As I’ve done in the past, for this week I’d like to put three articles before you that deserve slow reading and careful thought. The first speaks to significance: what does it mean to be and do significant things in this life? How should those who call on Christ get our significance (and joy!) from serving the Lord rather than trying to make a mark in the world’s eyes? Andrea writes: “At the beginning of another year, as we make lists of resolutions, or take stock of our priorities, I’d like to pose a question: Are we more focused on being noticed, or on laying our lives down for Heaven? Are we striving for success? Or significance?” Read more here.
Second, I found this article to offer a great insight into God’s law: we often misunderstand His various laws and commandments, or worse, find them boring and uninteresting. But if that’s our attitude, it is only because we are missing something crucial. “We tend to chafe at the sheer number of laws given to the people of Israel, viewing things primary through our new covenant perspective where so many of these laws have now been fulfilled in Christ. And yet a primary response of the ancient Israelites to these laws would not have been a sense of burden. It would have been a sense of tearful relief, even rest. They did not have to live at the fickle mercy of cruel gods. They had one true and unchanging God, who rescued them because of his steadfast love and who now called them to a life conformed to his clear will – his will that would not change or shift. It was solid, dependable, steadfast, not going to cut their knees out from under them when least expected out of some kind of twisted divine freedom. No wonder they loved the law.” The whole article is interesting.
Finally, Tim Challies writes well about a growing trend for how Americans are tempted to view the church like we view businesses and products: what do they have to offer to me? How are their programs and outreaches meeting my preferences? Yet, as Challies explains, nowhere in the Scriptures are we told that the point of church is to meet our own personal desires, preferences, or agendas. “What we want from church is utterly irrelevant, completely meaningless, entirely inconsequential. All that matters is what God wants. After all, he is the one who created us and the one who created church! Surely then we can trust his purpose and his design.” Read the rest of the article here, which explains how Tim arrives at this point.
