Grow in Grace

Posted on Sunday, March 6, 2011 by Becky Pliego

“Grow in Grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” 2 Peter 3:18

Am I growing in grace, Lord?

“The question is always useful, but especially so at certain seasons. A Saturday night, a communion Sunday, the return of a birthday, the end of a year – all these are seasons that ought to set us thinking and makes us look within. Time is fast flying. Life is fast ebbing away. The hour is daily drawing nearer when the reality of our Christianity will be tested, and it will be seen whether we have built on the Rock or on the sand. Surely it becomes us from time to time to examine ourselves and take account of our souls? Do we get on in spiritual things? Do we grow?”

“When I speak of growth in grace I only mean increase in degree, size, strength, vigour and power of the graces which the Holy Spirit plants in the Believer’s heart. I hold that every one of those graces admits of growth, progress and increase. I hold that repentance, faith, hope, love, humility, zeal, courage, and the like may be little or great, strong or weak, vigorous or feeble, and may vary greatly in the same man at different periods of his life. When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this – that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked. He manifests more of it in his life. He is going on from strength to strength, from faith to faith and from grace to grace.”

J.C Ryle on Holiness

May this Lord’s Day be a day of examining ourselves, to see if we are growing in grace…

>The Holiness of God – Chapter Eleven-

Posted on Thursday, December 23, 2010 by Becky Pliego

Yes, the turkey and some baking is awaiting for me; but I do not want to miss this last post on this last chapter of this wonderful book, The Holiness of God, by R.C Sproul, so while every one is still in bed, I will type.

The title of this chapter is, Holy Space and Holy Time; and it opens with a wonderful quote from C.S Lewis,

“Where, except in the present, can the Eternal be met?”

For me this is a very important chapter because it brings down to today, down to this moment, down to the place where I meet my God, His Holiness.

This is where we are as Christians, as believers, as seekers of His face; we are in a daily quest to be more like Him, to love Him more, to find Him more in every minute that frames our life.

“We seek a threshold that will lead us over the border from the profane to the sacred. It is a quest for sacred space, for ground that is holy ground”

We want that. We don’t want to be trapped in the moment, in the running, in the to-do list, we want to walk beyond to the transcendent because we know our God is transcendent; because we know that what we do here, today, right this moment has a transcendent consequence.

But I live here, I live in squares in a calendar, in hours made of 60 minutes, and here, in between this keyboard and baking muffins, and kissing the forehead of my children, in between teaching Spanish and the life of Leonardo DaVinci; and snapping pictures here and there; in between making beds and making love with my husband, I live in Holy Space and Holy Time, because God has come to meet me here, where I do my life.

Sproul reminds us that the “holy space Moses occupied was made holy by God’s presence” , and isn’t my home a holy space too? And it is holy not because we, this family which I love so much, is sinless, NO! it is because God has come to us. He has reached us. His presence abides in us; among us.

“Our contact with the holy is not merely an encounter with a different dimension of reality; it is meeting with Absolute Reality. Christianity is not about involvement with religious experience as a tangent. It involves a meeting with a holy God, who forms the center, or core, of human existence. The Christian faith is theocentric. God is not at the edge of Christians’ lives but at the very center. God defines our entire life and worldview”

Am I a Christian? Do I live meeting with a holy God every day all day?

I am planning to make a nice turkey for our family and their favorite cookies will soon be in the oven; is God there? I slice an apple, and chop some chocolate; I pray to my God. I give thanks for His goodness. He is here, in the moment, in this place, my kitchen.

I wash the dishes again, and again and again… I can complain and be ungrateful, or I can pray I find in that moment, a sacred moment.

Dr. Sproul reminds us also of two holy times that frame our lives as Christians; the Sabbath and Lord’s Supper.

“Each Sabbath day, believers observe sacred time in the context of worship. It is the keeping holy of the Sabbath day that marks the regular sacred time for the Christian. The worship service is a marking of a special liturgical time. Because of the reality of the Incarnation, history itself becomes sacred for the Christian. We mark our calendars with reference to time that is B.C or A.D. We have a theology of history because we realize that there is a holy purpose to history, even our salvation”

And the our pretty wall calendar is coming to an end; and a new one is in the mail. We filled squares, we have filled until today, 357 more days under His sun. We have walked in history. We have been part of that Sacred History that He wrote. And we like to talk about new purposes for the next year… what about today? Why not right this moment?

Why not just live in Holy space and Holy time every day? Acknowledging His presence with in us, among us.

Sabbath comes not at the end of the week, but at the beginning of the week to remind us that the day we’ll stop breathing under His sun, rest will not be the last thing we do, but the first thing of our new life not under His sun, but under His glory which shines brighter than the sun!

The second is the Lord’s Supper; Sproul reminds us that the celebration of the Lord’s Supper involves Sacred time in three distinct ways:

“First, it looks to the past, instructing believers to remember and to show forth Christ’s death by this observance. Second, it focuses on the present moment of celebration, in which Christ meets with His people to nurture them and strengthen them in their sanctification. Third, it looks to the future, to the certain hope of their reunion with Christ in Heaven, where thy will participate in the banquet feast of the Lamb and His bride”

I have a day ahead of me, I want to live it in sacred space and sacred time; I want Him to be my all in all every minute, every tic-tac; here this place, this home is sacred because He has come. I don’t want to miss Him.

