Paul Tripp describes a typical Christian:

Jason could explain to you what it meant to say that he had been “saved by grace,” and he knew that he was going to spend eternity with his Savior. His problem was in the here and now. Day after day, in situation after situation and relationship after relationship, Jason didn’t carry with him a vibrant and practical sense of the nowism of the grace of Jesus Christ.

Yes, Jason believed in life after death, but he desperately needed to understand life before death; the kind of radical life you will live when you understand what Christ has given you for the life he has called you to right here, right now.

Tripp offers four things the gospel radically changes right now:

1. Grace will decimate what you think of you, while it gives you a security of identity you’ve never had.
   Grace will expose your sin, but it will not leave you without identity. Grace had liberated Jason, but he didn’t know it or live like it. He had not only been forgiven and empowered, but he had been given a brand new identity. Jason had been freed from looking inward for his identity. No longer did he have to measure his potential by his track record or the size of the problems he was facing.
2. Grace will expose your deepest sins of heart, while it covers every failure with the blood of Jesus.
   No longer did Jason have to work to excuse, deny, rationalize, or minimize his sin. No longer did he have to exercise his inner lawyer when someone pointed out a wrong. Because of the cross of Jesus, Jason could admit his weakness and failure before a holy God and be utterly unafraid. And if a holy God had accepted him as he was, why would Jason fear the opinion of others?
3. Grace will make you face how weak you are, while it blesses you with power beyond your ability to calculate.
   Grace does require you to admit how weak you are, but it doesn’t leave you there. The cross not only dealt with the guilt of sin, but with the inability if sin as well. In this broken world of regular difficulty and constant temptation, Jason did feel weak and unprepared, so he lived more out of fear and avoidance than with hope and courage.
4. Grace will take control out of your hands, while it blesses you with the care of One who plan is unshakable and perfect in every way.
   Jason had some kind of distant belief in the sovereignty of God, but it was almost completely separate from his everyday experience. He lived like he had no idea that Jesus was ruling over all things for his sake (Ephesians 1:20-23). So Jason was constantly dealing with the frustration of trying to control people and things which he had little power to control.

Read the whole thing here,

Tony Kummer lists five spiritual dangers faced by Christian kids who get too much religion and not enough actual interaction with Jesus. Here are three of them:

2. Knowledge Can Promote Pride: Something happens inside of us when we become the expert. Children feel that same sense of superiority when they have more religious knowledge than their peers. Too often over-churched kids build their identity around that achievement, even when it doesn’t involve a growing relationship with Christ.

3. They Have Learned to Pretend Pray: A real struggle for grown-ups is connecting with God through prayer. Too often it becomes routine and dry. Most younger children learn prayer as an act of imitation. Many don’t even realize that something cosmic is happening when we address our words to God. They don’t feel the presence of God or even expect that they should.

4. They Don’t Feel Their Lostness: Many over-churched kids don’t know what life is like without the comforts of faith. Their brain say ‘forgiveness’ before their heart feels ‘I’m sorry.’ Because they know about grace, they have never really struggled much with guilt.

He offers nine helpful strategies for avoiding those dangers. Here are a few:

5. Teach the Bad News: According to the Bible, we are all sinners who have earned the displeasure of God. Without Jesus, we would have no hope of passing God’s judgment. Over-churched kids need to realize that they too need a Savior. They need to learn about sin. Keep teaching the 10 Commandments, but also teach what Jesus said about loving your neighbor. None of us can really meet those standards on our own.

6. Model Repentance: With over-churched kids, we can’t pretend that Christians are always the good guys. They see behind our Sundy morning smiles and know that we’re not perfect people. When we are honest about our failings, and confess our sins, it points them to the Gospel. When teaching, use examples of Christian repentance and be transparent about your own struggles. This is a key to parenting, but it’s also a great strategy for kids ministry.

7. Make It Relevant: Connecting the Bible content with real life is something we often overlook. Even kids who have heard all the stories need help connecting the dots to real life. Kristi made this point on our Facebook page, “I find those kids get more involved if you can make it relevant to what they are going through at the time.” So take a few minutes and think about relevance. Why does this Bible lesson really matter in each child’s life? How can the truth of this passage help them with the problems they are facing?

