by HARVEYOPP | Dec 21, 2016 | Paul Tripp
“Grace works to free you from your eternity amnesia so that you will be willing and able to live with the purifying hope of what is to come.
You and I don’t always live what we say we believe. There is often a disconnect between our confessional theology and our street-level functional theology. There is often a separation between, on the one hand, the doctrines we say we have embraced and, on the other hand, the choices we make and the anxieties that we feel. One of the places where this disconnect exists for many of us is the biblical teaching about eternity. We say we believe in the hereafter. We say that this moment in time is not all there is. We say that we are hardwired for forever. But often we live with the compulsion, anxiety, and drivenness of eternity amnesiacs. We get so focused on the opportunities, responsibilities, needs, and desires of the here and now that we lose sight of what is to come.
The fact is that you cannot make sense out of life unless you look at it from the vantage point of eternity. If all God’s grace gives us is a little better here and now, if it doesn’t finally fix all that sin had broken, then perhaps we have believed in vain: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15: 19). There has to be more to God’s plan than this world of sin, sickness, sorrow, and death. There has to be more than the temporary pleasures of this physical world. Yes, there is more, and when you live like there’s more to come, you live in a radically different way. When you forget eternity, you tend to lose sight of what’s important. When you lose sight of what’s truly important, you live for what is temporary, and your heart seeks for satisfaction where it cannot be found.
Looking for satisfaction where it cannot be found leaves you spiritually empty and potentially hopeless. Meanwhile, you are dealing with all the difficulties of this fallen world with little hope that things will ever be different. Living as an eternity amnesiac just doesn’t work. It leaves you either hoping that now will be the paradise it will never be or hopeless that what is broken will ever be fixed. So it’s important to fix your eyes on what God has promised will surely come. Let the values of eternity be the values that shape your living today, and keep telling yourself that the difficulties of today will someday completely pass away. Belief in eternity can clarify your values and renew your hope. Pray that God, by his grace, will help you remember forever right here, right now.”
by HARVEYOPP | Dec 21, 2016 | Paul Tripp
“I wish I could say that sin always appears horribly ugly and destructive to me, but it doesn’t. I wish I could say that all the time and in every way I hate what God hates, but I don’t. I wish I could say that I always love to do what is right, but I don’t. I wish I could say that I never think that my way is better than God’s way, but I can’t. I wish my heart were forever settled with staying inside God’s boundaries, but it isn’t. I wish I could say that my war with sin is over, but it’s not.
Here’s the danger for me and for you: sin doesn’t always look sinful to us. It’s hard to admit it, but sometimes sin actually looks beautiful to us. The man lusting after the woman in the mall doesn’t actually see something ugly and dangerous. No, he sees beauty. The guy who is cheating on his taxes doesn’t see the moral danger of deception. He sees the excitement of having additional money to satisfy his desires. The woman gossiping on the phone doesn’t see the destructiveness of what she’s doing because she is taken up with the buzz of passing a tale. The child who is rebelling against the will of her parents doesn’t see the danger that she’s placing herself in because she is captivated by the thrill of her temporary independence.
Part of the deceptive power of sin in my heart is its ability to look beautiful when it is actually terribly ugly. So we need help, and God in grace has met us with that help. This help doesn’t come to us first in a theology or a set of commands or principles; it comes to us in a person. God knew that my struggle with sin would be so great that it would not be enough to forgive me. That forgiveness is a wonderful thing, but I need more. So God not only forgives, but he also gets inside me by his Spirit. The Spirit that now lives inside me is a Warrior Spirit, who by grace does battle with my sin even in moments when I don’t care to. His redemptive zeal is unstoppable. Think of Peter, who denied any knowledge of Christ. Was it the end of his story? No, but not because Peter had the sense to pursue Jesus; it was because Jesus, in unrelenting, forgiving grace, pursued Peter (see John 18: 12– 14, 25– 27; 21: 15– 19).
In our battle with sin, are we called to wrestle, run, fight, and pray? Yes, we are, but our hope is not in our ability to do these things, but in the God of grace, who will war with sin until sin is no more. He never grows tired, never gets frustrated, and never gives up. Now, that’s hope!”
by HARVEYOPP | Jul 12, 2016 | Paul Tripp
The past two weeks I’ve written to you about living as a light in your neighborhood. I shared my concern that we don’t get out of “the Christian Ghetto” enough, and even when we do, we neglect to see people as people.
