3 September: Tuesday Refocus

“One of the great neglected duties of the Christian life is self-examination, and maybe self-examination is neglected because it is so humiliating an exercise.” - William Barclay

Nothing surprises God. There is no corner of creation or my heart that is not already seen and known all the way through. So when we pray with the psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24),” we pray to the One who has already “…searched me and known me! (Psalm 139:1).”

We pray asking not that God would learn something new in searching us, but that we would learn something new because God already knows “When I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether (Psalm 139:2-4).”

Father, thank You that You know us and that in Your kindness the Spirit convicts us of sin, and comforts us in our distress. Thank You for raising up the humble. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

21 May: Tuesday Refocus

“I’m inclined to believe that God delights in healing our wounded hearts so as to increase our capacity for love. To receive it and give it away requires a freedom that trauma rejects but glory to God that His Spirit is stronger than our pain.” - Jackie Hill Perry

When you have been saved into a family - into a people - nothing that you possess is only for you (1 Peter 2:10). Your gifts and talents, experiences, and the healing of your wounded heart are tools of your own sanctification as well as the building up of the body to which you belong (Romans 12:3-8, 13).

“The Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. God loves us, not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love.” - Henri Nouwen

Father, may you continue to heal and make whole hearts that have been broken by sin - our sin and the sin of others. So that you may be glorified and our neighbors, families, and enemies alike might be served. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

9 April: Tuesday Refocus

“The church - the body of Christ - is the place where God invites us to renew our loves, reorient our desires, and retrain our appetites.” - James K.A. Smith

Every person is a tangled mess of loves, desires, and appetites. At the moment of conversion, followers of Jesus have been given a new heart, and from a new heart flows new affections (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10). But we will spend a lifetime for our affections to be continually transformed - this is the ongoing work of sanctification.

Through the power of God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s people that I…

…am reminded of who I am, who I am not, and who I am called to be. 

…come face to face with a life in community that breaks apart my desire for self-sufficiency.

…learn to serve rather than be served.

…am both wounded and healed.

…am reminded of who God is, and what He has done.

Father, may we joyfully submit to Your work through Your people for Your glory and our good, amen.

Amen,

AB

February 8: Tuesday Refocus

‘Faith is ever occupied with God.  That is the character of it; that is what differentiates it from intellectual theology.  Faith endures ‘as seeing him who is invisible’ (Heb 11:27): endures the disappointments, the hardships, and the heartaches of life by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind.’ - A.W. Pink

There are many careless words spoken in the language of faith.  

You didn’t have enough faith.  

Have more faith. 

In Matthew 8, a storm is tossing the sea-worn disciples as Jesus is asleep in the boat.  They cry out for Him to rescue them, and Jesus says ‘Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?’  But it is the storm, not the disciples who receive a rebuke: ‘Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.’ (Matthew 8:26).

Make no mistake, the disciples are witness to Jesus’ strong words against faithlessness at other times: “And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?…” Matthew 17:17

But like God calling out to Adam and Eve in the garden - ‘Where are you?’ (Genesis 3:9) - the questioning of faith as an invitation to draw toward God not away from Him.  Because of Christ, the invitation from God for the follower of Jesus is always to come, always to draw near (Heb 10:19, Matt 11:28, Rev 22:17).

Keep drawing near.

‘…for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.’ James 1:3-4

Lord, thank You that You do not stand far off, but You have drawn near to us. And now we can draw near to you with full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Help us to hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for You who promised is faithful… (Hebrews 10:22-23)

Drawing near,

AB

February 1: Tuesday Refocus

“Surely to be proud is to be more like the devil and fallen Adam, than like Christ.” - J.C. Ryle

No one needs to learn pride, the fall built that into our DNA.  A genetic trait passed on from our first parents.  A hereditary malformation of soul and spirit.

But we are invited to learn from the Son of God and Son of Man - the One who is gentle and lowly of heart (Matthew 11:29).  And it is in this learning that we find rest for weary souls - those souls made busy and searching by pride.

God opposes the proud (James 4:6).  But it was for the proud and rebellious that He came - though He was rich, for our sake He became poor, so that we by His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).  Through the humility and humiliation of Christ, our prideful hearts may be made gentle and lowly like His.

Lord, make us like You. Amen.

Asking,

AB

December 29: Tuesday Refocus

‘It is the process not the outcome that is glorifying to God.  God’s training is for now, not later.  His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future.  We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it.  What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.’  - Oswald Chambers

In a year like no other I pray that you have turned obstacles into ebeneezers – reminders of the Lord’s help, provision, and sustaining faithfulness toward you (1 Sam 7:12).  Whatever goes before or behind, take heart, ‘…it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil 2:13).’   

There is purpose in the present not just in the future because God is working all things to conform us to the image of His Son (Rom 8:28-29, 1 Thess 5:18).  We can be people who count trials as joy for we know that ‘the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).’ 

We will find Him faithful in 2021.  May He find us faithful as well.

Remembering,

AB