Dave Harvey explains why ambition is important:
Dave Harvey: “Why is ambition important?” from Crossway on Vimeo.
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Archive for May, 2010
Ambition VS. Selfish Ambition
Listen to author Dave Harvey explain his desire to recover the important distinction between godly ambition and selfish ambition:
Dave Harvey: from Crossway on Vimeo.
The Gospel of Self-Esteem
Self-esteem sounds good, but it is antithetical to God’s gospel. Christ didn’t die to improve our self-esteem; he died to give us his. He didn’t come to build up our selfworth; he came to knock it down. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:24); and Paul wrote, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). We have been deceived by the false teaching of self-esteem because, like most effective deceptions, there is a kernel of truth in it. We do have intrinsic worth because we are made in the image of God. But it is his image in us that gives us our value.
I heard a contemporary Christian song recently in which the singer poured out her gratitude for Christ’s death on the cross, but her lyrics reflected a wrong understanding of why Christ died: “What a price I was worth!” Christ didn’t go to the cross because she—or we are worth it. He went to the cross to bring unworthy people to God. Praiseworthy is the fact that God determined to bring unworthy people into eternal blessing. Thinking that Christ died because of our inherent worth or to improve our self-esteem, reveals impurity in our heart. A sincere and pure devotion to Christ sees him, not us, as everything.
Excerpt from Purity: A Godly Woman’s Adornment by Lydia Brownback. Join Lydia for Tuesday Talk on the topic of Purity starting June 1st!
Why 9 Marks for a Healthy Church?
Why These Nine Marks? from 9Marks on Vimeo.
Check out more videos based on each individual mark here.
The Singlemindedness of Purity
There is a strong link between our hearts and our minds. In fact, Scripture doesn’t really differentiate between the two. What we think is our heart. Therefore, a double-minded woman is one with a divided heart, and a divided heart isn’t a pure heart. James’s point is that a double-minded woman is literally two-minded; she is divided between two ways of thinking, and, as a result, she is ruled by competing options.
Double-Minded
The problem is that we are all double-minded. We want God and a husband, God and a better house, or God and a more fulfilling job. The “and” is what makes us double-minded. We well know that many of the things we want are good things. God has designed us to enjoy many of them, and he delights to give them to us. So it’s not the actual wanting that makes us divided. It’s the fact that we believe we must have them in order to be happy. If we believe there is something— anything—essential for our well-being besides God, we are double-minded. . .
Single-Minded
According to James, the way to a pure heart, the way to know what Paul knew, comes as a result of changing our thinking. We are to become single-minded rather than allowing ourselves to remain double-minded. James is also clear that we are not to be passive in the process; it is something we are told to do. There is no “let go and let God” to be found here.
It is true that we cannot actually change ourselves; God changes us. He does so as we set our minds on him and his ways. But we won’t set ourselves in this direction unless we believe that what we give up in this process is worth the cost. We can’t have it both ways, but we are always going to try unless we are convinced that living for Christ is well worth whatever lesser things we lose along the way.
Single-mindedness is the path to a pure heart, which is why Paul wrote, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom 12:2).
Excerpt from Purity: A Godly Woman’s Adornment pp 17. Join author Lydia Browback for Tuesday Talk on the topic of Purity starting June 1st!
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