A Whispered Yes

The following short poem is not my own creation but expresses my feelings following my engagement to Lisa earlier this month:

A Whispered Yes

Stunning sometimes to ponder

that all my future knowing

and all my future doing

will be a knowing-with and doing-for;

that you love me enough,

and love me yet,

to whisper me a Yes with your life.

The poem is one of many written by John Piper for his wife Noël, some of which have been collected in his book Velvet Steel: The Joy of Being Married to You.

We're engaged!

Some of you have seen this coming for some time, for others this may come as quite a surprise... I am now engaged to the love of my life, Lisa Sauer!

How God brought us together



Lisa and I first met at the end of February last year when she came to visit a friend at the Bible school in England where I was studying. As she stayed there for several weeks, we were able to get to know each other a little and also like each other. But neither of us realised at that time that the interest was mutual. After Lisa left, we communicated a little via Facebook, but when one message was not delivered, both of us thought that the other was no longer interested. Besides that, I didn't think I had much of a chance with her anyways as I was in England training to serve God in Mexico and Lisa was studying in Germany. So there was no more communication between us for the rest of the year...



But all the while, both of us were hoping to find that special person to love and be loved by, a person who loved Jesus above all else. I was praying that God would give me a wife who would want to join me in serving God in Mexico. Unbeknownst to me, Lisa's prayer to God regarding her desire for a future husband was that he would be someone who wanted to serve God in a foreign country.



In recent years, there have also been other young women who I was interested in, but those relationships never came to anything. I never had a girlfriend. I knew that marriage was good because it was instituted by God and I knew that He had given me a desire to be married, but I could not understand why God never seemed to bring that person into my life. I prayed earnestly to God that He might give me a wife and that He would make me into a man after His own heart, a man who would be able to love his wife “as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” (Ephesians 5:25) I also prayed that God would take my desire for a wife away if His plan was for me to remain single. As I got to know God better and as I learned more about Him in the Bible during that time, He gave me an unshakeable confidence in three of His wonderful attributes:
 

1)      God is all-powerful and completely sovereign.

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)

I rested in the fact that it was not beyond God’s power to give me a wife. He was completely in control of all things and could do so anytime and anyway He pleased.

 

2)      God is all-loving and completely good.

“How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!” (Psalm 36:7)

I rested in the fact that God loved me and desired my good. I had already experienced His love and goodness to me in so many other areas and I knew that He was hearing my prayers.

 

3)      God is all-knowing and completely wise.

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33)

I rested in the fact that God would answer my prayer in the way that was best for me and that would give Him the most glory. In His wisdom, God would know best why it would be better for me to wait. And if He did not intend for me to marry, then I knew that He knew the reasons for that.

All in all, the more I learned about God through His word and the experiences I was going through, the more I learned I could trust Him, knowing that He would do and give me what was best.

In the words of Charles Simeon,

Infinite wisdom has arranged the whole with infinite love; and infinite power enables me – to rest upon that love. I am in a dear Father’s hands – all is secure. When I look to Him, I see nothing but faithfulness – and immutability – and truth; and I have the sweetest peace – I cannot have more peace.

As time went on, I believed more and more that I would not marry before going to Mexico. And I was content with that because I knew my God and I knew He loved me and was sovereign over all of my life’s circumstances. I had placed all my hopes and desires and my life into God’s hands.

And then, at the beginning of this year, God showed me again just how sovereign and good and wise He truly is…



On 16 January 2012, I received an e-mail from Lisa in which she asked me if I could correct an English paper she had to do for one of her classes. The paper was about Mexican immigrants to the USA and she knew me as a native English speaker who was preparing to go to Mexico. She had no other intentions or ulterior motives in sending me that e-mail – just hoping to find someone to correct any spelling or grammar mistakes in the paper.



Well, I was delighted to hear from her after such a long time and, of course, very happy to help her with her paper. It also then gave me the opportunity to ask her how she was doing and what her future plans were etc. And so our communication became more and more frequent and extensive and we learned more and more about each other and found that we had a lot in common. I prayed that God would make it clear to both of us if He intended to bring us together. And God answered prayer. Our communication was very much focused on God and on what He was doing in our lives. I also learned and was very pleased to hear about her interest in having a part in bringing the gospel to other parts of the world. We quickly found out that we were interested in one another. During a long phone conversation, in the early morning hours of 15 March, after much prayer and with much nervousness on my part, I told her that I loved her and I was pleased that God had answered my prayer and my declaration of love was well received. What followed was a series of short visits – often only on weekends – during our school year until Lisa came to my graduation on 19 July. Since that day, we have enjoyed a time period of over a month in which we were able to spend every day together, visiting family and friends in England and Germany and celebrating our birthdays on 6 and 12 August.
 

