31 Days of Purity–Day Twenty-Seven

Mike Leake

Day Twenty-Seven: Restoring the Joy of Salvation

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:12 ESV).

“The psalm of all psalms” is how one writer described this song that David composed in those broken moments when the prophet’s accusation still echoed in his throne room: “You are the man” (2 Samuel 12:7). You are the man who received the crown of Israel but then stole the wife of your most loyal servant (12:8). You are the anointed protector of the sheep who has now slaughtered one of his own (12:9). You are the man whose sin will claim the life of your son (12:14)—not only the infant now nestled at Bathsheba’s breast but also a more distant Son who will die spiked on a blood-soaked beam. Because—and only because—of this more distant Son, “The LORD also has put away your sin” (12:13).

The heart of this “psalm of all psalms” is David’s plea for restoration (Psalm 51:7-12), and the climax of this plea is his yearning cry for “the joy of your salvation” (51:12). David hadn’t forfeited God’s gift of salvation, but he had lost the joy of what God in his grace had provided.

When, though, did David lose this joy of his salvation, and why? Was it after his sin? Or could it have been at some point before? I would suggest that David’s loss of joy was not the result of his sin but part of the cause. David’s sinful actions were the fruit of his failure to recall that the lasting joy of God’s salvation far outstripped the passing pleasure of Bathsheba’s flesh. David had already lost sight of the joy of God’s salvation before he saw the young woman bathing on the roof and chose to call her into his chambers. It was, at least in part, due to David’s misplaced joy that he sacrificed his integrity for a false and fleeting joy that could never satisfy his soul. Now, the penitent king begged God to restore his lost joy.

Purity flows from a heart that recognizes the joy of God’s salvation as a gift more satisfying than any competing pleasure the world can provide. This joy is accompanied by inward transformation (“a willing spirit,” 51:12) and results in outward proclamation (51:13).

My Father and my God,
The day has barely begun
and already I hear the serpent’s soft-pedaled whisper
telling me that there are pleasures greater
than anything you can offer.

Give me a willing spirit—
a spirit willing to trust
that there is no pleasure greater than the joy you have granted in Christ,
that there is no pleasure so great that it is worth trading for your holiness
and that there is no gift I need that you through your Spirit will not provide
In the name of Jesus Christ, my Brother and my Lord,
Amen.

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Timothy Paul Jones serves as associate vice president and professor of leadership at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before coming to Louisville, Timothy led churches in Missouri and Oklahoma as a pastor and an associate pastor. He has authored or contributed to more than a dozen books, and he blogs attimothypauljones.com. Timothy and his wife Rayann have three daughters; the Jones family serves in the SojournKids children’s ministry at Sojourn Community Church.

4 Reasons I Still Prefer Books Over eBooks and A Note to Blogger Review Programs

Mike Leake 12 Comments

Using my Kindle on my iPad is growing on me, I must confess. I’m reading more and more books that way. But I’m finding that these are mostly books that I read for sheer entertainment value. If I really want to chew on a book then reading it in electronic format is pretty much useless.

Today I am sharing four reasons why I still prefer actual hold-in-my-hand-and- smell-the-pages books over their computerized version. I also will add a note to publishers and blogger review programs.

  1. Organization. For the life of me I cannot figure out a solid way to organize my books on my electronic device, granted that might be from my own ignorance. But nothing can replace book shelves. I have my hard copy books organized in a personal library: with a section for classics, for biblical theology, for systematic theology, for preaching, and so on. My Kindle has no organization.
  2. Ownership. I can’t write on my iPad. Yes, I can use some program like OneNote and use a stylus. But it’s not the same. I need to feel actually ink flowing through the pen in my hands onto paper. I need to see myself scribble out thoughts. I need to mark up a book. I need to be able to draw dragons and trolls and smiley faces on a page if I need to. I need arrows and charts and graphs and question marks and to rip a page if it really ticks me off. I need ownership and I don’t feel that on my electronic device. If I really don’t like a book I can’t throw my iPad. That punishes all my apps and all the other books on my Kindle. I can’t physically throw a terrible book in the trash. All I can do is hit delete. That’s not satisfying.
  3. Others. Yeah, yeah, I know that technically you can share books and let people borrow books with your device. But I’m also a little ignorant of doing that and not everyone in our church has an electronic device. You try getting 80 year old Mildred to read that supper awesome passage from that really riveting book on her new Kindle Fire. Not going to happen. But I can take a book over to my printer and make a copy (with proper attribution of course). And I can let her borrow my book.
  4. Oogling. I have a terrible habit of forgetting about things that I cannot readily see. My office is surrounded by books. If I see a book I haven’t read it mocks me and taunts me. It begs me to crack open its pages. And it does that to other people that enter my office. They spot a good book and want to read it. I’ve yet to have anyone borrow my iPad and scroll through my Kindle books. And even if they did I wouldn’t be smart enough to let them borrow the book. I want to see my books so that I remember them. If not they are lost in an unorganized pile of books that I don’t even feel like I own.

