The Thoughts of Ryan-C

*just so we are on the same page, I stole this idea from Piper*

We all have belief systems. Some are complex, some are simple. Wether you know what your’s is or not, you have one and it guides your everyday decisions and life.

This is what guides the “therefores” of life.

I love my wife, therefore I do my best to treat her as Christ loves the church.

I know I’m depraved, therefore I need a saviour. 

I have desires to learn, therefore I read.

The question we need to ask ourselves is “what shapes my belief system?”

As we look to the scriptures for answers we can very easily use the example of Paul. Throughout his writings he uses the word therefore over 60 times (ESV; not giving him authorship of Hebrews). In the book of Romans he gives us 10+ chapters of theology and then a handful of chapters full of therefores.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” -Romans 12:1

The entire 11 chapters leading up to this were full of rich theology and a biblical worldview that calls us to recognize our sinfulness and need for a saviour. And because we have a saviour we should live out of a therefore. 

You are a sinner, you have rejected God, God sent His son, He died for you and because of you… therefore you should be a living sacrifice. Therefore you should love your neighbor. Therefore you should spread the Gospel. Therefore you should be in community with others. Etc…

Every time we do something, we need to think of the therefore we based our action on and see if it lines up with out beliefs. I often find myself realizing that the two don’t always line up and that my beliefs aren’t always driving my actions. 

What therefores are you striving to live out of? What do you need to change?

Books to help with your therefores….

Surprised by Grace by Tullian Tchividjian

The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney 

Many times in our lives we encounter pain, suffering, trials and the like. Often we think of these instances as God punishing us for our sins, which is sadly a lie that our society has bought into. Our suffering is not to be thought of in terms of karma; that only leads to a small, punitive view of who God is. Now I don’t want to deny that sometimes our actions have consequences, because they do, but that is because our own sinfulness has brought these things upon us not because of some cosmic force that is seeking to even out the balances. 

What does suffering have to do with having a big view of who God is?  

If we don’t have a big view of God, it is impossible for us to suffer well. Our pain, our trials, our cancer…  all of it will be wasted if we fail to have a big view of God and apply that to how we view our circumstances in light of who He is. For almost everyone who read that last sentence (including myself), your world just got rocked.

Wasted?

Wasted!?!

Isn’t the goal of life to appease suffering and enjoy pleasure? To overcome it? To eliminate it? 

If we are to be faithful to Christ, we must be able to suffer well. We cannot waste that opportunity to grow and to make much of Him. The Bible never says that following Christ includes a life of luxury and ease. We will face storms; we will suffer. And how we suffer will be determined by our view of God.

In order to suffer well we need to have a couple of basic beliefs (stolen from John Piper ):

-God is not surprised by our suffering and pain (aka, He is sovereign)

-God is good

-Our suffering is not a curse

-Our comfort is not in odds of survival, but in God

-Overcoming suffering is not survival, its cherishing Christ

-Suffering points us to Christ

-Suffering allows us to make much of Christ to those around us

Personally, I am not sure if I am ready to suffer well. I haven’t been thrown into that place yet, but I pray as I am being sanctified that I will be able to suffer well.

A couple of men that have suffered well over the past few years because of their large views of God are John Piper and Matt Chandler. John Piper is now cancer free and healthy, and Matt Chandler just finished up a round of chemo today (he will be our focus).  Essentially, last Thanksgiving he had a seizure, woke up in the hospital and was told that he has a brain tumor that will most likely kill him in the next 3 years. Since then he has had a large part of the cancer removed and gone through radiation and a couple stages of chemo. He and his wife have chosen to keep his battle public so that Christ will be magnified in his suffering. 

It’s easy to make much of God when life goes according to our plans, but if we lose faith when our world is seemingly torn apart, we deny God’s goodness, sovereignty and grace. After all, for believers, this world is our hell. It can only get better from here.

I would like to write more about Matt’s story, but I’ll fail to do it justice. Here is the first video he posted right before his surgery. He says it all better than I ever could. 

How have you failed to bring God glory in your suffering? Post your thoughts!

Scripture to Meditate on:

Hebrews 11

Philippians 1:12-30

Job

Link to the AP article about Matt Chandler

Book for further study: Suffering and the Sovereignty of God