“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Nothing provides a source of genuine comfort like the written word of God. And nothing instructs us better on how to live a meaningful and fruitful daily Christian life. But keep in mind that the Holy Bible is not simply a sound literary piece designed for our reading pleasure and mental stimulation. Nor is it a spiritual resource to help us acquire personal happiness and temporal prosperity. God the Father, who is the vinedresser, will use the shears of His word to develop and cultivate His fruit in our life.God often uses the shears of His word to prune and purge our lives; to straighten us up. We don’t like it very much when the word of God cuts away those unruly thoughts, empty words, or fruitless deeds but it’s for our own good. The word of God gives life and provides spiritual nutrition for genuine and abundant growth.

No Comments     Permalink      Print

Tags: Devotionals & Reflections, Forrest Wychopen, Jesus, Knowledge, Lord, The Bible

Many of us have erroneously likened the Christian life to climbing a ladder—one rung at a time. Each step puts us a little bit closer to reaching the high standard for living the abundant Christian life. The driven believer faithfully continues pressing upward in pursuit of the victorious life and is devoted to the “duties” that promise to bring success.

I guess many of us have concluded this is simply normal behavior for a Christian. It’s the way we’re supposed to be living, right? This is what happens too many of us. As hard working Christian’s we seem to be making some progress up the ladder of spiritual success but suddenly, out of nowhere, the unexpected occurs when we yield to a particular sin and seem to abruptly drop several rungs!

We are sometimes taught that the reason success was not obtained is because we failed to diligently follow the prescribed formula and didn’t work hard enough. So with renewed zeal (mixed with some personal guilt) we start the climb all over again. We then experience a limited measure of success that is soon abolished by an unexpected failure. This cycle of victory and defeat is repeated over and over again. Finally, we simply conclude that our life is one sad defeat after another and we spend much of our time wrestling with the knowledge of missing the mark of God’s high calling. To make matters worse, the calloused counsel we often receive from those who think they’ve reached a pinnacle of higher spiritual achievement is: “Get in shape, keep climbing, apply truth, believe God, and try harder.”

During my personal journey of trying to live the Christian life I’ve been exposed to hundreds of sermons and Bible lessons instructing me on how a Christian should be living. Perhaps you have too. Obedience to a select few of these teachings resulted in some spiritual arrogance and a judgmental spirit on my part. But to be completely honest with you, after being loaded down with more things to apply and more things to do, I was overwhelmed. There was simply far too much to apply and too much to do. I settled on success in just one thing but consistent victory was never achieved. And so, for me, the life long cycle of striving to achieve spiritual success began and the genuine joy of simply being a Christian slowly dissipated.

In reality, I strove to please God with certain behavioral choices but failed so frequently. If the truth be known, Jesus Christ was no where to be found in the practical aspects of my daily Christian life. He was seldom the center of my thoughts and daily devotions. I was focused on the method, the formula, and the plan rather than Jesus Himself. I could never measure up to God’s high standard of conduct and as a result I was often discouraged because of displeasing my Heavenly Father. I was plagued with guilt.

Perhaps you diligently try to live the successful Christian life but continue failing. You’re often overwhelmed, frustrated, or defeated, and subsequently you are plagued with guilt. Instead of accepting and standing in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, you work hard and find yourself entangled in the yoke of legal bondage (Galatians 5:1). You are motivated to please the Father. All you know to do is plan your work, work your plan, keep a positive mental attitude, and keep trying your best. This particular system is not really working but what else is there? (I’ve been there.)

On the other hand, you may be the type person whose commitment and obedience seems to result in more victories than failures. Your effort seems to be working and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. Your steps are ordered and your routine is regimented. All you know to do is continue following the formula which you call truth, maintaining your positive attitude which you call faith, and putting forth your best effort which you call obedience. Although you believe you love the Lord Jesus Christ, love actually has little to do with it. You read your Bible even when you don’t really feel like it. And you pray from duty instead of desire. You have great determination and great discipline—and everyone else knows it. At the end of a good day you proudly “check the boxes” on your spiritual things to do list. You’re pleased with your progress up the ladder of spiritual success. And without knowing it, you cultivate the soil of your soul for a harvest of self-righteousness and pride. You feel good about yourself and wonder why others can’t be just like you are!

