Tag: Repentance
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The Problem of Pretentious Piety
Brennan Manning, in his thoughtful book, Ruthless Trust, identifies a problem with the superficial spirituality of pretentious piety: In a world where the only plea is “Not Guilty”, what possibility is there of an honest encounter with Jesus, who “died for our sins”? We can only pretend that we are sinners, and thus only pretend…
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REAL Christians Waltz
Listen to how Bob Flayhart, Senior Pator at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL, describes a Gospel-centered Christian Life: A Gospel-centered life is the Christian Waltz. A waltz is a dance made up of three steps. Christians need to consider the Christian three step when it comes to growth. In the first step, we…
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Balance of Faith
A true, vibrant Christian faith is someting akin to a balancing act. In a post this morning, Tim Keller suggested: If we are going to grow in grace, we must stay aware of being both sinners and also loved children in Christ. Keller’s paradigm reminded me of something Edward Payson – “Praying Payson of Portland”…
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Appropriating Grace
Here is an important reminder and challenge from Richard Lovelace, from his monumental Dynamics of Spiritual Life: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives… Many… have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their…
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Brokeness, Contrition, and Repentance = Marks of a Growing Christian
“So Repentance begins with an attitude of brokenness over our sin. But true repentance will be followed by an earnest desire and a sincere effort to put away the sin we are repenting of – to put on the Christlike virtues that we see missing in our lives. These efforts often seem to be characterized…
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Take a Repentance Tri-p
On a few occasions I have posted some thoughts and things about the concept of Tri-Perspectivalism. Tri-Perspectivalism (or, as some call it, Tri-P) is a fancy word for the simple concept of looking at our spiritual lives, and the ministry of our churches, from three distinct perspectives. Introduced by John Frame and Vern Poythress’ monumental…
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Our Universal Need
“Just so you know, the need for repentance, redemption, and forgiveness is universal. I don’t care if you are a liberal or a conservative, a religious fanatic or a militant atheist, a ‘spiritual’/’religious’ person or someone who runs from all that. It doesn’t matter to me if you listen to Billy Graham or follow Camus…
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Lord Save Us
I spent this morning watching the documentary, Lord Save Us From Your Followers. I was prompted by a note from a friend and, despite it not being on my agenda for the day, I was intrigued. Once again, I am not sure where I have been. This film came out over a year ago. Some…
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Currents of Repentance
“If all we do in our meditations is to repent of a few petty acts called sins that have accumulated over the last day (and this is not to belittle the importance of doing that), we have not known the deep power of purifying grace that repentance is supposed to offer. Israel and its…
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Continual Repentance
I am not sure where I stumbled upon this beautiful prayer, in the pattern of Valley of Vision, but I think it is worthy of repeated reflection: O God of Grace, You have imputed my sin to my substitute, and have imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with…
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7 Maxims of Repentance
Jesus said: “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 26.46-47) Seemingly few recognize that repentance is part of the message of the Great Commission. But that is…
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Lord Dissolve My Frozen Heart
Lord, dissolve my frozen heart/ By the beams of Love Divine;/ This alone can warmth impart/ To dissolve a heart like mine. O that love, how vast it is!/ Vast, it seems, though known in part;/ Strange indeed, if love like this/ Should not melt the frozen heart. Chorus: The love of Christ passes knowledge./…
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3 Responses to Sin
“When we as Christians sin, we can react in one of three ways: 1) We can become hardened to our sin. 2) We can sink into utter despair and say, ‘Its all over.’ I’ve known Christians who have spent twenty years despairing over one sin…. [T]he only right course of action for us as Christians…
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Common Perils of the Professionally Holy
There are some peculiar perils prevalent among the professional holy – those in full time ministry or service for God. High on this list: We know a lot of stuff and we do a lot of good things. And it is easy to misconstrue either, or both, of these with being righteous. But neither of…
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Real Christians SHOULD Dance
I received this quote from my friends at Graced Again. The author, Bob Flayhart, is minister at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL. A Gospel-centered life is the Christian Waltz. A waltz is a dance made up of three steps. Christians need to consider the Christian three step when it comes to growth. In the…
