live2bless: Recent Episodes
Charles Kelly
The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)
Notice that the Apostle’s prayer is for us to have power to grasp the immensity of Christ’s love for us. Perhaps our grasp has far more to do with keeping a firm grip on the truth that it is Jesus who has a hold on us. Here’s a few poetic lines well worth memorizing:
“Let me no more my comfort draw from my frail hold of thee in this alone rejoice with awe — thy mighty grasp of me!” John Campbell Shairp (1871)
The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)
Yesterday we considered the concept of “being rooted and established in love” as essential to being filled with the fulness of God. But in addition to that, the Apostle prays that the Ephesians “may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” This too is clearly vital for being filled with God’s fulness. I think it could be said that the more we experience of the love of Christ for us, the more we will experience the fulness of God in our lives.
But experiencing Christ’s love requires power, the power to grasp it. Why is that? I don’t think it’s because it is in some way evasive. The opposite is true. It’s because we are so evasive. That is to say, so easily distracted to where we lose sight of the one reality that — to experience it — is perfect peace and joy. We need power to keep redirecting our thoughts back to how precious we are to Jesus so that he can easily keep on reassuring us that it is so.
In my last podcast I proposed that what we read in Ephesians 3:19 could serve as an answer to the question, what is the supreme purpose of humanity. The answer? To “be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Notice that leading up to that the Apostle Paul writes that he’s praying that the Ephesian believers be rooted and established in love. Ephesians 3:17 (NIV)
For the sake of clarity, let’s use what I think is an excellent synonym for the greek word here translated “love.” The word is “helpfulness.” In that case the Apostle is praying for them to be rooted and established in helpfulness.
What does that look like? I suggest that the idea of being “rooted” in helpfulness means you’re committed to helping everyone you know become everything God created them to be no matter how they treat you or anyone else. In other words, through the power of the Holy Spirit you never allow how anyone treats you to unsettle your commitment to their ultimate spiritual well being, and you treat them accordingly.
To be “established” in helpfulness I suggests means that you’ve come to the realization that nothing else matters, that you really have nothing better to do than help others become what God created them to be.
It seems the apostle is implying that being rooted and established in helpfulness like that is in a sense essential to experiencing the fulness of God.
I have done a great deal of questioning and thinking regarding just what is the primary purpose for humanity. I came back to a passage in Ephesians that I think could serve as an answer, but before I read it, let’s consider how some long-standing Christian traditions have answered that question.
First consider the widely held Westminster Shorter Catechism. It teaches that the supreme purpose of man is to “glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “the primary purpose of humanity is to know, love, and serve God, and to thereby attain eternal happiness with Him” (CCC 1721, 1723).
From a Lutheran perspective, “the primary purpose of humanity is to live out one's vocation in faith and service, trusting in God's grace and working for the well-being of others and the advancement of God's kingdom in the world.” (ChatGPT)
In Anglican theology we find that “the primary purpose of humanity is to love and worship God, grow in holiness and sanctification, serve others with compassion and justice, and participate in God's mission of reconciliation and redemption in the world.” (ChatGPT)
In Eastern Orthodox theology we find that “the primary purpose of humanity is union with God and participation in His divine nature through theosis” that is, “the process of sanctification, whereby humans are transformed by grace into the likeness of Christ.” (ChatGPT)
Now here’s what I read in Ephesians 3:19 that I think could serve as an answer:
What is the supreme purpose of humanity?
To “be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Now let’s ask, What gets us to that end? And the answer appears in the preceding verses:
The Apostle Paul writes, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)
What does it mean to be growing spiritually? I suggest that it boils down to this: it is to always be outgrowing misconceptions of who we think God is. The reason I say this is so important is because literally every aspect of our lives mirrors what we actually believe God is like. Consequently, the more our thoughts of God line up with the truth of who he actually is, the greater our freedom and peace and joy and helpfulness. So blessed and growing is the person whose personal history “is littered with the debris of discarded misconceptions” of God.
In Roman’s 5:2, we read what strikes me as a peculiar statement, “and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.”
In seeking to understand this, let’s first consider the word, “hope”. Biblical hope is hardly what we think of when we hear that word. When we say, “I hope so,” we generally mean that we would like such-n-such to happen but it might not. Biblical hope is having a confident expectation in something that’s absolutely certain to happen. When God says, “this will happen” and you confidently expect it to happen you have what the Bible means by hope.
So back to our phrase, the “hope of God’s glory.” It’s a sure thing. We are going to participate in it. That’s why we can already rejoice in it. But in what? What does the apostle mean by “God’s glory”?
Perhaps we could define it as the sum of all that makes God so wonderful. And of all the qualities we could list, what I find outstanding beyond words to express is that he treats every aspect of his creation according to the value he’s placed upon it. And when it comes to us as human beings he has given us intrinsic, infinite value. He has made us as valuable to him as the blood of Jesus his Son in that Jesus laying down his life was the price of our redemption.
So God always treats us according to this incommensurable value he’s placed upon us and within us. For all time and eternity no one will ever be able to say that God could have treated them even a tiny bit better than he did. No one. And I’m suggesting that that is his glory.
And here’s the blessed hope: we are going to be made like that. The moment is coming when we too will treat everyone we meet with the same profound regard for their value to God as God himself does. So truly we can rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.
I don’t know that there is a verse in the Bible more searching in terms of how we see ourselves than this: Romans 2:1 (NET)
“You are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.”
By way of clarification, the Apostle Paul is referring to the kind of judging that looks down on others as being morally inferior or corrupt. With that in mind, perhaps a paraphrase might help:
“You are without excuse, whoever you are, when you look down on someone else. For on whatever grounds you consider someone to be morally compromised, you condemn yourself, because you who look down on someone else’s behavior practice the same things.”
What does the apostle mean? He can’t mean that the down-lookers do the exact same behaviors as those they look down on. I suggest he’s highlighting something deeper, that is, that everyone — without exception — has their own way of caving to their own moral weaknesses and frailties. Hence he’s saying, in effect, so you are looking down on someone else’s moral weakness? You had better have a good hard look at yourself and ask, just how am I doing at consistently overcoming my own moral frailties and weaknesses?
And if we are going to be brutally honest with ourselves, we know that just as that person who’s behavior we can’t stand is simply caving to his weakness, we are no different because we cave to our weaknesses too. Hence we do the same thing as the very person we’re looking down on.
In yesterday’s podcast I suggested that responsiveness to the work of Jesus is at the heart of spiritual maturity. Why? Because Jesus lived like that in relationship to his Father. Consider the following:
In John 5:19-20 (NET) Jesus said, 19 “…I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does.”
Notice that this means that the totality of Jesus’ actions were all merely a mimicking response to what God was doing. Perhaps that is why he said, “The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.” (John 12:45) Nothing he did originated with him so anyone could see God in action just by looking at Jesus in action.
Hence, the more the totality of our life is merely a mimicking response to Jesus the more it will be so that in seeing us in action others are seeing Jesus in action. That sounds to me like the essence of spiritual maturity.
I want to offer yet another definition of what I think spiritual maturity is all about.
It could be defined by how responsive a person is to the work of Jesus by his Spirit as evidenced by how much of a person’s inner and outer life is devoted to God’s friendship and to coworking with him in 24/7 helpfulness.
Notice that one of the key words in that statement is the word, “responsive.” Lord willing, tomorrow we’ll focus in on that word. But first, think it through for yourself: Just how do we remain responsive to the work of Jesus?
I’d like to set before you a paraphrase of that well known chapter on love found in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. I’m calling it a paraphrase, but actually I’m just replacing the word translated “love” with a word or concept that supplies what I take that biblical word love to mean. As best as I can tell, when we read that “God is love” or read about loving one another, something emotional is not what’s in view. What I think is in view is how we behave towards one another, and to me what we are being called to is embodied in the word “helpful.”