Finally, you may be among those who truly understand and are willing to admit their complete inability to live the genuine Christian life. You realize that true victory is not achieved by trying but by trusting. You fully trust and rest in the complete sufficiency of Christ alone. You have come to recognize that Jesus Christ is the only person who can live the genuine Christian life. Christ plans your work and Christ works the plan, your attitude is Christ centered, and Christ gives you both the will and the power to do His good pleasure. You simply follow the Good Shepherd. You love Jesus Christ. He is your life.

You are either attempting to live a fruitful life by trying or by trusting. So let me ask, which of these three lifestyles best describe you? Be honest. Do you strive to achieve the high calling of holiness but continue to fail? Do you strive to live a life of loyal obedience and seem to have some measure of limited success? Or, do you simply love, trust, and follow Christ and then yield the fruit that He produces in your life? I’m praying for the latter.

Often, I think we fail to slow down long enough to truly examine our walk with Christ. I encourage you to reevaluate and rethink your relationship with Jesus and ask if the life you live is Christ or is it self?

No Comments     Permalink      Print

Tags: Christ & Grace, Forrest Wychopen, Jesus, Lord, Love

By Richard “Dick” Hill, A Glimpses of Grace Publication

“Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Gal. 5:1a)

One of the questions most often asked of those of us who hold the grace position is, “As a Christian, can I live as I please?” The answer is, “You have the freedom to try!” To understand the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ is to have a deep understanding of and appreciation for the grace of God. As a child of the living God, we are free forever from the guilt and penalty of sin (Rom. 8:1). But this freedom does not mean that God is finished with His work in our lives. Receiving the free gift of life in Christ is just the beginning. God then begins the process of conforming us to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29-30). But this conforming process continues to be God’s work of grace in us.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6)

What is the Christian life? The Christian life is developing a close, intimate, personal, private relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. God in His grace motivates us to develop this relationship, not with laws and penalties, but by love and trust.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God and if children, then heirs-heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ-if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together” (Rom. 8:14-17).

The One who lives within us, loves us, and releases us to love Him in return. Responding to this kind of love and trust with obedience and service should become as natural as breathing. We please Him by obedience because we can do nothing less.

It is much like the difference between a dog raised in the country and one brought up in the city. The country dog, never having been penned up, doesn’t know what it is like to be restricted. But he doesn’t run off! The city dog, on the other hand, which has been penned all of his life, one day finds his gate opened, and off he goes. He may return or he may not. If the country dog, raised free, were penned up for a short while and then released, he might run off temporarily. But before the sun went down, there he would be, sitting on the front porch-not because he was forced to- but because he knew to whom he belonged.

The believer in Jesus Christ is God’s forever child. Fellowship with the Lord means simply to become at home with Him. This was Paul’s prayer for the believers at Ephesus.

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19).

Those who do not understand grace living make this accusation. “If you preach grace alone, then it will lead to loose and careless living.” This is not at all what grace teaches us. Our godly lifestyle is not to be lived because any law demands it, but because grace teaches it.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12).

Once we have experienced the grace of God by trusting Jesus Christ as our Savior we are not to go back under a set of legal standards to live our lives before God.

“And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1b).

The yoke of bondage is legalism. Legalism is the opposite of living the Christian life in the liberty that we receive in Jesus Christ. Having launched out into this personal relationship with Christ, we are not to slip back into religious rituals or rules in order to attempt to please God.

Paul abhorred one sin more than any other in the believer’s life-the sin of legalism. In his day Christians were falling back under the spiritually bankrupt religious influence of Judaism. Judaism consisted of meetings in elaborate buildings draped in beautiful cloth with furniture trimmed in gold. It also involved religious ceremonies with ornate costumes, eloquent reading of the Old Testament law, religious commentary on the law (preaching), singing, impressive public prayers, breathtaking sacrificial ceremonies with the smell of the burning altar, and religious festivals such as Passover, Unleavened Bread, First fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. All of this activity became a substitute for an intimate relationship with Christ.

