The Gift of Honest Psalms for Our Broken Lives

I’ve decided to ask a few people to write occasional articles for me to use at Borrowed Light. Today’s guest post comes from Brian Phillips. Brian lives in Granada, Spain with his wife and three kids. You can find him at www.briankassie.com or www.twitter.com/BrianPhillips31

Zack Eswine’s, Sensing Jesus, has been a blessing to me in a strange way. Although geared twoards pastors (which I am not), Eswine’s story and pastoral kindness are exactly the words I’ve needed to hear lately.

My family and I live overseas and we’re here to share the love of Jesus with people. Recently, we visited America to celebrate the wedding of my wife’s sister. While there many difficult things happened—the worst being the death of our unborn baby in miscarriage. We came back to Spain, where we live, feeling torn and empty. We’ve been imperfectly, but earnestly, turning to God our Father for help, healing, and comfort. Personally, in addition to grief, I’ve been fighting some troubling anxiety and racing thoughts in the last several weeks.

So, I recently cracked open Sensing Jesus, a Christmas present, which I expected to coach me into more apt ministry leadership and spiritual depth. Maybe it will do that; I still have the second half of the book to finish. But so far it’s simply healing my soul.

The greatest comfort for me has been in Eswine’s chapter entitled, Fix-It-All. Here he confronts our tendency to try to fix anything. In this chapter there is a section on psalm making. Here he uses David’s example to show how we can use the Psalms to turn to God in prayer, rather than our fleshly efforts “when the going gets tough and unfixable” (p. 111).

Here are the Psalms Eswine shares, followed by a little bit of personal commentary from me.

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

Protect me from those who rise up against me. . . .

Each evening they come back,

Howling like dogs

And prowling about the city. . . .

But I will sing of your strength;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress,

And a refuge in the day of my distress. (Ps. 59:1, 6, 14, 16)

As anxiety and uncontrolled nightmares taunted me, I felt under attack and powerless. Some nights, I could only fall asleep by whispering, “Jesus, me near me,” over and over and over. And he was. Hope has been new each morning. Even when the things I could count on or control crumbled and proved unfixable, God stayed with me.

Have mercy on me, O God,

According to your steadfast love;

According to your abundant mercy

Blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin! (Ps. 51:1-2)

I know, as a Christian, that Jesus has taken all my punishment forever. There is none left for me. My wife and I didn’t lose this baby because God wanted to slap our wrists for a sin. But as the weeks went by and the wounds weren’t as raw, I began to ask God to show me where I wasn’t trusting him, where I was trying to be my own savior and god – and he shone the light on my anxiety and worry. Some of this is a natural physiological response to the unbelievable shock and stress from our trip, but some of it (I can now admit) was me, trusting in my own power, bucking against my inability to control and fix my broken life.

O Lord, all my longing is before you;

My sighing is not hidden from you.

My heart throbs; my strength fails me,

And the light of my eyes—it has also gone from me. . . .

But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,

Like a mute man who does not open his mouth. . . .

But for you, O Lord, do I wait;

It is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. (Ps. 38:9-10, 13, 15)

This pain doesn’t have to end in my lifetime. We won’t ‘get over’ all the things that happened during those three weeks in America, as if that were a healthy goal anyway. But, the fear and the loneliness can go; God can take the numbness and the heightened stress with him.

We are children whose loving father knows all their fears and wounds, and he stays with us. He doesn’t just fix the mess as quickly or the way we might ask him to. Instead, he stays with us and slowly-- morning by morning-- he shares with us his peace and rest.

--

You can read my review of Sensing Jesus here, and purchase it here.

When Sorrows Like Sea Billows Roll

I’ve decided to ask a few people to write occasional articles for me to use at Borrowed Light. Nick Horton is one of those fine souls to agree to do this. He blogs at http://nicholashorton.wordpress.com/and you can follow him on Twitter @NickHorton

“Oh God, have you forgotten me?” My chest heaves under stress and pressure, feeling as though there is an actual weight crushing down on me. I walk as though in a fog, aware I have somewhere to be, but I can’t see where I’m going or what is ahead. My wife asks me “What’s wrong? Are you upset?” Even the question feels like another thing to do, more responsibility, more pressure. My mind reels, clawing to stay afloat, yet slowly sinking beneath the ice-cold waves of despair.

