll ever meet; 
My song of love is incomplete.
I'm just the words, looking for the tune,
Reaching for the moon and you.

(Irving Berlin)

Heidelberg Catechism Week 22

57. Q. How does "the resurrection of the body" comfort you? A. Not only my soul will be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head, but even my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul and made like Christ's glorious body.

58. Q. How does the article concerning "life everlasting" comfort you? A. Even as I already now experience in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, so after this life I will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise God eternally.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

How fitting that I come to this portion of the catechism when death has been a very real presence in my circle of friends these recent days. Yesterday I traveled to the memorial service for the one who is now cancer-free and in the presence of her Saviour. Only the saints of God can know the deep wellspring of joy that enables the victorious singing of "In Christ Alone," one of the hymns requested by the departed friend. "No guilt in life, no fear in death..." - the words gave me goosebumps as I sang out through the tears. There were many unbelievers present at the service -perhaps a majority. What a strong proclamation of gospel hope was displayed to them!

A beautiful portion from DeYoung's comments:

Eternal life in God's presence will be such a weight of glory that we will feel as if we never knew happiness before and all our troubles will be in a moment forgotten as so puny and so trivial and to be utterly inconsequential compared to all this joy.