What is the Christian Life?
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Ano Klesis Publishing
- Women’s Issues. 2. Christian Living. 1. Title.
Copyright © 2012 Katie Hoffman
All Rights Reserved.
Table of Contents
Chapter Two: The Celebration. 10
Chapter Three: Connected with Others 14
Chapter Four: Sadness and Perspective. 16
Chapter Five: Two Gifts for Believers 19
Chapter Six: Sin, Obedience, and Counting the Cost 22
Think about when the Christmas season arrives. Many of us become preoccupied with giving and receiving gifts.
For some people, Christmas is a very painful time because they do not have the resources to give what they wish they could. For others, Christmas time is painful because it reminds them of lost relationships and loved ones. And for others still, it is a time of joy and celebration as they spend time with family and friends.
Like Christmas, when our children or other special people have birthdays, many of us think about what gifts we can give. And maybe you’ve received a gift for your birthday or some other holiday that meant a lot to you. Maybe the gift had a deep sentimental value or it reflected a big sacrifice on the part of the giver.
There is one gift, holding both the deepest sentimental value and reflecting the greatest sacrifice possible, that I’d like for everyone who reads this to receive freely.
This gift—the gift of forgiveness, goodness, and eternal life—is the greatest gift you could ever be given. And it’s not from me. I’m just telling you where to go to get it.
The sacrifice needed to give this gift is the very life of the One who gives it. And He gives this gift freely to anyone who wants it.
And I want you to accept this gift with rejoicing and to let the value and power of this gift give you a reason to experience joy despite anything that might be happening in your life.
Have you ever just searched—maybe you’ve searched the internet, not really knowing what it is you’re looking for. Or you’ve wandered a store wondering what could help your life. Or in some other way you’ve searched and longed for the missing something in your life. But you don’t know what it is.
In this book, I want to talk about the things our soul longs for most. You know, as humans, we naturally seek out joy. We spend our lives trying to find joy and fulfillment. Now, many people do many different things in that search. We may have different ideas about what gives joy, but we all naturally seek comfort and happiness. We long for rest and joy and fulfillment and fellowship and love. And we move away from pain and discomfort.
Think about how you react when you are uncomfortable or in pain. If the pain is severe, at least for me, everything else stops. My mind instantly becomes focused on how to escape that pain, how to end the pain.
When I was in labor with our third child James, my labor went pretty fast. And when I finally got to the hospital, my contractions were coming so hard that I couldn’t even walk in. My husband had to get a wheelchair from the hospital. I was so uncomfortable that as soon as I got the delivery room, I immediately asked, “Can I please have my epidural now?” The nurses’ told me, “We have to get some things prepared first and your paperwork finished.”
When I gave birth to my first two children, I had an epidural each time. So here I was, in intense pain, without any pain relief. I kept asking my husband Todd, “Please, please go ask the nurses, ‘How much longer until I get the epidural?’.” He would go out and then come back in and say, “No, they are not ready yet.”
In that time of pain, my highest priority (other than my baby), was to get out of that pain! Well, I ended up giving birth without ever getting an epidural or anything else. And oh, did it hurt!
After it was over, I said to Todd, “They never gave me the epidural.”
“I know.” He said, “They never were going to. You were too far along in labor. But they didn’t want to tell you.”
Bah!
So I know that we naturally seek to avoid discomfort and pain. We do whatever it takes to numb it, to escape it, to reduce it, to eliminate it. And we naturally seek its opposite—comfort, joy, refreshment, rest, happiness and satisfaction.
And you may have something you turn to, something that takes your mind off your dissatisfaction or emptiness in life and gives you some comfort. But there is a far greater source of comfort and satisfaction and joy. There is a way, not just to numb discomfort, but to truly celebrate. And that is what I want you to know in abundance.
IS THERE A WAY TO BE FREE?
I remember when I was in second grade. I was playing tag at lunchtime on the grass with the other girls in my class. Our school had a rule that kids could run on the grass, but you could not run on the blacktop. So I had gotten tagged and I was it. I was chasing one of the girls, and right before I was about to tag her, she ran onto the blacktop.
She wasn’t supposed to go on the blacktop. And I wasn’t going to give up just because she cheated. So I kept chasing her until I caught up. Then right as I tagged her, I accidentally pushed her and she fell forward onto her knees hard. I think she might have also hit her forehead on the ground. She had blood on her knees and I knew I was in trouble. All of the girls came over to see what happened. One of the supervisors came over and helped her to the nurse’s room.
Right then the bell rang to go back to class. We went back to our rooms and I felt so bad. After class began, our teacher said, “Where is Julie? What happened to Julie?”
As quickly as I could, I popped up my hand and said, “I know what happened to Julie. When we were playing tag, one of the third grade boys came and pushed her over on the blacktop. She had to go to the nurse’s office.”
