by HARVEYOPP | Jan 5, 2016 | Paul Tripp
It’s that time of year again when we examine what we don’t like about our life and make a resolution to change it in the New Year. As the calendar turns from 2015 to 2016, we want to create a better version of ourselves.
Some of us want to lose weight or get into better physical condition. Some of us want to save more money and cut out needless spending. Some of us want to change careers or kick that bad habit. This will finally be the year that we do it!
Can be I honest with you? If you need to wait until the New Year to make a resolution to change your life, I think you misunderstand how people change. Permit me an opportunity to explain myself.
I think change is important. I think resolve is essential. Taking steps to improve your lifestyle is a wise decision. Don’t confuse my purpose: I’m not trying to discourage you from writing or keeping a New Year’s resolution. I simply want to challenge the way you think about biblical change.
For the Christian who finds their hope in the person and work of Jesus Christ, change doesn’t take place in big, dramatic moments. Rather, the transforming work of grace operates in 10,000 little moments of life more than it does in a series of two or three life-altering events.
Are life-altering events significant? Absolutely – that’s why they’re called life-altering! But, the quality of your life and the character of your person is primarily shaped and defined by the 10,000 little decisions, desires, words, and actions you make every day. Even when we experience a life-altering event, we will have 10,000 little moments to respond to it.
So how can you make 2016 your best year ever? Well, for starters, don’t wait until New Years Day – start right here, right now! Confess in those 10,000 little moments of conviction. Live courageously in those 10,000 little moments of faith. Respond obediently in those 10,000 little moments of choice. Choose the Kingdom of God over the kingdom of self in those 10,000 little moments of desire.
Here’s the bottom line: you don’t need a big resolution to change your life, because your life is defined by 10,000 little moments. Jesus Christ is present and active in all these small, seemingly insignificant moments, and he has resolved (by his life and death) to rescue you from sin and transform you into his likeness.
By sovereign grace, God places you in 10,000 little moments that are designed to take you beyond your character, wisdom, and grace so you’ll seek the help and hope that can only be found in him. In a lifelong process of change, he is undoing you and rebuilding you again, not into a better version of you, but into a version of him!
So yes, you and I need to be committed to change in 2016, but not in a way that hopes for a big event of transformation. Our hope for change is a humble heart that finds joy in, and is faithful to, a day-by-day, step-by-step, moment-by-moment process of insight, confession, repentance and faith.
If you want to make a New Year’s resolution, resolve to live in those 10,000 little moments!
by HARVEYOPP | Aug 21, 2015 | Paul Tripp
David writes, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:13-14)
These two verses remind us of the importance of finding our identity in God as Creator. The Lord never makes a mistake, which means we can rest in our physical body and make the most of the gifts God gave specifically to us.
But Psalm 139 continues. Verse 16: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Wow! It’s a view of human identity that should take your breath away. Not only is it crucial to find your identity in God as Creator, but you must also find your identity in God as Sovereign.
You and I must rest in the fact that every situation, circumstance, location, experience, and relationship of your life has been under the wise and careful administration of the Lord Almighty.
He has known from the beginning exactly what he was going to do and exactly why he did it. From his vantage point, there are no slip-ups, no oversights, no accidents, no misunderstandings, and no mistakes. Nothing has fallen through the cracks.
Why is this important? Well, let’s be honest: our lives haven’t unfolded as we had planned. Or, if you’re young, you may know exactly what you want to accomplish and the things you’re determined to avoid, but it won’t work out according to your script.
That’s a good thing, although it might not appear to be on the surface. Here’s the simple truth: you and I don’t write our own stories; they’ve been written for us. Our job is to live inside of the plot that God has determined in the way we’ve been called to live.
But just like with our bodies and our gifts, there are times when we secretly wish we could grab a hold of the joystick and direct the trajectory of our lives. Guess what? God, in love, won’t let go. As a result, we experience crushing disappointments, not because God is cruel, but because we let ourselves down with delusions of personal sovereignty.