Maybe you thought that word was just a polite greeting. Maybe you thought it was just a rhetorical flourish, like how some preachers and politicians like to say “Friends” a lot, even when they’re speaking to a group of people they’ve never met.

But Peter’s not just using that word to be nice. His theme is suffering, and Peter realizes that when you’re suffering, it can be easy to doubt that God really loves you. I’ve been through excruciatingly painful times, and there were moments when I wondered whether God loved me less than the other people around me who seemed to be blessed much more than me.

That’s because our idea of love usually revolves around God giving us what we want.

We’re no better than kindergartners. Last week, my daughter Talia finished a TV show and she asked me if she could watch another show. I said, “No, that’s enough TV for today.”

She took me by the shoulders, looked me square in the face, and said, “Daddy, when I grow up, I’m going to love my kids. I’m going to let them watch whatever they want, and eat whatever they want. I’m going to love my kids a lot more than you do.”

I couldn’t stop myself. I burst out laughing. Because I said the exact same thing to my dad when I was a kindergartner. When I wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes, I said, “I doubt that. When you grow up, hopefully you’ll understand that love doesn’t mean giving someone everything they ask for.”

But we still need the reminder Peter’s giving us – just because you’re suffering doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you.

In fact, if you never suffer, it might mean God loves you less. Hebrews 12:7 says, “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” If you’re a child of God, you’re going to suffer!

So Peter says, “Beloved…those whom God dearly loves… do not be surprised at the fiery trial.” In other words, don’t be surprised when God brings suffering your way, and don’t doubt his love when it happens.

4. Mere Confession

True repentance is not mere confession. Mere confession is very confusing, particularly for Christians, because it is when someone sins, and you confront, or rebuke them, call them to repentance as John does. You say, “That was really wrong.” And they say, “You know what? You’re right, that was terrible.” You say, “Oh good, I’m glad you recognized that. Let me hug you, and we’re all better now.”

And then they do it again. You say, “I thought you were sorry.” “Oh, I was. I’m sorry again, and I’ll be sorry next week, and the week after that. I’m sorry a lot. And every time I do it, at least I’m not a hypocrite, I’m authentic, I’m honest, I’m real, I’m true. And I’ll just tell you how bad I am, and I’m gonna keep being bad.”

Read the whole thing here.

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

Usually, suffering people are focused only on themselves. “I don’t have time for your problems – I’ve got enough of my own. I don’t have time to pray for your sick aunt. I don’t have time to help you move. I’ve got enough to deal with in my own life.”

But Peter says above all, we must love. Even when we’re suffering. And when we do, we’re covering over sin. Not hiding sin or endorsing sin. Obliterating sin. Which includes our own sin and the sin of the people around us.

1 Corinthians 13 says if you love, then…

• You’ll be patient and kind, even with people who are impatient and unkind.
• You won’t envy or boast, even when everyone else you know is posting every little accomplishment on Facebook so everyone else can congratulate them.
• You won’t be arrogant or rude, even when everyone else is passive-aggressive (or aggressive-aggressive) in their maneuvering to get what they want.
• You won’t insist on your own way, even when that means you’ll have no hope of getting your own way.
• You won’t be irritable or resentful, when you would normally be frustrated and annoyed.
• You’ll bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things, even when life seems un-bearable, and the people around you are un-believable.

But if you don’t have love, then…

• You’ll always be suspicious of what other people say.
• You’ll always think the worst of what other people do.
• You’ll always be annoyed by how other people live.
• You’ll always quit when other people require you to endure.

So what if you find yourself living more in the second list than the first? Do you need to work harder to love? Strain and grunt your way into bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, and enduring all things?

No. Instead, focus on the work Christ did for you:

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, (1 Peter 4:1)

5. Keep it regular

The sum is greater than the parts. You will have off days. You will miss days. You may even question your call to ministry. Whatever happens, just keep at it and God will make you equal to the task.

6. Older kids set the example

If your oldest kid is not engaged, your younger ones will follow. Challenge your oldest children to set the example for their siblings. Give them a bit of ownership and a role in how you structure these times, and it will be a huge help.