Our engagement



After celebrating my birthday at my mother’s house, we had arranged that the three of us would travel down together to Lake Constance to celebrate Lisa’s birthday at her parents’ house with her two older sisters and their families and her younger brother. At the beginning of June, I had the opportunity to see Lisa’s parents in private and ask them for her hand in marriage. I was so thankful to God to receive their permission and their blessing.



On 11 August, the day before Lisa’s birthday, I told her that I wanted to take her to Lake Constance in the early morning of her birthday so that we could enjoy the sunrise together. So we left the house at around 5.25 a.m. and we found a nice spot by the lake. Before the sun had risen, at about 5.55 a.m. on 12/8/12, I asked Lisa if she would marry me and she replied, “YES!!!” :-)

After I placed the ring on her finger, we enjoyed the sunrise together, which was at about 6.15 a.m. We were the happiest two people on earth in those moments.

When we returned to the house for breakfast, we found the entrance decorated with flowers and the family was ready to congratulate us. As it was Sunday, we went to church in the morning and then also were very pleased to announce our engagement there.

We had a lovely afternoon together with the family and then went out to the lake again in the evening where we saw a beautiful sunset. What a special day this had been! We started the day as an engaged couple watching the sunrise and ended it together with our family watching the sunset.

We want to join the Psalmist in saying,

Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.
(Psalm 113:1-3)

Apart from giving thanks to our family for making it such a special day, we want to thank and praise our God, not only for that day, but for all that He has done for us and for how He brought us together and how we can look forward to a life together with Jesus in the centre.

This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
(Psalm 118:23)

Learning Sicilian

Recently, I have been very busy in my studies in linguistics (and I still am!). We are now working on our final big project before we finish the linguistics course at the end of July. For this project, I am now learning Sicilian together with two other students. We have a Sicilian language helper named Daniele who has been meeting with us every day for two hours for the past 5 1/2 weeks.

During those meetings, we ask him to say various things in Sicilian while we make an audio recording of what he says and try to write it down for ourselves using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

I have now collected 1,149 utterances (these can be either individual words or whole sentences). Our assignment is not to learn to speak the language, but rather to analyse it and hand in a write-up of the phonetics and grammar of the language. And this takes much longer than you might think!

Thankfully, we have a week-long break coming up shortly, but after that I will spend many, many hours trying to make sense of Sicilian and present my findings on paper!

Why study the Bible?

As some friends of mine have just started a weekly Bible study in Uxbridge (West London), I was reminded again of how important it is to read and study and obey the word of God.

But why is studying the Bible so important? There are many good reasons: the Bible teaches us the truth about God, it tells us the good news of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, and it shows us how we can be reconciled to God and receive the forgiveness and eternal life that Christ offers. These are not just peripheral matters - they are life-and-death matters! The apostle Peter once famously said to the Lord Jesus,

Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. (John 6:68)

Perhaps one of the best statements I know about the Bible and why and how we should read it is found in some editions of New Testaments distributed by The Gideons International, such as this one:

The text reads as follows:

The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.


Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.


It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword and the Christian’s charter. Here too, Heaven is opened and the gates of Hell disclosed.


Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.


It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

Why not take some time now to read the Bible?

The Bible:
Pray it in. Read it through. Live it out. Pass it on.

Linguistics quiz - Toki Biket

Earlier this month, on 10 February, a new language was discovered by a linguistics teacher in North Cotes. The language is called "Toki Biket" and there is only one known native speaker of the language.

Can you help decipher this language? Below are 10 sentences in Toki Biket with an English translation. There is just one question for you to answer at the end...

toki biket todotobo                                       I speak Michael’s language.

tokii bakdatena tododotobo                       We speak Magdalena’s language.

tekii baria tedotebe                                      I will eat Mary’s meal.

banuet kusookubo bakdatena                    Magdalena loves Manuel.

bok bososobobi utu baria                            They taught Mary a lesson.

fon banban tesotebi biket isi kof                Michael ate two bananas in the igloo.

toki biket tobobotobe                                  You (pl.) will speak Michael’s language.

kon bokbok bodobobebodobobe              I will be taught three lessons.

kusokubokusokubo banuet                        Manuel is loved.

ban tesosootebe bakdatena aka baria     Magdalena and Mary will eat a banana.

