Join Justin Taylor and Lydia Brownback as they discuss her new book A Woman’s Wisdom: How the Book of Proverbs Speaks to Everything.

• 0:01 – You’ve written books for women on being single, on devotions—why did you want to dedicate an entire book to exploring the book of Proverbs?
• 1:17 – Is this book for all kinds of women?
• 1:29 – So much of the book of Proverbs is directed from a king figure to a son, and much of it is oriented towards men. What does the book of proverbs have to say to women in particular?
• 2:51 – Is Proverbs more than just a moral, “how-to” manual?
• 4:54 – The heart of the book is 6 things every wise woman needs to know. What are those things and how did you structure that section?
• 7:39 – The study guide is great for women’s groups, mothers and daughters,  and friends. How can your expertise not only teach them but help them talk about these issues.
• 8:18 – Justin Taylor: “Thank you for writing this book. I’m eager to share it with women I know.”

Related Posts:

• Radiating Biblical Femininity
• The Gospel of Self-Esteem
• Video: New “On the Go” Devotional from Lydia Brownback

Mother’s Day is a particularly sensitive time in many congregations, and pastors and church leaders often don’t even know it. This is true even in congregations that don’t focus the entire service around the event as if it were a feast day on the church’s liturgical calendar. Infertile women, and often their husbands, are still often grieving in the shadows.

Another post we found encouraging this week was Blessed To Not Be Blessed by Mark Altrogge. In it, he writes:

Sometimes God uses sickness or poverty to “hem us in” – to keep us back from harmful things we’d pursue if we were healthy enough or rich enough.

If God isn’t pouring out on you the “good” we think you should have – whether it be wealth, a wife, a husband, a child, a job, a break, health, a home, whatever – it might be that if you had it, it might not be for your good.  God is out for your best, which is to know him, and be conformed to his likeness.  So seek to be content to have Christ alone.  If we have him we have the infinite riches of God.  We have all the good God can give us.  If God hasn’t given us something we’ve asked for, we can seek him for it, but then let us trust his wise providence.  He’ll give it to us if it’s really good for us.  He’ll withhold it if it’s not.

This Mother’s Day, let us “rejoice with those who rejoice” and “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). And let us not forget that our good and gracious God is near to those who are brokenhearted.

So… it’s almost Mother’s Day. In a recent survey, a majority of mothers confessed that they felt burdened in their parenting. Many felt that no matter how they tried they weren’t making the grade. They felt like failures. I know in my own life I often give in to feelings of inadequacy, feeling like I have absolutely no idea what I am doing, feeling like the majority of what I do with my kids is detrimental.

Is it the same for you? How can we fight this? How can I get up in the morning and try again? How can I have peace when my children are disobedient and disrespectful? How can I have joy in the middle of my selfishness, especially when my desire for undisturbed quiet is never met? How do I smile at the future when my daughter informs me that she doesn’t ever need to brush her teeth again because she “has mints”?

We desire joy. We long for lasting happiness, and we are searching constantly for it. The good news is that one day we will have a joy that will never fade. In John 16:22, Jesus is telling his disciples about the ordeal that awaits him. He is explaining the plan for their redemption when he said, “…[y]ou have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take that joy from you.” Hear the words of your Savior: the joy that you look for in motherhood is found in Him. That is a joy no one can take from you. Does your heart yearn for a ceaseless joy?

Again, here’s some Mother’s Day good news. We can get up every morning and remind ourselves that our joy is eternal. We remind ourselves that our joy is not found in our performance. We remind ourselves that our happiness is not grounded in our children’s love for us. We remind ourselves that all of our joy comes from knowing that our Heavenly Father loves us as he loves his Son. That unchanging love is what brings us joy.

We are fighting to make that joy a reality now, but we can be confident that a day will come when that joy will be complete. All the pains of motherhood, all of our sin against our children, and their sin against us, will be done, gone. And we will see our Savior, the lover of our souls, and we will have an eternal joy; the joy of being loved completely and loving completely.

Jessica Thompson is co-author of Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus. She is a member of an Acts 29 church and has been homeschooling for the past two years. She is married and has three children.

Related Posts:

• Ladies: Do Not Shy Away from Theology
• Struggling with All His Energy
• Looking for a Book on Gospel-Centered Parenting?

