Then
 
FBC-then.png

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. (Psa 51:12-13)

Then
The psalmist prays for a restored sense of the joyousness of salvation. He prays to be upheld with a willing spirit. Joy in our hearts and Eagerness in our spirits: that’s being alive!

That is part of the gift God gives us in Jesus. Yes, forgiveness from sin. Yes, eternal life with God in glory. Yes, washing from all shame. Yes, entrance into the Kingdom-community. Yes, pardon from all guilt.

And yes, a spirit, in The Spirit, of power, love, and discipline. Yes, a gift to be and to give to the church. Yes, a confession to testify within our worlds. Yes, the best news in our hearts and holy energy animating its spread.

There are, in other words, restorative blessings in the Gospel but also inspiring blessings.

Then
The next two weeks we’ll look at the phrases of Psalm 51:13, “…I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners will return to you.” But notice today the simple hinge-word, “then.”

We’d love to introduce people to Jesus in an effective way. We’d love love love to see sinners redeemed. Is there anything better in all the world!? No. There isn’t. New Life in Christ is the best thing to behold, to be a part of, to bend ourselves in service of. It’s just the best.

But it comes after the word, “then.” My motivation to teach… and their willingness to listen… both happen “then.”

“Then” when?
When I feel joy in the Gospel. When I am willing. When those things are true, “then” these others things will be.

Try to teach something you don’t care about. It’s hard. It’s ineffective. Try to call someone to be willing to change when you aren’t super willing to try to call them to it. It’s impossible.

Today
What needs to happen first is a work of God, an answer to prayer.
What needs to happen first is a work in me, in my soul and my spirit.

Not me working: planning scheming revising testing executing evaluating improving. And not a work in them.

What we long to see God do in our worlds comes after the word “then.” When we have called to God to restore our hearts and energize our spirits. When we have been awakened and enlivened by the message of Jesus.

God. Gospel. Prayer. Me. My Joy. My Willingness.  “…then…”
 
Pray: “let me again feel joy because of Your salvation. Sustain my spirit with a desire to obey You.”

And the rest, as they say, shall be history.



[TLDR: God working in our lives begins with God working in us.]

Photo by Virgil Cayasa on Unsplash

Featured
How to Start Your Day Right: Silence the Wicked!

Psalm 101 is mostly affirmations, self-talk taken right off the best of the web’s “best practices for great mornings” articles.

Read More →
Always Not Useless

What has Paul been doing in Galatia? He’s been engaged in the spiritually exhausting, emotionally demanding, mentally taxing work of introducing sinners to Jesus and trying his best to make sure they understand who Jesus is and what He did and what that now means for them. It’s labor, he says, toil, struggle; it’s hard work.

Read More →
You are a Real Thing

I’ve been reflecting on the Bible’s historicity. That is the question of whether the story of the Bible is meant to be read as existing within the same universe, the same timeline, on the same planet, having the same sorts of people, as our lives. The answer, of course, is yes: The Bible is clearly, thickly, meant to be read as historical. All measures of historicity verify this.

Read More →
Whose Righteousness Endures Forever

Psalm 112 describes a man whose "righteousness endures forever." In ten verses there are three references to how "his righteousness endures forever... he will never be shaken; the righteous will be remembered forever." (3, 6, 9)

Read More →
Equipped is Good

Last week’s devotional (“Good is Perfect”) captured was has been such a helpful truth for me through the years. And it’s one that puts us on a much more biblical, practical, realistic, foundation for life with God. See, God didn’t design us to be perfect, He designed us to be useful, “good” for His purposes. The question isn’t, “How can I be a better me this year?” It’s, “How can I be of more use to my Lord?”

Read More →
Good is Perfect

When the Bible uses the word “perfect” it means “good.” And this is a more useful standard for us to employ.

Read More →
Bread Alone?

As a Bible Church, we believe it is important for us to read God's Word.
It is one of those simple, non-spectacular, habits--along with prayer and church attendance--that accounts for so much of our spiritual health or unhealth. No one who neglects these habits will be spiritually healthy. Anyone who invests in them will get healthier.

Read More →
"I would remind you"

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (1Co 15:1-2)

Read More →
Snip Snip

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch... that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit....4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (Joh 15:1-5)

Read More →
The Life of Belovedness

Few places in Scripture give such close attention to the nature of God's relationship with us. We are often admonished to consider the love of the Lord, but here we see what that looks like. And so we encounter God's thoughts toward us, His knowledge and love for us, in detail. And this carries significant implications for how we think about God and how we live as His people.

Read More →
 
David GriffithsFellowship Bible ChurchGod, Theology, Covenant, Gospel, Discipleship