Recently I saw a competition at 100.9 The Cross, that was asking folks to write why they loved their spouse. I haven't entered, but I liked the prod. When you're married to a woman like mine, it's a good thing to give credit where credit is due.

I love my wife. Tanya has been, and continues to be, my best friend and companion. She is a wonderful wife and mother to our kids, and brings a balance of perspective to my efforts in being a dad.

Close to my heart, she has been a rock-solid support in 20 plus years of itinerant ministry. Our home attests to the fact that we are not well off; our income is sporadic, and often leaves us 'wanting,' but she makes up for the lack by taking part-time jobs, on top of home-schooling.

In times of discouragement she has often been the one who kept me going. Having a partner who presses on through thick and thin for the sake of the Gospel is an incredible blessing; but on top of that, her friendship is invaluable.

I love being with her. She is a godly woman, and my greatest blessing. Of her, the proverb (18:22) is certainly true: He who finds a wife finds what is good, and receives favor from the Lord.

It's Jaz's 14th birthday today. Time flies, and these occasions have a way of making me re-think my priorities.

Again.

There is nothing I want for my kids more, than seeing them sold out to Christ. I'm grateful for a wife who is likeminded in urging them there. Every day is another opportunity to live up to the challenge of leading in that direction, and living that way ourselves…

I pray that I challenge my kids so much
that God by His grace would move them such
that they live for His glory for all to see
And challenge me 

I hit on the call to rend our hearts in my last post, but I've actually given it a bit more consideration than that. I think it deserves it…

There is something about rending our hearts, and not our garments, that those who are born again understand. Without exception. It happens to everyone who is born again.

Those who come to Christ are not called merely to make an outward profession; there is something much more significant that's got to take place. It's more than a flippant, "Wups, sorry 'bout that." It's more than A-B-C, repeat after me. The heart must be made new, and that can only happen by the Spirit of God.

This does not mean that He just waves a wand and, voila! It is not some airy-fairy process that's hidden in mystical thought (although it is a miracle). When God's Spirit works in our lives, He is gracious and compassionate. And in His grace and compassion, He always deals directly with our sin. He is bold, He is head on, He is in-your-face.

And His messengers are equally so. It is no-nonsense kind of stuff.

The person who truly presents the Gospel is one who, in so doing, compassionately explains the seriousness of sin. And the person truly hearing and understanding the Gospel invariably finds himself dealing with sin. Wrestling with it. Grieving over it. Turning from it.

And turning to Christ.

There is no other process. There is no other option. There is no other alternative. There is no other authentic version of the Christian faith.

Those who truly come to Christ rend their hearts, and not just their garments. More to the point: Those who truly rend their hearts and not their garments, is everyone who comes to Christ, and only those come to Christ.

This is His grace at work. No exceptions.

Joel 2:13, Ez 36:26, John 16:8-11, Acts 2:36-39, 17:30, 1 Pet 2:9, 2 Cor 4:6 

To rend the heart and not our garments is an instruction God gave through the prophet Joel - and its importance is still a weighty one.

The emphasis in coming to Christ is not to parrot a prayer. It is not the superficial appearance of something deep happening. It is the overpowering reality of something deep happening.

The emphasis God's word brings us to, is the heart. Specifically, to rend the heart.

And thereby - to find new garments… Garments that are the righteousness of Christ.

Being brought to that place makes me grateful, and gives me plenty to think about. I'm inclined to stop right there.

But there is something else that strikes me about the statement…

To rend the heart and find our righteousness in Christ can only happen as God's grace is at work in our lives. It is a work of God's Spirit. The poor in spirit are blessed.

It is also an instruction, a command.

That is to say, to understand it as a working of grace does not negate the necessity of making the call. And to make the call does not undermine the fact that it is a work of God's grace. To make the call is the means through which His grace comes about.

So let it be said, and said loudly. And may God use it to accomplish His necessary work in those who are given new life. Let us by God's grace, respond accordingly.

Joel 2:13, Gen 3:21, Is 61:10, Gal 3:27, John 16:8, Matt 5:3, Eph 2:8

Words & Music by Geof Kimber
© 2012 Aiyura Music
www.geofkimber.com

UPDATE
Recording added January 14


V1
Oh Lord
Have mercy on us now
For your laws we disavow
Like days of old
Your Word
should be glorious in our eyes
Yet we've turned to follow lies
The truth be told

Chorus
As I see your glory
And what this world has become
I am on my knees
Praying Jesus please
Save me from this story
And the things that I have done
And the way I thirst
For I know the worst
is me

V2
So wrong
I need grace to cover me
As the waters of the sea
Engulf the land
Headstrong
I have walked the way of Cain
And rejected with disdain
your reprimand

Bridge
In all the world
There is no one who seeks you
We have gone our own way
Gone our own way
And we applaud ourselves
While loathing what is true
Until grace comes to stay
Grace comes to stay

Tag
May your holiness
And your righteousness
be the way I thirst
Sinful ways reversed
in me
May the way I thirst
be for Jesus first
in me