A Note to Blogger Review Programs

First, let me say that it is super kind for anyone to give me a free book. Getting free books is not a right, it is a privilege. But it’s also a responsibility and an agreement. You give me a free book and I do the very best that I can to give an honest and thoughtful review and hopefully help the publisher sell at least one copy so you don’t lose money on me.

Enter the eBook.

Many blogger review programs are going the way of giving bloggers a free .pdf or other type of eBook for the sake of review. And I understand them doing this–it saves them a ton of money and it takes the gamble out of giving away a hard copy. I understand that financially speaking it probably makes more sense not to send me a hard copy.

But I also know that I (and I might very well be alone on this) will not and cannot review a book as well if I only have it in electronic format. If you want your book to be thrown in a pile with other books of which I take no ownership of and always run the risk of forgetting about, then by all means send me an electronic copy. But if you want me to really own that book, engage that book, suggest it to others, and keep it visible, then take the gamble and send me a hard copy.

What about you, dear reader? Which do you prefer?

Today in Blogworld 03.26.14

Mike Leake

How Pastors Can Care For Their Children

It’s not only congregations that need to care for pastor’s kids—more than anything it’s the pastor.

John MacArthur Responds to John Piper Regarding Strange Fire Conference

This is helpful and a great way to show how friends can disagree.

The Distrustful Generation

Depending on who you ask I’m either in Gen X or a Millenial. Articles like this make me want to say that I’m not a millenial—but who can trust statisticians, anyways?

Redemption Groups and Biblical Counseling

We’ve wanted to start redemption groups in our church for awhile. If you are like us then you’ll find this article of benefit.

This is heartwarming. Van performs Ho Hey at the Walk for Muscular Dystrophy:

31 Days of Purity–Day Twenty-Six

Mike Leake

Day Twenty-Six: Forgiving Others

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

You may be asking, “What in the world does forgiving others have to do with 31 days of purity”? It has everything to do with personal purity. Even when you are neck-deep in sin, or even better, deeply engaged in the battle against sin, the bitter roots of unforgiveness can be spreading throughout your heart. God’s Word tells us that the one who is forgiven much must also be so willing and eager to forgive others. It is entirely possible that as you’ve indulged in sexual impurity you have been carrying around a secret bitterness toward the objects of your disordered affections. Or perhaps you’ve been sinned against sexually in the past and the bitterness has grown.

As you have sought forgiveness from God for your sexual sin, have you considered your need to forgive others? Have you forgiven your dad for exposing you to that pornographic magazine when you were only a little boy? What about the bitterness you may feel toward the people who produced the pornography in the first place, or the people who have marketed it so effectively so they’ve tripped you up again and again? While you can and should see them as enemies to the gospel and enemies to personal holiness, Jesus told us to pray for our enemies and to forgive all those who have asked for it. Are you willing to forgive? Are you willing to let go of the bitterness? Will you, who have been forgiven so great a debt, still hold another person’s sin against him?

Father, you have forgiven me of a debt that I could not pay. I have sinned against you more than others have sinned against me, and yet I harbor feelings of bitterness and unforgiveness. Reveal to my heart the places where I have not forgiven others and give me the grace to forgive them if and when they ask. I pray that you would bless those that have done me harm. Restore my bitter heart with a heart of deep forgiveness and appreciation for your grace. Amen.

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Mike Leake is associate pastor of First Baptist Church of Jasper, IN. He and his wife, Nikki have 2 children (Isaiah and Hannah). Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and regularly blogs at mikeleake.net.