This is what I want to share with you today: We’re called to incarnate the love of Jesus Christ as we get involved in the lives of our neighbors.
To incarnate means to embody or represent in human form – that’s what Jesus did when he came to earth and took on flesh. But it’s also what we’re called to do today, now that Jesus is no longer physically present. In other words, you and I are meant to live as the visible ambassadors of an invisible King.
But, the whole plan breaks down if we’re invisible in our neighborhood! The first step is to get involved. Here are some ideas:
- Join an Association. Whether it’s your homeowners associations, your neighborhood association, or a local business association, these are regular opportunities to engage with people in your neighborhood. And don’t forget that you’re involved for the people, more so than the business!
- Use Your Children. Your kids present wonderful opportunities to engage your neighbors. Whether it’s a little league baseball game, an art show at school, or one of the many other events they participate in, you’re going to bump into your neighbors all the time if you both have kids. Are you taking advantage of these open doors?
- Open Your Doors. Your home is a phenomenal resource for ministry. Invite neighbors over for a summer cookout. Host a Super Bowl party. Get your kids the newest video game console, have their friends over all the time, and invite their parents in for food when they drop their kids off. Make your home the most hospitable home in your neighborhood.
- Serve Others. If there’s an older person on your street, ask if your family can do their yardwork each month. Take the extra hour on Saturday to mow your neighbor’s lawn, too. Bake cookies or banana bread and give it out unexpectedly. Confound your neighbors with an outpouring of generosity and love!
There are many other opportunities unique to your situation; you just need to ask God to open your heart and open your eyes. Here’s the point: you can be part of God’s agenda of love. And as you shower your neighbors with love and compassion, they’ll have a question in their minds: “Why does this person love me the way they do?”
Then you can talk about the beautiful story of Jesus.
by HARVEYOPP | Jun 7, 2016 | Paul Tripp
The first word that’s essential to building a grace-based family is SURRENDER.
When I first asked Luella to marry me, I didn’t have a clue about what it meant to surrender. As I look back on the early years of marriage, much of our struggles could have been avoided if I knew how to surrender.
By the time our children came along, I still hadn’t mastered this concept of surrendering. With each new stage of their life, I had to learn to surrender in a different way. Again, many of the mistakes I made as a parent could have been circumvented if I had only known how to surrender.
So how can you avoid these mistakes and struggles? The answer is found in one sentence of one prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
As a spouse, as a parent, as as child, or as a sibling, you can build a family of love by surrendering your kingdom to God’s kingdom, by surrendering your will to God’s will, and by surrendering your earthly desires to God’s heavenly desires.
If God isn’t in his rightful place at the center of your family, guess who you’ll stick in his place? Yourself! You’ll make it all about you – your schedule, your pleasure, your control. And if everyone in the family is vying for the throne of the home, you’ll experience endless conflict, criticism, and dissatisfication. Some of you are experiencing that chaos right now.
Let’s be honest today: our biggest problem isn’t that we don’t love our spouse or our child or our parent or our sibling enough. Our most significant struggle is that we don’t surrender to God enough. When we fail to surrender to God as we should, then we won’t love the people in our family in the way that he calls us to love.
Are you ready to surrender and experience a beautiful, grace-based family? You need to understand this: surrender is not an event; it’s a process. Every day you need to surrender again, because as long as sin remains in your heart, you’ll have a desire to stick yourself in the center of your family and make it all about you.
Cry out to Jesus today and say, “I’m not very good at surrendering, but I want to be.” Christ will meet you in your weakness – he loves to respond to people who, in brokeness, seek him for help.
by HARVEYOPP | Mar 26, 2016 | Paul Tripp
We’re nearing the end of March, a month dedicated to Five Words That Change Families. We’ve looked at Surrender, Purpose and Discipline, and today’s word is essential to the previous three: PATIENCE.
Surrendering our desires to the Lord won’t come naturally to us, nor to our spouse. Pursuing God’s purpose won’t be a simple call for us, nor for our children. Disciplining ourselves to say no to indulging the pleasures of the flesh will be a significant struggle for us, as it will be for our siblings and parents.