When these dark times come, I have nowhere to turn but God. As I grow older, I am learning to shorten the time between trusting myself and throwing myself on the mercy of God. Anything else that I could turn to for comfort during these dark nights of the soul are just idols. Only God can provide the comfort my soul needs. His word shines forth on the darkness of my mood.

Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

I can relate to David’s feelings. Stress, fear, worry, doubt; all burden my heart and drive me to despair. I can relate to what he says in Psalm 23 of walking through the valley of the shadow of death. God, as my Father, can handle the cry of his child. I can approach him with my fears and sorrow and ask him, “How long, O Lord?” I can echo that longing and feel it deep within. He won’t get angry at my asking. He can handle it. In fact, he wants me to come running to him. Doing so is acknowledgment of his rightful place as King, and my place as servant.

David goes from his lament that God seems to have forgotten Him to a very important truth. His anchor in whatever storm he was going through.

“But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

He went back to the foundation of his faith. In our despair, we need to remember we have a great High Priest who lives to intercede for us: Jesus Christ. In the midst of despair, David returns to what he knows about God, about himself, and what that means about how he should live.

He has trusted in the steadfast love of God. His heart rejoices in God’s salvation of him. When life closes in on you, death approaches you, and you feel as though your back is to the wall, remember that God has saved you from this light and momentary affliction. It doesn’t feel light, but against eternity with God it most certainly is. Recall how God has blessed you. Practice thankfulness. This is counterintuitive to the world, but you are no longer of the world if you are in Christ.

Sing to the Lord in your suffering. Acknowledge your fear, pain, and suffering, worship God, and sing to him! Sing songs of lament like Psalm 13. Sing songs of praise, though you may not “feel” like singing. Don’t be led by your feelings. Lead your feelings. Pull your heart along whether it desires to go or not, it will follow.

The first verse of the hymn “It Is Well” sticks in my mind and heart, tucked in there with Psalm 13, for dark times. Read this, sing it if you know the tune, and worship the God who is worthy.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Love in the Trinity

Today’s guest post comes from the pen of Jim Pemberton. Jim, his wife, Lois, and three children are members of Western Avenue Baptist Church in Statesville, NC, where they are active in the music ministry, foreign missions and local evangelism. Jim has a passion for strengthening the Body of Christ through sound Bible teaching and discipleship.

There’s a common teaching from the Bible that that God is love (1 John 4:8) and I suspect most of us are familiar with it. However, perhaps you’ve said or heard someone ask the question, “How could a loving God…?” This typically calls into question something about what the Bible teaches about God. What is often not taught is what love is according to the Bible and how it is exactly that God is love. So let’s look at that now.

Definitive and Descriptive Statements

There are two kinds of static statements that give us information on any subject. Descriptive statements give us information that may at least partially define the subject. Definitive statements may be descriptive in nature, but serve the purpose of identifying something uniquely. So if I told you that my car was red, that would narrow down which car is mine to some degree, but there are plenty of red cars in the world. If I gave you the VIN, that would narrow it down to only one car in the world.

When you are looking for how an author defines a word in the Bible, you look for definitive and descriptive statements in contexts that are appropriate for such things.

Love Never Ends

I usually stay away from loose translations of the Bible, but sometimes different translations can result in noticing something that can trigger a fruitful study. Recently, I was with a group who was reading 1 Corinthians 13 from the Good News Translation and we came to verse 8. Most translations render the Greek accurately to read “Love never ends,” in English. The translators of the GNT rendered it, “Love is eternal.” This is a descriptive statement, but the information we gain here is very useful for understanding love.

As I followed along in the reading, I realized that the rest of the chapter followed from this. The Greek doesn’t say “eternal”, but that’s essentially what it means. Every other gift of God falls away, but not love. When we stand before God, even faith and hope are mitigated by their fulfillment. Our faith is complete and our hope is complete because we are present with our Lord.

Love is Sacrificial and Submissive

Paul wrote a definitive statement for his use of love in Ephesians 5. The context is mutual submission (verse 21) as an expression of love among believers in general (verse 2) and in the covenant of marriage in particular (verses 22ff). In verse 25 he wrote the following:

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,”

Although it’s cloaked in the context, the definitive statement is that love is sacrificial. In the context love is submissive in that it seeks to meet another’s needs above meeting one’s own needs.

