Jessalyn Hutto

Bookmarks 6/14/13

Posted On: 14. 06. 13 | Leave a Comment

Marriage Idolatry and How it Ultimately Devalues the Sacred: I found this article from a single Phillip Homes to be very encouraging and thought provoking. When our churches idolize marriage they do a disservice to the bride of Christ who must find her identity and joy in the savior.

“We must all abandon the selfish temptation to only marry girls more dazzling than models and men more dashing than Prince Charming. That’s an illusion, anyway. But Jesus is real and infinitely more satisfying. He is ours, and we are his. Rest in that truth”. -Phillip Holmes

Practical Encouragement for Enjoying Toddlers: Do you feel like your relationship with your toddler(s) could use some more joy? It is easy to get so overwhelmed by the constant mess cleaning, correction, and other needs that toddlers require. Melissa McDonald offers some simple and helpful tips that may help you get some perspective.

What Does Provoking Your Children Look Like?: Mark Driscoll discusses some common ways that fathers (and mothers as well!) can provoke their children to anger and thus disobey Ephesians 6:4.

In Need of Physical and Spiritual Fitness: We all know that obesity is a real problem in our country, but what about spiritual obesity (or a lack of spiritual fitness)? The Word of God calls us to care for our bodies and our souls. Both take effort and discipline. Both require the gospel: “This is our confession of hope. Just like maintaining physical fitness, Christian perseverance takes fight. Faith to believe is a gift, but it is a fighting grace. There is no diet version. Grasp this confession with your mind, your heart, with all your faculties, and do not let go.” (Aimee Byrd)

Sin Doesn’t Come from Circumstances: Christian Fox shares a glimpse into a conversation with her son that reminds us all that we are still in process. The fight for holiness is a slow marathon, not a quick victory.

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When God’s People Suffer Well

Posted On: 11. 06. 13 | Leave a Comment

I have come to the point in my life when I can honestly say I am well acquainted with grief. I’ve now lost three of my grandparents, watched as my father navigated through the despair of losing both his parents within a month’s time, and have had two babies taken from me before they were even born. One of those babies was big enough to hold in my hands and burry. Yes, I know what grief is.

Grief is a terrible, debilitating reality that affects us all at one point or another. It is like a crouching lion hiding behind the tall grass of happy moments, waiting for an opportunity to pounce upon its prey. In this world, death and sickness are realities that plague the human race; enemies that our first mother and father allowed to slip into existence through the willful decision to sin.

I see beloved saints all around me who are in the throes of suffering: a friend whose precious baby fights for his life every day, an elder of a church body I was a member of in college who’s loosing his battle with cancer, women who constantly write me with their stories of miscarriage…

There will come a time when suffering will be conquered, but that time is not now.

Today, we look forward to a world where sin and death are no more, a world where Christ’s victory on the cross is fully realized, where the powerful renewal of his creation is complete. We look forward to a day when our bodies will be raised to newness of life, perfected and flawless, reunited with our eternal souls to enjoy everlasting life with our Savior. This is how a Christian suffers well: by savoring the fellowship of Christ now, and looking forward to its complete fulfillment later.

Sometimes we think that if we are “godly” and “mature” Christians we will somehow be untouched by the despair that accompanies trials. We think that if we are going to have an effective and God glorifying testimony, that our sorrow must be kept private, that we must radiate the joy of the Lord through smiles and confident words when often the most earnest and confident joy is better expressed through a tear streaked face.

In many ways the gospel is either displayed or denied through the way we suffer. To deny the real, horrible pain of sorrow is to deny the need our world has for redemption, while the quiet joy found in the Christian’s soul even in the most difficult of times tells of a coming hope, a coming peace. When the weight of sorrow presses down, the Christian must know that her Savior came to make the realities of sin and its effects impotent. He came to reverse this world of death and to deliver us into the realm of the living. He came so that one day we will experience life as it was meant to be–good, perfectly good.

