What's With The Name?

So Kept is a pretty strange name for a blog, I know.  Let me explain.  There seem to be a lot of people who think that missionaries are superhuman (or at the very least superchristian), that we lead ultra-exciting lives (like Indiana Jones with a Bible), and that we never struggle with doubt, unbelief, or sin.  I can’t really speak for anyone else, but that description certainly does not apply to THIS missionary.  I assure you that I am as ordinary as ordinary can be.  Just ask my little sister; she’ll tell you.  Actually, please don’t.  She knows too much!

Lately I have been struggling a lot with doubt and unbelief.  I feel like the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark 9:24 who cried out to Jesus, “I believe!  Help my unbelief!” I doubt whether I am really the right person for this job.  I doubt whether God hears me when I pray.  I doubt He’s willing to forgive me for that same sin…AGAIN.  I know what Scripture has to say about those things.  But when I don’t remind myself of the truth—and OFTEN—it seems like I slip back into my default patterns of doubt. 

I am a big fan of John Piper.  The other day I was listening to him online as he was discussing I Peter 1.  I’m including the link to this short teaching at the bottom of this blog because it was powerful. I have listened to it three times in the last 24 hours.  Do yourself a favor and check it out. It was verses 3-5 in particular that grabbed my attention.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are KEPT by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”   I don’t want to spoil it for you—you should take 15 minutes to go listen to it yourself—but John Piper’s point is that God doesn’t just save us.  He keeps us.  God Himself guards His children by preserving and sustaining their faith.  He keeps me by keeping my faith.  I can relax. I will wake up a Christian tomorrow morning, not because I deserve to be, not because I never struggle with doubt, and not if I can work up enough faith on my own.  I will wake up a Christian tomorrow morning because “He who began a good work in me will complete it.” I am not only saved, I am kept.  Held.  Guarded.  Protected.  And the truth of that was something I don't know that I've ever really pondered before.  Now I can't stop thinking about it!    

So there you have it.  That’s why I chose such a strange name for my new blog.  I can’t promise how often I’ll write here.  In fact, I had a blog about 4 years ago with three whole entries.  I think google gave up on me and deleted it.  But I do promise that when I write, I will be honest with you about missionary life here in the mountains of Guatemala—the good, the bad, the ugly, and the freakishly strange (which is what I get more often than not).

http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/why-your-faith-will-not-fail?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedpress.me&utm_campaign=Feed:+dg-articles#full-audio