7. Limit TV

I’m not saying kill your television completely, but there is no doubt in my mind that excessive TV rots the attention span. If your kids, or you for that matter, can’t pay attention to anything for more than two minutes, then think about what other entertainment might be captivating your senses.

Read all his suggestions here.

What a powerful and encouraging thought that is. There is nothing in this universe that can threaten me, because everything in this universe is subject to Jesus.

According to Paul, that’s because everything in this universe belongs to Jesus:

By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16).

Another powerful thought. Not only was Jesus the one who all these things were created by, he is the one all these things were created for!

Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper explained it this way:

When Jesus looks at his universe from his exalted throne at the right hand of the Father, and he sees the great galaxies whirling in space, the planets and the people upon this planet, and the minute details of our individual lives, there is nothing that he sees anywhere of which he cannot say, “Mine.”

Jesus owns all things, so he has control of all things. Even a one-year-old how this works. When my daughter was one, she thought she could look at anything and say, “Mine.” Toys her brother was playing with… “Mine!” Candybars in the supermarket… “Mine!” The keys to the car… “Mine!” She knew that if she owned it, that meant she could control it.

Jesus owns everything in our lives, and so he exercises intimate control over everything in our lives. He truly is a micromanager.

For some people, that thought is more worrying than comforting. It can sound like we’re nothing but a bunch of robots who have been programmed to respond in certain ways to the input we receive from God and the world around us.

Maybe an illustration from A.W. Tozer would help. He liked to look at life as if it was a cruise on an ocean liner.

When you get on a ship, you have no control over where it goes. It’s on a set course that’s not going to change unless you run into an iceberg .

But while you’re on the ship, you have all kinds of freedom. You’re not in chains. You can eat in the dining room, sleep in your cabin, play games, lounge around on the deck, go in the pool, and do anything else the owner of the ship has made available for you.

While you’re doing your thing, the ocean liner is still chugging away toward the port on the other side of the ocean. You’ll get there no matter what you choose to do while you’re on the ship.

That’s your life. And what’s the predestined port you’re heading for? It’s the place where you look a lot more like the owner of the boat and the manager of your life:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29).

Humble one another, scrutinize one another, pressure one another, embarrass one another, corner one another, interrupt one another, defeat one another, disapprove of one another, run one another’s lives, confess one another’s sins, intensify one another’s sufferings, point out one another’s failings . . . .

In a soft environment, where we settle for a false peace with present evils, we turn on one another.  In a realistic environment, where we are suffering to advance the gospel, our thoughts turn to how we can stick up for one another.

“All of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:8-9)

[Legendary British preacher] Martyn Lloyd-Jones once spoke with a group of medical students who complained that in the midst of their training and the ferocious work hours they really didn’t even have time to read the Bible and have their devotions and so on. He bristled and said, “I am a doctor. I have been where you are. You have time for what you want to do.” After a long pause he said, “I make only one exception: the mother of preschool-aged children does not have time and emotional resources.”

It is important to recognize that there are stages of life where you really don’t have time to do much, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Children will sap you. If you have three children under the age of six, forget serious reading unless you have the money for a nanny. When our youngest finally went off to kindergarten, we celebrated that day—I took my wife out for lunch. Only then could she get back into reading again. It’s the way life is. You have to be realistic.

Instead, I keep hearing guys talk about how much grace God has lavished on them and their churches in spite of their shortcomings, and how that’s led them to be radically generous in response. Generously giving their time and money to serve people in their community who would never be able to offer them anything in return. Generously serving other churches that had been hostile to the young church-planter who was “invading their territory.” Generously mentoring other pastors in their area or across an ocean who needed encouragement and support.

My dream is that Harbor would be known for that kind of radical grace-driven generosity. The residents at Old Stadium Park and Kakaako Shelter, and the patients at the Waikiki Health Clinic have already experienced God’s grace through Harborites. Factory workers in Southeast Asia have experienced it through our short-term teams and the local church-planters we have sent. Hopefully the families at Liholiho School will experience it too when we begin to mentor kids this fall through the Common Grace ministry.

What new opportunities will God give us to display his grace through our generosity?