So with that in mind I offer the following:
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not allow God’s helpfulness to work through me, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not allow God’s helpfulness to work through me, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not allow God’s helpfulness to work through me, I receive no benefit.
4 God-guided helpfulness is patient, God-guided helpfulness is kind, it is not envious. God-guided helpfulness does not brag, it is not puffed up. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth.
7 God-guided helpfulness bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 God’s helpfulness never ends.
But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and God-guided helpfulness. But the greatest of these is God-guided helpfulness.
Jesus said, “I am the life…” What did he mean by that? For sure he was referring to something far bigger than physical life. It seems to me that the concepts of life and purpose are inseparable. I would go so far as to say that life is purposeful living.
If that is so then let’s take it another step and say that purposeful living could be defined by how much of a person’s life expresses spiritual maturity. And I like to define spiritual maturity as God-guided, 24/7 helpfulness.
So in saying, “I am the life…” we could take that to mean that Jesus is saying that he is source of all purposeful living — all God-guided helpfulness.
What is a spiritually mature life?
I suggest that it is a life of 24/7 helpfulness. I say helpfulness because I can’t think of a better synonym for indicating what the word “love” means in the Bible.
Here’s a corresponding question: what is the cutting edge of how that helpfulness manifests?
I suggest it is to be so inwardly peaceful, joyful, and free
of “here’s what I think!”
or thoughts of “what’s here for me?”
that upon contact with someone
your attention is completely focused
on having that person experience something more
of how infinitely valuable he or she is to Jesus.
Now and again I bump up against someone who likes to define the Christian life and interpret the Bible in terms of systems. For that matter a great deal of Christian writing focuses one’s attention on developing a system by which one relates to God.
What am I referring to? I’m referring to the habit of organizing ideas in the Bible into certain categories. A theological system gathers verses together about God and puts them into headings and subheadings and may refer to them as “The Doctrine of God”. A moral system rallies verses to create a code of conduct and may dub it “Christian Ethics”. And there can be verses that together would make up soteriology or the “Doctrine of Salvation”. And then there’s ecclesiology, the “Doctrine of the Church” and eschatology, the “Doctrine of Death, Judgement, and our Final Destiny” and so on.
The early Christian church took many of these doctrines and in a sense condensed them into a concise set of affirmations such as the Nicene Creed.
Is there value in this? In organizing the teachings in the Bible into various confessions and categories? I would say so. We do well to be acquainted with what the Bible does teach about these various topics. But I suggest that there is a limit to the value of doing that.
My contention is that theological, creedal, or ecclesiastical systems are temporary supports that, like a cast or crutch, help us get moving in spite of a compromised limb. But there comes a point sooner or later when the call comes to quit looking to a system and “walk in the truth” — 1 John 1:3 — and “strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees” — Hebrews 12:12.
In the words of Jesus to the master systematizers of his day, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39,40)
That sounds to me like a call to find out what it means to live in the immediate and constant presence of Jesus with him as our sole interpreter of both the Scriptures and everyday life. The cast or crutch serves a vital role, but only up until his hand takes yours and you’re off!
The words of Jesus in Matthew 12:30 read, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
To safeguard one person’s value to God is to safeguard everyone’s. To violate one person’s value is to violate everyone’s.
How so? Perhaps it is because Jesus is at work, the world over, every moment in the depths of every human heart. He is constantly seeking to open every heart to know how valuable it is to God. When I am in agreement with him the balance of power in this world shifts in his favor and everything he is doing gathers momentum. But when I am not in agreement, I scatter that momentum and his work in each heart suffers.
So consider that we have at our fingertips endless opportunities to advance the purposes of incommensurable goodness in others with just a thought of blessing, especially a prayer-filled thought or we can just as easily co-op with evil.
A prayer is in order:
“Jesus, on the cross you were made to be the totality of my sinful self — the nightmare of what I am without you so that in you I might become the righteousness of God. Let this be one more day when, by constantly affirming of the preciousness of others to you, my repentance advances your redeeming power to reverse all the horror I’ve done or that which I failed to protect others from. Amen.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 — “God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NET)
“…Even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.”
Are you trying to dodge, avoid, reject, change up, or get away from something you find threatening, demanding, distasteful, unpleasant?
Let’s refer to whatever that is as a difficulty. The message of the Scriptures seems inescapable: that difficulty was either uniquely ordained for you by Jesus or is subject to his redeeming power to develop in you insights or a perspective that will end up in one way or another profoundly and positively influencing everyone you meet in this world and the next.
What you learn by reacting industriously to the difficulty will reveal to others through you something distinctive of Jesus’ perspective or thoughts. It is something of him or from him they can encounter no where else in all creation. And, while in this world, it stands to help soften their hearts to be more receptive to his direct work within them.
It is just such an influence that, I’m persuaded, is an eternal, incommensurable weight of glory — a glory that elsewhere the Apostle Paul writes “will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18 NIV)
Romans 1:16-17 (NET) 16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”
Regarding the “righteousness of God” mentioned, one scholar points out that that the phrase a righteousness of God is in the subjective genitive, meaning a God kind of righteousness. (Robertson)
Just what is this God kind of righteousness? I suggest that it is God always acting according the intrinsic value he gives to each person. He never treats anyone in any way less than what reflects that person’s infinite worth to him.
And so with us if we are to be what the Apostle Paul calls “the righteousness of God” in this world. How can this be even remotely possible? — “from faith to faith.”
Perhaps we could say that this God kind of righteousness is born of trusting God, is sustained by trusting God, and comes to it’s fullness of expression in our lives only through trusting God. By that I mean, trusting God to open our eyes and keep them open so that we only see others through his eyes. Because the more we see what God sees in people, the more our thoughts, words, and actions, will reflect their preciousness to him. We will indeed become his righteousness in this world.
Romans 1:1-7 (NET)
1 “From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. 2 This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh, 4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name. 6 You also are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!”
Did you notice the two references to being called in these verses? The first one was that we are “called to belong to Jesus Christ”, the second one, “called to be saints” that is, God’s holy people.
I suggest that the first calling gives rise to the second. In other words, the more of us that we acknowledge belongs to Jesus the less vulnerable we will be to temptation. Why? Because temptation is always directed to something we still see ourselves in charge of. But if we truly belong to Jesus as his slave, then — with reference to ourselves — we have no say about how someone else’s “slave” should handle or respond to anything. That’s the master’s business.
I’ve been doing some studying about belonging to Jesus Christ and have been trying to think through just what that means. In the course of it I stumbled across this gem that dates back to the year 1563. I’m referring to the opening question and answer in a catechism drafted in Heidelberg Germany. It seems to me it could easily pass for something every believer would do well to memorize.
The question reads:
Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,1 but belong— body and soul, in life and in death—2 to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5
He also watches over me in such a way6 that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;7 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8
Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.10
The Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
1 1 Cor. 6:19-20 2 Rom. 14:7-9 3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14 4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2 5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11 6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5 7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18 8 Rom. 8:28 9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14 10 Rom. 8:1-17
This week I’ve been reflecting on a quote I read recently by philosopher Martin Buber. “When I meet a man, I am not concerned about his opinions. I am concerned about the man." ~ Martin Buber
That sounds to me a lot like how it is that God looks at us. It’s not our opinions that matter to him, it’s us. It’s who we are. We all walked away from God, and may even be his bitter enemies as far as what it is we tell ourselves God is like. But even so, with all our pathetic opinions of him, he still sent his Son to die for us.
I’m seeing there’s something here for me to learn: I plan to become increasingly disinterested in anyone’s opinions in favor of focusing on the person himself so as to be concerned just about who he or she is beyond all opinions.
I just read a remarkable article. A “Kentucky mother of two went to the hospital last month to receive what she figured would be a routine treatment for a kidney stone. Lucinda Mullins, 41, ultimately ended up losing both legs and both arms from the elbows down.” The cause was sepsis.