April

Large Print Compact Bible – The goal for the Large Print Compact Bible was to combine the convenience of a smaller trim size with the readability that comes with larger type. It features line-matching, a production process that aligns ink on both sides of a page, minimizing show-through. We’ve released it in four TruTone editions, but have plans for more cover options. You can download a pdf excerpt of the interior and compare it to the interior of the original Compact Bible. Below are some comparison photos between the two (Large Print Compact on the left):

May

Vintage Thinline Bible – This is a premium Bible at an affordable price. It features an interior identical to that of the original Thinline Bible, and will come in four calfskin covers available for $99 each. Each cover is crafted by hand, but comes from three pieces of leather instead of one. This makes for a high quality cover with lower production costs. The four covers are pictured below:

June

Verse-by-Verse Reference Bible – The ESV Verse-by-Verse Reference Bible features the Bible text in a single-column format. Displaying each verse on its own line, the Verse-by-Verse Reference Bible was especially designed for preaching, teaching, and in-depth Bible study. We’ve had a lot of requests from pastors for a Bible like this, and hope it’s a helpful edition for everyone who studies and teaches God’s Word! It will be initially released in three covers. Download a pdf excerpt of the interior.

July

Large Print Thinline Reference Bible – This Bible combines the Thinline features with cross-references and a larger type size. The cross-references are located in the bottom corner of each page to help keep the bulk down. Even though the type size is very readable, the Large Print Thinline Reference Bible is still close to one inch thin. This is another edition that will feature line-matching. It will be initially published with four cover options, including a top grain leather edition. Download a pdf excerpt of the interior and compare it to the interior of the original Thinline Bible. Below are photos comparing the two (Large Print Thinline Reference on the left). (Please note the Large Print Thinline Reference Bible below is a pre-production mockup. It’s pictured here for dimension comparisons only.)

August

Single Column Journaling Bible– Building off the popularity of the original Journaling Bible, we’re releasing a single-column version. Like the original, it will feature two-inch lined margins, but each line of Bible text now has its own line for writing sermon notes, prayers, or other observations you might have. It will be initially published in three cover options. Compare the interior of the Single Column Journaling Bible with that of the original. Below are photos comparing the two (Single Column Journaling Bible on the left). (Please note the Single Column Journaling Bible below is a pre-production mockup. It’s pictured here for dimension comparisons only.)

Adapted from A Woman’s Wisdom: How the Book of Proverbs Speaks to Everything by Lydia Brownback

Desires

Our desires—the things we want—tend to govern our lives and our choices. For that reason, it is important that our desires get formed in a biblical mold. Right now, today, we all desire something. It might be a desire we’ve carried in our heart for years, or perhaps it’s more recent. It might be something that springs from our feminine nature—a husband, a child, a home of our own. Some of us desire healing, either for an illness or for a relationship. It might be a desire for a major change, such as a different job or a relocation. It could be something simpler such as a break in the routine by means of two weeks at the beach or just by getting out of the kitchen for a night or two. It is to be hoped that above all our desires, we desire God himself.

Sometimes the way in which we describe a particular desire is merely our attempt to give shape to some deeper yearning in our hearts that we cannot name. Our desire for marriage, home, and family, for example, may be how we give expression to our longing for love, belonging, and the banishment of loneliness. No matter the specifics of our desires or how we express them, all our longings are indicative of the fact that we aren’t home yet. We are unfinished women living in an unfinished world, and because of that, we aren’t going to find full satisfaction until we get home, until we are perfected in Christ and living with him in heaven. Until then, we are going to remain women who want.

Many of the things we desire are hardwired into us. God designed us to want home and family and to be fed and clothed and sheltered; and there is nothing wrong with these desires. The problem is that we tend to want them too much. When that happens, good desires get warped into slave masters. We are enslaved to any desire that we believe we must have in order to be content. For that reason, we do well to consider what Proverbs says about our desires.

Proverbs distinguishes between good desire and bad, and between good, better, and best, and it puts wisdom at the forefront of desirable acquisitions.

Wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. (Prov. 8:11)

What the Word of God is telling us here is that no matter how worthwhile our desires, nothing will prove as rewarding and satisfying as the obtainment of wisdom. Since this is true, you’d think we would set our passions to work on laying hold of it much more than we do. If we craved wisdom as much as we do things and relationships and success, we’d be much more contented than we often are. It is God’s will to provide us with wisdom, whereas it may not be in his plan to give us any number of the other things on which we set our hearts, which is what accounts for most discontentment.

