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 - Endorsed - Indifferent - Contested
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| The Nashville Statement
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Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
My complete profile...
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Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich
His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole
[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
- C-Train
This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos
Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
- Jonathan Moorhead
There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
- Carla Rolfe
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| Out of shape? |
I recall, with morbid fascination, lying on my living room floor in a state of exhaustion.
Not that I had run a marathon, or finished some laborious task. I was just entirely out of shape and having put on lots of weight through my inactivity - I was finding that more and more, my interest in physical activity was waning.
I looked at myself in the mirror and didn't like the reflection one bit - and though I longed to be thin, energetic, and even athletic again - I didn't seem to have the energy to make it happen.
I fiddled here and there with exercise - but it just didn't happen. After a few weeks I wouldn't see much of a change - and frankly, I didn't want it that much. I wanted to be fit if it could magically happen without my effort - but I wasn't about to purchase fitness through dedication and perseverance.
So I remained out of shape and "soft" for many years.
It was around that time (about ten years ago) that a friend of mine decided he wanted to practice a martial art. We had discussed it many times since university - but it never seemed to happen. So finally he bit the bullet and signed up for Aikido - a Japanese art. I reluctantly agreed to join with him - but secretly planned to quit after a couple of weeks.
It was ridiculously grueling - at the end of a twenty minute "warm-up" I was drenched in sweat - and near passing out from exhaustion. The pace of the class was what you would call "high energy" - and at the end of two weeks I was more than ready to quit. Martial arts isn't like contemporary dance - you basically go and get beat up every night for a few hours then go home, nurse your bruises, and do it all over again the next day.
Perhaps it was because everyone agreed that I was just the latest "newbie" and that like most newbies, I wouldn't pass muster - and it was widely and vocally made known that I wasn't expected to last very long. I was a little chubby, and red faced most of the time, being so out of shape as I was. I think it was because I was expected to "wimp out" that I determined to persevere - to prove them wrong.
At the end of these four years I was quite fit - I had put on plenty of muscle, and I could run a mile without breaking a sweat. The man who had once lain on the floor in a pathetic state of lethargy - was transformed by perseverance and dedication.
I wonder how many people today are lying on the carpet of their living room spiritually speaking? How many have put on a few pounds around their spiritual middle - such that they have no hunger for spiritual things?
Really - just as an out of shape man has no hunger for exercise - so too someone who is out of shape spiritually will have no hunger for spiritual things. The solution is the same - get up and start exercising. Read the bible and pray, root out the sin in your life - and butta-bing butta-boom! You will suddenly find yourself hungry again for the things of God.
Are you a spiritual couch potato? No one is going to come and hit you with a wand and make you a dynamo - you need to set you mind on God to lose the worldly pounds you've gained.
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posted by Daniel @
11:25 AM
 
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| 4 Comments: |
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So, how would you say sanctification works? Does God do it with my 'cooperation', or does He do it alone, or do I 'muster' it? Wouldn't 'mustering it up' be grounds for questioning the presence of the Spirit in one's life? Is there are biblical example of someone who 'mustered up' devotion, commitment, etc?
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What was Paul's encouragement to Timothy? "Stir up the gift of God which is in you"
As a Calvinist, let me be the first to say that whatever I do, God has given me the grace to do it. Having said that - this in no way means that I am to laze about waiting for a divine unction to empower me. God gives grace to the humble - not the lazy.
Solid food belongs to those who are of full age - that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil - Hebrews 5:14
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Another excellent post Daniel. We would rather wait for the lightning strike to transform us spiritually but really we need to be diligent to come to the Word and prayer daily. As we are faithful, yes, the Lord's grace will be more than sufficient to meet our every need.
Great reminder of our own responsibility.
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In my terrible attempt at urban lingo: true dat, true dat.
Lately I've been falling into a semi-lax state of reading and studying, I realized this the other day and spent a good half hour repenting. I've got a few plans to change that up.
Part of the laxness has to do with the fact that I'm not forced to study because I don't lead a bible study anymore. This must change.
Cheers
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So, how would you say sanctification works? Does God do it with my 'cooperation', or does He do it alone, or do I 'muster' it? Wouldn't 'mustering it up' be grounds for questioning the presence of the Spirit in one's life? Is there are biblical example of someone who 'mustered up' devotion, commitment, etc?