Paul is hardly the only apostle to write extensively about love. John agreed with Paul in a definitive statement that falls in the context of a teaching conversation Jesus had with his inner core of disciples that goes into detail about what Paul seems to casually touch on in 1 Corinthians 13:8. In John 15:13, he writes:

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

This simple sentence identifies love as that which is sacrificial on a scale at which the uppermost measure is the giving of one’s own life in the course of meeting another’s need.

Love Is the Basis for the Relationship Between Members of the Trinity

If we look at what John says about love in the conversation recorded in John chapters 14-17 we see how it is that love operates in an eternal context:
In 14:1-14, Jesus describes his relationship with the father as each being in the other. His role with the father is one of submission to the Father (verses 10, 11). In verse 12 Jesus indicates that this relationship is available to the disciples through faith and the obedience of submission. In verse 15, Jesus indicates that this practice is love. He also brings in the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who he calls the “Helper” and the “Spirit of Truth”. The conversation that follows clarifies that each member of the Trinity is in each other on the basis of love (15:9, 10).

…And the Basis for Our Relationship with God

The amazing thing I notice is that this is intended to encourage and exhort the disciples to follow in this pattern of love. In so doing, Jesus indicates that as his followers, his disciples share in that divine, eternal love. Now that’s not to say that we will become God, but rather that we have an unbreakable relationship with God the same way that the members of the trinity have with each other. This gives us boldness in the face of the darkness of this world. If anything, this is John’s Great Commission discourse.

If you love God, go with the knowledge that you are in him and you have him in you with power and authority to accomplish what he has for you to accomplish in his name. So, when we face hardships the question is not how a loving God could allow such things. Rather our response should joy in the fact that we have him with us to face the worst situations.

5 Ways to Deal With Difficult People

Today’s guest post comes from the pen of Dave Jenkins. Dave is a Christian, husband to Sarah, freelance writer, avid golfer, and the Director of Servants of Grace Ministries. You can follow him on twitter at @DaveJJenkins or read more at http://servantsofgrace.org

Dealing with difficult people in a Christ-like manner maybe one of the most difficult ways to live out the gospel. Difficult, because this requires patience, something I struggle to display.

It has been said that if you pray for patience, God will indulge you with opportunities to develop it. And so, for this reason, God puts in our path, difficult people. They are the sandpaper we need to polish off our rough and sinful edges.

I’ve found five observations about dealing with difficult people:

1. Dealing with difficult people provides fresh opportunities to display humility.  When John Calvin was asked to define the Christian life he said three times (following Augustine) that the Christian life was humility, humility, humility. The Bible teaches that God exalts the humble. Proverbs 3:34, “Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.” James 4:6, “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  1st Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,” When you love someone who annoys you, you are lowering your own estimation of yourself and exalting a brother or sister in the Lord.
2. Difficult people expose our latent pride:  Following Christ involves submission to the authority, inspiration, inerrancy, and sufficiency of Scripture. 2ndTimothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Difficult people test this theory and often expose our own idolatry of self. The feelings we have for those we don’t like reveal our selfishness and pride.  So in every relationship struggle, we have to ask ourselves: will we exalt ourselves as ultimate, as gods, or will we come under the authority of the Word and thus, reach out in love to those we may not like?
3. Difficult people force us to our knees in prayer. Here is something I’ve tried to employ when I’m forced to engage with a person who may be difficult:  First, I need to make sure my heart is right before God. This will eliminate most potential conflicts. Second, I have found it wise to get some wise counsel from a godly friend or mentor (Proverbs 11:14). Third, pray for the person. Fourth, sandwich your truth-telling in love. Fifth, be quick to listen to the person’s response and slow to interact with their response.
4. Be willing to hear criticism without defensiveness. James 1:19 is really applicable in relationships: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;” Proud people are quick to speak but slow to listen. Humble people endeavor to listen well. This demonstrates love and shows you care about their thought. It also provides a platform for you to speak into that person’s life.
5. Dealing with difficult people point out weak areas in our lives. When criticized don’t respond negatively but instead thank the person for sharing their perspective. Humility isn’t being a know-it-all. Humility is a lifelong process of admitting what one doesn’t know and growing in God’s grace.