Those who were coming to faith in Jesus Christ were raised in this religious climate. Although the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ marked an end to all of these rituals, the flesh of the new believers wanted to get back into this religious climate. But Paul taught them to go on with Christ.

Legalism today is the attempt to live the Christian life based on a system of man-made rules and regulations. The motivation for keeping these rules becomes self-righteousness, or glorifying self through religious ritualism. In the South, religious tradition is as much a part of life as farming, quilting, hunting, fishing, and cornbread.

“Church” is a tradition in the Bible Belt. Rather than being the means used by the Holy Spirit to make disciples of Jesus Christ, having “church” often becomes the end in itself. Heard in thousands of homes every Sunday morning is the question, “Hey, you goin’ to church today?” Church is where we hear preaching and at times are inspired, convicted and even converted. It is where we see our children grow up, get baptized, and marry. It is where we meet friends and family, eat great food and talk about life. What church we attend or what religious denomination we belong to, for the most part, depends on our upbringing. We prefer church with a nice building with a steeple, organized meetings, Sunday School classes, a choir (organ and piano), visitation programs, deacons, elders, bishops, an offertory, and some reverence for the Bible.

These are all good things and can all be used to communicate the living word of God. But it is the word of God that produces a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. These “good things,” can also become a substitute for a taking in the word of God. The believer can unknowingly begin to worship these activities rather than worshipping the Savior. We can begin to worship our worship. Traditions become a part of our lives and are passed down generation after generation. There is “comfort zone” with them, a sense that this is the Christian life.

A person who is living in legalism will change his behavior pattern to conform to a set of moral standards, thinking that he is pleasing God. The feeling is, “If I go to church regularly, sing in the choir, give my money, and don’t drink, smoke, chew, or dance, then I’m okay.” The Bible tells us that there is an “appearance of wisdom” in feeling this way.

“Therefore, if you died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, why, as though you were living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations, ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using-according to the commandments and doctrines of men?” (Col. 2:20-22).

Paul drove his point home when he said,

“These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Col. 2:23).

These self-denials make us feel good about ourselves spiritually and not good about those who do not cooperate.

“For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Cor. 10:12).

Living a legalistic lifestyle produces pride, and pride is the result of the flesh. Works performed or temptations denied can be a product of self-reformation. A person whose life is built on a faulty foundation of human traditionalism and personal convictions and not upon the word of God will seldom come to understand what it really means to walk in the Spirit of the living God. This lifestyle becomes so ingrained in him and so much a part of him that he becomes blind to what it really means to live the Christian life. Legalism becomes a subtle substitute for a pure, simple relationship with the all-knowing, all-powerful, unchangeable God. This, my friend, is why Paul feared legalism so.

No Comments     Permalink      Print

Tags: Bible Study, Forrest Wychopen, Grace, Jesus, Lord

What if there was someone you could trust with every hidden detail of your life without jeopardizing the friendship? Some time back I was both challenged and convicted by a timely story that was shared by my dear friend, Pastor Jim Owen. A fellow brother in the faith had once told Jim that “Jesus Christ is more real to me than you are.” As Pastor Owen conveyed that story I remember thinking, “Jesus Christ is not that real to me!” I yearned and hoped for that same type of deep abiding intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ. I also realized in that unsettling moment how very shallow and impersonal my relationship with Christ had been. The Holy Spirit used that message to speak to my heart and I realized that my relationship with Jesus Christ lacked depth and true understanding. So I asked my Heavenly Father for the spiritual understanding to know Christ as my closest and dearest friend.

