I was just thinking about Eric’s message on Sunday on Ephesians 4 about living a life “…worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph 4:1). I was thinking about how incredible it is that Paul gave us this charge to “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Eph 4:2). I was also thinking about what it cost Paul to be this bearer of the gospel. He was writing this letter in chains- he was in prison. It cost him everything. I just thought we are kind of too fragile. I remember a few years back when I left my job because I really felt that I had to in order to maintain my walk with the Lord, and at the time I didn’t have another one. I was living home,single, and didn’t have a job, and I felt so completely stripped as a person. Read more »

This week’s guest blogger is Jim Quigley.  Jim has been a part of NewLife since last August, after moving up from New Jersey, and is an engineer who also works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Trinity College.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. “  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)

Faith or works?  Which one makes us acceptable to God?  These two passages (among others) have often confused Christians and non-Christians alike as to which one is right.  Is this a contradiction in the Bible?!?  Of course not.  The more I grow in the Lord, the more He reveals to me that these verses are not contradictory, but complementary.  And though I am sure that volumes can be (and probably have been) written on this topic, I would like to (briefly) share how these concepts work together, not against each other, to help us in our walk with Christ. 
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Embarrassing story time:  I sucked my thumb at night until I was in third grade.  Do you know why I finally stopped?  My parents took video of my brothers and me sleeping at night on Christmas Eve, and when they showed it the next day, there I was:  eight year-old Eric, curled up with my thumb in my mouth.

 Needless to say, I was mortified, and never sucked my thumb again.

 Why do I tell you that depressing memory?  Because I’ve been reflecting lately on discipline, one of those character traits that most of us wish we had more of in our life.  I think of discipline as the ability to consistently do the things we want to do and to avoid those things we don’t want to do.  The disciplined individual is the one who knows what he or she wants and is able to live according to that vision, not being sidetracked by things that do not help him or her achieve that vision.  As badly as my heart yearns to be a man of discipline who lives according to his values, I have found it to be a slippery pursuit.  As Paul classically put it:
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I’ve recently been enjoying John Ortberg’s new book, The me I want to be, in which the author talks about the unique ways God grows each of us spiritually into the people we were created to be.  One of the parts that really spoke to me was where Ortberg said this:

“The Bible does not say you are God’s appliance; it says you are his masterpiece (Eph 2:10, NLT).  Appliances get mass-produced.  Masterpieces get hand-crafted.  God did not make you exactly like anyone else.  Therefore, his plan for shaping you will not look like his plan for shaping anyone else.  If you try to find a generic plan for spiritual growth, it will only frustrate you.”

(Can anyone say journaling?)

Ortberg then goes on to give an excellent summary of some of the ways God worked in the Bible:

“He had Abraham take a walk, Elijah take a nap, Joshua take a lap, and Adam take the rap.  He gave Moses a forty-year time out, he gave David a harp and a dance, and he gave Paul a pen and a scroll.  He wrestled with Jacob, argued with Job, whispered to Elijah, warned Cain, and comforted Hagar.  He gave Aaron an altar, Miriam a song, Gideon a fleece, Peter a name, and Elisha a mantle.  Jesus was stern with the rich young ruler, tender with the woman caught in adultery, patient with the disciples, blistering with the scribes, gentle with the children, and gracious with the thief on the cross.  God never grows two people the same way.  God is a hand-crafter, not a mass-producer.”

Boom.  Just like that, your categories and presuppositions, your expectations and formulas, are all blown out of the water.  All of a sudden, discipleship returns to what it was meant to be all along:  following the Spirit of God, living in relationship with Him, and going wherever He leads.  “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
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