When I see Christians suffering well, when I see them acknowledging the painfulness of grief and yet boasting in the joy of knowing the Risen Savior and the hope of one day being raised with him, my soul is ministered to and my own faith is strengthened. Their steadfastness in the faith bolsters my own and gives me a vision for eternity–and eternity with Christ our loving king.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4 ESV)

A Good Wife (Repost)

Posted On: 06. 06. 13 | 3 Comments

This post was first published February 7, 2012

Did you know that God is in the business of making you a better wife? I know that you struggle with a bad attitude and with a propensity to selfishness. I know that the word submission makes your stomach churn and the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I know that it isn’t easy to love that man you are with, to give your life for him, to sacrifice your desires for his. I know because I feel it to. I feel that struggle with sinful flesh, the struggle to satisfy my own longings, my own wants, my own “needs.” It is the struggle against anarchy, against a body that desperately wants to defy its Maker. It is a struggle against this woman in me who desires to follow after her mother Eve; that woman who chose the promises of a liar over the truth of the Living God.

But Christ, precious Messiah, holy Savior came to liberate us from the chains of sin. He was willingly put to death by the Father so that he could secure the death of the sin reigning in our bodies. Yes, he died to crush the power of our pride, our selfishness, and our insubordination. He rose mightily from the grave so that we could live new, holy lives. He implanted his Holy Spirit within our very bodies so that we would bear good fruit–so that we could learn to love, sacrifice, submit. We are new creations. The cross demands that we turn away from our old ways and live in the knowledge of what Christ has done for us. He has made us better wives. He is making us better wives. His Spirit, full of GRACE, full of POWER, is at work within you to do his will and his will is to transform you.

The Lord hasn’t commanded you to respect your husband and not provided the grace to do so.

The Lord hasn’t commanded you to submit to your husbands and not provided the grace to do so.

The Lord hasn’t commanded you to love your husband and not provided the grace to do so.

No, your obedience to God, your ability to respect, submit, and love your husband, is empowered by his GRACE, his mighty, life-giving grace.

You see, your story is part of God’s story. He is in the business of renewing his creation. Through Christ, he is restoring what was broken; he is erasing the horrid effect of Adam and Eve’s sin. Through Christ, he is growing your marriage toward the perfection that Adam and Eve were meant to live in. He is giving you the strength to fight against the sin that still wages war in your body.

No, perfection will never be attained in this world, but the pursuit is possible and victories are attainable because you do not work alone. You do not strive toward holiness alone. You are fighting with the power of the God of the universe. It is his pleasure to bring about respect, submission, and love in your thoughts, words, and actions. It is his will for you to live in the glorious reality of the redeemed. You were set free from sin so that you could taste the joyful fruit of Christ-likeness. What heavenly delights are made available to those who are in Christ and how desperately those who have tasted of these delights long for the day they will fully experience holiness, when this sinful flesh is wiped away forever. Those who have tasted the appetizers of Heaven are ravenous for the feast set before them.

Press on today toward holiness, but only as you press into Christ. Your efforts toward being a good wife are futile if they are an attempt toward self-sanctification. Self-sanctification is impossible. You will only find disillusionment, pain, and failure in your own attempts.

Christ is your sanctification.

Christ is your path toward living a holy life.

Christ is your hope of being a good wife.

Look to Christ and be saved.

Look to him and be sanctified.

You can obey God’s commands, because Christ bought obedience for you. He has provided a way of escape from every temptation, but you must look to him as your Savior and King and choose to follow him. Take hold of the obedience he bought for you and walk in that newness of life. Fight hard toward being a good wife because he fights with you.

Respect your husband.

Submit to your husband.

Love your husband.

Sure at times you will fail, yes you will continue to sin, no you are not yet perfect, but Christ has made the road of sanctification possible and his holy Spirit resides in you. He is willing and working to make you a better wife. He is in the process of making you holy.

Live in the reality of the freedom he has bought for you and taste the fruits of living according to his perfect will.