My teacher believed me and went on with her lesson. When class was over, we lined up by the door to be dismissed for the day. Another girl stood behind me in line. She leaned toward me and said in a disgusted voice, “I know you lied to the teacher. I know it was you who pushed Julie.”
I left school that day and the subject never came up again. I don’t remember my teacher or Julie or anyone else ever saying anything else to me. Second grade went on as if that never happened.
But in my heart, I felt so guilty. As a little girl, I grew up in church. I heard many times that Jesus died on a cross to take my place and forgive my sins. But I was so horrified by this sin, I doubted if God could ever forgive me. Now, listen, I’ve done worse things since then. But being seven, eight, nine years old, that seemed like the worst sin a person could ever commit. And I had so much guilt because of that sin.
When I was in the eighth grade—a full six years later, I was spending the night at a friend’s house and she fell asleep. I was just lying there awake, and I remembered this incident in the second grade. I prayed again for God’s forgiveness like I had done so many times before.
I wondered if God could forgive me. I hadn’t yet understood how great God’s forgiveness is. But that night, as I sat there crying silently, I again asked God to forgive me because of the blood of Jesus. Now, I had already prayed to give my life to Christ. But I still had this guilt, as if God was mad at me and wouldn’t forgive me for this one thing.
But this time I decided to believe that God is able to forgive my sins. I determined to trust Him, that He would completely forgive. And the guilt was finally gone.
FREE AT LAST
If you have sins that make you wonder if God can really forgive you, know that nothing you’ve done is too horrible for God’s forgiveness.
To not believe God really forgives my sin when I confess would mean I don’t really believe God, because God is a God who forgives, who completely takes away sin by the blood of Jesus. Because “if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
From these verses there are three things we may notice.
God requires everyone who wants to know Him, who has fellowship with Him, to walk in the light and practice the truth.
The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is the provision for all of our sin to be cleansed, so that we can have abundant peace and full forgiveness from our sin.
When we walk in the light and have fellowship with God, we also have sweet and full fellowship with one another.
We are told in this verse that Jesus cleanses us from all sin. In other words, Jesus—God’s own begotten Son—is able to completely wash away all our sin. That is, He is our only hope for the complete removal of guilt. When we sin, it’s like when we get some type of grease on us that can’t come off. Water, soap, nothing seem to take it off.
Sin is like that. Nothing can take away our guilt before God except the forgiveness that comes through Christ. We need to be cleansed. We need to know that our sin has been removed, like it never happened. And there is a way—that way is Jesus.
Now just to want to be forgiven is not enough. Even to ask for forgiveness is not enough. You must put your faith in Jesus. You must let Jesus literally save you from your sin.
God is a just and righteous God. God cannot overlook sin because He is holy. And so, sin must be judged. And every one who has sinned has become accountable to God for that sin.
I’ve sinned a lot. But I will never have to die in my sins because Jesus has already died for me. When you receive Jesus as your Savior, He becomes responsible for your sin. Suddenly, the debt you owe to God is paid. It’s gone. Wiped out. Removed. The sins you’ve done—however horrible—are no longer your concern, but Jesus takes that guilt.
You are as safe from God’s anger and judgment as you would be if you’d never sinned at all. That judgment falls on Jesus. Like if it were raining, and you entered a home for shelter, that storm falls on the shelter and you avoid it.
THE ONLY WAY IN
But sometimes we don’t know how to get in that shelter. There is only one way, and that is by Jesus. He alone is able to bear the punishment for your sin. When Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago, the Bible says that the record of your sin was nailed to the cross with Jesus, if you believe on Him.
He suffered and was crucified; dying a brutal, painful death on a cross, and bearing God’s anger, and now you go free. You get to escape God’s eternal judgment. You get a full pardon because Jesus took your punishment.
Romans 4:24-25 says (in the NLT), “God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.”
When Jesus came to earth a man, He was fully 100% God and fully 100% man—God’s only begotten Son. And He came that we might be reconciled to God.
All of us were separated from God by our sin. But if you’re willing to turn from your sin, if you’re willing to believe that Jesus took your place and your punishment on the cross when He died, if you’re willing to believe Jesus rose from the dead three days later, and you’re willing to believe in Jesus as your Savior, if you’re willing to confess with your mouth that Christ Jesus is your Lord, God will forgive your sin and you will be reconciled to Him.
Romans 5:11 says we “rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
You must put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior who died on the cross to take your sin, and then rose from the dead so you could be righteousness. And you must confess that He is your Lord, your master. And if you do this, God will forgive your sin and remove it completely, as if you had never sinned.
And by God’s grace, your heart will be cleansed. You will be free from the guilt and judgment of your sin. And now your heart will be free to be upright. And God’s own righteousness will be given to you.
You will only gain eternal life by following Christ. But when you follow Christ, you gain even more! You gain His righteousness, His goodness credited to your account, as if you had never sinned.