In fact, it might actually be that God withholds something we want because our desire for it is so intense that having it would prove harmful to us. David Powlison says,

Our desires for good things seize the throne, becoming idols that replace the King. God refuses to serve our instinctive longings, but commands us to be ruled by other longings. What God commands, He provides the power to accomplish.

So the first thing we learn about desires from Proverbs is that the best desire—and the one we are guaranteed to get—is wisdom.

Lydia Brownback is the author of several books. She served as writer-in-residence for Rev. Alistair Begg and as the broadcast media manager for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. A regular speaker at women’s conferences, Brownback also blogs at The Purple Cellar. She holds degrees from Syracuse University and Westminster Theological Seminary.

Related Posts:

• Wise Women Know How to Think, Feel, and Want (Part 1)
• Wise Women Know How to Think, Feel, and Want (Part 2)

Adapted from A Woman’s Wisdom: How the Book of Proverbs Speaks to Everything by Lydia Brownback

Feelings

Just consider the roller-coaster ride of emotions we can experience in the course of a single week (or, for some of us, a single day): anger, love, frustration, joy, sorrow, annoyance, irritation, fear, anxiety, peace, satisfaction, exultation, discouragement, happiness, fulfillment, dissatisfaction, anticipation. The list could go on. I’ve met some even-keeled women over the years, and I used to chalk it up to natural-born temperament. Over time, however, I’ve come to see that such equilibrium has as much to do with maturity as it does with birth.

We are quick to blame our circumstances or our hormones for our mood swings, and there is no doubt that the stresses of life and body do have a significant impact on how we feel. Nevertheless, we don’t have to be—nor should we allow ourselves to be—victimized by our feelings. The wild fluctuation of our hormones at certain times may challenge our tolerance of others or depress our outlook, but nowhere does the Bible give us a hormonal pass on the call to kindness, patience, contentment, joy, and love. Instead of being victimized by what provokes negative emotions, we can view the provocations the way Paul viewed his thorn in the flesh. If God doesn’t remove the thorn as a result of our pleading, we have an opportunity to experience Christ’s sufficiency in the midst of it.

Of course, none of us is ever going to master our emotions completely. For one thing, God didn’t create us to be robots. He designed us to feel the ups and the downs. Additionally, it is often the down times and our wrestlings in them that produce the most spiritual fruit. Therefore, wise women don’t debunk their feelings; rather, they take charge of them. Elisabeth Elliot advises:

Do not try to fortify yourself against emotions. Recognize them; name them, if that helps; and then lay them open before the Lord for His training of your responses. The discipline of emotions is the training of responses.

This “training of responses” is how wisdom is lived out and how we become characterized as women of wisdom. We can summarize the wisdom of emotional restraint as “giving free reign to emotions only to the extent that doing so brings no harm to people or dishonor to God’s name.”

Lydia Brownback is the author of several books. She served as writer-in-residence for Rev. Alistair Begg and as the broadcast media manager for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. A regular speaker at women’s conferences, Brownback also blogs at The Purple Cellar. She holds degrees from Syracuse University and Westminster Theological Seminary.

Related Post:

• Wise Women Know How to Think, Feel, and Want (Part 1)

There are three things about us that significantly shape the course of our lives: what we think, what we feel, and what we want. The way in which we handle our thoughts, our feelings, and our desires determines not only our path but whether that path is joyful and fulfilling or fraught with discontentment.

Our feelings are vital, but ought to be subservient to our thoughts.

God created us as thinking and feeling creatures, and therefore both are part of being made in his image. That is why both thoughts and feelings are vital components of true faith. A grasp of God and the gospel that is solely intellectual is barren of the relational joys that God desires us to have with him. On the other hand, if our faith is informed primarily by who we feel God is rather than by careful study of Scripture, we will have an inaccurate picture of his character. That said, it is clear from Scripture that feelings are meant to be subservient to thoughts rather than the reverse.

