You Will Rise Up In The End

This weekend was really hard for me. I broke three commitments that I told myself I must abide by: I binged, I read a fitness magazine (which has become like pornography to me), and I ran on Saturday morning before reading the Word (I never ended up reading the Word that day). I felt consumed by guilt and self-condemnation because I wasn't measuring up, not even closely

I have to remind myself of the Gospel, and be reminded by others: Christ is our perfect substitute. It is by His righteousness that we will enter the kingdom. It is His hold on me that will never be broken. It is His grace that sustains me every day. In Christ, there is no judgment for me, no wrath. All God's wrath was spent on Christ. There is none left for me. But His mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness.

A dear friend sent this song to me today, and I found it super encouraging:

You Will Rise Up in the End

“Every stone that makes you stumble
and cuts you when you fall
Every serpent here that strikes your heel
to curse you when you crawl
The king of love one day will crush them all

And every sad seduction and every clever lie
Every word that woos and wounds the pilgrim children of the sky
The king of love will break them by and by

And you will rise up in the end
You will rise up in the end
I know the night is cruel
but the day is coming soon
And you will rise up in the end

If the thief had to come to plunder when the children were alone
If he ravaged every daughter and murdered every son
Would not their father see this? Would not his anger burn?
And would he not repay the tyrant in the day of his return?
Oh, wait. Oh, wait the day of his return

Cause he will rise up in the end
He will rise up in the end
I know you need a Savior
He is patient in his anger
And he will rise up in the end

And when the stars come crashing to the sea
and the high and mighty fall down on their knees
When you see the Son descending in the sky
the chains of death will fall around your feet

You will rise up in the end
you will rise up in the end”

—Ben Shive, “Rise Up”, *The Ill-Tempered

Glorious!

One day you will say, “How did such a light affliction bring me into this kind of glory?” 2 Cor. 4:17

@BobSorge

Battling Unbelief

"Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Romans 8:33-34).

"This means that because of Christ, God has justified us. Past Tense. We are now already counted righteous in Christ. No one can bring a successful charge against us. Christ died for us and lives for us. Thus, we battle unbelief and sin as those who in Christ already have the decisive victory. We already have our standing in heaven by faith in Christ. Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our perfection. We pursue holiness, not because we are not yet accepted by God, but because we are. This is the way Paul put it: 'I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own' (Philippians 3:12)."

- John Piper, Battling Unbelief

This weekend I became really discouraged that I could not perfectly fight my sin. Eat perfectly. Think perfectly. Desire God perfectly. But Christ is my perfection. I was listening to this song when I was running today and it reminded me to think of Christ more than my sin. I just love the part in bold. God is so much more powerful than my sin is over me and I have to remind myself of that every single moment. Here are the lyrics:

"I think we emphasize sin so much that it makes us paralyzed
And glorify struggle so much that it makes us terrified
And deemphasize the fact that we have been sterilized from our own lives and thus
God this aint never wise
We gotta snap out of it
We aint in no straight jacket
We free
When Jesus died in our lives something strange happened
He gave us power
Yeah I know that we sinners but since he rose he's renewing the image of God in us
Now, we gotta start making war
Now we can start saying no
To them fleshly impulses that Jesus Christ is paying for
Now we can start taking allegiance
Just like the dalai lama and start going all out just like a suicide bomber
Whatever the sin is we gotta go harder
By God's grace no time to waste and just like there's no tomorrow
- from "Make War" - Tedashii