Imagine owing a huge debt of ten billion dollars. You can never pay that debt. You are trapped under the burden. And someone who loves you so much pays the debt for you. They free you from these chains of debt.
But they don’t stop there. They really want to demonstrate how much they love you. So this same person now deposits into your account a credit of 50 billion dollars. Not only have you been freed of a debt you could never pay, but you’ve gained a gift you could never earn.
When you become a Christian, you have hope in this life that when you die, you will be made like Christ, for you will see Him as He is. You are purified by this hope in Christ. You celebrate Christ’s victory over your sin. You celebrate the shelter you have in Him. You celebrate the sweet peace and refreshing times of fellowship with Him and other believers.
You have so much to celebrate when you know the living God! That is the joy of being a Christian.
When you become a Christian, you gain Christ’s own righteousness. His own goodness is given to you, deposited to your account. God now sees you with the righteousness of Christ.
This life is very short, compared to forever. Very short. And God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world. Every person will stand before God and give an account. Each person will be judged by God for their lives here on earth.
But no matter how good your life was, if it wasn’t perfect, if you weren’t sinless—you can’t get into heaven. Because God is sinless and there is nothing defiled or unholy in heaven.
So how does anyone get into heaven? Because the blood of Jesus is able to take away all your sin. Jesus literally becomes your Savior, because He saves you from your sin and the judgment of your sin, and makes you holy.
I was talking to a Hindu woman awhile back about Jesus, and after explaining what it means to be saved, she said to me, “I know I need to be a better person.” And I said, “Being a better person won’t be enough to save you. You must be saved by believing on Jesus. He will make you a good person because He takes away your sins. Even if you become a good person, you will still have the guilt of all the sins you’ve already done.” Being a good person is not enough.
If we all wanted to compete in a race—and this is purely an example because I am NOT a runner—which of us would have a chance at winning? Only those of us who are on the race track. The only people with the only chance of winning are those who are at the race, on the track. How fast you run off the track won’t matter.
Good works are like that track. The good works you do won’t matter if your sins haven’t been forgiven. Only those whose sins have been forgiven even get on the track. Being a good person only counts AFTER you are in Christ, because then it is no longer to earn salvation, but only to please God.
And what you do on this earth, in this life for Christ, will make all the difference when you stand before God. Basically, once you get on that track, how fast you run, how much effort you give that race will make all the difference when the prizes are awarded. You must live each day to please and obey God.
And that’s why, when you live for Christ, you celebrate that your life is counting for eternity, that your life is worth living.
CELEBRATING ETERNITY
Imagine if you were about to die of some horrible cancer or disease, and you had that natural fear we all have, that instinct of self-preservation. And you were fearful of your own life. You were tormented by the pain, by what loomed ahead.
And imagine if somehow you realized that you would be suffering with this cancer, this pain, this misery, forever. Imagine if this sickness would never go away, never be healed, never get better. Imagine if there was no way to escape and be free. Think of what a dreadful state you would be in.
And then suddenly, by some miracle, you were free of the sickness and disease and cancer. Suddenly it was as if you had never been sick. Your health was completely restored.
You would celebrate. You would celebrate your freedom from the sickness. You would celebrate the grace you’d received.
The looming judgment of sin is far worse than cancer or disease. You can escape cancer and sickness by death. But you cannot escape the dreadful burden of your sin by death. Death only causes your judgment to increase.
When Jesus frees us by His own blood from the terrible burden of our sin, it is a more wonderful miracle than if we were cured of the most horrific disease.
If you believe on Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this miracle of forgiveness will happen in your own life. You will be free of your guilt before God. You will receive eternal life. You will escape God’s judgment and His wrath. You will be His child. You will know the Living God and you will belong to Him. You will be more free than if you were pardoned from death row. You will have the strength and self-control in Christ to do what is right.
Now, that is your greatest reason to celebrate. It is the greatest reason to have joy.
Perhaps you experienced a huge release of sin and guilt when you came to Christ, and joy filled your heart. Perhaps it happened more slowly, but when you realized all your guilt and sin had been removed by the blood of Jesus, you had a peace unlike anything else you’d ever known.
And now, you celebrate your relationship with Jesus because you’ve been forgiven of sin and look forward to eternity, where you will receive a glorified body and become like Christ. But before you can celebrate knowing God, you must come to God. And if you’ve come to Christ, you first recognized you were a sinner. You were dead in sin. You were without hope for freedom apart from Jesus. But you came to Him and said, “O Lord, please forgive my sin. Please be my Savior and my Lord. Please take my life and use it me to serve and honor You.”
And you did these things with joy. You willingly chose to follow Christ. You decided that you needed Christ. You came to Him honestly, desperately.
Whatever and whenever you experienced being reconciled to God, be sure that you have experienced it, because to ever have joy that lasts, to celebrate with joy and without guilt and the burden of sin, there must be a time when your sin is taken away and nailed to that cross of Jesus.
