GoFarzio: Affections • Convictions • Actions

Dual dangers accompany the setting up of any list that describes specific do’s and don’t’s. Those dual dangers are pride and despair. If I am able to keep my resolutions, I feel smug and proud, with a tendency to look down on others. If I fail, I feel like a failure, defeated and worthless. This is why I must keep the cross at the forefront of my consciousness. Throughout the day, I’m required to pay attention to many people and tasks, but whenever my mind finds a few moments of leisure, I want to discipline it to fly back to the Lord. The cross leaves me no room for pride or despair. How can I be prideful when I remember my Lord died for me? How can I despair when I remember my Lord died for me ? “The Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,” wrote Paul (1 Timothy 1:8). There are several lawful uses of the Law. One is to provide the soil for love to grow. What? The soil for love to grow? That seems paradoxical at first. What does the Law have to do with love? You can’t command love...

Join with me in continuing the hard work of addressing the sins of my heart, but just as nature resists a vacuum, simply subtracting old habits and sins isn’t enough. I must replace old ways of speaking with new ways of speaking.  Whereas the Old Testament said, “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15), the New Testament goes further. It does not stop at, “He who steals must steal no longer…” but continues by saying, “…rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need” (Ephesians 4:28). The New Testament is never content to merely  demolish  sin, but always eager to  establish  new works of love. The Law of Love not only keeps me from breaking the negative commands of the Law, the Law of Love does more, looking for and creating positive ways to do good to my neighbors. Positive commands are certainly found in the Old Testament, but the New Testament takes things to a new level....

Friends, let me reiterate that these meditations are not written with anyone in mind but myself. If they are not helpful, please ignore them, but do find a source of spiritual nourishment somewhere. I caught myself being sarcastic last night. Had I not embarked on this exercise, I’m sure the comment would have passed without a second thought. But I couldn’t dismiss the fact that earlier that day I had made a conscious decision to bridle my tongue. So I had to confess my sin.  Was it an earth-shattering sin? Depends on how you look at it. No, I didn’t ruin anyone else’s life and I didn’t wreck my own life. So from that point of view, it wasn’t big. But was it a sin for which my Savior had to die? Yes! Our holy God cannot tolerate even a smidgen of sin. So if I consider that the One I worship and adore had to suffer and die for that sin, then I must admit that yes, it was a big sin. The confession gave me opportunity to get close to my Savior, so while I hate the sin that r...

Over and over again in their history, the Jews of the Old Testament went through the cycle of idolatry —> judgment —> repentance —> restoration. It took years of exile to cure them of their propensity toward idol worship. After they returned from the Babylonian Captivity, they remained firmly committed to YHWH. They thought they had beat idolatry and had things figured out.  After the prophet Micah, there were 400 years of silence. Many interpreted God’s silence as God’s endorsement that all was well. During that time, various schools of thought grew up within Judaism, such as the Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes. Smug, self-congratulatory, and superior, they pictured themselves as the true heirs of God’s promises.  When Jesus began his ministry, he blew everyone’s expectations by placing a bull’s eye on the religious establishment and showing compassion to those clearly in the sinner’s camp. For years, when I read the Bible, I pictured myself on Jesus’s te...

If you're like me, you're tired of putting on a show, speaking the Christian lingo, playing a part, and feeling like a hypocrite. I don’t want to impress anyone but God. I want to bring my words and actions in line with my heart. I want to live a life of authenticity because I know that a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. But knowing my own heart is difficult. How can I know what is in my heart? This is an important question, and one that will help us a long way toward authenticity. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus says, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” An easy way to know what’s in my heart is to observe what comes out of it. Artists are fond of saying, “The eyes are the window to the soul.” But biblically, the mouth is the window to the soul.  When you read this, join me in observing the overflow of your heart, namely, your words. Over the course of this month, focus on what you say and how you say it. The Bible devotes many ve...

Welcome to GoFarzio, a blog designed to deepen your affections, strengthen your convictions, and inspire your actions. In other words, this blog is about what you love, what you believe, and what you do. You could say it's about the heart, head, and hands. Or you could talk about orthopatheia, orthodoxy, and orthopraxy, fancy words that mean the same thing. Affections, convictions, and actions are completely interdependent, yet distinct. They are mutually reinforcing, and each entails the others, so they are one ... yet three. The "deepen affections" section will have devotionals and other articles to encourage your sanctification. The "strengthen convictions" section will have articles about biblical exegesis and theology. The "inspire actions" section will have articles about methods and strategies for entry, evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and leadership development.