Posts by Jason Helopoulos
What does your family tree look like? I am not so concerned about your biological family tree. Frankly, that is of very little interest to me. I'm interested in your spiritual family tree. From where did you come spiritually? Who shared the faith with you? And who shared the faith with them? If you are a believer, you are in a long line dating all the way back to Abraham. But even more importantly, what does your spiritual family tree look like going forward? What growth is budding off of your branch?
Most of us go through real times of spiritual melancholy in the Christian life. They can be brief or entire seasons in which, as Gisbertus Voeitus said, a person "fails to feel his or her heart's delight in God and divine things." If you have been a Christian for any period of time, you most likely have experienced this reality. In the midst of these times we often struggle to know why this feeling has crept into our hearts. It is good for us to search our hearts in times like this. We must ask the Lord to give us wisdom in identifying the cause--even as we continue to seek Him.
There is that beautiful passage at the end of the Gospel of Luke when the resurrected Jesus is on the Emmaus Road with the two defeated and depressed disciples. In that passage we are told that, "Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." As the Good Shepherd, He opened the Old Testament Scriptures and showed them not only their need for a redeemer, but showed them the pervasive promise throughout the Old Testament of this One who would come to be their Redeemer. The One they needed. The One who surpasses any proposed savior we would offer. The One who is our only hope. And all the Old Testament Scriptures point us to Him.
A church that recognizes the depth of its sin is a church that is wading into the deep end of the Gospel of grace.
Prayer is a gift from a heavenly Father, who loves to hear from His children. There are countless reasons to pray. Let's be a people of prayer. Never will one minute in prayer closets be a minute wasted or later regretted.
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