THINGS THAT MATTER
Even if things in life aren’t going the way you’d like, most of those things won’t matter in eternity. What will matter is your own heart before God. Has He forgiven your sin and given you His righteousness? This is the greatest gift you can ever receive. It’s yours to have, if you will take it.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6a).
When Jesus died on a cross 2000 years ago, He fulfilled what the Bible (the Old Testament) had predicted would happen. Today, I think many of us know that Jesus died on a cross, and even that He came alive again after 3 days. You know that His death on the cross was to pay our penalty for sin. But so many do not know the feelings of joy and celebration that are the result of having that life changing encounter with Christ.
I know too many Christians who feel defeated. One day they feel depressed, one day they feel happy again. Up and down. Or some people are so defeated they almost don’t believe the thought of joy and celebration in Christ. Some Christians feel like they are missing something. They wonder if anyone else really has experienced this life and joy in Christ. And maybe they think their experience is the normal Christian life.
But the Christian life is a life of joy. Because we love Jesus and because we believe in Him, Peter says we rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8) Paul tells us in Galatians that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy. The reason Christians have joy is because God’s Spirit lives inside of us and He gives us joy.
Now, if you have not asked Jesus to forgive your sins and if you have not believed in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, my heart breaks for you if you are in that place. But you’re certainly not stuck there. You can make the decision to believe in Jesus and have your sins forgiven. You can decide to put your hope in Christ and live to please Him. You can repent of your sin and live to please Christ. You can make Jesus your Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. You can have the assurance of being saved.
But you must count the cost. You must determine to really live for God.
And when you are a Christian, you can live for God by choosing each day to learn more about Him by reading the Bible. You live for God by praying to Him each day. You can pray to God about everything. He already knows everything you think. Nothing is hidden from God. He already knows absolutely everything about you.
Chapter Three: Connected with Others
If you want to live for God, you must stay connected with other Christians. You will grow as a Christian when you are around other Christians. You will be amazed by how different your relationships will be with women who truly love God and want to please Him. You will be encouraged and you will be able to encourage them.
Each and every Christian is so important to the body of Christ. The community of believers is called the body of Christ. And as a believer, you are so important to the body of Christ.
If I cut off my hand, or even one my fingers, I would miss it tremendously. Now my finger may say, “Well I’m just a little finger. People never really notice me—they notice the eyes and the mouth and the face but not me. Oh, I could just slip away and nobody would know.” But every single Christian is part of the body of Christ. You are so important in the body. Your gifts, your strengths, your love for others—these are necessary to the body.
You need to stay connected. You need to keep yourself in a place of accountability where you are learning God’s Word and growing as a Christian.
God knows what we need, and He gives us each other so we can encourage one another, help each other, sharpen each other, bear one another’s burdens, and ultimately, love each other.
I definitely believe that one of the main reasons why I have been able to walk consistently with the Lord for so many years is because I have a few very close female friends who are very godly women and have also walked consistently with the Lord and with me, all those years. And I am so thankful for those friendships. I praise the Lord for His provision in my life, even in relationships.
When you walk in truth, when you experience the love of God in your life, you begin to relate with others in a whole new way. Your friendships with other Christians are so much deeper than your former relationships. You love people with a deep love that comes from outside of yourself. You are able to share the pain and joy of your sisters in Christ. You now have friendships that are so much more secure, so much more trustworthy.
You become like iron to each other. Think about when you sharpen a knife. Growing up, my parents had a long metal stick type thing. It almost looked like a round sword. And we would use it to sharpen our knives. I remember really enjoying each time I got to sharpen a knife.
And you will have friends like that as a Christian. Friends who will sharpen you. God will use your godly friends to cause you to grow as a Christian. To be stronger, more secure, more devoted to Christ.
And when you have those kinds of friendships, even if it’s just one sister in the Lord who loves you for you, this is a reason for celebrating!
There is joy in the fellowship you can have with other women. When you are following Christ and living to honor Him, and when the women in your life are also living to follow Christ, you will experience such deeper, sweeter relationships. You will love others deeply and that will bring joy in your friendships.
And because of the commitment of my close friends to Christ, because we share the same passion for Christ, we have fellowship with one another on such a deeper level than my friendships outside of Christ.
And if you need a close friend, for me, I’ve found one of the best ways to develop close, genuine friendships with other women is in the safety of a prayer meeting, or an edifying and Biblical women’s Bible study that has a discussion group as part of it. Don’t just go to church, get involved with the women. Love those women like you want to be loved, and you will find beautiful relationships developing.
Chapter Four: Sadness and Perspective
I also know that some people feel sad when I talk about celebrating, because, for them, they are experiencing a time of disappointment or grief.
And maybe you are in a season of pain. Pain from not having the finances you need, and you feel broken over what you can’t give your kids. Or maybe your family has fallen apart—maybe in your own home and your own marriage, or maybe with your relatives. Or perhaps you have a prodigal child or someone you love is very ill.