The article goes on to say that “Mullins apparently took the bad news in stride, leaning into her faith and family.” In her words, ”I just said these are the cards I've been dealt, and these are the hands I'm going to play.” Mullins noted that if "one person … can see God from all this, that made it all worth it.”
What is it we see? We see God’s sustaining power shining through her unbelievable positive reaction to a horrifying personal disaster — living the rest of her life without hands or feet.
None of us knows what’s ahead for us in this year, but of this we can be sure: There are going to come troubles and difficulties we sure wish would never come. So let’s ask the question, what do the people around me stand to learn of God by virtue of how I react to the troubles coming my way? Are my reactions going to magnify his goodness, even so, or make him out to be apathetic or indifferent to our life’s troubles?
We can be sure that Lucinda Mullins had this figured out long before her tragedy struck. And we too need to win this battle before it’s ever fought.
How so? The key, it seems to me, is to flat out reject each and every thought of discouragement, dissatisfaction, or disappointment. Give such thoughts no place whatsoever in one’s reactions to anything. Then it means to always walk in praise and thanksgiving to God no matter what we are going through, come what may.
I stumbled across an interesting remark by a greek scholar on the phrase in John 1:4 where we read —with reference to Jesus — that “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” The scholar pointed out that “the article with both ‘life’ and ‘light’ makes them interchangeable.” In other words, both the following statements are true:
that life was the light of all mankind
and
that light was the life of all mankind
The meaning of the word life with reference to God seems to me to be best defined as “purposeful living.” Hence, in Jesus we find purposeful living and it is both light and life for humanity’s baneful existence — a way out.
But the way out — purposeful living — is the path of constant helpfulness, that is to say, the path of divine love.
So it seems to me that the life, light, and love of God are one and the same reality, for that matter — a Person.
Luke 19:10 — “The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
Psalm 23:3b — “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.”
What are the “paths of righteousness”? I suggest that, over all, it is not only to constantly act in a manner that — as much as possible — reveres another person’s value to God, but it’s to be always seeking to discern why God is uniquely interested in seeking out that person’s friendship, that is, why he created that specific individual.
In a recent podcast I listed 4 of what I consider to be essential human needs. I’ve since added a 5th. Then I looked at each one in the light of what it means to belong to Jesus Christ. In fact, I’ve been wondering if in just belonging to Jesus we would discover that all these critical needs are completely addressed. You make the call.
- SIGNIFICANCE: our need to know we matter in life
If you belong to Jesus Christ
you have as your best friend
the greatest friend anyone can have
— the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords —
who nonetheless uniquely enjoys you and your companionship.
- SECURITY: our need to feel safe
You no longer own
what you have —
Jesus does.
You no longer decide
how you’ll meet
your mental, emotional,
physical, or spiritual needs —
Jesus does.
- GUIDANCE: our need to know what to do next
You no longer decide
what you’ll do
with the day —
Jesus does.
You no longer decide
how you’ll handle
this or that problem —
Jesus does.
- SERENITY: our need for peace of mind and heart
You no longer shoulder
your fears, cares, worries,
regrets, or heartaches —
Jesus does.
- JOY: our need for real and lasting happiness
You no longer decide
how interested you’ll be
in someone else’s wellbeing
for if you belong to Jesus Christ
you’re personal preferences
are your deadly enemies
and he is your life
— constant unconditional helpfulness —
that in anyone’s presence says,
nothing matters to me more
right now
than what Jesus wants to do in you
and I am honored and blessed
that he’s giving me this chance
to show you something more
of how precious you are to him.
So I say, that in belonging to Jesus we experience what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote, “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Colossians 2:9,10
Here’s a textbook definition of Deductive reasoning it is “the mental process of drawing deductive inferences. An inference is deductively valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, i.e. it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false.”
And this is what a syllogism is “a three-part logical argument, based on deductive reasoning, in which two premises are combined to arrive at a conclusion.”
Now let me give you an example of a syllogism.
Premise number 1 — All human beings are mortal.
Premise number 2 — Samuel is a human being.
Conclusion — Therefore, Samuel is mortal.
Take note from the definition above: “it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false.” In other words, if the premises are true as in the example — “All human beings are mortal.” and “Samuel is a human being” the conclusion must be true — “Samuel is mortal.”
Now consider this syllogism. I’m referring to myself, but put yourself in it if it’s true of you too and then, in the midst of anything unpleasant you’re presently facing, take some time to think it through.
Premise #1 — Jesus always takes complete and perfect care of all that belongs to him.
Premise #2 — I belong to Jesus.
Conclusion — Therefore, I am always completely and perfectly cared for by Jesus.
And it also follows that any thought to the contrary is a lie.
Why don’t answers come when it seems we most need them? Why does a problem seem to go unaddressed or unresolved?
God could take care of it instantly or at least in a way that reassures us the answer is on its way, but he doesn’t. Why? Because he wants to know what we really think: he’s checking out the depth of our trust in him, our commitment to him.
This has always been God’s way. In Deuteronomy 8:2 we read Moses’ word to the Israelites, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”
Will we grow impatient or afraid or worried or upset or discouraged or just quit altogether? Or will we unflinchingly stand face to the wind and reaffirm “my God has got this! He will most assuredly come through for me! I know he will!”
Here’s a quote by Jordan Peterson:
“If you want to be excellent,
staying consistent with your goals and positive habits
over time
will separate you from the herd of mediocrity.
It all starts with a goal.
If you don’t have a destination in mind,
you’re just adrift at sea going with the flow.”
Notice: “It all starts with a goal.”
I suggest to you that that goal needs to be big enough
to ultimately meet our deepest needs.
Just what are our deepest needs? Four come to mind:
-
significance: our need to always know we matter in life
-
security: our need to always feel safe
-
serenity: our need for constant peace of mind and heart
-
joy: our need for real and lasting happiness
Now let’s take a step back and ask, WHY WERE WE CREATED?
The answer? For God
In Hebrews 2:10 — with reference to God — we read that all things exist through him and for him.
In other words, the universe comes out of God, by means of God, for God.
But also, For Jesus
In Colossians 1:16 we read, “For by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him.”
What does “for him” mean?
-
He created each of us for his personal enjoyment through having a unique and intimate friendship with each of us.
-
He created us to cowork with him in the joyful adventure of helping everyone we know become his friend too.
Let’s add all this together: So what is the ultimate goal?
It is to be God's friend and coworker in this world.
To the extent that we make that aim the very center of our lives we will enjoy it’s fruit: constant significance, security, peace, and joy.
Everybody says discipline is so important
but they never want to tell you why.
I’ll tell you why discipline is so important.
It’s the strongest form of self love.
It’s ignoring something you want right now
for something better later on.
Discipline reveals the commitment you have to your dreams.
Especially on days where you don’t want to.
The future is you depending on the current you
to keep the promises you made to yourself yesterday.
“[Discipline is] the strongest form of self love.”
Disordered self-love
is a self-centered “me first” mentality.
True self-love
is caring for yourself
in such a way
that it helps you stay focused
on what’s ultimately important.
“[Discipline is] ignoring something you want right now”
What’s that?
Just to think of yourself — what pleases you —
regardless
of how it affects anyone else.
“[Discipline is] ignoring something you want right now
for something better later on.”
What’s that?
The ultimate importance
and sheer joy
of knowing that your life
makes things better
for everyone you meet.
Jesus put it like this: “It is more joyous to give than to receive.”
Living a life like that is the ultimate dream.
“Discipline reveals the commitment you have to your dreams.
Especially on days where you don’t want to.”
How committed are you
to other people’s happiness?
You are as committed
as you are faithful in saying “no!”
to just what you want,
and “yes!”
to what you know keeps you helpful.
“The future is you depending on the current you
to keep the promises you made to yourself yesterday.”