Question:        How do you say “you (masculine, singular) are taught” in Toki Biket?

If you think you have figured out the answer, please post it in the comment section below. Everybody has only one attempt. There will be a prize for the winner and the answer will be revealed in the comment section of this blog post one week from today, on Tuesday, 6 March 2012.

This language is actually an assignment that I had to do for my linguistics class where we had to create our own language. Certainly the most fun assignment we had to do! :-) The above photo is from something I was working on in linguistics on another day (not posed!).

A faith-destroying seminary and a faith-giving God

The following is the testimony of Anita Kupfermann, who pursued theological studies in Germany only to find her faith being destroyed by what was being taught. She writes about how she lost her confidence in the Bible as the inspired and inerrant word of God as a result of the so-called “higher critical method” taught at the Theological College of the German Baptist Union. But God pursued her and by His grace gave her an unshakable faith in Christ and the trustworthiness of God’s word. Her testimony was recently published both in German and in English.

Please pray for the situation in Germany and for God’s grace and truth to reach through to those who are being taught (and those who are teaching!) a false view of God and His word.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for taking the time to read my story!

My name is Anita Kupfermann and I would like to tell you about my time studying theology. It is my hope that this little account of my experiences will serve as a warning and an encouragement to you. I would like to warn you of how the so-called “Higher Critical” (Historical Criticism) method left my relationship with God, and therefore my entire life, severely damaged. Yet I equally hope to encourage you! I can testify with great joy and thankfulness that the Lord Jesus Christ, during my time at university, healed my unbelief and called me to follow Him.

I hope and pray that God will be glorified through these pages and that you, the reader, will be encouraged to fully trust the Word of God.

My Time at Theological College & the Higher Critical Method (HCM)

Through my parents I was confronted with the Christian faith at an early age. I regularly went to Sunday School and was baptised at the age of 14.

A full ten years later, whilst working at a nursery, I was gripped by the desire to do something else with my time, something equally meaningful. I wanted to submit myself to the Word of God and reflect on my walk with God.

Although I had been baptised, I realised that I did not know the Bible. I couldn’t say I had a living relationship with God. I longed to know God better, to better understand what being a Christian meant. So, I decided to attend a theological college for ten months. My hope was that these ten months would supply what was missing in my faith.

Right from the beginning of my time at theological college I was confronted with Biblical criticism in the form of the “Higher Critical” method, (HCM). The HCM is the current philosophy of understanding and explaining Bible passages at German universities, as well as at many free-church theological colleges. According to this philosophy the Bible is not understood to be the inspired Word of God but a contradictory, mistake-prone, human work. Just like any other piece of literature it must be critically questioned and examined. This method of approaching the biblical texts normally leads to rejecting the historicity of the Bible - in other words, the historical accuracy and reliability of the Bible is questioned. Simply put, the Bible’s stories are just myths that never happened.

An example of this technique may help explain what it looks like in practice.

Mark’s Gospel has its origin dated back to roughly 70 A.D. According to the HCM, it is categorically denied that it was possible for Jesus Christ to have seen the future. However Mark’s Gospel reports that Christ predicts the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. This prophecy was perfectly fulfilled: in 70 A.D. the Romans razed the temple to the ground. The majority of critical researchers believe that the prophecy in Mark is a fake prophecy, (vaticinium ex eventu). Only after the event, they assume, was Jesus’ prophecy added to the text. The Gospel of Mark cannot have predicted the future destruction of the temple, therefore it must have been written afterwards.



With this fixed, faithless presupposition, the Holy Bible is critically evaluated until all her reports are questionable. A few more short examples give a fuller picture of the results of this modern critical scientific approach to the Bible:



• Adam and Eve never existed. Rather, they are merely literary symbols for all of humanity. Hence, there never was a real fall into sin.

• Noah and the ark is a legend, not a real event.

• The first five books of the Bible were not written by Moses. Instead they were compiled by at least three different writers over a long period of time. Moreover they are, at least in part, contradictory.

• The Ten Commandments did not come from God but slowly evolved from various stories. This happened a long time after Moses had died.

• The conquests such as those that are recorded in Joshua never happened.

• Jesus’ words and deeds in the Gospels were often invented later by well meaning Christians. Therefore, much of the Gospels is simply fictitious. For example; Jesus never talked about His death, much less His resurrection. Furthermore His identity as the promised Christ and as the Son of God was also invented at a much later date.  He never wanted to start a church or reach out to the Gentiles.