We should have no greater friend than the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean this with the greatest level of reverence and honor. Jesus is not like another close friend who comes around occasionally to give us a hug, hearty hand shake, or word of good advice when we need some encouragement. He is God; and as God, He is perfect, holy, righteous, and pure in every way. Jesus Christ is worthy of worship and praise with all sincerity. He is worthy of all respect and esteem. But I want you to make note that these are the clear scriptural realities that make our relationship with Jesus Christ so very extraordinary. Think about it. The Sovereign Creator of all things is reconciled with sinful man. He has chosen to dwell in us and has become our friend. I am the friend of Jesus!

Our time with the Lord Jesus Christ is never restricted or limited by any of the necessary responsibilities of daily life. He is assessable and available anywhere and anytime. In addition, we can always be open and honest with Jesus regarding every minuscule detail of our life and never have fears that our friendship is in jeopardy of deteriorating. We can trust Him with every concern and know that He will meet every spiritual need in our life according to His perfect will. Indeed, “…there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). He will never forsake you!

Much of my Christian life has been marked with the laborious efforts of attempting to fulfill urgent Christian duties and responsibilities without giving much thought to Christ. I lacked a genuine desire to know and focus on Jesus and failed to recognize that I am complete in Him and that God is satisfied by Christ. As a result, He became subordinate to my personal goals and my passion to perform the duties of the Christian life. I do not mean that He never crossed my mind or that He did not claim some limited attention. And I am certainly not implying that I ever lived a successful and victorious life apart from Christ. But I know now that I had conveniently reserved Him for those stormy days of my life and didn’t really know Him. Like many other Christians today, I often found myself on a search and rescue mission—searching for the truth that would rescue me from my problems.

Jesus Christ was simply not preeminent in the practical aspects of my daily life. So the Divine Husbandman, with great accuracy, used the sharp shears of His word, trials, and chastisement to prune and purge the activities of my life that prevented me from knowing the sufficiency and preeminence of Jesus Christ. For years I failed to really see it but I know now that this process of pruning and purging never ceases. Don’t be afraid of our Father in Heaven. He loves us and will only do or allow that which is best in our life. The Heavenly Father’s master plan for our life is ultimately the same. His will is for us to know Christ as our closest friend. Is Jesus Christ your dearest friend?

3 Comments     Permalink      Print

Tags: Christ & Grace, Forrest Wychopen, Jesus, Life, Lord

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

Are you sure that’s right? Here’s a warning to my fellow Christian readers. If you are not already doing this, I strongly encourage and recommend you search the scriptures daily to see if the things you hear are so.

In my Christian life, I’ve erroneously repeated and taught the “opinions” of others as absolute and nonnegotiable Bible truth without searching the Holy Scriptures to see if it be so. No good will come from it.

Study the scriptures and expand your understanding. Put it in context. Avoid “Proof-texting” which is taking one verse or a part of a verse from the Bible and forming a teaching that is not accurate but supports your opinion. Here is an example often used against using proof-texting in order to form a particular doctrine.

A man dissatisfied with his life decided to consult the Bible for guidance. Closing his eyes, he flipped the book open and pointed to a spot on the page. Opening his eyes, he read the verse under his finger. It read, “Then Judas went away and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5b) Closing his eyes again, the man randomly selected another verse. This one read, “Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” (Luke 10:37b)

Believe things that are “clear” in the Bible. And be very careful about developing your personal likes and dislikes into Biblical dogma. Always check out what you’ve heard against scripture without the predetermined attitude or bias of another teacher’s opinion. Avoid the mind-set it must be true because so-in-so said it. Learn “how” to think by going to the Holy Scriptures and stop being controlled by those who dare to tell you “what” to think. You’ve got a Bible and the indwelling Holy Spirit; go to it.

A minister after God’s on heart will encourage it and will allow you to be an individual who reads, thinks, and also hears from God. Let people be different. Our bond and our unity is Jesus Christ and His death for our sins, burial, and resurrection. A Christ-directed minister will not feel threatened or undermined simply because your understanding is different than theirs. None of us get it right all the time so you owe it to yourself and your family to receive the word with all readiness of mind, and search the scriptures daily, whether those things are so.

2 Comments     Permalink      Print

Tags: Bible Study, Devotionals & Reflections, Forrest Wychopen, Jesus, Lord, Unity