We’ve posted our latest audio lecture as we continue our study of Jerry Bridges’book “Respectable Sins.” If we really give our minds to the task, thanksgiving to God is the great path of joy and satisfaction in life!
Friends, I have uploaded today’s lectures in two audios titled “Part 1″ and “Part 2″ over on the Gospel Parenting page:
www.bentworld.org We’ll get them uploaded to iTunes early this week!
Blessings to you! Happy Lord’s Day! Happy Father’s Day!
We’ve been looking at a Bible passage in the book of 2 Peter. The passage reads:
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence…For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love.
I’m actually preaching on self-control very soon: I’m curious so how about a poll?? If you answer “other” please give a short “other reason”!
Fear and Contentment
If you tune into the weather today, you’ll no doubt notice that our country’s eastern seaboard mid-section is about to get creamed again by another snow storm. Weather is always one of those things that raises everyone’s level of discontent: my niece and nephews are perfectly content with that pile of snow about to hit. No school, more snow-ball fights, hot chocolate as far as the eye can see….Now their mother is not likely to share all of their excitements or their enthusiasm. She digs the snow, but no one digs it like kids.
We get spared from the snow around here and that’s a source of content and discontent, too. (I’m happy as a clam to avoid it; my kids, predictably, aren’t.) Weather is a gift of God for a lot of reasons but one of them surely is so we can practice contentment. Believers in Christ would give the north-south on whether they should be content, “Of course, we should be.” The question is, “How?”
Fear is the key to contentment. Once, when strength and vigor were mine in abundance (ahem), I was standing on an airbase tarmac with a parachute strapped to my back. Anyone who knows will tell you that it is STRAPPED to you – around the waist, through the legs, over the shoulders, across the chest. No one should be allowed to stand in that condition for very long; it is profoundly uncomfortable. Yet, the fear of great injury that might’ve resulted if it hadn’t been as tight as it needed to be resulted in my contentment.
The fear of the Lord is the key to godly contentment. This is different than the base-servile fear that comes with a parachute. This kind of fear leads to a kind of life where blessings come and contentment follows. But is all starts with fear.
The psalmist writes (128:1-2) “Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed and it shall be well with you.” Notice the relationship between fear and blessing? Press ahead to Psalm 131 and you have one who is greatly content:
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
We look in vain for contentment outside of the fear of the Lord. Fear Him first and the rest will surely follow.
Friends, the latest lecture has been uploaded to the Gospel Parenting page – check it out!
You can also go to our website for the lecture notes!
Grace to you!