Thinking

• Proverbs makes a connection between righteous living and careful thinking: A wicked man puts on a bold face, But the upright gives thought to his ways. (Prov. 21:29)
• Also made clear is that harmful naiveté is overcome by using our minds: The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. (Prov. 14:15)
• However, later in the book is another proverb concerning our thought life that seems to contradict everything we’ve just looked at: Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. (Prov. 28:26)

Thinking is wise, and giving careful thought to our ways is godly, but relying on our thoughts as authoritative is foolish. In other words, while we are to use our minds in all we do and plan, we are to submit all those thoughts and actions and plans to the lordship of Christ, which is the way to “walk in wisdom.” Doing so is often a struggle, however, because even as believers we are so prone to self-reliance. We all naturally want to be in charge of our own lives, and because that’s the case, we miss the contrast Solomon makes here. Either we can trust in our own mind or we can walk in wisdom. Those two options are mutually exclusive.

A wise woman pursues single-mindedness, which means she seeks to make her chief aim in life the glory and enjoyment of God. A foolish woman, on the other hand, is double-minded and content to stay that way.

Wise women may not yet have arrived at single-mindedness, but they want it, and they go after it, and they take James’s instructions (James 4:8) to heart by actively seeking to cleanse their hands (what they do) and to purify their hearts (what they think and feel and want). There are things in each of us that dilute our heart purity. What is it for you? Well, one way to know is to consider what rules your thoughts when you lie awake in the middle of the night, or where you go in your mind when you crave a quick-fix mental escape from stress, or what tends to obsess you.

We think of an obsession as a fixation on a desirable outcome or object, but there is something spiritually dark about obsession. It can be a foothold for the Devil. Obsessive thoughts are those that hook us; we can get caught on them and find ourselves unable to let go, even when we want to. Although we often can’t recognize the root of the problem, we can be sure that underlying obsessive thinking is an out-of-control desire to master something or someone, which springs from doubts about God’s mastery of the situation or even doubts about God himself.

Wise women guard their minds from obsessive thoughts by trusting God and his sovereign control at all times over all circumstances.

The Blessings of Thinking Biblically

There are particular blessings enjoyed by women who practice wise thinking. To the woman who sets her mind on God comes unruffled peace: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” (Isa. 26:3). Added to peace is the promise of real living: “To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6).

There is also the promise that as we present our minds to God’s Word for transformation, we will discover that God’s ways with us are wonderful: “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

Lydia Brownback is the author of several books. She served as writer-in-residence for Rev. Alistair Begg and as the broadcast media manager for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. A regular speaker at women’s conferences, Brownback also blogs at The Purple Cellar. She holds degrees from Syracuse University and Westminster Theological Seminary.

To see the current ebook special, click on the covers below or find them at any of the following online stores: Amazon, Apple, Christianbook.com, Vyrso, eChristian, Monergism, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble.

Featured Titles:

	The Gospel As Center Edited By D. A. Carson & Timothy Keller ($6.99) This collection of essays offers timely and valuable core teachings of an evangelical movement dedicated to the gospel of Christ and a Scripture-based reformation of ministry practices. Learn more at Crossway.org
	Gospel Wakefulness by Jared C. Wilson ($5.99) Wilson’s book will stir churches to live out the power of the gospel with a fervent, genuine zeal. Pastors, church leaders, and all in ministry, especially those who are tired or discouraged, will be uplifted, emboldened, and empowered by this book. Learn more at Crossway.org
	God is the Gospel by John Piper ($4.99) The wonder and majesty of the gospel are that we are given the greatest gift imaginable: God himself. Biblically faithful and radically God-centered, this book leads to satisfaction for the deep hungers of the soul. Learn more at Crossway.org
	Note to Self by Joe Thorn ($3.99) For many Christians, preaching to themselves is a lost art. This book provides a practical introduction to the discipline alongside fifty brief devotionals that will challenge readers to apply the law and the gospel to their own lives. Part of the Re:Lit series. Learn more at Crossway.org
	The Gospel and the Mind By Bradley G. Green ($2.99) By establishing central themes of the West’s Christian inheritance as the basis of the intellectual life, Green demonstrates that the recovery of the life of the mind depends upon a recovery of the gospel. Learn more at Crossway.org

Learn more about Tullian and his recent book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything.

Related posts:

• Affirming the Gospel versus Experiencing the Gospel
• Video: Tullian Tchividjian on Romans 7 and Romans 8

By Justin Buzzard, author of Date Your Wife (original post here).