“In sacred space and sacred time Christians find the presence of the Holy. The bars that seek to shut out the transcendent are shattered, and the present time becomes defined by the intrusion of the holy. When we erect barriers to these intrusions, dikes to keep them from flooding our souls, we exchange the holy for the profane and rob both God of His glory and ourselves of His grace”

May our lives be flooded with His Holy presence.

Thanks to Tim Challies, who has put together this reading group, and thanks to you who read along! I look forward to the next book!

Image from my photography blog, have you visited it?

This post is linked to Fields of Faith, because I have found that my field of faith is here, today!

>The Holiness of God – Chapter Nine-

Posted on Thursday, December 9, 2010 by Becky Pliego

“Almost every natural man that hears of hell,

flatters himself

that he shall escape it”

Jonathan Edwards

Michelangelo Buonarroti ; The Last Judgment (detail 1)

“Transgression speaks to the wicked

deep in his heart;

there is no fear of God

before His eyes.

For he flatters himself in his own eyes

that his iniquity cannot be found out

and hated.

The words of his mouth are trouble

and deceit;

he has ceased to act wisely and do g

good.

He plots trouble while on his bed;

he sets himself in a way that is not good.

He does not reject evil.”

Psalm 36: 1- 4 (ESV)

The same day I read this chapter in Sproul’s book entitled God in the Hand of Angry Sinners, I read Psalm 36; it is clear that Jonathan Edwards knew these verses, he knew how the wicked is not afraid to try to destroy God, the wicked plots in his his bed how to end with a Holy God.

This is an excellent chapter in which Dr. Sproul leads us through the words of Jonathan Edwards, to see clearly that God is Holy and the wicked wants to destroy Him. He doesn’t want a Holy God.

I see this around me all the time in the country where I live in which more and more people are leaving the Catholic Church to join the Evangelical Church; preachers on TV and on stages with lights and live music are promising miracles, happiness, joy, health, and wealth; they preach love and acceptance in Christ, “come as you are and He will receive you openly” they say; no one hears of a Holy God; and maybe it is because the god they had made for themselves is all love but lacks holiness.

Sproul says it well:

“A loving God who has no wrath is no God. He is an idol of our own making as much as if we carved Him out of stone”

The question that rises is this:

“How can we love a holy God? The simplest answer I can give to this vital question is that we can’t. Loving a Holy God is beyond our moral power. The only kind of God we can love by our sinful nature is an unholy god, an idol made by our own hands. Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds His holy love in our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him. He is the One who takes the initiative to restore our souls. Without Him we can do nothing of righteousness. Without Him we would be doomed to everlasting alienation from His holiness. We can love Him only because He first loved us. To love a Holy God requires grace, grace strong enough to pierce hardened hearts and awaken our morbid souls”

I have heard terrible statements like the one from a woman’s heart when she was confronted with her sin, “If that is your God, a God who does not understand me, and my situation, then I do not want Him” This woman still calls herself Christian, she still goes to her church, where a god who understands every one is worshiped.

Another woman who calls herself Christian, said to me once, “I cannot imagine a God who is trapped in a box of rules; “my god” is not like that; my god is a personal god; his love is greater than lots precepts and statutes”

God, the triune God is Holy; and He is bound to His word, because He is the Word and His Word is Holy.

The more I am transformed by His Word, the more I see my need of Him. I am utterly lost without Him.

The best way to end this entry is the same way Dr. Sproul ends this chapter:

“Yet as we grow in our knowledge of Him, we gain a deeper love for His purity and a sense of deeper dependence on His grace. We learn that He is altogether worthy of our adoration. The fruit of our growing love for Him is the increase of reverence for His name. We love Him now because we see his loveliness. we adore Him because we see His majesty. We obey Him now because His Holy Spirit dwells within us.”

Under His shadow,

You can read what others are saying about this chapter at Challies.

Other Posts in this Series:

The Holiness of God -Chapter Eight- Be Holy because I am Holy-
The Holiness of God -Chapter Seven- War and Peace with a Holy God
The Holiness of God -Chapter Six- Holy Justice

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>The Holiness of God – Chapter Eight-

Posted on Thursday, December 2, 2010 by Becky Pliego

How do I respond to God’s holiness?

How do I respond when He says, “Becky, be holy because I am Holy”?

The easiest thing to do is be moralistic about it; and start working on the externals only. It is at times easier to say no to a movie or to a certain music than to say no to a habit that seems more “spiritual” but at the end of the day, in the quietness of my bed, I know it is not what God wants for me.

God justified me when I did not deserve His forgiveness, but He wants me to work on my salvation with fear and trembling every day; Sproul says it well:

“To be spiritual has only one real purpose. it is a means to an end, not the end itself. The goal of all spiritual exercise must be the goal of righteousness. God calls us to be holy. Christ sets the priority of the Christian life: ‘But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’ (Matt. 6:33) The goal is righteousness”

This chapter is one in which we are encouraged to examine ourselves and see what are we living for; how are we pursuing this goal that God has set before us.

