How is God Preparing You?

One thing I've realized over the years is how God was preparing me for ministry long before I was serving him. When I was in the third grade I fell in love with art. Actually, first I had fallen in love with my teacher and when she hung my drawing on the wall, I fell in love with art.

God has used my love for art in a variety of ways to prepare me for where I am today. One is creativity. I love to think outside the box when it comes to doing church, whether it's ministering to somebody, experimenting with preaching style, or my writing I believe that God has gifted people with creativity in order to use it.

Another thing crossed my mind today as I was explaining some fundamentals of color to a friend. Seeing the world through an artists eye is a lot like hermeneutics, that is, the art and science if biblical interpretation (aka bible study). When we are painting a picture, we have to forget what we think we see and look for what is actually before our eyes. We look at a human hand, for instance, and think we see peach, olive or brown depending on skin color. What we actually see though are a myriad of beautiful colors. There are pinks and blues and reds; several varieties of each color. We look at a shadow and think we see black. This is actually what we were taught as children. It isn't what we actually see however. If a shadow is cast on green grass, what we actually see are darker greens in that area. We have to retrain our minds to see what is actually before our eyes and not assume by what we have always been taught.

When we open the Bible we come with a school full of assumptions based on prior experiences. Hermeneutics pushes us to search for what really lies in the text and not just what we assume. I thank God that he prepared me in this way because it has encouraged me to question my interpretations and attempt to look for what God really meant the authors to say in the Holy Scriptures.

I have yet to master the Bible by any means, but then again that book takes a lifetime to digest its knowledge and Godly wisdom. Look back on your life and meditate on it for a little bit. How has God prepared you for the person you are today? How might He be preparing you for the person you are to become in the future?


Scott Hescht
Psalm 22 Ministries
www.psalm22ministries.org

Life Spring church
www.lifespringfamily.org

Are You Spiritually Inauthentic: Five Warning Signs

The following was adapted from John Ortberg’s “Surprised by Change: The Goal of Spiritual Life”. It’s based on the idea that Christians can often look to superficial distinctions between themselves and non-believers instead of real transformation brought about by the Holy Spirit. The religious people did it in Jesus’ day so we would be wise to at least consider the possibility that we may have fallen into the same trap. Ortberg uses Jesus’ rebuke of these religious folk in Matthew 23 as the basis of his five warning signs.

Pseudo-Transformation Warning Signs

1.    Am I spiritually “inauthentic”?

Matthew 23:25-28

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Inauthenticity involves a preoccupation with appearing to be spiritual. We try to say the right things and do the right things in front of others. Yet we hide our sin and work harder at making people think we’re a loving person than we actually do at loving them.

 “The meaning of true authenticity is this: that my exterior truly reflects my interior.”

- David Augsburger

Question: What are some things that keep you from being truly authentic?

2.    Am I becoming judgmental or exclusive or proud?

Matthew 23:6

⁶ They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

Pride is a potential problem for anyone who takes spiritual growth seriously. As soon as we start to pursue virtue, we begin to wonder why others aren’t as virtuous as we are.

Question: Do you tend to rate people in comparison to yourself? When and where does this tend to happen most frequently for you?

3.    Am I becoming more approachable, or less?

Matthew 23:7

(They love) ⁷ greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

Question: Do you ever feel that you’re too busy or too important for someone?

Question: Which of the three previous questions hits home with you the most?

4.    Am I growing weary of pursuing spiritual growth?

Matthew 23:4

For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

The pursuit of righteousness is always an exhausting pursuit when it seeks a distorted goal.

Question: Have you been weary and burdened by trying to live up to a certain standard? Who’s standard is it? There’s GOOD NEWS! Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

5.    Am I measuring my spiritual life in superficial ways?

Matthew 23:24

²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

“Suppose someone were to ask you, ‘How is your spiritual life going these days?’ Quick – what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? For many years I thought about this only in terms of a few special activities. If someone asked me how my spiritual life was going, my first thought would be how I was doing at having a quiet time – praying and reading the Bible each day. If I had prayed and read the Bible for several consecutive prior days, I was likely to say that my spiritual life was going well. If not, I was likely to feel guilty and downcast. So prayer and Bible study became the gauge of my spiritual condition. As long as I did those two things I could go through the day confident of God’s approval.”

Question: How do you tend to measure your spiritual life? What is your response to the questions discussing above?

“I suspect that if someone had asked the apostle Paul or the apostle John about his spiritual life, his first question would have been, ‘Am I growing in love for God and people?’ The real issue is what kind of people we are becoming.”

“Practices such as reading Scripture and praying are important – not because they prove how spiritual we are – but because God can use them to lead us into life.”

What's this about Two Devils?

"Beware of self-righteousness. The black devil of licentiousness destroys his hundreds, but the white devil of self-righteousness destroys his thousands." - Charles Spurgeon 

   

While there aren't literally two devils (though many demons), this is a great allegorical statement regarding the danger of self-righteousness. In fact, it is as dangerous, if not more than what we know as worldly sin. While those that Jesus most often spoke out against were the religious elite, who were right in their own eyes, we often don't recognize the same self-righteous spirit in us. Maybe it is because we are too busy being right in our own eyes and focusing on our elite status above others. Its hard to find anyone who will admit they are self-righteous. We don't dare claim that we are better than anyone or that we have gained favor in God's eyes by our own merit, yet our actions prove otherwise.  

I for one would like to break a chain in my own life. That's the chain of self-righteousness. Though it pains me to say; I have had, and may still do (God search my heart), self-righteousness lingering within. Its hard to see and spot because we always want to gloss over and justify our own intentions. Its hard to confess because, though we admit that we are sinners in need of Grace, we never like to be wrong in the present sense.

There is nothing we have that we did not receive from God! I have come to realize this truth more and more everyday. When I focus on the faults and sin in other people's life, God has been quick to show me my own. That's not the easy way to learn a lesson and I don't recommend it for anybody. Somebody once said, "We all need to learn grace, but hopefully not the hard way. The hard way is being put in positions where we need others to show us grace." Wow! That will make you want to be teachable! With that said, I'm so glad that I can't earn God's favor and love toward me. If it were left up to me, I'd be in huge trouble because I've proved to be a failure time and time again. Thank God I am totally accepted by Him through faith in Jesus Christ!

Look at what the Bible has to say about the subject:

(Jesus) also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:

"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." - Matthew 18:9-14

  

Here are some questions from Jerry Bridges that expose self-righteousness:*

1. Do you tend to live by a list of dos and don'ts? 
2. Is it difficult for you to respect those whose standards aren't as high as yours? 
3. Do you assume that practicing spiritual disciplines should result in God's blessing? 
4. Do you feel you're better than most other people? 
5. Has it been a long time since you identified a sin and repented of it? 
6. Do you resent it when others point out your "spiritual blind spots"? 
7. Do you readily recognize the sins of others but not your own? 
8. Do you have the sense that God owes you a good life? 
9. Do you get angry when difficulties and suffering come into your life? 
10. Do you seldom think of the cross?

J.C. Ryle: "Beware of self-righteousness in every possible shape or form. Some people get as much harm from their virtues as others do from their sins."

 *Source   

Scott Hescht

Psalm 22 Ministries