If you said to yourself,
“I want to live making things better for everyone I meet”
then your success tomorrow
is dependent on doing today
what you know keeps you helpful.
Perhaps we could sum up in one thought how to go about fulfilling God’s will: seek to look at all of life through God’s eyes.
That’s worthy of being a constant prayer because it seems to me that the more we share God’s perspective on ourselves and others and our circumstances, the more free we will be to let God care for us while we attend to what he is always doing — helping his creation.
In yesterday’s podcast I indicated that every good thing that we could ever need or want came to us wrapped up in those strips of cloth — that baby in the feed box.
In Jesus, all we could ever want or need has been already poured out. Why is it that we may not be enjoying God's provision? It has nothing to do with anyone in our lives nor anything going on in our circumstances. It has to do with our blocking the flow in one way or another.
How do we do that?
Here are three ways that come to mind:
Barrier #1 — turning a blind eye to how desperate our heart condition is. We see ourselves as “good folk” so what do we need God’s forgiveness or compassion and help for?
Barrier #2 — ignorance of the fact that God is pure helpfulness — that he is wholeheartedly, lovingly, delightfully and uniquely interested in us, in meeting all our needs and solving all our problems.
Barrier #3 — still thinking we need to take ownership of ourselves to meet our needs and desires and solve our problems instead of just belonging to Jesus — spirit, soul, mind, and body — after which we live trusting him to fill us with his answers as he cares for what is his and uses what is his however he pleases.
Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
I’m convinced that most important thing about you is what you think God thinks about you. The more you know he treasures you and cares for you, the more you’ll trust him and share more of yourself with him and the more interested you’ll be to help others come to know what you know.
For that matter, to the extent that our thoughts don’t revolve around an interest in having others know what we know about how loved they are by God, to that extent we’re still struggling against some degree of bondage in our life. It’s a bondage rooted in us not knowing how much we matter to him so we’re still preoccupied — slaving away at trying to meet our needs or solve our problems.
Whereas every good thing that we could ever need or want came to us wrapped up in those strips of cloth — that baby in the feed box. And he came down to us with God’s intention within him to meet our every need — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, along with all needed guidance, wisdom, and power. In other words, in the gift of Jesus our every need was anticipated and provided for, and every problem we have or could have was resolved.
We are free — free to live our lives devoted to helping others know what we know about how much God loves them.
I’m sure you’ve heard it too. It’s that voice from within that says, “you need this…you need that…you want this…you want that…this is what you must do…” or, “…avoid that.” In other words, you take charge, you make it happen, you resolve the situation like this.”
All that jargon in spite of the fact that God has made it clear that we already have all our needs met and problems solved. Here’s what he’s done:
Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
2 Peter 1:3 (CSB)
“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
Notice, “has blessed us…has given us”.
So it seems to come down to this: we can focus our attention on what we see and feel as to what’s going on or we can take our stand on the word of God and be done with every contrary voice.
Psalm 33:22 — “Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.”
The whole process of growing in the Christian life could be described as a shift in perspective — going from living according to our perspective on God, ourselves, others, or our circumstances, to adopting God’s perspective.
Consider the following:
If this is true:
“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”
Then this is true:
I have and will never have any unfulfilled needs, unsolved problems, or unredeemed suffering that either I’ve perpetuated or endured — my good Shepherd has it all in hand. I lack nothing.
1 John 2:15-17 (NIV) 15 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
Just what is the world?
1) “The world” is present in “the lust of the flesh”, that is, an indulgence of desires that resists giving up sovereign control to do as I please. My mantra is, “I don’t want anyone telling me what I can or can’t do!”
2) “The world” is present in “the lust of the eyes”, that is, in any resistance to denying myself or exercising restraint on acquiring things I don’t need. My mantra is, “If I want it I’ll see to it I get it!”
3) “The world” is present in “the pride of life”, that is, an inflated view of myself, my morality, or what I own that resists acknowledging my moral bankruptcy. My mantra is “If people want to get things right they need to do things my way.”
John 15:18 (GW) — “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me before it hated you.”
1) Hated because our lives shine with the humility of belonging to God, surrendered to the purposes and will of God, and consequently indifferent to human pressure or expectations.
2) Hated because our lives shine with the perfect peace and contentment of knowing we have a good Shepherd who meets our every need and solves our every problem all in good time.
3) Hated because our lives shine into the darkness, exposing shameful behaviors, and openly acknowledging the damage we do to ourselves and others, and that we live in constant need of a Savior to forgive and redeem the moral messes we make.
Galatians 6:14: “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
= because of the cross we now have only one thing in common with the world — a mutual disgust and loathing — a hatred. The world hates our God-centered mentality, we hate the world’s godless mentality.
The whole point of Jesus saying to us, “I am the truth” in tandem with our saying, “Jesus is Lord” is that in submission to him we begin to interact with him as the sole interpreter to our hearts of absolutely everything.
- Jesus alone interprets God to us.
- Jesus alone interprets our past, present, and future experiences to us.
- Jesus alone interprets other people’s words and actions to us along the lines of whatever will help us cowork with him in helping them.
When we relate to him in that way, his Spirit then causes all our emotions, reactions, and behaviors to be spot on. He produces in us perfectly fitting responses to God, others, our past, and our present.
Unsatisfactory emotions or actions reveal that we reverted to listening to ourselves as the interpreter of what’s gone on or is going on. Such emotions or behaviors serve as a important “red flags” that alert us to our mistaken roll.
The prayer then is, “Jesus, how do you see this? I do not care about how I or anyone else sees this. You interpret it to me.”
Hence the vital importance of creating an atmosphere within of praise and thanksgiving or of intercession, or abject inner silence or complete attentiveness when listening to someone or reflecting on something.
In Colossians 1:15-16 (GW) with reference to Christ we read, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are kings or lords, rulers or powers everything has been created through him and for him.”
What does created for him mean? I suggest, for his enjoyment. And what brings him joy in regards to us? That we should see God the Father and all creation as he does — through his eyes.
Psalms 36:7-9 (NIV) 7 “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.”
It seems to all come down to this: to see all reality — our God, ourselves, others, the scriptures, everything that comes to our attention, all that has happened or will happen to us or around us through the eyes of Jesus Christ. To that extent we will be living in the truth and consequently in perfect freedom, full of peace and joy and spontaneously, selflessly helpful. “In your light we see light.”
Here’s one more thought on receiving the gift of God’s righteousness. Only Jesus knows how to adequately and fully affirm another person infinite preciousness to God. As our eyes are opened to someone’s value, we will think, speak, and act accordingly, but as to just how that is to play out, only Jesus knows. So we must come to him not only for him to put that salve on our eyes and help us see what God sees in those around us, but for the wisdom to know precisely what thoughts to think, words to say, and things to do that will most affirm their value to God.
I’m sure I have brought this up on a previous podcast, but I’d like to highlight this thought from a different angle. It has to do with a definition I’m formulating of the word righteousness.
I think it could be asserted that living in the “fear of the Lord” or “walking in righteousness” sums up to a large degree the substance of what being a man or woman of God was in the Old Testament.
Righteousness for the apostle Paul was huge. He writes of himself that “according to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.” (Philippians 3:6) But then when he was shown that all his righteousness was as filthy rags he turned to Christ in order to “gain Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.” (3:8-9)
So what is this righteousness “from God”?
I suggest that it is first and foremost the ability to see others — insofar as we are able — as God sees them, as being infinitely precious to him. That is a gift from God that Christ faithfully imparts to all who want it. Perhaps it is the result of the “salve … put on your eyes, so you can see” that Jesus refers to in Revelation 3:18.
What follows completes the picture: the more we see people as God sees them the more we will think, act, and speak accordingly. And we will be on our guard to immediately reject with utter loathing any thought that in anyway depreciates another person’s value. For that matter, every time we step into another person’s life our whole attitude will be one of, “I am here to help you, encourage you, build you up, see you strengthened, redeemed, restored, made fully alive.”