Everyone has to live for something and if that something isn’t the one true God, it will be a false God–an idol.

An idol is anything more important to you than God. Therefore, you can turn even very good things into idols. You can turn a good thing like family, success, acceptance, money, your plans, etc. into a god thing–into something you worship and place at the center of your life.

This is what sin is. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything (even a good thing) more than God. Do you know the idols you’re prone to worship? At our church we talk about 4 root idols that we tend to attach our lives to.

CONTROL. You know you have a control idol if your greatest nightmare is uncertainty.

APPROVAL. You know you have an approval idol if your greatest nightmare is rejection.

COMFORT. You know you have a comfort idol if your greatest nightmare is stress/demands.

POWER. You know you have a power idol if your greatest nightmare is humiliation.

Here’s what you need to know about your idol: That idol that you love, it doesn’t love you back. False gods don’t love you. Idols don’t keep their promises. Anything you worship and build your life on other than God will suck the life out of you and destroy you.

A relationship with Jesus starts when you identify and turn from your idols. Notice what Jesus was always doing with people during his ministry–he was constantly identifying and challenging people’s idols, calling them to turn from their false objects of worship in order to follow and worship him.

I’m convinced that the reason there is so much shallow Christianity in our culture is because many people never displace the idolatry in their lives with Jesus, but instead simply bring in Jesus as an “add on” to their life, keeping their idolatry firmly in the center.

Americans think freedom is found in casting off all restraint and being masters of our own lives. What we are blind to is the reality that everybody has a master. We all worship something and whatever we worship is our master. Idols make bad masters. They enslave. Until you identify the idols in your life you will feel enslaved, tired, and unhappy and you won’t know why. You will feel this way until you discover the only master who can set  you free: Jesus. Jesus is the one master who will love you even when you fail him. Your idols don’t do that. Jesus is the one master who loved you when you were at your worst and who reigns over your life with perfect wisdom, power, and goodness. He’s the one master you can trust. Only he can give you freedom.

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols” 1 John 5:21

Justin Buzzard (MDiv, Fuller Theological Seminary) is founder and lead pastor of Garden City Church in Silicon Valley. Buzzard is the author of Date Your Wife, writes about culture and the church at JustinBuzzard.net, speaks widely, and is part of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network. He resides in Silicon Valley with his wife, Taylor, and their three young sons.

Related posts:

• The Idolatry of Spiritual Laziness
• Prosperity or Idolatry?
• When Money Becomes Your Master
• You Might Be An Idolator If…

In mid-April, Matt Chandler and Shane and Shane traveled to six locations on the Explicit Gospel Tour. If you didn’t have the opportunity to attend, below you’ll find the intro video to his talk, followed by footage from the event in Orlando. Inspired by the needs of both the overchurched and the unchurched, and bolstered by the common neglect of the explicit gospel within Christianity, Chandler walks through Colossians 1:13-23, calling us to marvel in the good news of what God has done.

Watch the entire video or jump ahead to the highlights mentioned below:

• 00:01 – Intro Video
• 01:38 – Welcome from Matt Chandler
• 06:27 – Why is it so important to make the gospel explicit?
• 19:20 – Colossians 1:13-14
• 28:08 – Colossians 1:15-17
• 32:16 – The difference between joy and happiness.
• 35:35 – Colossians 1:18-19
• 41:30 – What is God’s emotive response toward you?
• 45:52 – Colossians 1:20
• 50:29 – Colossians 1:21
• 56:40 – Colossians 1:22
• 1:02:05 – Colossians 1:23
• 1:04:50 – Conclusion: “This is my hope for you…”

Learn more about The Explicit Gospel. Or if you want to take your small group through The Explicit Gospel check out The Explicit Gospel Bible Study from Lifeway (includes 6 teaching sessions from Matt Chandler on DVD).

