Bitterness Defined

By: Jim Umlauf

"Bitterness is selfishly indulging in the hurt rather than selflessly pursuing the restoration."

- Jim Umlauf

What is God Like?

By: Jim Umlauf

Do yourself a favor, and read this quote from Bryan Chapell out loud to yourself:

(God) is separate from anything that would sully his glory or diminish his perfection. He is majestic, elevated, high and lifted up. He is not entangled by his creatures’ failures. He is not tainted by earth’s stain. He is pure. The radiance from his purity is so brilliant that even the heavenly hosts cover their eyes and themselves in his presence. They want neither to see nor to be seen in the intensity of the blinding and burning illumination of God’s holy glory. Nothing created, either in heaven or on earth, appears as virtuous in the presence of this glorious holiness. Only God is truly good.

That’s what God is like.

Francis Chan asks "Which is worse?"

By: Johnny Coggin

Today was Grace Evan's 20th anniversary celebration, and Dr. Young challenged us with a message on getting "outside the shire" and into the adventurous world of risk-taking for the kingdom of Christ.

In God's providence, this evening I ran across this brief video clip from Desiring God. It's a simple "which is worse?" question taken from a message by Francis Chan (author of Crazy Love), and it just may convict every one of us who have been blessed by God to receive so much good biblical teaching and preaching over the years.

The bottom line is the same as that of Dr. Young's message: It's time to take what we've received and get busy with it. So watch it, and take a moment to ask yourself: "What am I doing with what I've been given?"

And then perhaps, "What will I do?"

I Am Jonah

By: Landon Ditto

I can relate to Jonah well. Not that I’ve spent a weekend in the bowels of a giant fish, but because there is part of me that actually believes fleeing from the presence of the Lord is a valid option. As God’s word confirms, it’s not.

One barrier that a well-known narrative such as Jonah presents is that we gloss over it and think we have extracted all of its available meaning. We can’t make this mistake with Jonah. Our tendency would be to hyper-focus on Jonah’s disobedience and walk away with a moral assignment that looks something like, "Obey God or avoid sea travel." However, the emphasis of this narrative is not on the rebel’s rebellion. The emphasis leans heavily on the persistent and lavish grace of a pursuing God.

So what does this have to do with life? Go read Jonah. Again. No, seriously. What I pray you find is not an old childhood memory of an odd story, but that you will see the unfolding grace in the life of a fleeing servant (you and me), and that the story of God’s pursuit of His people is far beyond anything we would have ever written for ourselves.

Does God get upset when we disobey?

By: Johnny Coggin

In the video below, counselor and author Dr. David Powlison responds to the important question, "Does God get upset when we disobey?".

This might seem like a no-brainer, but think about it: If you're a Christian, the Bible says that "there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). If God sees Christ's perfect righteousness when he looks at you, rather than your sinful unrighteousness, can he then be displeased, grieved, and even angry because of your continuing sins?

An important question to resolve, and a helpful explanation from Dr. Powlison, as always.

Dr. David Powlison - Does God get upset when we disobey? from CCEF on Vimeo.

What do we mean when we talk about God’s “law?”

By: Jim Umlauf

In Psalm 119, David writes, “O how I love your law.” What does he mean by that? The Old Testament wasn’t written in its completion, so was it the Torah (the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses), or something more?

There are basically three kinds of Old Testament law.

Civil law is easy to understand because we have American laws just like the French and Italians have theirs. Jewish civil law became non-existent when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. Think about it. When the Soviet Union ceased to exist, so did their legal system.

Sacrificial law had to do with temple worship. Various offerings were made to God, such as burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. What happened to all of those? Fulfilled in Jesus Christ! He himself was the offering and there’s no need for any more. “It is finished,” remember? There’s no need for a priest or earthly mediator because Jesus is our great High Priest. So the sacrificial laws are no longer needed. The theological word is abrogated.

Moral law reflects God’s nature, and communicates to the Christian the reality of God’s being. Thus, it is unchanging and eternal. The moral law is summarized in the Ten Commandments (Ex.20, and Deut.5) and distilled further in the great commandment (Matt.22.34-40). God makes this wonderful covenantal promise to his redeemed:

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

So to summarize, when a Christian says, “O how I love your law,” it is to say, “I want whatever you want. I’ll bend to your will. Change me into what you want in the power of the Holy Spirit.” For us, God’s law is anything he wants as he has revealed it in his word.