That is precisely the spirit in which Jesus approaches each of us, and he is called the “righteousness of God.” And thankfully he is more than willing to put his healing salve on our eyes.
Recently I’ve been thinking about what could be the minimal basis upon which to have unity among Christians. I offer the following five propositions:
1) a shared confession that the 66 books of the Bible are God’s inerrant Word.
Old Testament: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.”
John 10:35
Jesus: “The scripture cannot be broken.”
Gospels: John 14:25-26
“I have spoken these things while staying with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.”
Epistles: Galatians 1:11-12
“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. For I did not receive it or learn it from any human source; instead I received it by a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 3:15-16
“And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of these things in all his letters. Some things in these letters are hard to understand, things the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures.”
2) a personal submission to Jesus Christ as “my Lord and my God!”
John 20:28 — “Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
3) a commitment to obey God the Father’s command, “Listen to him!”
Mark 9:7 — “Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
4) a profound regard for the intrinsic and infinite value to God of every man, woman, and child.
John 3:16-17 — “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.”
1 John 2:2 — “And he (Jesus) himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.”
1 Peter 1:18-19 — “You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed—not by perishable things like silver or gold, but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ.”
5) a tenderhearted acceptance of other believers who, while holding to 1-4 above, may have varied convictions regarding disputable matters, systems of church organization, worship, and outreach, or regarding what they believe the Lord Jesus personally calls them to be, do, or avoid.
Romans 15:7 — “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
I was once visiting with a friend who was struggling to find peace of mind. I wasn’t that sure of what all was contributing to his unrest, but as it turns out he was convinced that God only loves those who walk in sinless perfection. All the rest, he believed, God hates. Added to that was his assertion that he had no sin in his life. But, frankly, it seemed to me that that explained much of his inner turbulence.
I just don’t see how any honest soul could ever see himself as anything but a sinner in constant need of mercy and forgiveness. As I see it, to lay claim to some sort of sinless state requires either lowering the bar as to just what constitutes sin or choosing to ignore the obvious fact that in this life we will have hardly even gotten started to become what God calls us to be.
Consider this: who of us comes even remotely close to treating others according to the infinite value God places upon them? We are so many light years off the rails from this that any thought to the contrary is laughable. If angels laugh among themselves — and I’m sure they do — then surely they must have some outbursts of laughter whenever they hear a Christian say that he’s doing a good job at obeying God.
Better by far is to take our eyes off of ourselves altogether, as much as possible, and keep them on Jesus and trust him to constantly make up the difference on our pathetic attempts at righteousness. He’ll gladly do so. That’s the sort of redemptive intervention he delights to give.
Allow me to share with you what I found are two helpful quotes. The first is by Peter Kreeft from his book Prayer for Beginners. And the second is from Ted Shimer in his book, The Freedom Fight
“Trusting God's grace means trusting God's love for us rather than our love for God. […] Therefore our prayers should consist mainly of rousing our awareness of God's love for us rather than trying to rouse God's awareness of our love for him.”
And the second quote: “What a person trusts in is revealed by what they turn to in order to make them[selves] feel better.”
The other day I wrote down for myself what I consider to be some all-important attitudes:
1) towards yourself — because you know what you say and do even though you know better, you know that — along with the apostle Paul — you stand to be the biggest sinner anyone will ever meet.
2) towards others —
(a) because you know yourself, your attitude is such that you find it impossible to look down on anyone else for where they go wrong;
(b) because you know how in need of forgiveness you always are, your attitude is such that you eagerly lavish forgiveness on everyone you know;
(c) because you see others as being infinitely precious to God, your attitude is such that you consider them worthy of whatever God calls you to do in working with him to help them;
(d) because you know that apart from the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, you can do nothing of eternal value, your attitude is such that — behind the scenes of all you say and do — you wholeheartedly rely on the Spirit for his influence to flow through you;
3) towards God — because you know that God always knows best, your attitude is such that you are totally committed to doing what pleases him, whatever the cost.
2 Corinthians 4:17 — “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
C. S. Lewis, in his book “The Weight of Glory” (1941) writes the following: “To please God . . . to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness . . . to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son — it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”
I don’t know that I have ever heard another believer say that they aspire to be “a real ingredient in the divine happiness.” And I think that is so because we just have not been taught to think in terms of God treasuring us. The concept that God loves us has not been sufficiently thought through — it seems to me — to where we know that in having created us for himself, God established in himself a room in his heart, so to speak, for each of us. And the surprising delight in it is that we alone can occupy it. We stand to bring him a measure of joy he can find nowhere else in all that he’s created. To be able to bring this happiness to him is not only an unspeakable joy for us, but an unimaginable honor.
So when you look up to the Lord, pause to let it sink in that in bringing yourself to him you are being to him a actual, real ingredient in his happiness.
Matthew 7:13,14 — “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Why is the gate small that leads to life? One thing Jesus may be wanting us to understand is that not much fits through that small gate, perhaps only this: a completely deflated ego. If that’s not the case, we won’t be able to get through.
What is a deflated ego? If I’m reading it right, devotional writers from years ago referred to our ego as “the self”. They wrote about the “self life” as an attitude in us that wants everything to go our way, essentially, an inflated ego. We think we know best.
That, I’m suggesting, is what Jesus’ words are aimed at. There is simply no way anyone who thinks he knows best can make it through the small gate and onto the narrow road. Not until we are convinced once for all that only God knows best can we squeeze through and head up the road to life.
In Joshua 24:15 — Joshua confronted God’s people saying “…If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
It’s interesting to note that the choice Joshua puts before the people is not a choice between the Lord or other gods, but rather that if they reject the Lord, they must choose between those other gods.
That suggests to me that if we turn away from the one true and living God, life becomes confusing and complicated — what god will we then serve?
1 Corinthians 9:25-27 (NIV) 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
How would you define what that prize is? Perhaps this lengthy question will help. I believe you can read a transcript of this podcast on the Spotify page below the recording if you’d like to review it. Even so, let me read it twice.
What purpose for your life do you believe would be so personally meaningful, so worthwhile, so profoundly joyful to be living it day by day, that you would welcome life’s sufferings, evils, personal challenges, frustrations, and difficulties, as opportunities to expose and eradicate attitudes and reactions in you that stand to interfere with fulfilling that purpose?
1 Corinthians 9:24 (NIV) — “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
Next to a one-of-a-kind heart to heart friendship with each of us, I believe the greatest gift God gives us every moment of the day is the opportunity to allow his influence to flow through us.
Everything else in our lives is merely context.
However, within the context, we face a steady stream of things we like and don’t like. Why?
Because it is essential for strengthening our hold on Spirit-enabled stick-to-itiveness. That is to say, these things give us a chance to grow in becoming less vulnerable to letting life’s pleasures or difficulties distract us from winning the prize. What prize? That of an uninterrupted flow through us of God’s influence.
I was up early this morning and had the following three thoughts come to me. I’m going to pass them on to you here for your consideration:
1) If for no other reason, help others out of sheer gratitude that you are not the one presently in need of the help you can give.
2) Be a friend who refuses to take issue with all the ways some people make it easy for others to reject them.
3) Be a friend to God who refuses to attribute to him what most people think justifies rejecting him.
In other words — the words of Jesus — “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” — Matthew 7: 13,14
Religious sacrifice in the ancient world and where it is still practiced today has always been an enigma to me. This is especially true of what I read in the Bible, where God set up a sacrificial system at the very heart of his relationship to his people. Consider this summary statement found in Hebrews 9:22, “According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
But when you think about it, notice that everyday life is all about making sacrifices. There is no getting around it. Every choice we make is selective. We choose to do one thing and all that we could have otherwise done is sacrificed.