And instead of celebrating your relationship with Jesus, you feel stressed or anxious. Maybe you’ve experienced a loss this year or at this time of year in the past, or the pain of broken relationships. And instead of enjoying what you have as a believer, there’s a haunting loneliness or emptiness.
There are so many things that can cause pain in this life. But if you were to go to the airport on a stormy day—the sky is dark grey with storm clouds, rain is drizzling down, there is no visible light from the sun—and if you boarded an airplane, in a few moments after taking off you would lift above the clouds, above the rain, and suddenly you would see the glorious sunlight. That airplane would take you right above the rain clouds, and that sky would look as clear and beautiful as if there was no storm below you.
My desire is for you to see that no matter how stormy things are in your life, no matter how bad things may be, the sun is shining above us. We just need to get up there and see it. We need to take the time to see what we have to celebrate.
A GREATER JOY
We have something to celebrate as Christians that is greater than any pain or any frustration we may have here on earth.
Imagine if your husband had just lost his job a few months earlier, and your home was being foreclosed on, and there was so little money you could barely eat. Because your heart was so heavy, you probably wouldn’t feel like celebrating. You’d probably feel too overwhelmed and stressed to celebrate.
But what could make you feel like celebrating in just a moment? Wouldn’t it be if something better happened, something better than what is going wrong? For instance, if an anonymous person at church wrote you a check for $2,000,000, suddenly you would have a reason to celebrate. Your joy would be greater than whatever you were going through. That money would give your husband time to get a job. It would save your home. The joy of that gift would be greater than the problems.
Or imagine you were sick and there wasn’t a cure in sight. But then a stranger came to you and said “I have the cure so that you will live. Just take one pill a day every day for a week straight.” And after following his instructions, you were completely healed. Could you imagine the love and appreciation you’d feel toward them for that gift?
And that’s why we have a reason to celebrate today—because the joy of this gift I’m talking about is greater than any problem we might face.
That’s why David, the great King of Israel from long ago, who wrote many of the Psalms in the Bible, when he found himself feeling down, he said this:
“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence” (Psalm 42:5).
And Psalm 42:11 in the NLT says, “Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!”
When David felt sad, he looked to God. Now, King David lived a long time ago. But his example is still what we need today. David knew that if he looked to God when he felt discouraged, he would again feel hopeful.
Just like if you started to feel sad about your husband’s unemployment, you could remember the gift you received and it would bring you joy.
AN INADEQUATE VIEW OF GOD
So now, let me ask you. Why do you think so many women feel like they are missing something in life? Like they still haven’t found what they are looking for? Why do we so often find happiness so fleeting? And instead of feeling joyful, we are easily frustrated, overwhelmed, worried, depressed, or discouraged?
The answer is an inadequate view of God, a wrong perspective. It’s seeing the storm clouds and not the sun right above the clouds.
A mother called her daughter who lived nearby. The mother said, “I have to let you know some bad news. When your dad was fixing the sink, a huge water leak went through the bathroom wall into the closet where I keep the family photo albums. They were all ruined and all your childhood pictures had to be thrown away. Then while I was cleaning up, I threw out my back. When your dad was trying to help me, he slipped and broke his foot. So we’re going to need you to take care of us for the next few weeks, cooking our meals and cleaning the house for us.”
The daughter didn’t quite know what to say, when the mom added. “None of that is actually true. I just wanted you to have the right perspective when I tell you that I can’t babysit this Thursday morning for your hair appointment.”
We need the right perspective. Having the right perspective is key to how we feel about everything in life. Today is a day to celebrate. A day to rejoice.
And that’s because it is fitting for a Christian to be filled with thankfulness, to rejoice in the Lord and celebrate His goodness. When we don’t praise God or rejoice over His faithfulness, it’s because we have an inadequate view of God.
So we need to have a perspective, a view of God and a view of life that causes us to rejoice in the Lord. God tells us in Philippians 4:4 to rejoice in the Lord always.
Every year on your Birthday, you probably have a celebration, a little party, or some recognition of your special day. You may not be all that happy about turning a year older, but it’s still technically a day to celebrate.
We celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas day, but even that day can get so clouded by the gifts and the material things.
But I want us to really take time to celebrate together something very worth celebrating. And that is our salvation, which comes to us as a free gift through Jesus Christ.
I like this definition of the word “Celebrate”: a joyful occasion for special festivities to mark some happy event.
I want you to experience a genuine happiness in your heart today, that today would be a joyful occasion, a day of rejoicing and celebration, because you are remembering and rejoicing over the most special event of all time—the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Chapter Five: Two Gifts for Believers
In the book The Holy War by John Bunyan, an allegory is told about the relationship between humans and their God. The city of Man-soul had been built by the great king El Shaddai, with Heart Castle to one day be his own dwelling place. But when the city was deceived by Diabolus and the people of Man-soul ate the forbidden fruit, the wicked Diabolus took over Heart Castle.