We’re pleased to offer 60% off the following audio book titles through May 31st:

	Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce By John Piper ($12.99 $5.20) John Piper’s biography of William Wilberforce takes readers beyond Wilberforce’s battle against slavery and explores the beliefs and motivations of this influential evangelical politician. Unabridged on 1 CD (1 hour 11 minutes). Learn more
	John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace By Jonathan Aitken ($39.99 $16.00) A fascinating, colorful, and historically significant portrait of slave-trader-turned-Christ-follower John Newton. Unabridged on 12 CDs (13 hours 33 minutes). Learn more
	Courageous Parenting by Jack and Deb Graham ($22.99 $9.20) Jack and Deb Graham outline biblical principles for a fruitful family life and offer trustworthy advice to parents in need of encouragement. Unabridged on 5 CDs (5 hours 4 minutes). Learn more
	The Faith of Condoleezza Rice by Leslie Montgomery ($26.99 $10.80) How did a young black girl raised in Birmingham, Alabama, in the turbulent 1960s grow up to become the first female National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State? Condoleezza Rice’s story of success in the public sphere is powerful, but even more compelling is the story of how her Christian faith has served as her foundation for dealing with heartache and struggle. This biography examines Rice’s faith and how it has shaped her. Listeners will discover in her a Christian hero and will seek to cultivate the same fruit that is apparent in her life. Learn more
	Taking Back the Good Book By Woodrow Kroll ($24.99 $10.00) Taking Back the Good Book explores America’s apathetic-even hostile-attitude toward biblical principles. Kroll offers practical suggestions to help Christians foster a deep love and understanding of God’s Word and develop a personal strategy to fuel their passion and understanding of the Bible. Learn more
	Breathing Grace by Harry Kraus ($26.99 $10.80) Breathing Grace is a unique look at a topic that stands at the very core of the Christian faith. Dr. Harry Kraus, best-selling author and practicing surgeon, reveals the gospel of grace through a series of medical metaphors, predominantly the physiology of our need for and the utilization of oxygen. The clinical flavor of the book brings to life a subject that many Christians have failed to grasp and incorporate into their daily lives, illustrating our need, God’s provision, and the moment-by-moment inflow and exhalation of grace to a starving world. Learn more

A section in Don’t Waste Your Sports by C. J. Mahaney encourages athletes to do a heart-check, to see whether they are playing for their glory or God’s glory. The same principles apply to those of us who can’t dribble a ball or retired from the field when we received our high school diploma. The following is lightly adapted from C. J.’s thoughts:

There are a few telltale signs that we are working for our own glory instead of God’s glory. We know we are falling into this trap when:

• We have no higher purpose than succeeding.
• We are more concerned about improving our skill or accomplishing our agenda than growing in godliness.
• We use our occupation to glorify ourselves, rather than glorifying God through godly actions.

Unfortunately, it easy to grow in our own abilities and skills while neglecting growth in humility, self-control, or other Christ-like qualities. As Christians, there are things we can do to maintain our humility and make sure we are working for God’s glory:

• Thank God for the gifts and opportunities he has given you.
• Recognize your limitations with humility.
• Welcome correction and the contribution of others.
• Honor those in positions of authority over you.
• Put your team’s or company’s interests ahead of your own.

By consciously making these efforts, you can transform an environment that’s prone to pride and selfishness to one that appreciates humility and demonstrates the love of God.

Content modified from Don’t Waste Your Sports. Download a sample chapter.
Related Posts:

• From Success to Significance?: A Vocational Paradigm
• Video: Justin Taylor Interviews Tom Nelson on Work Matters
• Prosperity or Idolatry?

Are you planning to be at The Explicit Gospel Tour? If not, there’s still time to sign up for South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida. If you’re attending, be sure to stop by the Crossway book table to enter to win an entire Crossway Re:Lit library!

Learn more about the Lovetown PA Project, Loving the Way Jesus Loves, or download a sample chapter.

Related Posts:

• Do You Take Your Irritability Seriously?
• Lovetown PA Exhibit Comes to Billy Graham Musuem

Pastor Matt Chandler gives a short recap after the first night of the Explicit Gospel Tour with Shane & Shane in New York City at Apostles Church.

Learn more about The Explicit Gospel and The Explicit Gospel Tour.

By Phil Ryken (adapted from Loving the Way Jesus Loves)

Most of us tend to think of irritability as a natural response to life’s little frustrations. We also tend not to worry too much about our irritability, although some Christians may perhaps be wise enough to make it a matter for prayer. When was the last time you asked the Lord to help you respond graciously to that special person who always annoys you?

We should take our irritability much more seriously, because it is the very opposite of love. We know this because 1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love “is not irritable.” Irritability is the antithesis of charity. It is not merely a way of complaining, therefore, but actually a way of hating.