And within the context of relating to God, the Israelites were given this first of the Ten Commandments, “you shall have no other God’s besides me.” By implication, God was their abundance of joy-filled, purposeful living. Hence out of love for his people he was against any divided loyalty as that which would destroy such a blessed life.
But in the event of breaking that law, an animal sacrifice was stipulated by God as the way back. The sacrificed animal life involved was a visual way of saying, I am dead to the choice I made. I am again putting God first and sacrificing all my alternative attempts at purposeful, joyful living.
Only when this was what the animal sacrifice meant to the worshipper was the sacrifice pleasing to God. The sacrifice didn’t mean anything on it’s own. For that matter God explicitly rejected sacrifices that did not represent a repentant heart.
However, something deeper was also involved because every sin of not putting God first is also in some way a sin against God’s love for one’s neighbor. Either directly or indirectly, seen or unseen, known or unknown, every sin has the effect of diminishing other people’s value to God.
The seriousness of this is ominous since each person is immeasurably valuable to God. That means any sin against anyone warranted an incalculably great consequence. For that matter, so great a consequence that the animal sacrifices were just a prefigure, a foreshadowing that could not and did not resolve this part of what was going on.
Why? Because our value is intrinsic and infinite. Hence infinite retribution is required to answer for any sin since it diminishes human value. Anything short of that and we imply that the worth of the victim has a limit.
This is why God could never “just forgive” us. Take away everlasting retribution and we are implying that human beings are not quite that valuable to God.
And yet God loves each of us with an incalculably great love — a love as great as our worth. And although wrathful beyond measure at all the ways anyone of us diminishes the value of another, God could not bear the thought of meting out endless retribution on any one of us.
So he came into the world and being eternal, he took that penalty on to himself for an infinite and unspeakably dreadful moment. He suffered the everlasting retribution due us for all the thoughts, words, and ways we diminished one another’s value to him. By his sacrifice our intrinsic and infinite worth was upheld and vindicated. And now he can freely forgive us of our every wrong.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
Hebrews 3:13 “Encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
What is God’s righteousness? I’m persuaded that to is to see people through God's eyes. And what do we see? We see people who are so exceedingly valuable to him that the only matching price tag God could put on them was the precious blood of his son, Jesus. And how precious is the blood of Christ? We know that it is incommensurably precious — that is to say — it is beyond all standards of measurement. Hence there is no limit to the value God places on us.
So to be the righteousness of God, is to live increasingly seeing others through God's eyes. That in turn leads us to always seek to deeply respect and magnify the their value in everything we think, say, and do.
Conversely, unrighteousness is living indifferent to other people’s value to God. Horrifyingly, when we believe no one matters to God, and come to the place where we no longer seek to self-sacrificially help or protect anyone, we are on the road to the place of the dead — a hard heart. And eventually no matter how many exit ramps God gives us to make our way back, we will ignore them all.
In explaining my podcast title, allow me to highlight two things.
First that I realize I’m on earth for one double tiered reason. The bottom or supporting tier is to be always walking in friendship with Jesus. That means sharing all of myself with him and in turn seeking to receive all that he would share of himself with me. The second tier has to do with extending the offer of that same friendship to others by coworking with him in what he’s doing in their lives.
It is in this all-important cooperative that I’m trying to practice shutting up. This is because there is ultimately only one way to help others. It is to pay such close attention to Jesus that we end up doing only what we see or hear him doing or saying. That is the arrangement for working with him. He is always at his work and his work — what he is saying and doing — alone is transforming. Nothing I think, say, or do, is going to effect any spiritually profitable change whatsoever in anyone else. Zero.
So how do we pick up on what Jesus is, in fact, saying or doing in someone else’s life?
Several things come to mind.
First comes listening to others. By that I mean what could be called immersive listening — listening so carefully that we momentarily look at life through that person’s eyes.
Next comes a prayer that says, “Lord, help me pick up on what you want me to understand of this person’s situation right now and how you’d like me to respond.”
Couple that with a total silence within oneself. This is where telling myself to “shut up!” comes into play.
As you listen something — information — will suddenly emerge within that silence. It may be a comment or a question, but to act on it, I suggest, is to share in what Jesus is doing. What you do becomes one with what he is doing and it will always bear fruit.
James 4:7,8a (NET)
“…Submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”
First, submit to God. Here’s one way we can test the extent of our submission to God: Ask yourself the question, how honestly I can look at any prospective activity on any given day and say, “If God isn’t in it, if he’s not guiding me, I don’t want anything to do with it.”
Second, resist the devil. Pray, “In the name of Jesus I resist the devil and all that he stands for.”
And third, draw near to God. Where is he? Where will we find him? The best place to look is in the next helpful thing you can do for someone. For that matter, that is where you’ll find him looking for you. He’s been anticipating your help. Draw near to him as his coworker and he will most certainly draw near to you to work with you to make you a blessing.
- Take full ownership and responsibility for your every thought, word, action, and reaction.
Otherwise in the face of disagreeable behaviors in others or unpleasant circumstances, you are saying — and here fill in the pause in my voice with a person or circumstance —
“I am blaming __________ for my reaction to __________.”
Consider how delusional that sounds. It could serve as a definition for the word “irony” or “scapegoating.” Yet something like that is at the heart of virtually every irresponsible way of dealing with life’s difficulties.
It is true that sudden trauma can overwhelm us and instantly bring on mental or emotional pain or fear or anxiety. However, to the extent that we maintain a responsible perspective, we know that our inner upheaval can be kept to a momentary, dark interval. And we know that following that initial turbulence, we are still responsible for what effect we allow that distress to have on us.
Responsible people refuse to allow their inner life to be warped by weaknesses in others or circumstances they’d gladly wish away. They know that what does the warping is never those people or those circumstances. It comes from reacting poorly to them — with anger, fear, frustration, impatience, harshness, sarcasm, ridicule, contempt, unforgiveness, bitterness, discouragement, rejection.
No matter how ugly circumstances or people around us get, they have no inherent power to keep from us the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.
- Keep practicing what it takes to safeguard the Holy Spirit’s gifts of peace and joy.
Develop an internal momentum of constantly reflecting on (1) God’s steadfast, unfailing help and (2) his faithfulness in keeping his promises.
Isaiah 41:10 (NET) “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you—yes, I help you—yes, I uphold you with my victorious right hand!” [The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver and protect.]
Hebrews 10:23 (NIV) — “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV) “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
- Deepen your willingness to be constantly guided by God.
Frequently recollect the truth that he would never guide you to think, say, or do anything that is not ultimately the best, wisest, and most satisfying way forward.
Strengthening our willingness to listen is key because our ability to hear from the him is dependent upon our willingness to do what pleases him.
Someone who had a Near Death Experience returned from the other side with this insight: willingness to do and ability to hear are the same thing.
Routinely think long and hard on these three words: “God knows best.”
And pray,
“Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and provide me with a spirit of willing obedience.” Psalms 51:12 (GW)
In Matthew 7:15-16 (NET) Jesus taught: 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?”
Everyone of us has at our immediate disposal a way whereby we can judge our beliefs. We can instantly know if we are believing truth or lies.
The key is found in the words, “you will recognize them by their fruit.” I suggest these words can be applied to more than just identifying false prophets. We are being given a tool for exposing falsehood in our own beliefs as well.
Test #1 — If we are not normally peaceful and joyful within we are believing a lie.
Jesus also said, “the truth will set you free.”
Test #2 — If we can’t stop doing something we know is wrong, that too is the fruit of believing a lie.
Jesus asked, “Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?”
Asking God for peace, joy, or freedom, without being ready to have him expose and help us uproot the lies we’re believing is on par with believing a thorn bush could produce grapes or a thistle figs.
