Rivival and Reformation

Join with me in praying for the visible church and more specifically our church, that we would be awakened and revived as we sit under the preaching of the Gospel. That God would administer grace to us to make us strong as we endeavor to glorify Him with our whole lives and as we teach our children to do the same. And as this happens that we would continue to reform our practices no matter what our culture continues to communicate to us.

A slogan coming out of the reformation was semper reformanda, Latin for always reforming. The idea being that the church must always be reforming, continually aiming to be more conformed to the Word of God. You see, unless perfection has already been achieved and there is no more room for sanctification, then we need to continue to strive and conform ourselves to the Word of God. With that said the same is true for our families, we need to constantly conform the way that we lead our families to the Word of God.

Familia Semper Reformanda,
(Families Always Reforming)
Jason

Regret and Repentance

The introduction of this book personally cut deep into my heart. I know first hand what it means to regret. Unlike most of you I have two grown children and a failed marriage that reminds me constantly that I must not take my responsibilities as a husband and father too lightly. As a young Christian I bought into the lie (hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray) of the moralistic, therapeutic, feel good Christianity. I was promised by Christian authors that if I followed all the directions of their books, I would be a successful father and husband which would lead to a perfect family and as a result I would be happy, as if happiness is the real goal in life. I now realize that none of those authors even dared to rebuke me, telling me that I needed to repent. Maybe it is because telling people that they need to live a life of repentance doesn't sell books, or maybe the authors really didn't understand the Gospel. But instead of bitterness, I now have peace and can rejoice.

ROMANS 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Familia Semper Reformanda,
Jason