We need to be careful on how we live our lives, on how we journey under His sun every day. Let us not forget that the devil will be trying to deceive even the chosen ones. Maybe we think we are pursuing a holy life when in reality we are just pursuing a moralistic life. We might miss the mark, if we don’t consider our steps and our motives in the light of the Scripture-

In this chapter Sproul also explains about the differences between happiness and pleasure, read his words:

“My sins have not brought me happiness. But my sins have brought me pleasure. I like pleasure. I am still very much attracted to pleasure. Pleasure can be great fun. And not all pleasures are sins. There is much pleasure to be found in righteousness. But the difference is still there. Sn can be pleasurable, but it never brings happiness.

Now if I understand all this why would I ever be tempted to sin? It seems silly that anyone who knows the difference between happiness and pleasure would continue to trade happiness for pleasure. It seems utterly stupid for a person to do something that he knows will rob him happiness. Yet we do it. The mystery of sin is not only that it s wicked and destructive but also that it is so downright stupid”

It is just incredible to read this and be willing to admit that this is our condition -at least mine– . Many times I trade the happiness of serving those around me for the momentary pleasure of doing my own thing. This is indeed a stupid thing to do.

Because God has called me to be holy where I am now, then I must start seeing my home as holy ground, as a sacred place. It is in my daily life, the life I live behind dishes, and books, and math, and cooking, and talking and listening, the place in which I must show myself holy.

Dr. Sproul goes on to explain what does it mean to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1-2) This is a very interesting study of the verse, so I invite you to read the book to find out all the treasures hidden there! However, I do want to say that I agree with the author:

“It is a tragedy that the matter of nonconformity has been treated by Christians at a shallow level. The simplistic way of non conforming is to see what is in style in our culture and then do the opposite…

The call of nonconformity is a call to a deeper level of righteousness that goes beyond externals. When piety is defined exclusively in terms of externals, the whole point of the apostle’s teaching has been lost. Somehow we have failed to hear Jesus’ words that it is not what goes into a person’s mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of that mouth. We still want to make the kingdom a matter of eating and drinking.

Anyone can avoid dancing or going to the movies. These require no great effort of moral courage. What is difficult is to control the tongue, to act with integrity, to reveal the fruit of the Spirit”

This is my prayer today, I do not want to be conformed to this world; but I long to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. I want to “rigorously pursue the kingdom of God”, to study the Word of God deeply, to “master the Word of God”.

Sanctification is a process but is not a passive one. It is one that requires a real, and “serious level of sacrifice”

“That is the call of excellence we have received. We are not to be like the rest of the world, content to live our lives with a superficial understanding of God. We are to grow dissatisfied with spiritual milk and hunger after spiritual meat”

May His grace abound as we pursue our calling to live a holy life under His sun and by His grace,

Becky

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I am reading this book with a great community of great men and women; read more about this chapter at Challies today.

This month we are Celebrating the Incarnation of Our Lord; would you join us?

Celebrating the Incarnation of Our Lord – Part I-

>The Holiness of God – Chapter Five-

Posted on Thursday, November 11, 2010 by Becky Pliego

Chapter Five. The Insanity of Luther

“Let God be God”

Martin Luther

I really enjoyed this chapter in which Dr. Sproul takes us to Germany, where the seems-insane-monk, Martin Luther, lived.

Are we surprised that people call us seem-insane-Christians today? We should not. The world abhors those who pursue the Holiness of God. And I have learned through this book that if we are to call ourselves Christians, we should, then, long to pursue God’s holiness.

Isaiah, Peter, the disciples, Martin Luther, all started their journey to heaven at the same place: on their knees before a Holy God.

Today so many are being deceived by the teachings of men; now it seems that you don’t have to be undone before the Holy One to start your journey to heaven; it seems that you all need to do is try to do your best, just as the rich man that approached Jesus.

“And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” Luke 18:12-24

He thought he could come whenever he wanted, standing on his own merits, before the Holy One. Little he knew. I like the way Sproul says it:

“Imagine the arrogance or the ignorance of the man”

But there is always, at least, “one thing” that impedes us to approach the Holy One.

“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.” Luke 18: 22- 24

I want to examine my heart, how do I approach the Holy One? How do I come before Him? Yes, I know, I am a Reformed Christian, I love doctrine, the Five Solas, and TULIP, but truly, how do I approach God? I am proud that I am not walking as others, “enjoying the bliss of ignorance”?

Dr. Sproul compares the response of this rich man with Luther’s response like this:

“When Jesus met another young man centuries later, He did not have to go through an elaborate object lesson to help the man understand his sin. He never said to Luther, “One thing you lack.” Luther already knew he the demands of a pure holy God, and it was driving him crazy”

We don’t need to go crazy, but we certainly need to be undone.

Isn’t this the right place to start?

Read what other have to say about this great chapter at Challies, where we are Reading the Classics Together.

Today I am thankful for the Reformation in History and the reformation in my own history; without it, I would be walking today away from Jesus, deceived by my own acts of “righteousness”.