Let me remind and encourage you again: God is sovereign; you and I aren’t. This isn’t just theology we should proclaim on Sunday; it must be the foundation of our identity every day of the week. God is in absolute control, and he’s infinitely good.
by HARVEYOPP | May 1, 2015 | Paul Tripp
We’re going to pick up in the third chapter, but today I only want to focus on the first verse: “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” (Jonah 3:1, ESV)
A second time. A second chance.
The core message of the gospel is a fresh start. Sinners, who have deliberately rebelled against their Creator, have been offered a new beginning, purchased by the blood of Jesus on the Cross.
But the message of the gospel is also one of fresh starts, plural. No matter how many times we stumble, no matter how many times we rebel, no matter how many times we make the selfish choice, God’s grace gives us a fresh start. His mercies really are new every morning.
We serve a God of forgiveness. We serve a God of patience. We serve a God of grace. Our Lord stoops down again and again, not because we’re deserving, but because he’s loving. And if he weren’t, there wouldn’t be hope for any of us.
I don’t know where you are or what you’ve done, but I know this for sure: you can have a fresh start today.
There’s an Enemy who would have you believe that you’re stuck and there is no hope for change in your life. But Jesus’ spilled blood cries out, “You can turn! I will come to you a second time, and a third, and a fourth, and for however long it takes.”
Would you pray this with me today? “Lord, I get it wrong so often; I make so many bad choices. I say I love you and then act out of self-love. I have nothing to offer; I rest in your grace alone. Please help me! Won’t you change my fickle heart?’”
And finally, if you’re going to be a recipient of such amazing grace, you must also be a distributor of that same grace. When someone sins against you, even for the hundredth time, you are called to forgive as Christ forgives you.
No one gives grace better than the person who knows they need it most, and no one gives second chances more than the person who recognizes how many fresh starts they’ve been given in Christ.
by HARVEYOPP | May 1, 2015 | Paul Tripp
Easter has come, and now it’s gone. I hope that Sunday was a stirring worship experience for you, a reminder of the present and eternal hope you have because of the bodily resurrection of Christ.
Something dangerous can happen to Christians a few days after Easter – we forget that Jesus walked out of the grave. No, I don’t mean that we literally forget this historic event; I mean that we forget to live a life based on our resurrection faith.
In today’s devotional, I simply want to remind you of 3 resurrection guarantees that enable you to live with unusual stability and lifelong activism.
- The resurrection of Jesus guarantees eternity. No matter how mundane, routine, and slowly progressing your story seems to be, it’s marching towards a glorious conclusion. There will be a moment when God will raise you out of this broken world into a paradise where sin and suffering will be no more (1 Corinthians 15:52, Revelation 21:4).
- The resurrection of Jesus guarantees security. No matter how unpredictable and out-of-control your life feels, Jesus is reigning, and he will continue to reign until the final enemy is under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25). That doesn’t mean you won’t experience pain and hurt in this world, but it does mean there’s nothing that Jesus does not know about, cannot intervene in, or alter altogether.
- The resurrection of Jesus guarantees delivery. No matter how hopeless and weak you think you are, you have been provided with all the grace you need to make it to the end. Future grace always carries with it the promise of present grace. God will provide everything you need until you see him face to face (2 Peter 1:3).
Because of these 3 resurrection guarantees, you can live with unusual stability and lifelong activism. You don’t need to blown around by the unpredictable circumstances of daily life, because you have a predictable eternity coming. And, while you wait for Christ to return, you have the motivation and ability to make the godly decision every single time, regardless of what you’re facing.
Beloved brothers and sisters, no matter what happens today or tomorrow, you can live with unusual stability and lifelong activism because the resurrection of Christ guarantees eternity, security, and delivery. That’s a message that shouldn’t be limited to just one Sunday a year!
by HARVEYOPP | Feb 10, 2015 | Paul Tripp
Every day of your life you’ll find reasons to complain, and every day of your life you’ll have reasons to be thankful. Notice the distinction: you’ll FIND reasons to complain and you’ll HAVE reasons to be thankful.
These two themes, complaint and thankfulness, tug at the heart of each of us. They form fundamentally different ways of viewing the world because they’re rooted in fundamentally different ways of viewing yourself.
