The Core Sin of Selfishness

"[I]f we are faithless, He remains faithful--for He cannot deny Himself."

~2 Timothy 2:13 (ESV)

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The sum of all unhappiness of man is our determined discontent with both what God has said "yes" to and what God has clearly said "no" to. What God has given, we are prone to want more. What God has not granted, we claim we should possess. But how patient is our God with us. Even though we must learn the lesson of contentment many times, He is yet willing to bless us with another way to learn it. It takes many arrows for the lesson of contentment to sink in to our initially hard hearts, yet He will pierce us if humility will allow Him to.

God never promised a life of ease or a lesson without a piercing. But this kind piercing of God is never so painful as the piercing Christ received for our sin. And this, my friend, gives us every reason to be content. We have indeed received far more than we could ever have imagined. We have indeed been treated far better than we deserve even in the things that we have been denied--the things that if we had received them might well have pulled us, our affections, our time, and our devotion from Him. Isn't this painful mystery wonderful?

How many days I have grieved God with my discontent, yet how Fatherly He is. Never have I approached Him and felt His shunning except when I listened to the false accusation of my enemy, the Devil. Rather, I have come to see that He has always, without fail, been stooped as a Father with open arms to receive the son who has so grieved Him. Forgiveness is His theme, and sanctification His tool to see his beloved children turn from the sin He despises and to His glorious, indescribable Self. He separates love and hate. In other words, because He loves us, He turns us from what He hates.

We would label the affection we have toward things on earth that God has not granted us as love. In reality, it will help to label it for what it is: Idolatry, lust, discontent. We might also label our Father's denial of those things as restriction, punishment, or lack of love. In reality, God's gift of unanswered prayer and denial of things that would do our souls no good is one of the greatest graces we could ever receive.

The Father's blessings knock
And gladly we welcome them in
The Giver Himself knocks
Yet we relate to Him in sin

The enemy knocks with doubt
And faithlessly we agree
The enemy himself knocks
And God's goodness we do not see

But this truth remains
It does not change
In this we find all faith
When we are faithless
He remains faithful
And his patience and goodness here on earth
Are merely a taste

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Challenge and Application Questions

• Through what trials has God been teaching you contentment?

New Attitude 2008 - Couldn't Go?

"Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts."

~Jeremiah 15:16 (ESV)

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New attitude is a conference held annually by Sovereign Grace Ministries for singles and young married couples. At the conference, folks enjoy four days of passionate (and loud!) worship in song, WORLD CLASS messages, solid Biblical truth, fellowship, and challenge toward application.

This year, the theme is one we all need--one I know I need desperately: God's Word. Let's be honest--okay, I'll start: Compared to what it should be and in light of what Christ has done, my passion for and pursuit of Christ stinks. I deparately need deeper delight in God's Word! There's no hiding--there's no one who "has it all together," and the furthest person to that high of character is me.

So, I need these messages and can't wait to be challenged and provoked by them. Couldn't make it to this year's conference? The messages will be available as they go! Join me in listening in...

• Here's the liveblog!

We Love You, Jesus

I have really come to love this song by Shane & Shane. I was aware of the band prior to hearing this song this year, but was not aware of how rich their content is and how gifted these two guys are.

This song puts forth a strong statement that draws one's attention toward gratefulness. Truly we have endless reasons for which we can say, "We love You, Jesus, for so many reasons!!" He has died and risen again as He promised to make salvation free and available to all. And on top of that, He saves "so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).

You can hear a sample here, or download the song in full from iTunes. I hope you're blessed by it.

[Preview Not Currently Available]

New-New Music Site!

Greetings!

I now have a new music site that will likely become my primary one. It offers more in terms of number of song uploads, etc. This is really a site of incomplete stuff as of now--partial albums and EPs. I also generate other genres and instrumental music (with the exception of electric drums at times perhaps :] ). Here it is!

http://www.last.fm/music/franzschneider

Music Site

Hi everyone! I have a new music site--new as in just started, and new as in never-done-this-before. :]

Enjoy!