Wash My Feet, Lord: November 2012

"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)

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Holiness

"Pursue...sanctification (holiness, set-apartness) without which no one will see the Lord." - Hebrews 12:14

"It is time for us Christians, to face up to our responsibility for holiness. Too often we say we are “defeated” by this or that sin. No, we are not defeated; we are simply disobedient. It might be well if we stopped using the terms victory and defeat to describe our progress in holiness. Rather we should use the terms obedience and disobedience." - Jerry Bridges

What does it look like to be holy? What does it mean to obey God and "be holy as I am holy?" (1Pet. 1:17) What is happening in our churches, in our families, in my own life that tempts us and lures us and ensnares us so that we sin and disobey our Lord and Christ? “Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it holds out some promise of happiness. That promise enslaves us until we believe God is more to be desired than life itself.” (John Piper)

God forgive us! Give me a heart for holiness! Break away any desire for even the slightest sin. Let me love Your goodness, Word, presence, conviction, discipline, commands. Let sin be so bitter to me, and let me discover that only in Christ is the sweetest fellowship and most blissful communion found! I am willing, because of the Cross which motivates me and the Holy Spirit who lives within me, to relinquish any movie, book, music, friend, website, media, hobby, attitude, action, or thought that would cause me to love sin, distance myself from Christ, pursue worldliness, dishonor my neighbor, or follow my own lust.

Let me remember that this world is not my home, and I am no longer my own. Give me the grace needed to obey You and the courage to fear You more than any man.

"Stamp eternity upon my eyeballs!" (Edwards) and let me live this life at all times with one eye upon heaven and Christ, my joy and my great reward!

"For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification (holiness). So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you." - 1 Thess. 4:7-8

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.”