Command

"The call to the cloister demanded of Luther the complete surrender of his life. But God shattered all his hopes. He showed him through the Scriptures that the following of Christ is not the achievement or merit of a select few, but the divine command to all Christians without distinction."

-The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Costly

"Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God."

"In the depth of his misery, Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that this grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day."

-The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Cheap

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

"Cheap grace is the grace that we bestow upon ourselves."

-The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Complete

I just came across a poem from one of my good friends, Sharon. She wrote it back in 2000. And after reading it again recently has declared that it is awful. Awful or not, I think it speaks volumes to our friendships! There are 7 of us that have been the greatest of friends since college. It's pretty amazing how God put us together especially considering that on our own we probably wouldn't have all chosen one another. I am honored and humbled that each of them calls me their friend. I love you girls!

Complete

I have traveled down many roads
But I have never walked alone.
I have sprinkled the seeds of Life about
But 6 have with me sown.
And no matte where my path may lead
I will feel them next to me
And through the hills and valleys I'll go
and still a friend they will be
For in them I have found myself or
who I'd like to become.
A nurse, a teacher, and a youth leader,
giving of themselves
One gentle, one strong, and one that is a
coach.
Dear 6, precious 6, God has his Hand on
you...

Much love,
Sharon

Disturbed

I've been reading The Mortification of Sin (Owen) with the college student I disciple. For that reason, we have drawn it out - reading only a few chapters a week. With school breaks, and trips, and work, we have 2 chapters left. I picked it up today to finish. Finally.

As you've seen, this book is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for quick, light reading. So it is with the quote I'm leaving for you today.

Owen is talking about being careful not to speak peace to yourself regarding your dealing with sin in your life...

"If men are wounded by sin, disturbed and perplexed, and realize that there is no remedy for them except in the mercy of God and through the blood of Christ; and if such look to Him and His covenant promises, and upon this basis quiet their hearts, believing that it will indeed be well with them, and that God will be gracious to them - and yet do not detest with utter hatred the sin in question - this is to heal themselves and not to be healed by God." p.103

In case you didn't catch it, you can't heal yourself. Be disturbed by your sin, be brought to utter hatred over your sin. Receive God's grace for your sin. Friend, He is holy & righteous and He desires to extend grace and righteousness to you. O, that you would glorify Him!

Cheap

Holiness by JC Ryle

“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough- a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice-which costs nothing, and is worth nothing.”*

*a friend sent this one to me because he knows this is how I feel about a lot of "our Christianity"

Mortification

Quotes from chapters 4, 5, and 6 of John Owen's The Mortification of Sin.

"The unmortified soul cannot say uprightly and truly that God is its portion, having something else that it loves. The soul and its affections, that should be full of God, cannot be full of Him, since it is entagled in worldly pursuits."

"Mortification is not just the changing of some outward aspects of a sin. There may be an apparent change of life. God however knows the heart. Someone may change an obvious sin for a hidden one. Mortification is not just the substitution of one sin for another. He may simply have changed from one road to hell a safer path than he was on before. He may have a different heart than he had, one which is more cunning; not a new heart, which is more holy!"

What mortification is:
1. A habitual weakening of the lust.
2. A consistent fight and contention against sin.
3. A degree of success in the battle.
(This last one is more of an outline of chapter 6)

Thoughts

Today's snow day has me snuggled up under my favorite blanket with John Owen's The Mortification of Sin. There is something striking about this concept. "Putting to death the misdeeds of the body," as Paul says in Romans 8:13, is always to be the work of the saved.

I've just read the following:
"It fills the thoughts with contrivances about it. Thoughts are the great purveyors of the soul to bring in the provision to satisfy its affections; and if sin remain unmortified in the heart, they must ever and anon be making provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. They must glaze, adorn, and dress the objects of the flesh, and bring them home to give satisfaction; and this they are able to do, in the service of a defiled imagination, beyond all expression." p.52

Well, my heart provides my body with a lot of thoughts. I would like to dismiss them as just thoughts but God's Words says otherwise.

2 Corinthians 10:5, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

Matthew 5:28, "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Sin is not only an on-display action but also in the heart and thoughts.

1 Chronicles 28:9, "acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts." and similarly Hebrews 4:12-13, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

Psalm 10:4, " In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God."

But oh what joy to read in Ephesians 2:3-5, "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved" and in that, 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 says, "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."

My prayer for myself and for you is Psalm 19:14, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." That we would be putting to death the misdeeds of the body, to the point of making our thoughts obedient to Christ. That we would do that in the freedom of the cross on which the Prince of glory made the way to our God and Father.