These are my notes and some reflections on Tim Chester’s book: You Can Change
Preaching to our hearts:
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?” (p86)
When we find ourselves tempted or when our emotions are getting the better of us, we need to speak truth to our hearts, repeatedly, so that it sinks in. “God is all I need!”
Tim suggests these four truths about God will serve as a powerful diagnostic tool for dealing with sin:
1. God is great so we do not need to be in control:
God’s sovereignty is not merely the stuff of theological debates but a daily practical choice to believe that God is working good for us in every circumstance. To belive that he is in control and will bring us safely home.
When we do not trust God’s sovereign control we attempt to take control ourselves through manipulation or domination. The results may include busyness, frustration, worry, preoccupation with money or security.
2. God is glorious so we do not need to fear others:
One of the most common reasons for sinning is that we crave the approval of others or we fear their rejection. Our culture tries to overcome this by focussing on improving our own self-esteem. But this actually compounds the problem – we now become dependant on whatever or whoever it is that boosts our self-esteem.
We elevate good (mostly) desires to the level of needs without which we cannot be whole (e.g love, acceptance)
The answer to the fear of man is the fear of God. Meditate on God’s glory, majesty, beauty, holiness, mercy & power. We need to remind ourselves of God’s glory so that the fear of man is replaced by trust in Him.
3. God is good so we do not need to look elsewhere:
The life of the Kingdom is not one of “dreary abstinence” but rather a call to find in God that which truly satisfies. Lasting joy, satisfaction, fulfilment and identity in knowing God and nowhere else. “Whatever sin offers, God offers more, for God offers us himself. God isn’t just good he is better.” (p93-4).
“Every longing in us is a version of our longing for God… every joy we experience is but a shadow of the source of all joy, which is God.” (p94)
If we don’t delight in God for his own sake then we will serve him for whatever we can get in return and in so doing we reveal that our greatest love is our reputation, security, self-preservation, ourselves.
Picking up on GK Chesterton’s thoughts on joy “we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” (p97), Tim says:
“We grow so easily bored with life. We are weary with sin-induced futility. But God is never bored by life. He is life. His joy and life are so gigantic that he never tires of sunrises and daisies; of beauty and life and joy… We look for joy in sin and we are quickly bored and always moving on in search of more. We grow weary in our futile pursuit of ever-greater excitement. But in eternity there will be a ‘rush to life’ running through our veins. Our ‘life and joy will be gigantic’ so that each moment will bring fresh wonder… Now we are old and tired and cynical. But then we will be young; for every young; for ever delighting in God.” (p97-8)
4. God is gracious so we do not need to prove ourselves:
“We can’t justify ourselves, and we don’t have to! God is gracious: he throws his arms around us.” (p101)
Using the example of the older brother in the story of the Prodigal Sons, we see the effects of not believing God is gracious:
- restless anger
- joyless duty
- anxious performance (including parents & Christian leaders!)
- proud comparisons
Many of us are trusting God for our justification on the last day but fail to trust him as our justification today or tomorrow. We find ourselves still trying constantly looking to prove or justify ourselves.
Change takes place through faith in our great and good God. Faith is a daily struggle by which we must nurture our trust in God’s goodness.
When we face temptation we need to say not only “I should not do this” but “I need not do this” And I need not do this because I have Christ.
Posted in Books, Christian Life
Tags: Tim Chester, You Can Change