Marriage and Pruning

Today’s guest post is from my amazing wife Nikki Leake. Nikki is the wife of yours truly, the mommy to Isaiah (5)  and Hannah (2). She is also a very talented musician and gives vocal, piano, and guitar lessons at Hometown Music in Huntingburg, IN. Eventually, she’ll have some songs to share with us here at Borrowed Light.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” –Jeremiah 17:7-8

Recently,our family took a little jaunt to Hannibal, Mo; the home of my husband and I’s alma mater and many, many precious memories. We enjoyed the changing campus, and reminisced the days of our meeting and subsequent courtship. It was a special blessing to share our memories with our two young children.

One specific place my husband and I used to frequent was the HLG nature trail. We took our children down the winding trail in search of something very dear to us. For the longest time we had no success in finding our treasure. Our hearts dropped into our stomachs with the thought of not being able to share this very unique symbol with our children…until finally I heard those sweet words, “I found it!”

Overjoyed, I ran to where my husband was standing and my smile quickly faded. “Is that it? Are you sure?” was all I could muster. He was right. There it was, hunched over and choked beneath layers of intertwined trees, shrubs, and weeds.

You see, nearing the end of our year and a half long courtship, in order to demonstrate his hopes for our future together, my husband had planted a tree. A beautiful flowering Dogwood tree (sweet, huh?) He led me to the tree and read Jeremiah 17:8. It has been our hope that our marriage would reflect Jeremiah 17:8; rooted in Christ and fruitful in all seasons.

The last time that we had visited our special spot (a couple years ago) our tree was healthy and growing towards the sky with promise. Now, looking at our struggling tree, it didn’t take long for me to hear the Lord’s admonitions. As we pulled away all of the intruders to ensure the well-being of our tree, the potent and transforming symbolism struck me.

Our precious tree needed pruning.

This pruning experience seems easier in most relationships except marriage. Perhaps it is because we put so much of our identity in our marriages. Pruning hurts.

Yet, God has given us the high calling of reflecting Himself and His relationship with His Bride. If our marriages are to even faintly accomplish this goal, we must clear away the weeds and thorns that threaten to choke even the healthiest and happiest of marriages.

Reflecting upon the pruning that is often needed in marriages, I thought of five major culprits. Here are the five, followed by a Scripture passage that I have found helpful in battling them—these cut to the core of our hearts and motivations:

1. Bitterness. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.  Mark 11:25
2. Selfishness. I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you.   And here is how to measure it -- the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends. John 15:12
3. Harshness. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
4. Self-preservation. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience  Colossians 3:12
5. Fleshly eyes: From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. 2 Corinthians 5:16a (Jesus loves our spouses more than we do. Am I seeing my spouse with the eyes and heart of God right now?)

Our marriages are definitely worth all of the time, energy, love, nurturing…and yes…pruning we can afford. They are one of the most powerful weapons that will ever be ours to wield. May we be found faithful with them.

Substance in a World Feasting on Silly Things

Today’s guest post comes from Lore Ferguson. Lore’s name is pronounced Lor-ee, but you can call her Lo. She grew up on the east coast, but transplanted to Dallas a few years ago—she’s not from Texas, but Texas wants her anyway (as the song goes). It was the Church that drove her away from Jesus and it was the Church that brought her back in, and there’s nothing she loves more on earth. She writes regularly for The Gospel Coalition, Project TGM,Deeper Church, and most regularly at her blog, Sayable. Lore is a covenant member at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. You can follow her on twitter here:@loreferguson

Paul spoke some words to Timothy running rampant through my mind these days:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak [or silly] women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. (II Timothy 3:1-9)

Oh. That's rough. Friends, hear me, that is rough.

I'm not harkening the last days or making an assessment on end times. But a lover of self? I am. Proud? I am. Ungrateful? Yes.

Unappeasable? Oh, my. Yes.

Having the appearance of godliness? If only you knew.

But this is the part that guts me inside out: these are the sort of people who creep into households and capture weak women, women who are burdened with sins and led astray by a myriad of passions, women who are hungry for knowledge and never satisfied by truth.

I pause and look around my home. My roommates have just gone to get dinner, leaving me at home for a few minutes of quiet. We are simple folk, with good solid books, a television that rarely gets turned on, no magazine subscriptions, and an old ipod speaker contraption. Our influences are few.