Ryken uses Mark 6:30-44 to show how Jesus dealt with a situation that irritated the disciples. Understanding the anatomy of irritability can help us battle it.

The Anatomy of Irritability

• Who gets irritated: Everyone does, including people who are busy serving the Lord. When Paul told the Corinthians that love is “not irritable,” he was writing to believers in Christ who were active in their local church. If an apostle can get irritated while he is spending time with Jesus, then we can get irritated too. Whenever we start to get exasperated, we should see this problem for what it really is: a failure to love. We know this because the Love Chapter (1 Cor 13) tells us that love is not irritable.
• When do we get irritated: The disciples were tempted to this sin at the end of a full day after a long trip, when they were tired and hungry. This happens to all of us. Physical weakness puts us in the way of spiritual danger. So if we find ourselves getting more irritated than usual, we may need to take the small but very practical step of getting something to eat and drink, or taking a little rest. This is also something for parents to keep in mind when their children are getting angry: taking proper care of them will help them fight against sin. Notice as well that the disciples were tempted to irritation right after they had been successful in serving the Lord. The strongest temptations can come right after we have been busy doing kingdom work, and the Devil is desperate to regain lost ground. We need to anticipate when we are likely to be physically or spiritually weak and thus in special need of prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit. When we are weak, we can be strong only by the power of God.
• How does irritability treat other people: Basically, it doesn’t want anything to do with them. When the disciples were irritated about how long they had to wait for dinner, they wanted Jesus to send everyone away. This was not the only time the disciples tried to keep people away from Jesus: they did the same thing when mothers were bringing their babies for Jesus to bless (see Luke 18:15–17). When we are irritable, we want to get away from other people—our family members, our neighbors, our classmates, our coworkers—even if it means keeping other people away from Jesus, too. Our exasperation is not just a failure to love other people but also a failure to love God. This is how irritability treats other people: by putting what we want ahead of what they need and, if possible, by trying to avoid their needs altogether. The real problem is us, not them. We need to be honest about this, because often we blame the people around us for the way we respond.

What irritable people need—what we need—is more of the love of Jesus. Thankfully, we see such love in Mark’s story of the feeding of the five thousand. What we see is not only an example to follow but also a Savior to receive into our lives, a Savior who has the power to change anger into love. Everything Jesus did in this story is exactly the opposite of what his disciples did. This is because Jesus is everything that we are not. He is the living demonstration of nonirritability, which is simply another way of saying that Jesus is love.

Learn more about Loving the Way Jesus Loves by Phil Ryken.

Related Posts:

• The 5 Love Languages of Leviticus
• Gospel Community: Imaging God to One Another
• Interview with Tim Chester: Eating with a Mission

By Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship
This is the last post in a three part series on fighting sin. Read about knowing your sin (part one) and fighting your sin (part two).

Discipleship isn’t just a program.

This is the best part of discipleship. Trusting our Savior makes discipleship personal. Discipleship isn’t a program or a one-on-one meeting. It is fundamentally a trusting relationship with Jesus based on his gospel of grace. When we trust in his promises, we cut through religious performance and spiritual license, leading to soul-sweetening obedience.

When we trust Jesus, we displace rules from the center of our discipleship and replace it with his gospel. The fight against sin will fade once and for all, but we will trust our Savior forever. Why not begin closing the gap now? He is utterly trustworthy—the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). All God’s promises are “Yes” and “Amen” in him (2 Cor. 1:20). The trouble, of course, is that we are adept at displacing the gospel from our discipleship and replacing it with rules.

Have you replaced Jesus with your own efforts?

For many of us, discipleship is moral, not personal. We depersonalize the gospel by removing Jesus and replacing him with our own efforts. When the Spirit is a forgotten god, trusting Jesus becomes a fading proposition. He is present in name only. Jesus becomes an idea we believe, not a person we trust. Consequently, religious affection and the power of the Spirit leak out. Doubt and cynicism roll in. And our discipleship devolves into dutiful performance.

Instead of trusting Jesus’s finished work, we begin to rely on our own work to overcome sin. Eventually, frustration, despair, and anger set it. Before we know it, we will swing to the religious right or the rebellious left, trusting our own performance or the deceptive rush of spiritual license. Everyone trusts something or someone; the gospel reminds us that only one person is worthy of our trust.