• Paul is not the author of the New Testament letters to the Colossians, Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians and 1 and 2 Timothy, or Titus. Neither did Peter write the letters ascribed to him.

These are just some of countless examples. The theories of the HCM were not taught at this theological college, or in my later studies, to merely acknowledge them. Instead they were taught and proclaimed with conviction. Under the influence of such teaching, the reliability of the Bible was increasingly questioned. I became more and more convinced that the Bible is not the infallible Word of God but a jumbled collection of human, (i.e. imperfect) thoughts about God and life.

An unavoidable question-mark was now next to every person and event in the Bible. Moreover, as well as my new discoveries about the unreliability of the Bible, my ethical convictions were also brought into question. At the college we discussed themes such as homosexuality and sex outside of marriage. Were these perhaps permissible after all? In short, I felt my doubts about Christianity and the Bible grow and grow. If everything is not as it was written then, how could I be sure of anything I believed?

My scepticism blossomed as we took up the theme of world religions in our classes. Faced with a deep crisis of faith, I seriously considered giving up Christianity. My lecturers were so certain that it could only be good for me to give up the fundamentals of my former faith. Only such a “deconstruction” would give me a new mature and responsible faith. Such was their conviction for my life, and I desperately hoped that they were right.

My Time at the Theological Seminary

After these ten months I returned to my old job for a year. During this time I toyed with the idea of furthering my education. As the questions raised by the HCM still occupied my thoughts, I was keen to further study theology. In addition I rather liked the thought of becoming a pastor. So it was that 2007 saw me begin to study theology at the Theological Seminary of the German Baptist Union. I received no call to this by God, even if I tried to talk myself into believing this was the case. I talked with many people about my plans, but not with God Himself.

In the meantime I no longer sought to question the HCM as I was well familiar with its teachings from my previous time at college. However, the criticism of the Bible was to increase dramatically over the next few years.

I can still remember, for example, a lecturer leaving a lecture hall, stopping at the doorway to say, “Tomorrow we’ll kill Moses!” He meant that the following day we would be taught that historically, Moses never existed as the Bible taught. Furthermore I learnt that many of the Old Testament accounts were nothing more than myths and legends; far removed from history and reality. The Jewish worship of Yahweh, - the temple system, services, festivals, and commandments, - was mostly copied from the religions of Israel’s neighbours at that time. Over hundreds of years the biblical texts were added to, changed and consciously manipulated by numerous unknown authors. This is why the Bible is (apparently!) so full of contradictions. If given room to do so, the HCM swiftly gains power, tearing through every point of doctrine like a hurricane, until assurance of faith lies shattered.



I heard many students say that these “academic” discoveries were a great help for them; at the time I agreed, or at least talked myself into agreeing. In reality I was beginning to reap the bitter harvest of my new, “mature” faith. At the end of the second semester I came to the firm conclusion that the Bible was totally unbelievable and thus I laid it aside at the bottom of my bookshelves. I had no more desire to read it, let alone to try and live according to it. I did not pray any more, nor did I ask God for help or wisdom. I was just too confident of my new critical attitude.



Despite having no inner relationship with God, I continued with the outward appearance of wanting to be a pastor. I preached and seemed religious – at least whilst in church! It was a different story when I was with my fellow students. There I did not hold myself back, increasingly getting drunk at parties and losing my distaste for lying and cheating. I especially enjoyed gossiping and slandering the other students. In this case I had a specific target, a group of young men who annoyed me beyond all else. They wholeheartedly believed in the Scriptures as the Word of God. There was a small group of students in my semester who defended the trustworthiness of the Scriptures - even in our classes. This greatly irritated me and other students and thus we delighted to spread rumours about them.

In doing this I was not in the least bothered by my conscience. I had long lost any fear of God or an eternal punishment. The words of warning in the Scriptures weren’t important to me. The god I had discovered through my studies did not get angry, respected people’s doubts and forgave everyone everything. What did I have to be afraid of? Why not have fun and live life to the max? This was my new philosophy for life, and this was how I lived.


However, once the initial euphoria had left, life became worse and worse for me, until I felt there was nothing for me to stand on. An inner emptiness made it increasingly clear that I had no true life or peace. In books critical of the Bible and in conversations I tried to find what I was missing, but to no avail.



Finally I asked an evangelist I met at a church event to pray for me. I longed for a real relationship to God but felt unable to ask Him. It was as if I had lost any ability to pray.