Why?

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4 ESV)

“…you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” (Romans 7:4 ESV)

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11 ESV)

“…and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:15 ESV)

“…having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:12 ESV)

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…” (Colossians 3:1-5 ESV)

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV)

“I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” (Romans 6:19 ESV)

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Bookmarks 6/5/13

Posted On: 05. 06. 13 | 9 Comments

Glimpses of Grace Launch: I posted my review of Glimpses of Grace on Monday, many websites are offering giveaways of the book (find two of them here and here), and you can listen to an interview between Authors on the Line and Gloria Furman (the author of the book) here.

To the Church and Its Artists: As a daughter of a talented artist, I found this piece to be very challenging to members of the church as they seek to place value in and understand the artists within their body.

Same-sex Couples Can’t Really Divorce: If a same-sex marriage isn’t truly legitimate in the sight of God (but instead a sinful offense) then when a lesbian couple divorces, it isn’t really a divorce, it would simply be considered repentance… This article explains how we can best encourage and help those who will be coming out of such relationships as they turn to Christ.

A New Study in Galatians: Karis is beginning a series of posts focusing on the book of Galatians. There will be much gospel encouragement coming your way soon!

Jesus is My Life: This is such a precious story from Lisa Spence. How blessed we are to have such fellowship with one another!

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Book Review and Recommendation: Glimpses of Grace

Posted On: 03. 06. 13 | 2 Comments

I’ve been looking forward to reading and reviewing a new book by Gloria Furman titled Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home for a while now. Gloria has been one of my favorite female writers on the blogosphere to follow over the past year or so. Her posts at Desiring God blog and Domestic Kingdom are always packed full of grace and biblical insight into the ordinary challenges kingdom women who are seeking to prize the gospel above all else face on a daily basis. Today, as her book officially launches, I have the privilege of heartily recommending it to you.

In Glimpses of Grace, Gloria writes candidly and often humorously on a very serious topic: how the gospel affects our lives as homemakers. Sure we all know that the gospel makes a difference in how we serve our families and that it is the reason why we serve our families, but oftentimes I think it can be easy to get caught up in generalities and popular Christian slogans. It certainly is popular these days to speak of grace empowering everything we do and the gospel driving everything we do, but when you get right down to it and find yourself in the middle of a toddler’s meltdown seconds before your guests ring the door bell while the chicken that just doesn’t seem to want to have clear juices flowing out of it continues to bake in the oven, you may find yourself wondering just how the gospel empowers and drives you. What gospel truths are meant to give your nerves peace and give your will the desire to serve and give your heart the ability to love in a moment like that? This is exactly the kind of practical and incredibly helpful information you will find in Glimpses of Grace, and it truly will give you a vision for treasuring the gospel in your home.

Gloria has divided her book into two sections: Your Foundations in the Mundane and The Miraculous in the Mundane. The first section is aptly named as it lays out a foundation for the more specific and practical implications of the gospel shared later on. In it, Gloria shares our need for the gospel to pervade even the most (seemingly) trivial of circumstances. She puts forth the notion that there is indeed a distinctly Christian way to go about our work and responsibilities as managers of our homes–a way that treasures and trusts the gospel message. I could easily relate to her admission of feeling as though gospel meditation and spiritual wakefulness necessitates peace, quiet and orderliness. I immediately thought of a conversation I had a couple nights ago with a dear friend (another young mom) in which we lamented our false rationale that says “if only we could get away and think, if only we could have some moments of solitude to commune with the Lord, if only we could rejuvenate our spiritual lives with some ALONE TIME, then we could get our spiritual acts together.” Gloria encourages us to find freedom in God’s ability to transform our most chaotic moments into worshipful and transforming ones:

Your spiritual life is not restricted to early mornings before the noise makers in your life wake up. If you feel that God meets with you only when the house is empty or quiet, you’ll view every noise and every noise-maker as an annoying distraction to your communion with God. Or worse—there are times when I’m tempted to think of my whining toddler or ringing doorbell as obstacles that Satan has put in my way to take my eyes off of Jesus. The temptation is to believe that if you could only transcend this spiritually devoid existence, then you could meet with God on a higher level. This idea is not only practically impossible and pastorally unhelpful, but it is unbiblical as well.