But what captures us the whole world over is an insatiable hunger, an unappeasable thirst, a voracious gnawing for knowledge. This was the lure of the fruit in Genesis 3: "You will be like God, knowing good and evil," and this is the lure still today, "Do this and you will know or be known. Believe this and you will know. Speak this and you will be known as one who knows."

And in the end it's just silliness. Or, as Solomon said, vanity of vanities. A breath, a vapor.

It might surprise you when I say this is not about how women are poor leaders and so I'll follow men instead. I'm not going to say it because I think some women make great leaders and some men make poor leaders.

But I will follow one man in full acknowledgement that I am prone to silly things. I am weak. I am inclined to thirst for an endless pursuit of knowledge than simple answers. I am unappeasable instead of satisfied. I am tempted by offers of fruits and godlikeness. Not because I am a woman, but because the strongest of women knows her deepest of weaknesses.

This isn't about following men because I am weak and need a man. I truly need one man and His name is Jesus Christ, and He was good and gracious enough to surround me with good leaders who are far stronger, far wiser, and far less distracted by silly things than I am. But still, He is my God and my sufficiency, my ever present help in time of need, my cupbearer and my King. He has taken the cup of wrath on my behalf and He has still reserved for me the choicest wine, the sweetest feast.

He alone satisfies my search for substance in a world captured by silly things.

Why Do We Return to Our Sin?

Today’s guest post comes from the pen of Nick Horton. Nick and his wife Amy, along with their 3.5 year old Gabriel, live in VA, where nick teaches middle and HS youth at FBC Woodstock, VA. He is also a deacon, loves to fish, works in IT, is an online student at Boyce college pursuing a call to ministry. He blogs at http://nicholashorton.wordpress.com/ and you can follow him on Twitter @NickHorton

Why do we return to our sin? I don’t mean why do we keep doing it, though we all struggle with sin like Paul in Romans 7. I mean, why do we return to the guilt and shame over and over again? We rehearse dark moments, replay old wounds, almost as if we relish pouring salt in wounds long gone. Left unchecked we can spiral in to depression, justify dark moments, and convince ourselves that God can’t love someone like us.

I have my dark days, the same as anyone else; the days when my memory is a curse, and the Accuser is hard at work. It steals my joy and robs me of any passion for life. The assault on any sense of self worth is brutal and leaves me feeling as though I can be of no use to God.

Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. Guilt. They’re hard to share at times, as other’s natural reactions to them are attempts to fix it. People want to alleviate suffering and negative feelings, either out of compassion or perhaps because they’re ill-equipped to weep with those who weep. We become cautious to share these dark nights of the soul as we don’t want more try harder/trust more. What do we do?

When I walk through these times, there are a few things I like to remind myself. These are things we can counsel other brothers and sisters with, after we have suffered with them. We have to listen well before we can begin to lovingly speak truth into their lives. Here are four truths I try to remember:

1. “It is finished.” Jesus finished on the cross what we cannot do in life. He paid for the very sins we have trouble giving up. If he paid then and there for our sins, why then do we carry that burden still? Set it down, friend. Your elder Brother can carry that load.
2. Hebrews 10. Read the whole thing. If you haven’t read it in a while, stop reading this, and go read it. God says it better than we ever could. Hebrews 10:12 says “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” Why’d He sit down? He was done. Your sins are paid for. There is no need for you to hold tightly to the shame and condemnation of them, because…
3. Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” When? Now. How much condemnation for what I’ve done? None. Let that wash over you. No condemnation for you in Christ. Fully accepted by God by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Fully loved. Which means…
4. Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” We are free. Free to live. Free to fail. Free to abandon ourselves to following God without fear of guilt and condemnation for our imperfections. Free from slavery to the sin we now hate and struggle with and its guilt and shame. Free.

Don’t think that you’ve done something that cannot be forgiven. David was an adulterer and murderer, yet God called him a man after His own heart. Paul persecuted the church; he was a terrorist. He murdered Christians. He penned Romans 8:1 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, fully forgiven and used by God. Our sins are not unknown to God. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He paid for our sins, not because we deserve it, but for the praise of His glorious grace.