Hence, our prayer actually needs to be based on the following attitudes:
“This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.” Isaiah 66:2 (BSB)
“The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.” Psalms 51:17 (CSB)
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalms 139:23-24 (CSB)
“Make your ways known to me, LORD, and teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me because you are God, my savior. I wait all day long for you.” Psalms 25:4-5 (GW)
I offer this sample prayer: “Lord, I am not routinely peaceful, joyful, or free to shun temptation and walk in the light. Please show me what’s wrong in my thinking — the lies I’m believing. What are they? Expose them to me at any cost, come what may.”
Perhaps we need to redefine the purpose of prayer. Instead of thinking about it in terms of getting God's attention, what would happen if we saw it more as giving God our attention.
In so doing we come face to face with his infinite wisdom, goodness, and power. And coupled with the fact that we are dear to him, wouldn’t that have quite an impact on how and what we pray?
In Isaiah 5:7 the Lord refers to his people with what I suggest is one of the most endearing expressions in the entire Bible. We read, “The vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the garden of his delight.”
How beautiful is that? It seems to speak to what is on God's heart of hearts for us. Once he calls us to himself and we yield to his ownership, he continually seeks us out to be to him a joy, a delightful garden.
What does that mean? Well, he wants to take delight in us first because we listen carefully to him. In a world that by in large is always talking over and even yelling over his appeals, how precious it must be to him to find a receptive listening heart. Being his garden of delight also means being tuned in to what matters to him. Again, think of how the vast majority of people live focused on only what is important to them. And then it means we value him as a person, far above and beyond all that he does for us. It means being able to say to him, “Lord, even if you did nothing for me I would still treasure you as my best friend.”
Luke 12:4-7 (NIV) 4 “I tell you, my friends,
do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.
5 But I will show you whom you should fear:
Fear him who, after your body has been killed,
has authority to throw you into hell.
Yes, I tell you, fear him.
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?
Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.
7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
In Isaiah 11:3 we read of Jesus that “he will delight in the fear of the LORD.”
Notice how forcefully Jesus puts this on his disciples— “Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
The context is God’s awesome power — his authority, beyond the death of the body, to throw us into hell.
But then notice that Jesus immediately draws attention to another feature, so to speak, of God's unfathomable power — his tender concern for sparrows and his awareness of everything about us down to the number of hairs on our heads. Then Jesus follows that up with, “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Yes, our awareness of God needs to be enfolded in a constant profound state of shock—a deep regard for his immense power and with respect to all that matters to him. But then, in addition to that, Jesus calls us to an unshakable security and peace in the truth that we matter to this great God.
Hell is the place people go to who make a friendship with God impossible because their helpfulness is selective and conditional. And that’s because they live alone in the driver’s seat of their lives.
Heaven is where people go who are God’s friend because they help everyone no matter how they are treated by anybody. And that’s because they live in the passenger’s seat of their lives with Jesus at the wheel.
Why does the Bible put such stress on the importance of our personal trials and adversities? I suggest it is because — cheerfully responded to — they lay the foundation of what makes us increasingly useful to God. When we respond well to them they help us devalue transitory blessings and value the enduring realities of life such as loyalty, humility, compassion, kindness, gentleness.
This world with its desires is passing away, but what we gain through every single adversity faced with good cheer will never pass away.
God is absolute in all his characteristics and attributes. In other words, he is absolutely good, absolutely just and fair, absolutely faithful, absolutely wise, and so on. He’s never just partially this or that. This even applies to the fact that he is personal. He is maximally personal — thinking, feeling, choosing, and self-aware to the nth degree.
But regarding the aforementioned qualities, it must be noted that in the Scriptures those qualities are predicate adjectives. They merely describe something characteristic of God. However, when it comes to love, we not only read that God is loving — which makes “loving” a predicate adjective — we read that God is love. That is called a predicate nominative.
Here’s another example of the difference. A predicate adjective sounds like this: The river is dangerous. A predicate nominative sounds like this: The river is a danger. A predicate nominative is a noun that actually renames the subject. So the assertion in 1 John 4:16 that “God is love” isn’t saying something about God, it is renaming God. He is love.
And what is meant by the word “love”? I am still convinced that the best synonym for that word is the word help. So I say that God is absolute helpfulness. Anyone who comes into contact with him, by definition, is always helped. That is to say, they are completely immersed in his helpfulness and then beyond that experience as much help as they allow God to give them.
There is no greater affirmation of how valuable every man, woman, and child is to God than Jesus’ death on the cross. Giving up his own life was how far God was willing to go to let us know we are exceedingly precious to him. He could not have gone any further.
But perhaps next to that — albeit in negative terms — comes Jesus teaching regarding what stands to happen to us if we even speak disparagingly of one another. Here’s what he said,
“…whoever insults a brother will be brought before the council, and whoever says ‘Fool’ will be sent to fiery hell.” Matthew 5:22
Here’s what I think he was implying. Since God regards everyone in our lives as infinitely valuable to him, that makes anything we do that depreciates that value — even if it’s just done with words — infinitely scandalous, worthy of hellfire.
Just think of that for a moment and you will realize how far the human family has fallen from how God views people and what that means when it comes to crime and punishment.
What is to be the net effect of all my influence in the lives of others? Why on earth am I here? Isn’t it to help others respond positively to God’s 24/7 work in their lives?
How do I do that?
By loving them. Which is to say, by helping them grow in an awareness of how precious they are to God.
What do they need to know?
(1) That he created them for his personal enjoyment of their one-of-a-kind friendship
(2) That he wants them to cowork with him in reaching others with the same message of how valuable they are to him so that those others too respond positively to his work in their lives.
How do we help them?
(1) by praying for them,
(2) by how we think of them
(3) by listening to God for what he would have us say or do that will bless or affirm them.
To sin against God or others is to depreciate their value to God
(1) by not praying for them,
(2) by not thinking of them in a manner that safeguards their value to him
(3) by not listening to God for how to best encourage, comfort, warn, strengthen, and instruct them.
In listening to a near death experience of someone who had attempted suicide, the author finished describing her encounter with Christ on the other side in these words,
“My heart broke as I realized that I had been not only hurting my family who are beloved children of God, but also causing my Savior, who had such all-encompassing love and compassion for me to suffer all because I had allowed myself to be molded by other people’s weaknesses.”
That last line caught my attention: “I had allowed myself to be molded by other people’s weaknesses.”
It got me thinking because it perfectly describes what may be the most formidable temptation we face in life. I say that because it undercuts the singular means of inner transformation in the Christian life — the renewing of our minds.
I simply cannot practice renewing my mind so long as I’m preoccupied with how the moral weaknesses in others are affecting me and justifying my reaction to them. Instead of turning to Jesus to learn from him how to overcome the evil with good, I’m upset or worried or frustrated or hurt or running away from what I find so repulsive in others. Hence I am allowing myself to be molded by their weaknesses instead of by the Spirit of Jesus regardless of what other’s did or failed to do.
“Do not be conformed to this present world,” writes the Apostle Paul, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2 (NET 2nd Ed.)
Have you ever wondered about the relationship between psychology and the teachings of the Bible?
For the sake of clarity, psychology is defined as “the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context.”
I think we do well to respect psychological research insofar as it seeks to establish connections between things people experience and how they react to those experiences. For example, upon studying, say, 100 individuals who suffered similar childhood trauma, it is worth considering what patterns of thoughts and emotions emerge from such past experiences. But it seems to me that something like that is pretty much the upper limit on its usefulness. Simply knowing why something is what it is does not translate into power to change it anymore than knowing why I’m having a heart attack somehow enables me to stop it.
On the other hand, in the Scriptures the Lord didn’t deem it necessary to give us much by way of psychological insights. Instead, he reveals who he is, what he has done and is doing for us. Then in that context he gives us commands, calls, and invitations. In essence, he first commands us to abandon our answers for any emotional pain or hunger we feel. Then he calls us to unconditionally choose to be his one-of-a-kind friend. And then he invites us to cowork with him in the adventure of delivering to others as many spiritual and hands on blessings as he gives us to pass on.