Without King El Shaddai ruling from inside the city, the inhabitants of Man-soul were not able to resist the wickedness and lawlessness that Diabolus encouraged them to partake in. And until El Shaddai took up residence (or his son) inside Man-soul, the people of the city were unable to walk in the way their king had directed them.
God created people to be His delight and bring Him glory. But instead of obeying God in faithfulness, humans resisted His laws and chased after wickedness. Even the Israelites, God’s own chosen people, constantly went after other gods and worshipped them. They were unable to remain faithful to the true and living God, and instead they walked in the way of their own hearts and forsook the Lord.
With all the rebellion of His people, God could have wiped them out forever. People had repeatedly proved their inability to obey God, and God had every right to destroy every human on the face of the earth and spare no one.
Instead, God gave the Hebrews a beautiful promise. The day was coming when God Himself would dwell inside people, causing them to walk in His ways and obey Him. The day was coming when God would put His own Spirit inside frail human flesh and cause people to do what God required. God gave the following promise: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezek. 36:26).
The day when this promise will come has arrived. Paul says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13). Because Jesus has ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit has been given to all those who come to God by faith in Jesus Christ. This means that God puts His own Spirit inside believers, enabling them with His strength to be obedient and faithful.
God’s Spirit is one of two very important gifts God gives to His saints. God seals all believers with His Holy Spirit until the day of their ultimate redemption into eternity. With this seal, He keeps us secure in Him and enables us to follow and obey Him.
The second gift God gives us is His precious Word.
COMFORT AND GUIDANCE FROM THE WORD
Psalm 119:50 says, “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me.”
I LOVE God’s Word, the Bible. I love how interesting it is, how much I learn about life. I love how wise God is when I consider the whole Bible and what God chose to include and not include. I love how God shows us what is important to our lives in His Word, and what He expects of us.
I love that, when I feel sad, I can go to the Bible and God WILL comfort me. He always does. In some way, I always receive comfort in God’s Word.
I still have trials. I still have hard times. But I have God’s comfort. God’s Word, the Bible, is my light in the darkness.
I was reading through Psalm 119 with my kids a few weeks ago, and Psalm 119 says that God’s Word is a light to our feet and a lamp to our path. It was nighttime, so I turned off all the lights. I gave the kids a fun assignment and asked them to do it in the dark. They struggled so much because they couldn’t see what they were doing. Then I brought out a flashlight. I turned the flashlight on, and gave them the same mission. This time it was easy. They could see exactly what to do.
The Bible is our flashlight. It’s the light that lets us see what is happening in this world, what is happening in our own lives, and what we can do. When hard things happen, God’s word comforts us. In every case, every time, God has a word or a truth that is just what we need.
The Bible is living and active—that means the Bible is as relevant to your life as is was to the people who lived 1000 or 500 years ago. It means the truth in the Bible is just as true today as it was 1000 years ago. And God’s Word is just as effective to change your heart and your life and to comfort you, as it was 1000 years ago. God’s word is more powerful than circumstances.
And by God’s Word, we can learn and understand God more. We can draw near to God when we know Him through His Word. And this is a reason for us to celebrate!
As a Christian, read the Bible. Make it a habit to read the Bible every day, so that you can know what God wants you to do.
And keep learning. You will find that the more you learn about God’s ways, the more you will understand what to do and what decisions to make. If things are confusing at first, just keep seeking God, keep praying and reading your Bible and coming to church, and God will reveal to you how to live. He will meet with you in your heart if you genuinely seek Him.
CRAVING LIGHT
A few weeks ago I was thinking about my dream house. Every few years I will think about what I would want in the perfect house. But this time, I changed one of my top 3 criteria. In the past, after location and size, my most important thing would have been the floor plan. But I’ve changed my mind on that, and now, I would want a house with lots of natural light. Like some huge windows all along the rear of the house just flooding it with light, and some skylights.
Since Todd and I have been married, we’ve moved five times. Some of the places we’ve lived have had lots of light, but the last two places have been on the darker side. And not having an abundance of light has made me really appreciate fresh, natural light. So I began to pray, “Lord, please, I really want more light. Please let us live in a house that’s flooded with light.”
The next day, in the morning, I was sitting on the couch in our living room to read my Bible and spend time with the Lord. I had a cup of one of my favorite teas, a ginger peach green tea that I make with lots of raw honey, and I was in Psalm 118.
And as I read, a verse really stood out to me, like will happen when you read the Bible—because God’s Word is living and powerful. And so, even though I’ve read Psalm 118 many times before, I’ve never been in exactly this place in my life before, so things spoke differently to my heart this time.