God knows us. He loves us and has accepted us fully through the work of Jesus Christ. We can’t clean ourselves up. We come dirty and broken to Jesus. Let go of the sin you’ve been set free from and that He has paid for. Let that weight slide off your back. Take a breath of freedom. Taste the joy that is there for you. There is freedom and love and joy for you.

Child of God; rest. Stop crushing your heart with your own hand. Breathe. Breathe again. Quiet your soul before God. Recall what He has done for you. It is finished. Christ has sat down. There is NOW no condemnation for you. You have been set free from sin and death.

Now, go live.

How to Create a Reading Plan

Today’s post comes from the pen of Joey Cochran. Joey is transitioning to be a pastor at Cross Community Chicago. He blogs regularly at www.jtcochran.com. Follow @joeycochran on twitter.

Every year I set goals for myself. Rarely do I evaluate those goals. Yesterday was the exception. Now that the year is half over I decided to evaluate some of my resolutions for the New Year. One of those resolutions involved reading. At the beginning of the year I set a number of goals concerning how much I wanted to read and what I wanted to read. Setting reading goals such as these are helpful in accomplishing the objective of being a more productive reader.

For most of us, finding time to read is the first challenge. The second challenge is prioritizing that time. The third challenge is making that time productive. I have found that the best way to do this is to set goals.

Here are some helpful parameters for your reading goals.

1. Determine how much time you realistically have to read. There is no point in setting a lofty goal that you will not accomplish. If you actually don’t currently read much, you might want to set this parameter lower for your first year. Maybe make the goal that you will read 15-30 minutes daily. In the case of reading, it is best to have a daily routine. Reading weekly or just when you suddenly have leisure time just does not cut it. You can accomplish more by scheduling reading into your life.

2. Determine when you are going to read. After you determine how much time you can spend reading, pick a time of day to read. I have a couple of times during the day that work for me. I try to make reading a priority after I accomplish daily administrative work. Then I try to read a little during lunch or just after lunch. Then I read in the evenings when I could be watching TV. Last, I typically read between 30-60 minutes before I fall asleep.

3. Determine what you are going to read. Everyone has different reading priorities. You will have to determine your own. I can demonstrate an example of what your priorities for reading might be by offering myself as a case study. I love reading, so I do a lot of it. This may not be you, so don’t feel like you have to read this much. Likewise, others of you might be reading much more than me and in different genres. For instance, I am not currently reading a fiction book and it’s not part of my reading plan. This is actually a weakness in my current plan, but I have not found time to supplement my reading time with this valuable genre. The most important part is starting by reading a book that you will enjoy. Pick something that you will be excited about reading. Make sure you start with a page turner. This will help you in being productive!

Here’s how I prioritize my reading:

• As a follower of Christ my first priority is to read God’s inspired Word, the Bible. God revealed Himself to humanity through this immeasurably valuable book. Reading the Bible should be my first priority.

• Then I read for spiritual development. Usually, this is a book designed to encourage my heart and root it deeply in the gospel. This book is typically written by a pastor or church leader that has an active ministry today. I am currently reading Milton Vincent’s a Gospel Primer for Christians.

• Third, I read a book for personal development. This book is meant to help you grow as a person. Perhaps that topic is leadership, interpersonal relations, or developing professional skills. Usually I pick this book based on what weaknesses or blemishes I see in myself. For instance, I just finished reading Dale Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends and Influence People. No, I have friends. I just want to be a better one. I am now currently reading Platform by Michael Hyatt.

• Fourth, I try to read a writing from the historic Christian faith. In other words, I read a book by a dead dude. The church is built on great minds that have had much to say about Christ and about the church. These voices should not be lost. We should capitalize on all that these men have to offer. Currently I am reading John Flavel’s Christ Altogether Lovely.

• Finally, since I am a blogger, I read a book for review. I try to review a book every Monday on my blog. Currently I am reading Aliens in the Promise Land edited by Dr. Anthony Bradley.

4. Determine to read. Now you have to focus on being productive. You have to buckle down and do the deed. For some of us this is harder than others. You might want to think about the environment. Do you read better in the quiet? Do you need white noise? Are people a distraction? I love to read in a café but then sometimes I get caught up in my surroundings. Deciding to read in a location that offers optimal focus is essential. Once you find the right environment keep yourself from distraction. Put your laptop away. Silence your phone. Keep your mind off other things. Sometimes we read words but think other thoughts. Maybe you might start thinking about a meeting later today. Or maybe you might think about other things on your to-do list. Make those thoughts wait for later. Now is the time to read!