If you arrogantly assume that you’re a good and deserving person, you’ll place yourself in the center of your world and live with an entitled, “I deserve ______” attitude. Because you live that attitude, you’ll develop an inflated and unrealistic sense of personal need.
Because you have an inflated and unrealistic sense of personal need, you’ll now expect the situations, locations, and relationships of everyday life to focus their energy on serving what you have named as personal needs. But in case you missed it, this universe wasn’t created to serve you; you’re not the center of its attention.
When those people and places fail to serve you, or even recognize what you have named as personal needs, you now have found constant reasons to complain and grumble. What a dark and discouraging way to live!
Thankfully, there’s another way of viewing yourself. If you humbly admit that as a sinner, you deserve nothing but God’s wrath, you’ll have reasons to be grateful everywhere you look.
If you remember that in acts of outrageous grace, God has turned his face of mercy and kindness toward you, and that every good thing in your life is an undeserved blessing, feelings of humility and thankfulness rather than entitlement and disappointment will fill your heart.
I guess what I’m trying to ask is this: how are you viewing yourself? Do you think you’re a good and deserving person who has been unjustly forgotten? Or do you, like John Newton, view yourself as a wretch, saved by amazing grace?
Here’s what I want you to do, the day before Thanksgiving. I have written 10 questions for your personal assessment at the bottom of this e-mail. Don’t rush through these questions and “tick the box” for your daily devotions; be meticulous and intentional.
Honestly admit that you may be more arrogant, demanding, and entitled than you think. Confess where you need to confess, both to God and to others. Finally, don’t be afraid of what may be revealed. God has already forgiven you on the Cross, and on top of that, he provides abundant and life-transforming grace for you, right here, right now.
by HARVEYOPP | Sep 15, 2014 | Paul Tripp
I have a confession to make. It’s embarrassing and humbling, but I’m willing to make it publicly: I’m not always excited about reading and studying the Bible.
I go through periods of what I would call spiritual boredom, when the “old, old story” just isn’t very exciting to me. On my worst days, reading God’s Word feels burdensome to me, and my heart is motivated more by duty than worshipful joy.
When I hit these periods, there are 3 things I require myself to remember:
- I Remember God’s Grace
One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is Isaiah 55. This chapter gives us visual picture after visual picture of God’s amazing grace, and because it does, it’s not surprising that the crescendo of this chapter is a visual picture of what the Bible is able to do in us and for us.
You’ll never find joy in Bible study until you understand that reading God’s Word is not first a call to duty, but an invitation to receive a wonderful gift. Your Bible is a gift of God’s grace that’s able to do what no other gift can do—change your heart and your life. Scripture really does have the power to turn thorn bushes into cypress trees!
- I Remember Jesus
Reading God’s Word is much more than reading dusty, abstract theology, becoming familiar with ancient religious stories, or getting principles for daily living. You’ll never have joy in your Bible study unless you understand that it’s God’s invitation for you to commune with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In John 5, Jesus’ claims are questioned by people who are purported to be experts in Scripture. Christ says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39).
Open your Bible and what do you encounter? Not a thing, but a Person, and His name is Jesus. Reading and meditating on your Bible is God’s means of welcoming you into daily fellowship with your Brother, Friend, Savior and King—Jesus.
- I Remember To Remember
I’m so prone to forget God, forget his grace, forget my identity as his child, forget that he supplies all that I need, forget his unstoppable sovereign plan, and forget his eternal kingdom. When I forget God, I tend to put myself in his position and make my life all about me: my will, my feeling, my plan, my wants, and my needs.
Putting myself in God’s position always leads to spiritual dissatisfaction because the world was not created to do my bidding. So I need to be reminded every day of God’s awesome glory, his gracious presence in my life, and my special identity as his child. His Word was given so that day after day I would remember.
So, tomorrow, when you don’t feel like opening your Bible, remember God’s grace, remember your friend and brother, Jesus, and remember how quickly you forget. Pick God’s Word up not with the burden of guilt or as a call to duty, but because it’s a gift given to you by a God of amazingly tender mercy and grace.
Recent Comments