Why has God left me here on earth?

Recently I was listening John MacArthur preach and he said something that has stuck in my mind. He said basically that the reason we, as Christians, are still here on earth and not in heaven is primarily to evangelize those who are not Christians. God does not leave us here primarily to worship Him, because we will do it much better in heaven. He does not leave us here to be holy, because we certainly will be much more holy in heaven with our glorified bodies. He leaves us here on earth, because there's still the need to evangelize. We will not evangelize in heaven because we will not need to. Most of this was said by MacArthur. What do you think? Is this primarily the reason that we are still here on earth and therefore, our life's purpose? I think it is.

I have started putting together a purpose statement for my life to keep me focused. Here's what I have so far: I am still alive here on this earth to magnify God and His Son so as to gather more worshipers/God-glorifiers (I'm inventing a new word here). Magnifying Him is not the end but a means to the end. Just as a telescope shows small-looking things as they really are--BIG, so we are to show Christ as He really is (we do our best, at least). As we magnify Christ, some see Him for who He is and some do not. (II Cor. 4:3-4) I believe God has determined to gather worshipers through a certain means which is: God's Word of the cross + Holy Spirit + worshipers like you and me= more worshipers of God. This is ultimately why I am still alive. One other thing that I have thought of is the importance of first being a worshiper of God myself and then also helping other Christians(such as my wife, kids, friends, brothers and sisters at church) to be true worshipers of God, so we can all gather more new worshipers of God.

David, and others who read this, Please tell me what you think. I do not want to waste my life. I want to make each day count for the purpose for which God has granted that day to me. Please pray for me now as well to live this way for His glory.

JT

My Devotions in Romans

By God's grace my intentions are to come to better personal understanding of Romans. I have been in chapter one for two weeks and I am nowhere yet. This passage begins with some definition of the unrighteous proceeded by a wonderful act of grace on God's part to make Himself known to the unrighteous. However, the following list is how the ungodly respond to the glory and beauty of God.

Try to discern what you would do with such a person as this:

Supress the truth in their unrighteousness
They know God
They do not glorify Him as God
They are not thankful, but futile (vain, meaningless conclusions - McArthur)
Foolish dark hearts
Claim to be wise - believe in themselves
Change God's glory into an earthly image
Worship creation instead of the Creator

At this point God gives them over to their debased mind

Lust - Dishonoring their own bodies (unclean)
Exchange the truth of God for a lie
The Lie - There is no God who deserves obedience and glory
Vile passions - Homosexuality/Lesbianism
Try to forget there is a God
Debased minds - "Not passing the test" (worthless metals - discarded for impurity)
Unrighteous
Sexually Immoral
Wicked
Covetous
Malicious
Envious
Produce Strife
Deceivers
Evil-minded
Whisperers (Gossipers)
Backbitters
Haters of God
Violent
Proud
Boasters
Inventors of Evil Things
Disobedient to Parents
Undiscerning
Untrustworthy
Unloving
Unforgiving
Unmerciful
Blatant Rebelliousness (Because they know God -yet do these things)

Pauls logical conclusion to this list is: "those who practice such things are deserving of death..."

May God help us if for one moment we come to believe we are in any way deserving of ANYTHING in this life or the life that is to come. May God help us to bow in humble obedience each day to the authority of our Savior and King! May God help us to communicate the truth in Corinthians that we have "NOTHING that we have not RECEIVED" to our children surrounded by the deep waters of man centered living in the world and in the so called "church". May we acknowledge that the only reason that we don't do the things in this list on a regular basis is because GOD has caused us to not do these things. He has "shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." All of this because on our very best days - we could not keep one of these things to it's fullest of our own free will! God grant us the grace to live off the fuel of this reality!

DT

What Is True "Profit" for the Believer?

I am afraid that my last article may have been misunderstood a bit. I apologize for not being clear in my communication, which is something I am working on improving. In writing about doing good for your own profit, I think I assumed that you knew what I meant by "profit". Since you may not know what I meant, then you may have perceived my article as supporting a very selfish motive for doing good to others. As I have looked over Galatians 6 and its context, God seems to point out to me that we should not weary of doing good to others because "in due season we will reap(profit), if we do not give up."(v. 9) Now the big question is: What kind of profit is God promising? Verse 8 says that "the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap(profit) eternal life." So the profit is eternal life. I don't believe that Paul was saying that if we do good to others, we will gain eternal life, because he was talking about Spirit-led lives which only would apply to believers. I believe the profit of eternal life means that our eternal life/relationship with God and Jesus would become better and more intimate.

If I do good to others seeking to profit eternal life, this is not a selfish motive but a God-glorifying motive. If I do good to others believing it will bring me closer in my relationship with God, this glorifies God and brings me the highest good possible. If I don't do good to others, I will reap(profit) corruption and death in my spiritual life--my life with God. In obeying the guidance of the Spirit, I must believe that it is for my highest profit, or else I will not obey. If I do not obey, I won't profit and God will not be glorified in my life.

As a side note, David and anyone else who reads these blogs, please feel free to completely disagree in love with whatever I write. I cannot grow (as much as I want to) in my communication skills and my daily walk without your exhortations in my life daily. Spiritual edification is one of the reasons for this site, right?

JT

Doing Good to Others for Your Profit

I recently read a booklet by John Piper entitled, "The Dangerous Duty of Delight", in which he challenges us to pursue our delight in God. Excellent and easy read! One of the chapters really caused me to think on some of the verses that I've read recently and what should be our motives when doing good to others. He shares a quote from a popular writer who says: "For the Christian, happiness is never a goal to be pursued. It is always the unexpected surprise of a life of service." Do you agree? Is this truth, according to the Bible? I say no. There are some key issues I would disagree with in this quote. First of all, to say that we shouldn't seek happiness or contentment or joy or pleasure in God (I don't differentiate those) may imply to unbelievers that it may not be available in God. To say that it will be a surprise if happiness is found is to say that it may or may not be found in God and living for Him, and this takes much glory away from God. Secondly, he speaks of a life of service, which it is, but it is a life of joyful service, not obligatory, fearful service.

