'Just a thought'

"You stir up man to take pleasure in praising You, because You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You."

~Augustine

Confessions,

Book I.i.1

'Just a thought'

In response to counseling with the claim "God loves you just as you are. God has unconditional love for you." David Powlison writes:

"The Gospel is better than unconditional love. The Gospel says, "God accepts you just as Christ is. God has 'contraconditional' love for you." Christ bears the curse you deserve. Christ is fully pleasing to the Father and gives you His own perfect goodness. Christ reigns in power, making you the Father's child and coming close to you to begin to change what is unacceptable to God about you. God never accepts me "as I am." He accepts me "as I am in Christ." The center of gravity is different. The true Gospel does not allow God's love to be sucked into the vortex of the soul's lust for acceptability and worth in and of itself. Rather, it radically decenters people-- what the Bible calls "fear of the Lord" and "faith"-- to look outside themselves."

~David Powlison

The Journal of Biblical Counseling,

Vol. 13.2, 1995

Praise God for his unspeakable riches in Christ!

"...For He both hears and answers prayer"

With praise to our God and heavenly Father, 'who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ', has also granted that Rebecca and I may pursue a closer relationship. We are overjoyed, to say the least. God in His amazing grace has placed us in the loving family of His church; this family has helped us over the past few months, and even years, in ways which are difficult to express. He is more than worthy to be thanked and praised; it is also fitting to share our joy with you, and to thank you for the many prayers and support you have shown us. Though the road has not been smooth, we can testify to the faithfulness of Christ who has been with us every step of the way- and we know He will continue to be. Please continue to uphold us in your prayers; although God continues to work in us, we are still broken people in need of much change.

"Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together."

~Psalm 34:3

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works"

~Hebrews 10:23-24