Tweets from Tripp on Tuesday

There are very few tweets that I get via text message. Paul David Tripp is one of them.  During the week he does three tweets usually before 8 in the morning. Today's I forwarded all three to some of my sisters in the LORD. One of them said will you email those to me....and since I was thinking about blogging about them anyway, I decided that I would go ahead and do it and send her a link to my blog.
Without further ado, here they are:

Paul David Tripp ‏@PaulTripp

Because he is zealous to rescue you from you, God's care can be violent. He rips from you what is dangerous to give to you what is better.

Paul David Tripp ‏@PaulTripp

God's care is not just seen when he rescues you from the storm, the storm is his care. Sometimes you need the storm to see the Glory.

Paul David Tripp ‏@PaulTripp

The question is not, "Does God care?" but will you recognize and desire his care when it comes?

Obviously you can follow Paul David Tripp @PaulTripp. His tweets are always an encouragement in reminding who God is and who we are for those of us that are Christians. 

The Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ

It is my privilege to also follow and read a number of blogs. This blog I am about to write is inspired by Ambition and Apathy and I just want to thank Hayley for continuing to write. Hayley asked herself, Why am I a Christian?

Today, I want to start by saying the reasons that do not make me a Christian.

It is NOT because I am intellectually superior to the next gal on the block and that I have weighed all of the evidence and have determined that this is the best way to live life as a human being.*

It is NOT because I was raised in a religious home.

It is NOT because I was baptized as an infant.

It is NOT because my husband perfectly shared the Gospel with me. **

It is NOT because I was desperate and in need of meaning in my life.***

I am a Christian by Providence, the grace of God was poured out upon my life. I can not take any credit for what Jesus did for me on the Cross. The Holy Spirit quickened my spirit, invaded my heart and gave me New Life. Just like a newborn baby does not understand their move from the womb of their mother to her arms, so a newborn babe in Christ does not completely understand what is/has happening/happened to them at the moment of New Life.

My response to this New Life was with much gratitude. I knew that I was a selfish brat. My eyes and ears were opened by the power of the Holy Spirit in order to realize that God was willing to give His Very Life up for me that I might be forgiven and given Eternal Life by His Own Blood. This wasn't just Good News, this was Great News. The one who led me to this birth place did not promise me anything but New Life.

Upon rereading what I just wrote, I see that this is the "how" I became a Christian but does not answer the question why? Couldn't I be anything I wanted to be? My parents told me that I could be anything that I wanted to be and the world caters to that mentality. My parents also wanted me to grow up and be a member of the religion I grew up in as well. (so I guess they even had their limits to the "anything") In the words of one of my children, "None of us choose our personality, our parents or the country where we were born. Everything we make choices out of is determined by something other than us." So, after being given New Life and learning to walk in it. I have discovered that being a Christian is the way to live in the Truth and that I am determined by God's grace to walk it out for the rest of my days.

Has this Pilgrim Road been a life of easy? Well, Christian means Christ follower and that means dying to self or as my friend Oswald Chambers puts it, "a willingness to go to the White Funeral," which I take to mean as laying down your own life and living for Christ. Jesus himself said, anyone who wants to save his life he must lose it. Have I had moments, dare I say seasons of wanting to throw it in my Lord's face and say no thanks, the Christian life is not for me? Yes, heartache and suffering are hard but His Grace is sufficient. Most of my heartache and suffering have been by my own hand, my sin and the Loving Hand of my Father has been there to restore, to forgive, to love me back into His arms. The suffering I have had at the hands of others has been minimal compared to my persecuted brothers and sisters. I have never renounced my faith in the One True God. Instead, I have gotten to know Him better and love Him more because He continues to reveal Himself to me. One thing for sure is that there has never been a dull moment.

My main reason for being a Christian is that in the light of the Glory of the Gospel it is the most authentic way for me to live. A number of the Christian Confessionals asks:

What is the chief end of man?

To Glorify God and Enjoy Him forever.

Living for His Glory, not mine own and Dancing for all Eternity. I am loved, forgiven, disciplined, lifted up, brought low, made righteous, justified, purified and made whole.

*I do however believe living a life of following The LORD is the best way to live.

**Dan did share the Truth of the Gospel with me.

***Even though I was desperate and wanted to live a meaningful life.

Non-Readers read no further

Has your Christianity included a steady diet of Max Lucado, John Elledge & Gene Edwards, perhaps Ed Young & Joel Osteen, or G.K. Chesterton & C.S. Lewis maybe John Calvin, Martin Luther & Wycliffe? Now that I have probably offended everyone, please hear me out at least continue to read.

As a family we have been reading Table Talk for the last year and 1/2 or so. It is a monthly publication put out by Ligonier Ministries. The April 2008 issue's theme is the 3 forms of Unity. One of the articles is about the Heidelberg Catechism which I have never heard of before picking up this magazine, as I finished reading the article, it dawned on me - the Lord has given me a rich diet from a variety of saints who have gone on before me. This is why I posed the opening question. If we stay in one spot and let's say it is marked "Baptist & its' sympathizers" (my apologies to all my baptist friends) and only drink and eat the literature approved by them then we reject a whole bunch of wisdom that comes from other brothers & sisters in the faith.

Ecumenicalism is not what I am advocating but what I am saying is let us continue to be seekers of the truth. When the Bible says "seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open' it is not addressing the unbelievers - Jesus was speaking to His followers - when the Word says "seek, find & know" it is not for the unbeliever. Some may disagree but let's look at just three of those passages in context.
Matthew 5 verses 1 & 2
"1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying: "
The Lord began to teach these followers for the next 3 chapters including
Matthew 7; 7-12
"7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

John 8; 31 & 32

31"To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

If you continue searching the Scripture for these 3 verbs, look at them in context and ask the question, "who is being addressed in this passage?" You may be surprised.

It was one of those shining bright moments of gratitude that I have not been limited to just a certain flavor of Christianity. Please know that I realize that we are called to be discerning (and some who I have listed you or I may have an issue with) and to not just accept every book, author or preacher who holds up the bible and says, I am in the way of Christ. The scripture is my measuring stick and if you are a believer then I hope it is yours too.

Grateful for a God bigger than all my aha moments! CM