The Change!

A few weeks later the preacher’s prayer was answered. On the 6th December, 2008 the Lord opened my eyes to see my guilt and godless life.

The catalyst for this was a polemical speech given by a lecturer at a film evening at the seminary. Above all, he mocked those who put their trust in the reliability of every word in the Bible. One of those being mocked sat right in front of me and didn’t react. I talked to him afterwards and he assured me that he was not ashamed of his faith. His inner peace and assurance made me stop and think. I asked myself how the rest of the Bible-believers, or “Fundis” (short for fundamentalists) as we called them, reacted to all this.

To my great amazement they did not consider boycotting the classes. Instead they continued to meet together every day to pray for the mockers, lecturers, and the entire seminary. I saw that the Lord was their shield, that He had given them a firm faith. The Bible says that Christians do not live for themselves anymore, but for Him who died for them. Thanks to these young men I was able to see that the grace of God was working in them. They did not feel forced to defend themselves. I did not think this was a normal reaction to such a situation and I was greatly impressed. They simply passed the humiliation that they suffered on to Christ, and so anger or a desire for revenge simply had no hold on them.



After all these events, I drove home to spend Christmas with my family. There I recognised even more that I had despised God through my embrace of higher criticism. I had denied God’s word, rejected God’s grace, and mocked God’s servants. Worse than all, I had called myself a Christian and cared nothing for the atonement Christ bought at the cost of His life. This I realised to be an unbearably dreadful mistake. Over Christmas and with many tears I repented of many things, seeking God in prayer, and rejoiced to know His full and free forgiveness. With a glad heart I bought a new Bible and began to read it eagerly and joyfully; today I enjoy this book as much as I did then!

I called on the Lord Jesus Christ, humbling myself before him. I entrusted my life to Him and told Him that from now on I would believe His Word, no matter what questions I might have. To this day I do not have an answer to everything, but I am fully convinced that the Bible is completely inspired by God; inerrant and infallible in all that it teaches. I thank God from the bottom of my heart for the sovereign grace that He poured over me in letting me see my sinfulness and the Saviour who has given me such forgiveness.

Dear Reader,

I am so happy that you have read my testimony to the end. God has richly blessed my life and by His grace I believe that His Word is truth. (John 17: 17) It is very precious to be able to believe with childlike faith; I do not bother myself with any doubts or so-called academic discoveries that call into question the trustworthiness of the Bible. Instead I find in Christ, the true subject of Scripture, all the riches of wisdom and insight. Let us trust our Lord and Saviour, for then He will bless us. My prayer is that you, too, will be saved from unbelief and that your faith in God and His Word will grow from strength to strength.

In Christ,

Anita Kupfermann

Treasures in heaven

After attending a wedding in London last weekend, this is what I saw when I arrived back at my car:

The first thing I thought about was whether my SatNav (GPS) had been stolen. I had placed it inside the glove compartment. Sure enough. The glove compartment had been left open and the SatNav was gone. I looked around for anything else that might have been destroyed or stolen. Thankfully that was it - a broken window and a stolen SatNav. Some of my car papers were still there, my CD collection was still there, and other small bits and pieces were still there. I was disappointed that my Gideon New Testaments were still there, too. They could have at least taken one of them along as a complimentary gift - much more valuable than a SatNav!

Well, I called the police to report the crime. My initial reaction was a mix of shock, anger and hurt. But that soon changed to thankfulness. I know God was in control and He allowed this to happen for a reason. He could have stopped the thief and protected my car from damage. But He didn't. He knows why and He knows best. I can rest in that. And I am thankful that nothing worse happened. I usually also always have my car radio/CD player in the car, but on that day, I forgot to take it with me to the car when I went to the wedding. That annoyed me at first when I was in the car and I realised I had forgotten the radio. At the end of the day, I was very thankful that God allowed me to forget it for once! I am also very thankful that nothing else was damaged or stolen and that the window that was broken through was the smallest window in the back of the car. So it's just some broken glass and a missing plastic/electronic item. Not a big deal really in the light of eternity.

God then reminded me of the following verses in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19-21:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

This is life on earth. Thieves broke through my car window and stole my SatNav. But neither my SatNav nor my car is my treasure. My treasure is Jesus and everything He is for me: peace, joy, forgiveness, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. No thief or anybody else can ever take away any of that. In Jesus, I have a treasure that surpasses everything in life and that can never be taken away from me.