Jonathan Dodson serves as a pastor of Austin City Life in Austin, Texas. He has written articles in numerous blogs and journals such as The Resurgence, The Journal of Biblical Counseling, and Boundless.

By Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

Yesterday we posted the first of three in a series on fighting sin. Check out the post on the importance of knowing your sin. Once we know our sin, the challenge is to actually fight it.

Know that victory over sin has already been won.

Before we address fighting sin, it is worthwhile to point out that the victory over sin has already been won in Christ. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us. Paul explains Jesus’s victory over sin and its implications for us in Romans 6:6-11:

• The power of sin has been rendered powerless, as we are no longer enslaved to it but to Christ!
• However, disciples will continue to battle sin until our final reunion with Christ. This is why Paul exhorts us to “consider” ourselves dead to sin and alive in Jesus.
• The time between the cross and the return of Christ will be filled with battles against sin, but in these battles we possess a new life which enables us to defeat sin through Christ’s decisive victory.
• The fight of faith is a fight to be our new, authentic selves in Christ, free from sin and alive to God in righteousness. Knowing our sin, we fight against it by fighting to be who we already are in Christ.

Why Fight?

Fighting your sin is a tenacity to put sin to death, which arises from our life in Christ. Unfortunately, many disciples do not walk in their newness of life but in old patterns of sin. Perhaps this lackadaisical approach to sin is because we value Jesus’s atonement for our guilt and the penalty of sin, but at a heart level fail to value and understand how his atonement has also freed us from the power of sin? Or perhaps our indifference to fighting sin springs from a false belief that God accepts us just as we are, not as who we will be? Why fight if we are already accepted?

However, if we are accepted not as we are but as we are in Christ, we have every reason to fight—from our new identity. The truth is, persistent, unrepentant sin can disqualify us from the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 5:5; Heb. 3:7–13). God does not accept us as we are. He accepts us as we are in Christ. In him, we are new creation (2 Cor. 5:16; Gal. 6:15), and new creatures live transformed (not perfect) lives. As recipients of God’s grace, we are compelled to follow Jesus in all of life. We will fight to find Jesus sweeter, richer, deeper, and more satisfying than anything else in the world. Disciples contend with their sin because they love their Savior.

The Mortification of Sin

In my discipleship, the writings of John Owen continue to be tremendously helpful. Owen’s books, Of the Mortification of Sin and On Temptation, are classics on the subject of fighting sin. Owen articulates the purpose for his writing on the subject: “That mortification and universal holiness may be promoted in my own and in the hearts and ways of others, to the glory of God; so that the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may be adorned in all things.” Mortification is that tenacious disposition of the heart that longs to defeat sin out of love for Jesus. Notice that Owen sets mortification of sin in its rightful place, not as an end in itself, but as a means to making much of the gospel of Christ. Owen keeps the gospel, not fighting, central to discipleship, while retaining an appropriate tenacity in fighting our relentless foe. He writes: “Be killing sin lest it be killing you.” Paul issues similar injunctions:

• “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” (Col. 3:5–6)
• “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Rom. 8:13)
• “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb. 3:12–13)

Sin is no light-hearted matter. It is crouching at our door and we must master it (Gen. 4:7). It is dangerous to not fight sin. It is a sobering fight that must not cease. Fight your sin means a habitual weakening of the flesh through constant fighting and contending in the Spirit for sweet victory over sin. It should be regular and progressive, not occasional and instant. Fighting is not an end in itself or a way to make us more presentable to God. We fight because we have been made presentable in Christ and want to escape deceit of any kind. We fight for belief in his gospel the truest and best news on earth—that Jesus has defeated our sin, death, and evil, through his own death and resurrection, and is making all things new, even us. Until all things are new, we will continue to fight the good fight of faith.

Fighting is ultimately about life, not death—about joy, not sorrow. It is about the gospel, not good works. We don’t fight for acceptance; we fight from our acceptance. We don’t contend against sin to forge an identity but because we have received a new identity in Christ. Perfection is not the goal; persevering faith is.

Jonathan Dodson serves as a pastor of Austin City Life in Austin, Texas. He has written articles in numerous blogs and journals such as The Resurgence, The Journal of Biblical Counseling, and Boundless.