Tullian Tchividjian: Allow Your Critics to Teach You | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Tullian Tchividjian: Allow Your Critics to Teach You Christianity Today A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction:

"Have you talked with your grandfather about this conflict? What would Billy Graham say about this?
I have talked to him about it on numerous occasions. His encouragement to me is simply, 'By God's grace, I've weathered many storms just like this, and if you submit to what God is trying to teach you, he will make you wise and humble and useful.'
In other words, don't become proud and self-righteous. Be teachable. And God will make you useful.
Don't become bitter, in other words. Allow even your most vocal critics, who may criticize you unjustifiably, to become tools in God's hands to teach you something. Emerge from this more of a gospel man, more of a God-centered man."

I love the response his grandfather, none other than Billy Graham, gives. "...submit to what God is trying to teach you, he will make you wise and humble and useful."

What great council! Submit to God!

Not, "I'll get some people together who will fight for you and we'll show those rebels, who's really in charge." No, he just gives the council that he has practices his entire life. Submit!

Thank God for Billy Graham

The Trial of Losing

Peace of mind is jeopardized anytime something of value is lost. Take, for example, what the loss of a purse or a wallet does to the owner. After the initial shock, hours are spent retracing steps, looking everywhere and through everything in hopes to avoid the painstaking efforts that inevitably lie ahead. The credit cards will need to be canceled, a new licence will need to be obtained, the difficult task of trying to remember what other important information has been lost will need to be accomplished. The entire ordeal makes for many hours of unpleasant existence. So, most people take necessary measures in order to avert such a disappointment. Efforts should be made to keep from losing items like those mentioned above, but there are "things," if lost, that would benefit, even bless us. In the loss (death is actually the best word) of these things, a Christian's life would begin to emerge and take on the fragrance of her Savior. Ironically, though, most Christians are engaged in sophisticated efforts to protect these self-acclaimed important things. By things, of course, I refer to those elements that are necessary to the existence of the alienated self, or the self determined to exists independent of God.

Romans chapter six illuminates the point. "3...all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death...5...if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (NASB)

The battle that every sincere disciple of Christ is charged to engage in is the battle against our "self." It is by faith, through trusting that our sinful self was crucified with Christ, that Christians are expected to live. The death of self does not automatically happen with the saying of a few words; Death to self is not accomplished following an intense, perhaps even lengthy, prayer of repentance of faith. Death to self has already happened in the death of Christ.What remains for the Christian is in recognizing or remembering, when he is tempted to behave according to his old sinful pattern, that he (the one contemplating sinning) has died with Christ and he now has a new life through faith in Christ. The crucified self will only "remain dead" when faith is exercised. Likewise, new life in Christ will arise only as faith in the risen Savior is employed.

This, of course recalls the original point: are we willing to lose our self. What is tough for the Christian is not parting with sin's consequences, what is tough is parting with sin. Christ is calling us to a new identity in Himself, an identity that is characterized by righteousness rather than rebellion, by holiness rather than sinfulness. Everyone must decide if losing self is worth gaining Christ. The immediate benefits to gaining Christ will not appeal to the flesh, but the spiritual and eternal benefits for choosing Christ will far outweigh our initial loss.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" ~Apostle Paul (Philippians 2:21 NASB)

“Peace with God!”
Of all the noble pursuits in life, like climbing Mount Everest or sailing around the world or even eradicating hunger and poverty, nothing compares to the pursuit of having peace with God. Think about it! If one actually does fulfill his ultimate goal, whether it is a physical challenge like climbing a large mountain or a humanitarian challenge like ending hunger, yet he completes the challenge without possessing peace with his maker, what has he actually gained? He has spent a good portion of his time, money and energy accomplishing something that ultimately fails to bring him enduring peace.
Consider the challenges that people face when peace is absent in everyday relationships. A husband and wife will experience extreme emotional challenges if peace remains elusive in their marriage. The toll will be more than either partner can afford if there remains an environment of constant friction. Eventually, the weight of that burden will permanently damage the marriage and except for the grace of God the couple will separate emotionally, spiritually and often times physically.
When the relationship between parents and children is characterized by strife and hostility the eventual outcome will be resentment, bitterness, anger, and ultimately a drifting apart. Children will seek out ways to keep themselves occupied so that they won’t have to be around their parents. While parents will often times do the same thing, or they will try to guilt the child into conformity, neither of which will result in a peaceful, enduring relationship. Lack of peace in the family unit is the most obvious example, but life can be just as difficult when peace in the workplace is absent. It keeps employees from wanting to go to work or when they are at work an employee will not be as productive if there is conflict with another employee or with a boss. The point is, pursuing peace with God is the most important thing that time, money and energy could ever be spent on.
When a person who has been estranged from God all her life, discovers that God has made peace with her, through His Son, Jesus, it re-orients her entire life. No longer is she wearing herself out trying to manage all of her different relationships and duties, trying to bring some sense of purpose and peace through her own strength. All of a sudden the peace she has with God spills over into all of her relationships. Even when the other member of a relationship acts unbecoming toward her, she is able to maintain a loving and caring perspective because her ultimate relationship with God is forever whole.
"THEREFORE, SINCE we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). " (Romans 5:1, AMP)
May God’s peace rule in your hearts and in your relationships!
Pastor Gibbs