song to be

Here are the words to a song that will be recorded on the next Sealed album. Thanks to Rachel for making it actual poetry instead of just random words.

The poem starts in Isaiah 6, then moves on to the cross of Christ and His defeat of sin and death, and, finally, to the joy that salvation brings to my heart.

As robes do fill the temple
The seraphs there who fly
Sing "holy, holy, holy"
And cover feet and eyes

For He is wholly other
The Holy God on high
Enthroned in light, majestic
A bloody sacrifice

For bleeding, hung in anguish
Our sin, our shame He bore
And life, by Adam curs'ed
Is new, by death made sure

Now free, this grace redeemeth
The basest of the beasts
Alone we are but sinners
Yet He brings high the least

O joy, for my salvation
My wand'ring heart it stays
Not fleeting, this emotion
But true and holy praise

Each morn now filled with singing
Each night with endless praise
For ev'ry joy and glory
Your loving cross displays

-joe

romans 7

The death of Christ has released us from the law. He has died and we die in Him if we believe that His death is what sets us free. What a beautiful portrait of love. He died to set us free from the law that binds...free to the love that abounds in the fruit of the Spirit.

And then on into the battle that rages. The great do-do verses. These verses give me no confidence in myself. They strip me of everything that I think I bring to the table for Christ. I'm dry, barren, knowing the good "but not [having] the ability to carry it out." It is the passage that I turn to to destroy the pride in my life. I cling to this passage because it tells me my worth outside of Christ is nothing and reminds me of the despair that I once lived. It reminds me that even in my salvation that I still have nothing to bring.

And finally, the crux verse. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" That's my prayer. That is all our prayer is..."God, I'm unable to do anything good even though I want to...but thankfully you also move me in your Spirit to do that good. Let me flee temptation and cling to You."

The beauty of salvation is made no clearer than this passage. Our utter worthlessness our 'wretchedness' and Christ's ultimate worth through His death and His Spirit's work in us.

-joe

conversion

I read a post today by Tullian Tchividjian. He talks about whether or not it is important to pinpoint the exact moment of salvation.

I've wrestled with this for several years. Some have told me that I was saved much earlier, at the age of 5 or 6. Others have referred to my baptism as the age and time (which I just found the date of in a Bible: 4/20/97...I was baptized at Faith Outreach Center...and I don't remember it at all...real meaningful).

I refer to my salvation as a time during the summer of 2003. I don't know a date. I don't know much of anything, just that my life drastically changed, inwardly. I became a new person.

I've thought the same thing as Pastor Tchividjian when he writes

It frustrated me not knowing for sure whether my relationship with God began when I was five and “prayed the prayer” or when I was twenty-one and my life clearly changed. Did I become a Christian when I was five and then simply rebelled until I was twenty-one, at which point I rededicated my life to God? Or did I become a Christian for the first time at twenty-one? I didn’t know, and it really bothered me. I wanted to pinpoint the time and place.

So, if any of you have struggled...I side with Tullian and Arnie...the end is what matters most.

-joe

conversion

From the pen of A.W. Pink:

Sometimes the wind blows so softly it scarcely rustles a leaf; at other times it blows so loudly that its roar can be heard for miles. So it is in the matter of the new birth; with some the Holy Spirit deals so gently that His work is imperceptible to human onlookers; with others His action is so powerful, radical, revolutionary, that His operations are patent to many.

He takes this statement by reading from John 3:8. It is true, isn't it? My salvation was a nearly imperceptible change (except for the radical shift in my theology). I acted much the same. Few of my outward actions differed (although, now...slowly...I am becoming more Christlike).

I have known others who are so radically lifted that it is impossible not to notice. My Bible study leader in college was one of them (I wasn't there for his conversion...but the stories I have heard are quite remarkable). Instantly he became ignited by the Spirit and desired to 'reap the harvest'.

It is good for me to think about the differences in conversions. I often think that all people should come to faith like I did...but, the Spirit is sovereign in how the non-believers is 'pricked'.

-joe