Wash My Feet, Lord: August 2011

"Wash My Feet, Lord"

I am a sinner, saved by grace, loving and loved by the Saviour, and striving to live the words of Scripture throughout my sanctification. I need to be convicted and changed more into the image of Christ. I desire to share with you, within this blog, all that I am daily learning. I want to serve Christ and become more and more like Him. I don’t want to live a legalistic life, but I do want to live a holy one. I want to see God receive the glory He deserves. I want to see the depth and richness of the Gospel come back to the Church. I want to see God’s people encouraging and building one another up in Christ. I want to encourage young people, and be encouraged by them, to live a set-apart life. I want to give up my life for the sake of the Kingdom and it’s King.
May you accept what is written here, if it truly honors the Lord, as coming from a heart that purely wants to honor Jesus Christ, my Savior. As He teaches me, rebukes me, corrects me, and trains me in righteousness, I hope to grow in my knowledge and love for Him. May everything that is said here bring Him glory. If I stray from the truths of Scriptures, please tell me. May my words be full of grace, as though seasoned with salt. May "the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.” (Ps. 19:14)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Titus 3:3-8a

"For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is a trustworthy statement..."

What more can I say? He didn't spare His own Son but gave Him up willingly for us! Don't you just want to know Him more and more? Don't you just want to give up the petty, futile, and fading trinkets of this world for the Eternal Joy and Treasure whose name is Jesus Christ? Is any sin worth holding on to rather than relinquishing it to be embraced by the nail-scarred hands that fashioned your very being? Ask the Lord to show you what you are loving more than Him, and ask Him for the grace and strength to let it go.

"...let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Hebrews 12:1-2

.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Fear God and Live

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Matthew 10:28

"This passage is terrifying to one with a tender conscience.
He thinks to himself, “I do fear man. . . I do fear what they would do to me and often avoid proclaiming the gospel. I must not fear God enough. Perhaps I do not belong to God.”

Dear friend, if you fear God because of your guilt, turn from gazing at your sin and look to your Savior. Praise God that you know you are guilty! Only when your guilt is realized will Jesus taste sweet to you.

Turn and receive mercy from Jesus who paid for all your sins on the cross. Cast all your sin upon him, including your denial of Christ. Jesus died for sins such as those, just as he did Peter’s. Look at how many times Peter denied Christ! And yet, because of the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, he eventually went to his death proclaiming the grace of God. It is God who works in you to will and to do for his good pleasure — He created those works in advance for you to walk in them. Trust him — let his righteousness be yours by faith.

When you receive this grace by faith, you will gladly lose your life. . . and then find it in abundance. The Holy Spirit will embolden you as you grow in grace and it won’t be fake."

Mark Priestap, Fighter Verses Blog

Wash My Feet, Lord

This blog is about sin, salvation, sanctification, and the Savior. The title comes from John 13. The book of Luke tells of the disciples arguing in the upper room during the Passover meal about who was the greatest. All too proud to humble themselves, the twelve were stunned into silence as Jesus gently brought out the basin of water and a towel and washed the feet of the ones He loved. But when He comes to Peter, he says to Jesus, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”Pastor John Macarthur explains this passage in his NASB notes on John 13: 6-10, “While others remained silent, Peter, perhaps on behalf of others, spoke up in indignation that Jesus would stoop so low as to wash his feet. He failed to see beyond the humble service itself to the symbolism of spiritual cleansing involved. Jesus’ response made the real point of His actions clear: Unless the Lamb of God cleanses a person’s sin (as portrayed in the symbolism of washing), one can have no part with Him. The cleansing that Christ does at salvation never needs to be repeated – atonement is complete at that point. But all who have been cleansed by God’s gracious justification need constant washing in the experiential sense as they battle sin in the flesh. Believers are justified and granted imputed righteousness, but still need sanctification and personal righteousness.”So here lies the essence of this blog. We are all sinners in desperate need of salvation. After we are declared righteous by God - justified, and repent of our sin, we live the lifelong process of sanctification. This is only possible because of the Saviour. Just as Peter and the disciples needed Jesus to wash their feet, so, too, do we need Jesus to forgive us and cleanse us of the sin in our lives. We need His correction, reproof, teaching, and discipline throughout our lives. For those who do not know Christ, the entire body must be cleansed, but for those who have been given new hearts, we must recognize our utter helplessness without Him and say, “Lord, wash my feet.”

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see Thee
in the heights; hemmed in by mountains
of sin I behold Thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen
from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells
the brighter Thy stars shine;
let me find Thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty,
Thy glory in my valley.