One of the verses that just touched my heart so deeply that tears came to my eyes was verse 27. “The LORD is God, and He has given us light.”
Now, I’ve known for many years that Jesus is the light of the world. I’ve known that as a Christian, we are the light. But I had never personally craved light before or felt the need for it. I’d never understood how much I would want light when I didn’t have it.
And this experience gave me a new understanding about what it means when I read the Jesus is the light of the world. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
John 12:46 “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
I think it’s so interesting that God uses LIGHT to describe Himself. In the new heavens and the new earth, there will be no sun because the LORD God will be the light. He will be our literal light.
But right now, God is our spiritual light. And His Word gives us light in our lives.
Chapter Six: Sin, Obedience, and Counting the Cost
When I was a freshman in high school, my youth group at church taught through the Ten Commandments. Around that time of my life, I sometimes wanted to do what the Bible says and I sometimes wanted to experiment with sin. And the majority of my ninth grade year was one of “experimentation.”
My youth group read through each of the Ten Commandments and told us to privately answer whether or not we had broken them, which annoyed me quite a bit. As I read through God’s law, things such as “You shall have no other gods before the true God. Honor your father and mother. Do not take God’s name in vain. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not testify falsely against your neighbor. And do not covet or want anything that is your neighbors.”
And that’s just seven of them. I remember as I went through the list, I made a little excuse for each commandment I’d broken. And I had a huge case of selective memory. I’d think to myself, “Hmmm… let’s see. Have I ever coveted anything that belongs to someone else? Well, I can’t remember anything specific, so I must not have done it.”
You may be able to easily think of what commandments you’ve broken, or you may be like I was, and only think of a couple you’ve broken. Even though I only admitted to breaking a few commandments, I still hated the discussion of my sin. Sin meant judgment. And suddenly I felt very uneasy. My mind tried to think of other things so that my conscience would settle. And I felt annoyed with the whole subject in general.
That’s because sin causes our conscience to be uncomfortable and anxious. On the other hand, when we live uprightly, we have joy. When our conscious is clean, when we are living to please God, the result is joy.
This is why Psalm 32:11 says “Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.” The upright in heart shall rejoice. Those who have a clean conscious before God and believe that God has credited them with Christ’s righteousness—these women have joy!
When a woman is feeling guilty, when a woman is anxious, or when a woman is fighting against God, or when she feels sorry for herself instead of feeling thankful, she is not going to really have much joy. She is under bondage.
But as Christians, even when we’ve sinned, we have hope. As a Christian, you have a reason to celebrate. You are only going to be alive for maybe 70 or 80 years. You may live longer, but in eternity, it will have been a vapor. It will be like the steam that passes when you take the lid off a pot. It’s there one minute and gone the next. That is life.
And you really don’t know how long your life will be. But if you’ve trusted in Jesus for your salvation, you have hope. You hope in the day when you will be made like Christ, and you will eat and drink with Him in heaven. You hope in the grace that is going to be brought to you when Jesus returns.
And this hope is wonderful, because you will still sin. And when you sin, you will feel guilt. We all do—and we should! Because your conscious wants to get your attention. But we have hope. We are not left to drown in our sin and guilt and shame.
Rather, in those times when we fail, when we feel discouraged or sad, we need to put our hope on the grace that is to come. We confess our sin and make things right, but we can move on because we know God forgives us and that when we see Jesus we will be like Him. 1 Peter 1:13 says to, “Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
SIN REMAINS
Now, this doesn’t mean you won’t sin. You will sin while you live in this body. But your heart is changed. You now hate your sin. You now seek to do what will please your Lord.
There is a difference between a person who wants to please God and messes up, and a person who calls themselves a Christian but doesn’t really desire to please God. God knows your heart. And He knows the heart of every living person. If you know someone who says they are a Christian, and you look at their life and how they act, and they are hypocritical, don’t let that person be your model.
Of course, I can’t know every story, but I do know this—the Bible says that everyone who loves God will want to obey His commandments (John 14:15).
Anyone can say anything. But a person who says they love God, and you can see from the way they act that they genuinely want to honor Christ, take that person more seriously when they say they are a Christian.
If someone says that are a Christian, but they don’t act like it, you don’t have to believe them. Don’t let that person be your idea of a Christian. The Bible says you will know who is truly a Christian by how they live. I know many Christians who live like a Christian should—who have compassion on others, who do what is right, who honor God.
Basically, don’t just look at what a person says, but also at what they do. That doesn’t mean Christians won’t still sin, because we will. But if a Christian is walking in darkness—if you look at their life and see darkness—they are not practicing the truth. They are not setting an example of the Christian life.
God says that the person who loves Him will obey His commandments. There is a blessing for obedience. God rewards obedience. And when you love God, you will want to do what He says. You will want to honor Him with your choices, with your lifestyle, and with your time. You will want to read His Word and spend time praying.
