Someone very special shared this quote with me on Facebook a couple weeks ago and it’s been echoing in my mind ever since.

“You can be sure that God will never take from you something that is good. Rather, when you are ready, He will remove the evil (sin) and replace it with something far better. He will tear down your fortress so that He can build a palace in its place" – Erwin Lutzer

As new Christians we might see our sanctification as a loss of things we love. But over time, we learn that though they are things we love, they are also things that will inevitably try to destroy us. As older Christians, we often fear the loss of something ‘good’ only to find that it was laced with something from our heart that was ‘bad’.

With always perfect timing, God removes those things from us and we discover again that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

Thank God that He knows the right way. And that way is better than anything we could ever conceive on our own.

It’s fascinating to me how resilient people are, yet at the same time extraordinarily fragile. People can survive some pretty intense physical trauma. Car accidents, falls, gunshots. It’s pretty amazing.

But in some circumstances, even tiny little imperfections in a persons chemistry and genetic makeup can reduce a lifespan by decades.

It reminds me of the opening verse of the Andrew Bird song The Giant of Illinois.

The giant of Illinois
died from a blister on his toe
after walking all day through the first winter snow

throwing bits of stale bread
to the last speckled doves
he never even felt his shoes filled with blood

A giant dies from a small wound on his foot that he didn’t notice.

It also got me thinking how, in a spiritual way, even small sins when gone unnoticed and unchecked can have a resounding effect in a persons life; no sin stands alone.

It is no secret that I have many grievances with the institutional church. I have few reservations in saying that I think it barely breaks even in doing good, versus doing harm to its own and the world who needs to hear the Gospel.

As I read in Romans 15 tonight, Paul talks about his freedom to now come and visit the church in Rome since his doors for service in his own region were coming to a close. So, to better understand the passage, I read from Matthew-Henry’s classic commentary on the text. And one short phrase stood out and left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

It is justly expected from all Christians, that they should promote every good work, especially that blessed work, the conversion of souls. Christian society is a heaven upon earth, an earnest of our gathering together unto Christ at the great day.

Christian society is a ‘heaven upon earth’. In other words, the corporate church is a heaven upon earth.

Well, yes, perhaps in isolated places. Perhaps even in Matthew-Henry’s time this was true. It’s hard to say, really. But for me, in my experience and the experience of many others, this sentiment does not resonate whatsoever. There is little more charity in the institutional church than in the world at large. But, in the church, there is far less acceptance or ‘love’—even patience or forgiveness.

But I do notice that Matthew-Henry deliberately uses the word ‘a’ in order to describe this present ‘heaven’. Of course we cannot attain here what we will truly have with Christ, there.

Nonetheless, the church ought to be something like a heaven on earth, in certain respects. And while the institution will never be perfect, we cannot accept the flaws by that virtue. Much like our own personal pursuits of Christ, we have to continue to tear down the flawed structures and at least attempt to rebuild stronger, more effective ones—regardless of the ‘cost’.

Romans 11:29

“…The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”

Paul is writing about the nation of Israel. They are an illustration here for how God deals with people. And in this instance he is saying that although God has allowed his chosen people to be hardened in heart for the sake of the gentiles who would be saved, he has not forgotten his promises to that nation.

But there are dual meanings, as virtually every classic Christian commentator agrees.

Therefore, this verse becomes among the most encouraging, strengthening, truths of God’s love to ever fall on the pages of scripture. Though we may fail, we need not succumb to despair. Though we are weak we can take heart and confidence because God’s gifts and callings are irrevocable.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

It is parliamentary that we saturate our lives with God’s word. Moses here commands the people of Israel to keep God’s word on their heart, teaching them to our children, talking about them constantly, written on our hands and mounted in our homes.

Now, whether that means we ought to literally saturate our environment with spiritual reminders or not is a different question.

But the point, perhaps at its most basic, is that we must be immersed in the Truth of the Gospel. All of our facets of thought must run through the conduit of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

Easier said than done.

One of my favorite Puritan authors, Ralph Venning (author of the classic The Sinfulness of Sin) shares a little saying with gigantic meaning.

“To this we must say that He who promised forgiveness to them that repent has not promised repentance to them that sin.”

I had to read it a couple times to get what he was saying.

In our sinful nature, we’re wont to take God’s grace for granted. To even try and use it to give ourselves permission to venture (however temporarily) into some sin.

Yet, while we may lean on God’s grace as free and unconditional, the conscious choice to venture into sin on the back of that grace may be evidence that we’re not the recipients of the grace we dare to use licentiously. God has promised forgiveness to everyone who repents. But, to those who see it as an opportunity to sin, perhaps God has not promised repentance.

Sin is a dangerous, dangerous thing.

In the chapter 11 of the book of Acts, God reveals that the salvation brought by the Christ was not only for the nation of Israel, but for all mankind.

You probably remember Peter’s vision. While in a trance, God showed Peter ‘something like a sheet’ being lowered down from heaven. It was filled with all kinds of different animals—‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ in the Hebrew sense. God tells Peter to take and eat whatever he likes. At first, Peter resists the command, asserting that he’d never eating anything ‘unclean’. But God rebukes him, insisting that he isn’t to call anything ‘unclean’ that God has made clean.

It was at this moment, that some men arrived to bring Peter back to the household of a gentile who’d been commanded by God to fetch Peter and listen to whatever he told them. Of course, what happens next may not seem like much to us, but was a huge deal to Peter. God poured out his Spirit on the gentile household. Peter then understood that the vision of the animals in the sheet was to explain that Jesus’ salvation was for all men—‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ alike.

Understandably, Peter was criticized by the other Apostles for his decision to baptize the gentiles. But after Peter explains everything, including his vision, their response is remarkable. Acts 11:18:

When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."

You can almost see the picture like it’s a dramatic scene in a movie. The group is heated by Peter’s apparent disregard for their laws and customs. Then, Peter explains why he did what he did and how God’s hand was at work.

The group grows silent, then humbly accepts that God has chosen something different than what they were used to—what they even thought was right. “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life”. It’s remarkable to me how quietly and humbly they accept they were wrong in their assertions, and accept God’s decision.

This is an attitude that seems altogether absent from our corporate church culture (and often even private walks).

How tightly do we grasp to our customs and traditions—even in the face of changing times and tides. God continues to meet each generation differently (in many ways) than the ones before it. No matter how you look at it, this is hard to deny. We do not spiritually interact with God in the same way our brothers and sisters did 500 years ago. Even 50 years ago. Yet, each generations seems to see their own customs as the pinnacle of appropriate spirituality.

I think we would do well to try and emulate the Apostles in this way. Hold ‘nothing sacred’ (so to speak). When God begins to move, we should move with him, even if it rubs the grain of what we have grown accustomed to.