Tag Archives: John MacArthur

When there are no suitable answers

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Maybe you saw the news story.

 

A young couple and their baby died in a bizarre road accident when concrete from an overpass fell onto their car, crushing them instantly. The couple were youth pastors in a nearby church. The couple had written a note earlier on the church website:
“We love to laugh. We are passionate about seeing young people discover the love and grace that Jesus abundantly pours out on them.”

 

What sense do you make of such senseless tragedy? What would you say to their families and friends, to those who had accepted Jesus into their lives because of their testimony, or those who are still searching?

 

Would you tell them that God must have been caught unaware, asleep at the wheel?

Would you spout theological answers that this is the result of the fall of man, the train of sin that keeps rolling down the track, taking us all farther than we want to go and costing us more than we want to pay?

Would you talk about suffering that advances the kingdom of God or explain how this is part of God’s divine design?

Would you say that God needed them in heaven or that he was protecting them from some unknown future temptation or prolonged suffering?

 

Or…

 

Would you say nothing at all, but rather sit quietly and cry with them as you hold their hand?

 

The truth is, there are answers to explain why bad things happen to good people. But answers aren’t always what we need. What we need is faith, hope, and love. Love is the one supreme command Jesus gave us: Love God and love others. We need love more than answers. There are things we won’t know for sure until we get to heaven. And even if we could speak such divine revelation, would it really calm the grieving soul? Would answers bind up broken hearts? The language grief understands best is faith expressing itself through love.

 

Faith isn’t fed by answers. Oh, for sure, we want to know! But the essence of our faith is that it believes even when it can’t perceive or understand answers. Faith survives our broken hearts. It supersedes our wounded spirits. Even when we are shocked beyond words, faith believes. No one and no thing can take away our faith, hope, and love, without our consent. When there are no suitable answers to satisfy our minds, these bring us to the heart of God who alone can calm our soul with peace that surpasses understanding.

 

“Faith is simply breathing the breath that God’s grace supplies.” (John MacArthur)

 

Breathe the breath of God and let your faith express itself through love, especially when there are no suitable answers.

 

 

Quench not the Spirit

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Quench not the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19

 

Today we often think of the word ‘quench’ as meaning to satisfy a thirst. Throughout the bible it means to extinguish a flame or fire, to put out a lamp or light, or to suppress the truth.

 

Jesus promised the gift of His Spirit to be our comforter, helper and guide. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8), to live a life that testifies to the whole world that Jesus is indeed Lord and Savior. This same power equips us to live victorious lives (Romans 8:37). To remain in Christ is to remain in His Spirit. And yet, in the context of how we should remain focused and alert in troubled times comes this warning: Quench not the Spirit.

 

Ephesians 4:30 warns: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Quenching and grieving the Spirit are inexplicably intertwined. We quench the Spirit and the Spirit grieves. We quench and grieve the Holy Spirit both when we are fixated only on what the Spirit does for us personally and also when we ignore the Spirit. John MacArthur points out that when we sensationalize the Spirit’s power in us we “reduce the Holy Spirit to some sort of divine genie, who does only things that are seen, felt or heard.” Ignoring the spiritual power within us, we quench the true sanctifying work of the Spirit.

 

We also quench the Spirit by ignoring Him. Turning away from the Spirit’s power to transform and sanctify our lives, we substitute other false helps for the authentic power that God alone offers. MacArthur continues: “They substitute human wisdom…as the path to solving spiritual problems. They reject the only true power, the only genuine problem solver, the Holy Spirit, who alone can heal the sins of our lives, and make us holy.”

 

Perhaps the trap we face is not so much that we seek out the help of others, but that we do so to the abandonment of God’s all-sufficient Spirit in us. If all our woes can be solved by therapists, educators, and scientists, do we really need the Spirit of the Living God?

 

We quench the Spirit of God when we listen to everyone except Him. We douse the flame of God that burns within us and extinguish His power. Paul asks in Galatians 3:3 if we are so foolish as to having begun in the Spirit, to finish with our own efforts to become ‘better’! Do we think that the powerful Spirit of God who convicted us of sin and led us to repentance cannot also be trusted with the rest of our lives?

 

When we abandon our only source of real hope, we incapacitate our ability to live well, free despite our circumstances. We invite devastation upon our lives and quench the Holy Spirit’s power in us. Instead, let’s ask to be filled daily with the Spirit’s power to live a life of testimony to the world that the our hope is in Jesus alone.