Every other Tuesday, one of my church’s elders, Buz, and I head over to another elder’s house for Bible study in the Epistle to the Hebrews. If you have read Hebrews, you know that perseverance is a central theme to that written homily. The idea of perseverance has been heavy on my heart lately because the elder to whose house we go is John Black, a renowned architect and artist in Nashville, whose paintings of 19th century life and struggle in the Mid-South have been the envy of collectors. Not only is John an architect and artist, he is also fighting a courageous battle with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Our pastoral staff often checks in on him. Our Senior Pastor, Scott, has anointed him with oil and Pastor Todd and other elder have prayed with and for him. While we love being able to minister to John, every time we leave his house we recognize that we are the ones being ministered to!
When we confess our specific sins to our forgiving Lord we’re depriving our future unbelief of ammunition. We are keeping a short account of sin with the Lord and a long account of His grace. Every time we confess a specific sin and claim God’s promises of forgiveness we are declaring loudly that Jesus is not just a general savior for general sinners but our savior for our particular sins.
As we navigate through the pages of Scripture, we must be ever careful in our efforts to come to an understanding about the “less clear” portions of Scripture. We must gives ourselves to a prayerful consideration of the context. We must study the details of the Old Testament examples picked up in New Testament exposition. We must labor to understand the way that words are used. We must always try to find a resolution based on the more clear passages of Scripture.
We live in days when God’s law is often regarded as humanity’s greatest enemy. We’re not surprised when an unbelieving world longs to burst God’s “bands” and cast away His “cords” in the unbridled pursuit of “liberty” (Ps. 2:3). What is surprising, however, is when Christian voices are attacking God’s Law and portraying it as the Christian’s greatest enemy too.
Two weeks ago I visited a ministerial colleague and friend in hospice. He was days away from entering eternity to be with Christ and is now with Christ. For just under a year he battled cancer. In that short time he went from receiving a clean bill of health to lying in a hospice bed in great pain. Through it all he gave thanks to God. Two weeks ago he could not speak without great labor. But what he did say, I pray, will never leave my mind. As I walked into the room and stood next to him, he said, “Thank you for praying, Jesus does all things well. Jesus does all things well.” He repeated these words before I left. It was the shortest message this minister preached. And given the circumstances, his best.
SEARCH THE ALLIANCE
Join the Alliance
© Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