Reading is a valuable discipline. We live in a world that is being re-awakened towards literacy. When TV came around, literature leisure took a nose dive. However, with the new technology of e-readers, reading as a discipline is experiencing resurgence. I hope you take advantage of this resurgence and enjoy the discipline of reading.

5 Reasons To Be a Member of a Local Church

Today’s guest post comes from the pen of Dave Jenkins. Dave is a Christian, husband to Sarah, freelance writer, avid golfer, and the Director of Servants of Grace Ministries. You can follow him on twitter at @DaveJJenkins or read more of his work at http://servantsofgrace.org

The belief that professing Christians should gather together as members of a local Church is waning in many sectors of Christianity. Some feel that faith shouldn’t be “institutionalized” and should be a private matter between individuals, not something to be experienced in community.

Here are five reasons why I feel Christians should be members of a local church. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but these reasons give Christians a biblical framework to think through why they should be members of a local Church.

First, The Bible clearly teaches that God made a distinction between His people and the world (Lev 13:46; Number 5:3; Deut. 7:3).  Christ says that entering the Kingdom of God means being bound to the Church “on earth” (Matthew 16:16-19; 18:17-19). The New Testament refers to some people being inside the church and some people being outside the church. (1 Cor. 5:12-13). The church in Corinth consisted of a definite number of believers, such that Paul could speak of a punishment inflicted by the majority (2 Cor. 2:6). Not only does the New Testament speak of the reality of church membership, but its dozens of “one another” passages are written to local churches. The “one another” passages in the New Testament fill out our understanding of what church members should look like practically. Biblical church membership is important, because the church presents God’s witness to Himself in the world, and displays His glory. In the church’s membership, then non-Christians should see in the lives of God’s changed people that God is holy and gracious and that His gospel is powerful for saving and transforming sinners.

Second, the Epistles were all written to local churches. A brief sampling of Paul’s epistles make this abundantly clear:  1 Corinthians 1:1-2, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:” 2 Corinthians 1:1-2, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus  by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia.” Philippians 1:1-2, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.” Galatians 1:1-2, “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:” 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2, “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.”

Third, Christ saves Christians to live in community with other believers. Christ calls believers to local church membership not just for our spiritual growth, but also so that they may use their spiritual gifts in the context of the local Church.

Fourth, some people think that meeting together with other Christians is not important because the early Church only gathered in small groups in Acts 2:42-48. The problem with this view is ignores history. As the Church continued to grow, they gathered together in large gatherings. There were small group meetings but there were large gatherings. Regardless of if the local Church meets in a building or in a home it doesn’t matter. The Church is comprised of people who been regenerated by the work of the Spirit. The people of God are to gather to worship together in Spirit and Truth, to hear the preached Word, participate in communion, baptism, and then scatter to spread the Great Commission in their families, neighborhoods, cities and to the nations.

While many people have a problem with the Church the Bible clearly teaches that professing Christians are to be members of local Churches. While local Churches may have many issues, the Church itself is purchased by Christ and is therefore blameless. The members inside the Church are justified and yet sinners meaning they are made right with God through the blood of Jesus but still growing in Christ-like character and going forth in Christ’s name to their families, neighborhoods, cities and to the nations with the Gospel.

Finally, those who object the loudest to this kind of teaching think that they can be Christians and not be in the Church. From even from a cursory examination of the Scriptures- the lone-ranger view of being a Christian is not biblical. Christ saves Christians to live in community with other believers. Christ calls believers to membership in the local Church not only for their own spiritual growth but to use our spiritual gifts in the context of the local Church.

Christ calls other Christians to live in community with other Christians for the purpose of accountability, and spiritual growth. Christ calls Christians to live in community with other believers so they will grow in likeness to Jesus Christ. Christ calls Christians to live in community with other believers so that believers may minister in and through their local churches in order to reach one’s community, city, nation and the world with the Gospel.

In conclusion, Christ doesn’t save sinners so they will live in isolation or be lone-rangers—He saves them so that they will be in community with one another, speaking the truth in love to one another, “one anothering” each other, and displaying forth His character, and glory to a watching, but unbelieving world.