Unless you live alone, you will experience firsthand the moral deficiencies of those you love. Their sin will splash into your life, either directly or indirectly. They will experience the same from you. So, if you’re going to exist as a family of unity, peace and love, you need to be a family rooted in patience.
Here are four basic principles to remember:
- God has been patient with us. The patience of the Lord is referenced all throughout Scripture. Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, Nahum 1:3, Romans 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 are just a few examples. But those verses aren’t historic, as if we look back in time and learn about who God was. Those verses reveal who God is with us right here, right now. Because God is patient with us as we stumble, so we must be patient with our family members as they mature in grace.
- Only God can change your family. In Psalm 51:10 David prays, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Isn’t it interesting that David doesn’t promise God that he’s going to change? Rather, he pleads with God to create a new heart and a new spirit within him. David was onto something – only God can produce change in a person. We don’t have the ability to change ourselves, nevertheless our family members who live with us.
- Our attempts to change others result in damage. Despite what Scripture says, we still try our best to change of our family members. We do that with threats, accusations, manipulation, guilt, and a variety of other techniques. We think that if we yell loudly enough, punish harshly enough, or mope long enough, our family members will change. Perhaps for a moment they will alter their behavior and we’ll get what we want, but that won’t last. Sadly, what often lasts longer is relational hurt and bitterness.
- Patience requires waiting. If you’re going to extend patient grace to your family members, you have to be willing to wait. God will change the heart of your spouse, he will mature your children, and he will grow your parents and siblings … but he will do so in his perfect timing. The winds of the Holy Spirit will blow in conviction, as his Word promises, but he won’t consult you first and ask when you want it to take place. Patience will require you to wait on the Lord.
Maybe you’re thinking, “Paul, that doesn’t sound very helpful. Am I just supposed to sit around and do nothing?” No, don’t get me wrong – patience is not a synonym for inactivity. You need to have loving but honest conversations with your spouse about marital conflict. You need to discipline your children and correct wrong behavior. You need to respectfully confront your parents and siblings when their sin splashes into your life.
But, the one thing you can’t do is change their hearts. For that, you have to wait patiently on the One who is wise and faithful and present and good. His timing is always right.
by HARVEYOPP | Jan 15, 2016 | Paul Tripp
If you pay attention to the way we speak and the way we act, we’re always hoping for something.
“I hope our company does well this year” / “I hope he isn’t mad at me” / “I hope God answers my prayer” / “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow” / “I hope this sickness isn’t something serious”
As human beings, we hope. It’s our default setting. We attach our security and our sense of peace and rest to something every day. The question is not whether we hope, but what holds our hope.
I want to give you five principles about hope as we kick off 2016. I “hope” this devotional will help shape the way you think about your life in the new year.
- You Hope In Something. You could argue that the life of a human being is propelled by hope. From the little momentary hope of the young child for a new toy to the profound hope of the adult for meaning and purpose, we all hope. We all place our hope in someone or something, and we ask that person or that thing to deliver something to us.
- Hope Is A Lifestyle. Your hope shapes the way you live. Your hope causes you to make the decisions that you make. A lack of hope causes you to feel stuck and unmotivated. Confident hope makes you decisive and courageous. Wobbly hope makes you timid and indecisive. Hope is not just something you do with your brain. You always live your hope in some way.
- Most Of Our Hopes Disappoint. We all do it: we place our hope in things in this fallen world that simply can’t deliver. Your spouse can’t make you happy. Your job won’t make you content. Your possessions can’t satisfy your heart. Your physical health won’t give you inner peace. Your friends can’t give you meaning and purpose. When our hopes disappoint us, it’s a sign that we’ve put our hopes in the wrong things.
- There Are Only Two Places Of Hope. The theology of hope is quite simple – there are only two places to put your hope. You rest the hope of your life in the hands of the Creator or you look to the creation for hope. We’ve been exchanging the truth about God for a lie and worshipping and serving the creation rather than the Creator since the Fall.
- Hope In God Is Sure. When you hope in the Lord, you not only hope in the One who created and controls the universe, but also in One who is glorious in grace and abounding in love. No one can satisfy like Jesus. No one can bring rest like the Father. Only the Sovereign King provides an unshakeable foundation for hope.
So as you begin 2016, remember that you’re always hoping. Be aware of the false hopes that try to distract your soul, and run to Jesus. Only He provides hope both now and forever more!
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