Getting back to the point of this discussion, what should be the motive in doing good to others? Many Christians say that, in doing good to others, we should never seek any good out of that act for ourselves because that is selfish. In other words, you should not seek any personal profit from doing good to others. Galatians seems to clearly disagree with this teaching.

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Gal. 6:9-10)

Why should we not give up on doing good to others? Because it is the right service to do for God? NO! Because in due season we will reap and profit. How? I'm not completely sure but God promises happy profit for us, so why should that not be a viable motive for love and good works.

Here are some more verses where I've seen this same pattern that shows it is ok, in fact, crucial to believe in the happiness and profit attained for us when we do good to others. This first verse actually shows how there is destruction for us when we don't do good to others.

"But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not CONSUMED by one another." Gal. 5:15

"...REMEMBER the words of the Lord Jesus, how He himself said, 'It is more BLESSED(HAPPY) to give than to receive'" Acts 20:35

"In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife LOVES HIMSELF. (because his love for her will affect him. I know, I've experienced this.)"
Eph. 5:28

"If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, BUT have not love, I GAIN nothing." I Cor. 11:3

JT

Psalm 19:14

God has used the His word and the mistakes of others to convict me of truth. Lately I have become very upset with people who do not keep their word. The answering maching says: "Please leave your name and a brief message and I will get back with you as soon as possible." That right there my friends must be the abominable lie of the century! We live in the most advanced communications era of all time - yet we fail so miserably - I fail miserably. God gave me two texts in Ecclesiates that are helpful truth.

This passage makes it clear that such a man is not trustworthy or reliable:

Eccl 10:12-14
12 Words from a wise man's mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips. 13 At the beginning his words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness- 14 and the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming- who can tell him what will happen after him?

This following text is in reference to our commitments to Lord and his response to broken commitment. God describes this as sin and your words as meaningless to the point of destroying the work of your hands.

Eccl 10:4-7
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the [temple] messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.

I must magnify the last line in that verse as application. In light of our words to others and more importantly the Lord - Stand in awe of Him! Let His glory dicatate whether or not you will make any kind of promise. Let His glory dictate whether or not you will blog another word. Let His glory dictate your words to your wife. Let His glory dictate your next words to an unbeliever. These are the truths I am learning - please pray for my growth in this area.

1 John 3:18-19
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in thy sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer

DT

Who Do You Think You Are?

This is the question that seems to be brought to my mind these last few days. As my family and I are getting on a plane tonight to go to Brazil where we plan to magnify Jesus Christ, I keep thinking, "Who do you think you are, to be venturing on such a task?" The truth is: There is nothing inherently special in me that would make this mission successful. I am not especially intelligent or knowledgeable, neither am I very strong in communication or in people skills. Besides that, the Bible says that my heart is desperately wicked and my righteousness is as filthy rags. So, the question, "Who do I think I am?", is fairly easy to answer, in light of Biblical truth. So, when this question comes to my mind, what is it that pushes me to continue ahead toward this hard mission? Who do I think God is? I am so grateful for God working in me and proclaiming Himself to me. What makes me distinct is nothing about my own person, but it is that "God goes with me." (Ps. 33:16) It is so humbling to me that God would get involved in my life and proclaim His name to me. As a desperately wicked sinner, I deserve no good thing but only Hell and death itself. David, I have been challenged lately to fight the heart attitude that says I deserve this good thing or that good thing. You don't deserve to get support from churches or even to get meetings at all, even though God has called you to Brazil. Humbly remember each day of what you deserve and of what God has given you that you do not deserve. I'm still working on that myself. Tonight I don't deserve a good flight or well-behaved children or no problems in Sao Paulo. If it happens, praise the Lord! So the question that perhaps Satan or my flesh seems to keep asking me, "Who do you think you are?" can best be combatted by another question, Who Do I Think God Is? It's great to know that God has chosen the foolish things of the world (that's me) to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world (that's me again) to confound the things which are mighty. He can use me because of who He is-Allmighty and All-wise.

JT

A Truth That Is Changing Me

Are you a humble person? I think that most of us, if completely honest, would have to say that we are not so humble. Yet God obviously values humility greatly. Isaiah 66:2 says, "But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." I have been challenged recently both by God's Word and also by the book, Humility, by C.J. Mahaney. Mahaney defines humility as "honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness." That's a good definition. In his book, he brings out the fact that you can love God's Word, love Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, and even believe in the importance of relationships and yet not have humility. Unbelievable, isn't it? The truth of the importance of humility is changing me, both in my heart and in my actions. As I have studied Mark 9-10, where the disciples proudly discussed who was the greatest, I've found some characteristics of one who is growing in humility. One characteristic is that he is less argumentative, unlike the disciples who argued about who the greatest was. The reason he is less argumentative is because he has a less opinion of himself. This happens as he trembles at who God is in holiness and who he is in sinfulness. In having a less opinion of self, this liberates him to serve others more frequently, because he "counts others more significant" than himself (Phil. 2:3). Living my life in remembrance of God's mercy has changed me. Reminding myself that I deserve nothing from God, except eternal separation from Him in hell, has changed my daily walk. It has removed arguments from my heart and lips. It has changed my opinion of self to a more true Biblical one. It has enabled me to serve others with a pure and joyful heart. This truth has helped me to "walk humbly with my God" (Micah 6:8), and this is what He requires.

JT