For the church this season I am writing devotions. This morning I decided to post them on my blog as well… God bless.
Sunday — A season of preparation
Reflection —
My younger brother runs marathons. He intensely trains for them in the months, weeks, and days leading up to race day. Sometimes, those races involve particularly difficult obstacles, like running up a mountain, or in Death Valley where the heat coming off the asphalt can melt your shoes while you run. He trains accordingly: running up and down hills, lifting weights, or even working out in the sauna to increase his heat resistance. In training season, he eats a certain way to fuel and prepare his body. Paul draws a comparison between running in races and the spiritual training for our lives of following Christ. He explains that all athletes are disciplined in their training to win a prize that will fade, but that followers of Christ train for the purpose of receiving a reward that will last forever.
In the New Testament, Timothy is a young pastor who was discipled by Paul for ministry work. In Paul’s first letter to the young pastor, he includes a powerful bit of instruction: “…train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7–8) We live in a culture that is obsessed with the physical, but Paul is telling us that physical fitness is far less vital than spiritual fitness. He states that it is “valuable in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” In the ancient church, the seasons of Lent and Advent were seen as times of intensified training leading up to the big day.
The ancient church believed wholeheartedly in preparing spiritually for major spiritual events.They used the seasons like Lent (the 40 days preceding Easter) and Advent as times of preparation. God stepped from heaven to earth to save us from our sins. He did it because He loved us when we did not love Him. Preparing for Christmas during the weeks that precede it involves more than simply decorating trees and listening to Christmas music to get yourself into the spirit of the season. It is spiritual training for celebrating God’s arrival in our world.
You might wonder how we train spiritually. Everywhere you look there are advertisements for fitness gadgets and meal plans to reshape your flesh, but how do you reshape your soul? There are plenty of ways to do it and still more ways that don’t help or make things worse. Daily prayer, reading the scriptures, reflecting on God’s love for us and His work to provide our salvation, worship, fellowship with the church, serving, and many other practices are prescribed in the scripture as exercises for spiritual fitness.
One passage in particular that will inform our Advent devotions going forward is found in 1 John 4:19-21. John tells us that the reason we love like Christ is because He first loved us. He goes on to say that loving God leads to love others. This is one vital component of spiritual training. When we focus on the love of God, it results in loving others and everything that entails. We will be spending the next few weeks gazing at the love of God as a means of training for race day, for our walk with Jesus, and for eternity. Ultimately, we know what love is because of Christ. 1 John 3:16-20 tells us that Christ freely laying down His life for us. The added benefit of understanding this perspective is that it frees you to engage in training out of love for Him and a desire to be closer to your Savior, rather than out of obligation, guilt, or shame.
Scripture — 1 John 3:16-20, 1 John 4:19-21 (read 7-21 if you have time), 1 Timothy 4:8, 1 Corinthians 9:24-7, Matthew 6:31-34, Lamentations 3:22-23
Readings —
I remember visiting Indonesia and speaking with a Hindu leader and a Muslim leader. They would say, “We have different paths that lead us to spiritual fulfillment, that lead us to God.” And they said, “We respect your path. You respect our path and we will all go different ways. Together we are one and we’ll end up in the same place.”
I looked at them and I said, “Well, let me make sure I understand. You’re saying that basically you picture God at the top of a mountain and we’re all at the bottom of a mountain. And I may take one path to get to God and you may take another path up the mountain to get to God, but in the end, we’ll all eventually end up at the same place?” They both had big smiles on their face and agreed with my assessment.
I looked at them and said, “Well, if that’s the way it is, let me ask you one question: What if the God at the top of the mountain decided he was going to make his way down the mountain to us, and he came to bring us up the mountain himself?” And they said, “Well, that would be wonderful.” And I said, “That’s what the God of the Bible did. Let me tell you about who Jesus really is. It’s not about trying to find our way to God. Jesus has come to us and he says, “I am the way.”
From Radical by David Platt
A quick note on this reading — It is easy to fall into the belief that training toward Godliness is climbing the mountain. Christians often fall into this trap of believing that they can do good works and earn their way to God. It’s just not possible. God came down the mountain to us. Training spiritually doesn’t earn our way to Him. It makes us capable of knowing Him completely. — Erik
God’s ultimate goal for us, however, is that we be truly conformed to the likeness of His Son in our person as well as in our standing… Jesus did not die just to save us from the penalty of sin, nor even just to make us holy in our standing before God. He died to purify for Himself a people eager to obey Him, a people eager to be transformed into His likeness… This process of gradually conforming us to the likeness of Christ begins at the very moment of our salvation when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and to actually give us a new life in Christ. We call this gradual process progressive sanctification, or growing in holiness, because it truly is a growth process.
From Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges
Prayer Guide —
A — Take time to express adoration to God for His amazing love for you. Talk to Him about Christ coming down to us because we cannot climb up to Him.
C — Spend time reflecting on the ways you have fallen short in your walk with Jesus. In particular, reflect on the times and ways you have neglected your training for Godliness.
T — Thank God for the amazing truth that before you even confessed your sins, He had already forgiven you through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Thank Him for the incarnation
S — Pray for the coming weeks and the time of preparation you are embarking on. Ask God to help you tune out the noise and stress of the season that will draw you out of your training for Christmas. Pray for Him to reveal His love for you more completely and fully.
Patching Cracks 