I hope the person who stole my SatNav also finds out what is of real value. Later on as I reflected with disappointment that the thief did not take a New Testament, I remembered that I had put some Christian music on my SatNav. So my prayer is that whoever uses my SatNav in future may listen to that music and that this may be a means for them to come to know the truth of God's word and the gospel of Jesus Christ. If this happens, then I will be very happy to have suffered the loss of some small temporary treasure, so that someone else could find an eternal treasure of unsurpassing worth.

PS: To any (potential) thieves reading this: If I get another SatNav, I will never again leave it inside the car - not in the glove compartment or anywhere else. Just so you know...

Strength in weakness

Are you weak? Do you feel weak? Do you know that you are weak? Are you wondering how you will ever cope with everything this year?




Here is a wonderful promise for the new year. It comes from none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God:

Jesus says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

What is your weakness? Is it a physical weakness? An illness? A fear? A burden? A besetting sin?

The apostle Paul also had a particular weakness. We do not know what exactly this was. He called it a "thorn in the flesh". Maybe this was the same thing you have. But even if not, it does not matter. Jesus has the answer to all our weaknesses, whatever they may be.




Paul says he prayed three times to the Lord that this thorn in his flesh would depart from him. His prayer was answered, but not in the way he was hoping for. God did not take away whatever it was that Paul was struggling with. But his prayer was still answered...




Jesus answered Paul's prayer by telling him two wonderful truths:



1) "My grace is sufficient for thee."
2) "My strength is made perfect in weakness."

Jesus' grace is sufficient for everybody. No matter what your weakness is, how difficult your struggle, how hard your trial, how great your sin - Jesus' grace is enough. Look to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Cry out to Jesus for help. He is merciful and gracious. If you have fallen down and feel like you have lost it all, there is hope. Jesus's grace is sufficient.




Someone has defined grace as "God's Riches At Christ's Expense". I think this is a great definition. Grace is God's unmerited favour towards us, which came to us through Christ and His death on the cross. As sinners, all that we deserve from God is His just punishment. But because Jesus suffered this punishment for all those who believe on Him, there remains no more punishment for God's children - only grace. The grace that comes through Christ is all-sufficient and more than enough for every situation. Songwriter Chris Tomlin states it as follows in one of his songs:

All of You is more than enough for all of me

For every thirst and every need

You satisfy me with Your love

And all I have in You is more than enough

You're my sacrifice

Of greatest price

And still more awesome than I know

You're the coming King

You are everything

And still more awesome than I know

More than all I want

More than all I need

You are more than enough for me

More than all I know

More than all I can say

You are more than enough for me

This first truth that Christ's grace is sufficient is wonderful and you will find it to be true if you know Jesus as your personal Saviour. Remember:

Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace.
And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.
(Jerry Bridges)

But the second truth is also very important...




Christ's strength is made perfect in weakness. The truth is that you will never know and experience Christ's strength until you recognise your own weakness and sinfulness. If you think you have it all together and do not need any help, if you think you are not such a bad sinner, then you will not know the grace or the strength of Christ. Jesus Himself said in Mark 2:17,

They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Will you admit your weakness and sinfulness to God? He already knows everything about you. There is nothing you can hide from Him. Jesus Christ did not come to condemn sinners, but to call them to repentance and save them. If you will turn away from your sins and place your faith in Christ as your Saviour, He will not turn you away. His all-sufficient grace is available for you today.




As I look forward to this year and the years ahead, I realise that I am attempting great things. My path to serve God in a foreign country so far has not been easy and it will not get any easier. I have not yet even properly left my home to live and work in another culture. I have not yet given serious effort to learning the language of the Indians, let alone given serious thought to the great responsibility of translating God's word for them. And, to be honest, I don't think I am the best person for the job. I know my own weaknesses and struggles. I know I am just a sinner, saved by grace. But I do believe God is calling me to serve Him in Mexico. And if God accomplishes anything good through my life, then it will be all His work through me - His strength in my weakness. All the glory goes to Him.



Jesus says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness."




What was Paul's conclusion about his "thorn in the flesh" after receiving this promise from the Lord? This is what he says in 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10:

Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Paul recognised that his weaknesses ("infirmities") were actually something to glory in, to take pleasure in and to be most glad about. Not for the weaknesses as such, but because it was though his weaknesses and struggles that He saw his need for Christ and Christ showed His all-sufficient power and grace to meet his every circumstance.




May God also use our weaknesses in 2012 to remind us of our need for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we will run to Him and find Him to be our all-sufficient Saviour.