Spiritual Practices for a Sanctified Life (Part 2 of 2)

Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

Pastor Gary Thomas joins Jim Daly and John Fuller to discuss his book, The Life You Were Reborn to Live. The conversation explores how God u

Key takeaways

• Gary Thomas shares how his diagnosis of keratoconus served as a tool for spiritual refinement.
• The episode references J.I. Packer's teaching that God's goal is sanctification rather than unbroken ease or comfort.

Main topics

• Spiritual Sanctification
• Embracing Adversity

Notable quotes

Before God can use you, he must break you.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a convicting call to trade superficial modern co

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) The Bible keeps pushing us toward these pursuits that are toward service, that have eternal impact, not toward our self-centeredness and not toward just making an impression in this world, which is like a vapor. Speaker 2 (0:15) That's Pastor Gary Thomas sharing biblical wisdom for living a fulfilling life. And he's back with us today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Thanks for joining us. I'm John Fuller. And I've been Speaker 3 (0:27) so challenged by what Gary has shared so far because these lies that he's talking about are things all of us have struggled with. Yesterday, we talked about several of the lies in Gary's book, including the lie that you need to be comfortable. So get the Focus on the Family app to listen to that full episode. And we're here to help you not just survive, but to thrive in Christ. I love that tagline. It's on purpose. We are going to be covering some of the barriers that might be in your way to the abundant life that Christ provides. So stick with us. This is going to be Speaker 2 (1:02) good content. Yeah, Gary is an excellent writer and communicator. He's got a number of books on topics related to marriage and spiritual growth. He's currently on the pastoral teaching team up the road a bit in Highlands Ranch, Colorado at Cherry Hills Community Church. Now, today we're going to be discussing his book, The Life You Were Reborn to Live, and we've got details on our website. Speaker 3 (1:24) Gary, welcome back. It's so good to have you. And, man, we covered some things yesterday that were really tender. And we're all kind of shackled by things in this life. You know, I'm so grateful that Paul said, I see through the glass dimly, right? But especially in this area of adversity, and I think in the West, particularly here in the U.S., man, we see ourselves as blessed when we're on top of it all. Yet the scripture, that great scripture that says he's close to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit, almost like a prerequisite that the Holy Spirit is seeking because it's humility. That's what that is. When you're crushed in spirit, you're humble. You're not thinking you're the best. But as a competitor, as a guy that enjoyed winning when I played football and just being on top of it, I struggle with this one. This is one where I'm asking myself that self-centered salvation. That's not the spirit of God, is it? Speaker 1 (2:24) I don't know who said it because I've heard many people say it. But it's true. Before God can use you, he must. break you. I've heard major pastors say that. I've heard that. And it gets back to my mentor, J.I. Packer had this one I love because he challenges self-centered salvation and our addiction to comfort with this. He says, it's a mistake to imagine that the good for which God works is our unbroken ease and comfort. I thought that. God's goal is rather our sanctification and Christ-likeness, the true holiness that is the highway to happiness and so before God can use us he often has to break as I I tell in the book the story of um, I came down with keratoconus. It's a Degenerative eye disease where you have a misshapen cornea and when I was first diagnosed there really wasn't any way that they could treat it except for replacing the cornea it it didn't freak me out so much because when he saw how bad my eyesight is it's like 2400 which 2500 is the worst so Speaker 3 (3:26) You're right there on the edge for an award. But Speaker 1 (3:29) he said, well, it could be a brain tumor. It could be this or that. And then they came back. It's keratoconus. And they gave me pamphlets. Well, here's a support group for it. I said, I don't need a support group. I thought you told me I might have a brain tumor. I can live with one eye. And I kind of do. My brain doesn't use my other eye. But because I've lived with this, and it's just the main problem. John, you're active. When I'm riding a bike, it's a real pain because it's my left eye. I can't see. Well, you shoot, but you shoot with one eye, right? You can get those animals down with Speaker 2 (3:59) one eye. I have a balance issue, so I'm totally tracking with you. Speaker 1 (4:02) Yeah, and so it's hard for me on the bike. It scares my wife, but I still love to ride. But when my daughter in her early 30s came down with that, immediately we were on it. You got to get checked out. And yeah, she was diagnosed with it and they're able to treat it. Speaker 3 (4:18) So she was ahead of the curve because of you. Because Speaker 1 (4:20) I had keratoconus, she's never going to have to live with it. Speaker 3 (4:23) Wow. And Speaker 1 (4:24) if you're going to ask me as a dad, do you want to live with this so that your daughter doesn't? I mean, what dad would say? Yeah, absolutely. That's it. That's exactly how Paul says. ministry works. Addicts that now help other addicts, people with broken marriages that now help other people with broken marriages. We were talking about Bo Mitchell, who's been on here before. They've had issues. You think of Chuck Colson, what he went through, how God used what people thought was either something done to them or their greatest failure, it can be both, became a platform for incredible ministry. For the rest of their life. They both went to prison. Speaker 3 (5:04) Yeah. For those that don't know. And Speaker 1 (5:05) if you're addicted to comfort, prison isn't in your plans. Right. But how much God has used that to bless others. Speaker 3 (5:14) Gary, I want to take a small break in our discussion because some people listening and watching might be going, man, they're just laying on the guilt right now. I mean, who can live that way? Does God really? dislike us if we want to have an air conditioner and a washer and dryer and a refrigerator that keeps our food cold. So just clarify that for the critic who's going, Speaker 1 (5:37) yeah, we're not going back to the caveman days. We don't have to look for crosses. Life in this fallen world will bring them to us. The whole idea, though, is the attitude. Because my whole passion for this book is, will you love Jesus more when you go through this? Because you're going to go through it. And I don't want the lie that somehow God is unhappy with you because you're facing it or that you should be angry with God. I share in the book a story for me. I've run distance running my entire life from the time I was a teenager in high school. And yet I've had these knee issues that now have become... more serious where I don't know if I'll ever be able to run another one again. My orthopedic surgeon who worked on my knee said, you probably shouldn't. You're going to cause more problems. But going through this, realizing I need adversity, I came out of it with this. Instead of being bitter, God, I can't believe you'd take this away. I need it for my