COUNTING THE COST
Now, being a Christian doesn’t only mean that your sins are forgiven—although this is a huge part of it. It is not just knowing that when we die, we will go to heaven and be spared from hell. Although this is also a huge part of it.
But it is being a Christian is also our relationship with Christ right now. It is a relationship that results in joy, growth, understanding, and celebration.
But there is a cost to following Christ. Jesus said “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34-36).
The cost is great. The cost is your life. But what would it benefit you if you kept your life here on this earth and then lost your soul eternally?
You must determine to live for Jesus and not look back. You must be fully committed. You will still sin, but you must receive God’s forgiveness and keep moving forward.
In John 6, many of Jesus’ disciples left him when they realized how deeply committed they must be if they were going to follow Christ. And Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Are you also going to leave me.” Peter answered, “To whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Everyone is going somewhere. Everyone is following some road. Those people who stopped following Christ ended up with nothing. They didn’t like the cost of being a Christian, so they walked away. And they ended up with nothing.
Peter knew that Jesus alone had the words of eternal life. If you don’t follow Christ, where else will you go? What other road will you go down? No other road will ever be worth traveling on. There is no life worth living outside of living for Christ, because only when you live for Christ will your life count for eternity.
Let me leave you with these words by Scottish missionary David Livingstone (1813-1873):
“Only one life
will soon be past.
Only what’s done for Christ
will last.”
I hope you will celebrate your salvation with me, celebrate our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, and celebrate that our lives matter on earth because we are living to honor Christ.
Be encouraged by how great it is to know that our debt has been paid, that we are free in Christ and have His forgiveness, His comfort, and we can be satisfied in that. God is able to make all grace abound toward you. He is so wise that He would not have begun this work in your heart, prompting you to follow Him, if He were not able to forgive all your sin and complete this work fully in you.
Thus, the Christian life is a life of receiving all the blessings God offers you through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. It is about trusting Him and following Him and living to please Him. He who started a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
I live in Dallas, Texas with my husband Todd and our three homeschooled children. We also have another little girl on the way, so we’ll soon be the blessed parents of four! I’ve also been blessed with the awesome privilege of getting to speak to women about my precious Savior Jesus, and I honestly believe that being a mom and getting to talk about Jesus have got to be the greatest things on earth.
When a Mother Follows Christ
By Katie Hoffman
What will it take to raise kids who love God? Have you ever wondered how you can train your children so they want to obey? Have you ever pondered how you can prevent your kids from resisting a relationship with you as they get older? In When a Mother Follows Christ, Katie Hoffman reveals the biblical principles of raising kids to follow Christ. While no one can make perfect kids, it's easy to have great kids who will bring you delight and not shame as they grow older. Learn how to develop godly character in your children, be an example for them to follow, and how a few simple, easy changes can make a huge difference in your children's attitudes and actions.
You will learn:
*How to teach your children to willingly do what you ask the first time-which will reduce anger and frustration
*What the Bible says is key to raising kids who will not bring you shame as they grow older
*How to actively train your children so they are a source of delight to you and others
*How to be an example for your children to follow
*Why character is key to preventing sibling rivalry, and how you can develop godly character in your children
*How to be connected to your children so they will want to do what you say, even as they grow up
*Practical ways to stop sibling rivalry in its tracks
*One easy way to keep your kids out of trouble
*The one thing that will keep your kids from resisting you when you try to train them
*The very simple, very easy thing I do that completely changes the atmosphere of our home
*How changing one thing made a huge difference in the way my children treat me and others-which makes them much more attentive and respectful
*How to teach your children the most important thing they will ever learn-how to have a relationship with Jesus as their Savior
The Joy of Living for Jesus
By Katie Hoffman
Many Christian women in today’s society feel burdened and overwhelmed. They’ve lost their joy in Christ. And that joy has been replaced with feelings of frustration and emptiness. How can busy, overwhelmed women achieve enduring joy? What are the secrets of lasting, glorious, inexpressible joy?
From many years of research and study, this book reveals the biblical secret to joy: God gives joy to those who live pleasing to Him. It is the emotional result of true holiness and intimacy with Christ. Author Katie Hoffman leads women back home to Christ and the joy He alone gives.
Transform your thinking and experience daily joy beyond what seems possible. The Bible speaks about multiple things a person can do “right”, actions a person can and should take, and wraps those actions up with a direct and specific promise of joy. That is absolutely fascinating. God specifically tells us in His Word exactly what actions, what accomplishments, what right things will result in joy.
This book looks at 22 of those things.
How Can We Love God?
By Katie Hoffman
The Bible tells us that the greatest command of all is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. But for many people, understanding how to love God in this way can be an abstract concept.
How Can We Love God guides you through a compelling study of:
- how God wants us to show Him our love
- what it means to be fully committed to following Jesus
- why wholehearted commitment to God is the only way to make your life count for eternity
- how your desires will determine your fruitfulness in serving God