Even so, we must be careful not to swing too far the other way. When we immortalize the material and elevate it to the highest good, we set up idols to worship and pay homage to. This can happen when we attach our reason for being to our current role in life—even roles like being a mother or housewife. (pg. 33)

This is the purpose of Glimpses of Grace: to explore the ways the glorious truths if the gospel work themselves out in the whirlwind normalcy of life that most homemakers find themselves in.

Gloria is careful in this first section to explicitly explain the gospel message so as to provide a firm foundation for her readers. She boldly and beautifully proclaims the good news and encourages us to claim its wonder and power for our own normal, everyday, mundane lives as homemakers:

God’s triumphant grace in the work of Christ on the cross assures us of this: when our hope is in God’s glory, for ourselves and others, then our life in the home is anything but dull, diminutive, and disappointing. (pg. 72)

After sharing her heart and passion for the gospel’s practical implications, Gloria takes the remainder of the book to navigate through various struggles and circumstances homemakers find themselves in. Though most of the personal anecdotes and confessions shared by Gloria come from the perspective of a mother of young children, the gospel truth shared in each chapter can easily be applied to homemakers in any stage of life–even single women. Her book isn’t written for mothers per say–the principles and biblical council she shares can be applied to any woman–but mothers who have young children will find her personal testimonies to be particularly encouraging and those whose children are grown will be able to knowingly relate and chuckle at the humorous stories shared. Most of her personal examples are shared for the purpose of illustration rather than specific instructions for specific circumstances. The majority of each chapter is filled with pure, exhilarating, and insightful applications of the Word of God to everyday life.

So what aspects of everyday life does Gloria cover? In the second section of Glimpses of Grace, she explores the implications of the gospel for our weaknesses, our anxieties, showing hospitality, enduring suffering, fighting perfectionism, seeking contentment, developing friendships and more.

I found her chapters on hospitality and suffering to be two of my favorites–particularly the chapter on suffering. In it, Gloria openly shares some intimate details of the difficult trials she and her husband have faced due to a genetic nerve disease which often leaves her husband unable to physically help with any task that requires the use of his arms. Being in a similar stage of life as Gloria (with several young children underfoot) I could instantly understand how trying this circumstance would be. I can’t help but sense that this ongoing trial has greatly impacted and undoubtedly shaped her dependency and passion for the empowering grace of God. As is often the case in the Christian life, trials seem to breed a reliance on and appetite for the sustaining grace of our Savior.

Glimpses of Grace is unique in two ways: 1.) It is specifically written to the busy homemaker who lives in the seemingly mundane (though I believe anyone can glean important gospel encouragement from its pages) and 2.) It isn’t a “how-to” book on homemaking. This is a book about the gospel, it just happens to be written to the homemaker who desperately needs to know that she too can apply these miraculous truths to her everyday tasks of ironing, sweeping, changing diapers and paying bills.

I was greatly encouraged by this book and will be telling all my friends to get a copy as soon as they can. It is biblically accurate, incredibly accessible, and saturated with the liberating, empowering, and joyful news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Glimpses of Grace, Crossway is offering a special promotion this week that I would definitely take advantage of. Here are the details:

Purchase a copy of Glimpses of Grace from your favorite local or online retailer from June 3-7 and receive a free copy of the ebook as well as one of Gloria’s favorite resources—the ESV Study Bible Online (ESVBible.org Web App & Ebook)! To redeem your free extras, simply scan and email your receipt to glimpses@crossway.org before 11:59am on Friday, June 7.*

*Any receipts that are not legible, not included, or believed to be fraudulent will be disqualified. Limited to one promotion per person.

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