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You may have noticed that I recently decided to turn the "comments" section off . It appears that we were being attacked, as it were, by a number of posts that would redirect readers to some kind of virus scanner. Fortunately, much like the great man who is pictured here, I too am on the watch and you can rest assured that your internet security is in good hands. No really, you can.

Now security is something we are all concerned with, not only on the internet but also at home, at work and with our cars. That said, it is infinitely more important for Christians to realize and rejoice in the eternal security we have in God. Scripture clearly teaches that we are saved by God's grace and kept, guarded and protected by His power.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [4] to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, [5] who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV)

Now we need to be very clear about what this does not mean. This does not mean that all we need to do is say a certain prayer or get baptized at some point in time and we're eternally safe no matter how we then choose to live our lives. Instead, what Peter is saying here is that just as we are born again by the power of God we are also kept/guarded "through faith" by God's power. In other words, it is our faith in Christ that is being secured/empowered by God. As John Piper explains,

God's power protects for salvation by sustaining our faith. The only thing that can keep us from heaven is forsaking our faith in Christ, and turning to other hopes or treasures. So to protect us God prevents that. He inspires, nourishes, strengthens and builds our faith. And in doing this He secures us against the only thing that can destroy us; unbelief, lack of trust in God.

Again the question is, not only whether or not we understand this truth but do we rejoice in it? Does this truth about our eternal security in Christ give us a sense of appreciation for the grace of God? But what is more is that this truth should give us the courage as believers to step out in that faith, that is being guarded by the power of God, and do the hard things in life that would give glory to God and be a testimony to His love and mercy.

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Take Up and Read

There's a new book out that I am very excited about. It is called "The Reason for God" by pastor Tim Keller. Anyone familiar with his ministry knows that he is a very intelligent, gracious and engaging speaker who always seems to express biblical truths in a fresh and insightful way. As such, I would strongly encourage you to get your hands on a copy of it, especially if you are someone who is not sure about issues of faith and the exclusive claims of Christianity. Here's a summary of the book from the website.

Why does God allow suffering in the world?

How could a loving God send people to Hell?

Why isn’t Christianity more inclusive?

How can one religion be “right” and the others “wrong”?

Why have so many wars been fought in the name of God?

These are just a few of the questions and doubts even ardent believers wrestle with today. As the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, Timothy Keller has compiled a list of the most frequently voiced “doubts” skeptics bring to his church as well as the most important reasons for faith. And in The Reason for God, he addresses each doubt and explains each reason.

Keller uses literature, philosophy, real-life conversations, and reasoning to explain how faith in a Christian God is a soundly rational belief, held by thoughtful people of intellectual integrity with a deep compassion for those who truly want to know the truth.

Click here to listen to and watch the author himself explain his motivation behind writing this book. You can also download the audio messages for each chapter from that website. After all, life is short, don't let it pass you by without truly wrestling with and thinking about these kinds of things. Again, this is a great resource to engage our minds with and to consider some of life's biggest questions. Let me know what you think.

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A Bad Heart

Our beautiful baby girl has a bad heart. Emma was born two months premature with a fairly serious ventricular septal defect (click picture to enlarge). A VSD is an opening in the wall between the two lower chambers of the heart which causes oxygen-rich blood to leak from the left side of the heart to the right side resulting in too much blood flowing to the lungs forcing the heart to overwork. According to statistics, this heart condition is found in 40-50% of babies with Down syndrome.

Over the weekend Emma was having quite a bit of trouble feeding and breathing. This was pretty much expected. As one website explains, in the first 1 to 2 weeks of life, babies with large ventricular septal defects may do very well. But as the pressure in the right side of the heart decreases, blood will start to flow to the path of least resistance (i.e., from the left ventricle through the ventricular septal defect to the right ventricle and into the lungs). This will gradually lead to symptoms of congestive heart failure and must be treated.

As a result, we brought her to see the paediatrician on Monday who told us to take her to the children’s hospital here in Edmonton to undergo some tests and see whether or not the necessary surgery can be done sooner than later. This of course has caused us some stress and concern but we are comforted by the fact that we are in very good hands not only with the doctors but more so with our Lord.

Now I share this with you not only to keep you updated and to ask for your prayers but also to have us think about the spiritual condition of our own hearts. Now most people, when they think about our nature as human beings, would say that sure we occasionally do bad things, some more than others, but at heart we are all essentially good people. Scripture though gives us a completely different diagnosis.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV)

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
"I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds."

Now at first this may seem like a very pessimistic description of things and that we should focus more on the positive, on building up our self-esteem and self-worth. But as the late JC Ryle once said, “Unless you really know the character of your own heart, you will never value the Gospel as you ought, you will never love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, you will never see how absolutely necessary it was that He should suffer death upon the cross, in order to deliver our souls from hell and bring us to God.”

The truth is that we are all born with bad hearts. We are all in need of heart surgery as it were. In fact, the spiritual condition of each of our hearts is way beyond repair, it requires a complete transplant. The good news is that our great and sovereign God is more than able to do this. “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV)

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Where to Look for Evidence

How do I know that I am truly saved? Where in my life do I look for genuine evidence of being born again? Is it in my baptism certificate, my church attendance or my annual charitable giving receipt? No, instead we should begin by looking where God looks. "The Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV) But how do we do this? How do we rightly judge/examine our own heart? With great care and difficulty of course, but it begins by seeing who we are/what we are like when we are alone. Sinclair Ferguson explains:

You may have heard these words (or some variation on them) quoted before: “What a man is in secret, in these private duties, that he is in the eyes of God and no more.” The most frequently quoted version is usually attributed to the young Scotsman, Robert Murray McCheyne. But other masters of the Christian way have echoed these sentiments. Perhaps they borrowed unconsciously from one another; more likely, they all learned the same lessons the hard way—by personal experience. In any event, they all came to see the same three elements to be vital for right Christian living.

First, they learned that it is in secret, not in public, that what I really am as a Christian becomes clear. It is not visible service so much as my hidden life of devotion that is the index of my spirituality. That is not to despise my public life, but to anchor its reality to the ocean-bed of personal fellowship with God. I may speak or pray with zeal and eloquence in public; I may appear to others to be master of myself when in public; but what happens when I close the door behind myself an only the Father sees me?

Is it insignificant that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned his disciples against hypocrisy before men, and encouraged them to be transparent before God? How easily in our culture we are deceived into thinking that it is what is seen in public that really matters. How curious it would have seemed to the apostles that the services of worship in which we can so easily be visible spectators are so much better attended than our meetings for closed–eye prayer. Will the bubble of our visible success ever burst?

Occasionally the statistics indicate how great the gap is between the image we present as evangelicals and the reality that we mask. We do not always exercise “sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5—unhypocritical faith, faith that does not need the actor’s mask). Life has a way of ripping off the mask, to reveal what is really there. Just as abuse of or inattention to the body reveals itself in older age, so with the abuse of the spirit. Inevitably it manifests itself in stunted, ill-disciplined, or twisted character. The Father has a way of rewarding us openly—one way or another (Matt. 6-5-6). Therefore, live well in secret, be molded by Scripture; learn to pray; control your thought life by God’s grace.

If this is something that you are wrestling with (and I assume that most of us are/should be) then I would encourage you to read the rest of this article here. It is an excellent resource to help us do what the apostle Paul calls us to do. "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." 2 Cor. 13:5 (ESV)

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