Almost all of us have had enough stuff either denied us or perpetuated upon us in our growing up years as to trigger red flags in any thoughtful psychologist. However, we now have a choice. We can keep trying to resolve our emotional suffering our way or we can override it by saying to God, my life is not going to be about what I want but about what you want.
Now here’s the astonishing thing. Out of that growing friendship with him, and as we cowork with him, healing will come. A peace and joy that cannot be taken from us will well up from deep within. Why? Because our wills end up being aligned with what may be the most foundational law of life: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
So what do you think? Does God have any limits on what he would like to give us? Is he interested in only sharing so much wisdom and no more? so much power and no more? What about guidance? Is he only going to give us so much guidance after which we are on your own? And what about qualities such as patience, kindness, goodness, or gentleness? Does he make only so much of these available after which comes the cut off?
I suggest to you that God — by nature — never withholds from anyone anything that will best help them, that is, whatever will be most beneficial to them within the specific circumstances they face hour by hour and day by day.
The limit is never on God’s side of the picture. It is always on our side or on the side of spiritual forces that oppose God’s way.
Consequently, whenever we pray, it behoves us to always realize that God is going to generously and super abundantly grant us everything we need to handle the situation effectively. There simply are no limits on his side so we do well to make sure there are none on our side, that our arms and hearts are wide open to allow his blessings to flow into us and through us.
1 John 4:16, “God is love.” That is to say, pure helpfulness. It is his very nature to give, and give, and give again all the help we need at any time or in any circumstance.
Here it is in black and white, Romans 8:32 — “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Suppose you are reading a historical novel. It is interesting enough to where you can hardly put it down. A trusted friend sees what you’re reading and says, “that’s a interesting book, a real page turner, but there is a monstrous lie woven into it towards the end.” Before your friend has time to explain, he has to leave.
Think about this for a moment: I am quite certain that for the rest of the book — in the back of your mind — you would be thinking about what your friend said and looking for it.
This is something like what I think Jesus had in mind for us in alerting us to the lies and deceptions that are going to precede his second coming. They are going to be so stealth that Jesus warns us, “Watch out that no one deceives you….Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning…Be ready…stay alert….See, I have told you ahead of time.”
We do well to keep his warning always on our minds while the story we’re all in is being played out. There is a monstrous lie slowly being unleashed on the whole world by the spiritual underworld. We must stay alert and be looking for it and remain steadfast in our walk with him.
In James 4:8 we read, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
What is it to draw near to God? I suppose some might answer with things such as read your Bible or go to church. We might say we need to take some time to pray. But there’s a problem: if that’s drawing near to God, how do we go about reading our Bibles all the time or attending church 24/7. We can’t do it. And even to constantly pray is a lifelong challenge with almost innumerable increments of time that need to be filled in with prayer.
So I suggest to you that drawing near to God is not so much a given activity we do as it is a connection we make. We choose to team up with God in his work of helping others realize how precious they are to him. We will always find God there — right beside the next person who comes to our attention — and we will find him in need, as it were, of our thoughts, prayers, words, or actions whereby he can affirm that person’s value.
So draw near to God by stepping into his world of cherishing the people he’s placed in your life. When you work with him you will always find him near to you.
In Matthew 17:20 we read of Jesus saying, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
I have shared the following quote a couple of times before on these podcasts, but today it occurred to me that it may be a key in helping us understand something of what Jesus meant regarding faith as small as a mustard seed. Here’s the quote by theologian and philosopher Peter Kreeft:
“I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those prayers were destined to affect we would be so paralyzed with awe that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.”
Just think of that. So you’re walking down the street and someone comes out of a store in front of you. You send up a flash prayer for God to bless that person. It’s a tiny prayer. It only takes about a second. But in that moment you entered into agreement with God's desire to bless every person on earth. You thereby released his power to do so in that individual’s life. A single domino of blessing is tipped over and that begins a series of good effects that impacts everyone who crosses that person’s path and in turn those people’s paths and on and on it goes doing an incalculable amount of good on into eternity. All that from the tiniest of prayers, a smidgen of faith.
Have you ever wondered why it is that, while Jesus reduced all the commandments down to two — love God and love your neighbor — he seems to have gone even further in revealing through the apostle Paul that the second commandment actually takes in the first?
Here’s what we read in
Romans 13:8-10 (GW) — 8 “Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
The explanation for this two-in-one commandment may be as simple as this: 1 John 4:20 — “If anyone says "I love God" and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
In other words, to love the Lord with our whole person is to be what he loves — a self-giving, self-sacrificially helpful person. It is only when everything within us is moving in that direction that we have justifiable reason to believe that we are loving God. Hence, it appears that the first commandment is fulfilled insofar as we are acting on the second one.
Let’s take one more look at the questions, What is God’s perspective? What does God see as being all-important?
Here’s a forth proposition:
4) You share God’s perspective when you know that you are only as spiritually alive as you are spiritually helpful, and that the most helpful work you ever do for others is to keep yourself spiritually healthy.
- The evidence that you know this?
You constantly practice turning your thoughts into fellowship with God — thanking him, praising him, reflecting on what he’s teaching you, and praying for others.
Here’s the fifth one:
5) You share God’s perspective when you know that he will never fail a trusting heart and he wants that to be you.
- The evidence that you know this?
You trust in him with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Consequently, you experience perfect peace and joy.
- “You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.” — Isaiah 26:3
- “But blessed (happy) is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” — Isaiah 17:7
- “Blessed (happy) are all those who wait for him.” — Isaiah 30:18
In this weeks’ podcasts I’ve been attempting to answer the questions, What is God’s perspective? What does God see as being all-important?
Here’s a second proposition:
2) You share God’s perspective when you know his wisdom, guidance, and strength are all you need to avoid disaster or encourage what’s good.
The evidence that you know this?
You do nothing without relying on him for wisdom, guidance, or strength come what may.
Here’s a third one:
3) You share God’s perspective when you know that no matter what happens he is going to overcome all evil with good and redeem all that’s gone wrong.
The evidence that you know this?
You walk in freedom from all worry, fear, or anxiety and are full of gratitude, praise, and joy.
Matthew 16:21-23 (GW)
21 From that time on Jesus began to inform his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem. There he would have to suffer a lot because of the leaders, the chief priests, and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be brought back to life.
22 Peter took him aside and objected to this. He said, “Heaven forbid, Lord! This must never happen to you!”
23 But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get out of my way, Satan! You are tempting me to sin. You aren’t thinking the way God thinks but the way humans think.”
Isaiah 55:6-9 (GW)
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.
7 Let wicked people abandon their ways. Let evil people abandon their thoughts. Let them return to the LORD, and he will show compassion to them. Let them return to our God, because he will freely forgive them.
8 “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways,” declares the LORD.
9 “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”
Aspiring to think God‘s thoughts seems to be all about perspective.
“Perspective” — “true understanding of the relative importance of things”
What is God’s perspective? What does God see as being all-important?
I’d like aim to answer that — at least in part — over the next few podcasts.
Here’s the first proposition:
1) You share God’s perspective when you know you are supremely valuable to him and that so is every human being from conception and on into eternity, regardless of character or behavior — yours or theirs.
The evidence that you know this?
You never allow anything you see or hear or experience to in anyway diminish your sensitivity to how valuable you are or another person is to God.
Jesus taught that, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)
Years back I read the following amazing story from WWII.* I’ve been unable to collaborate it so here it is, as is.
The man reporting it tells of meeting a pilot who flew laborers from China into Burma during World War II to work on jungle roads. The flight was long and boring, so the laborers would take to gambling.
Since they had no money to gamble with, they gambled with their lives — the loser had to jump out of the plane without a parachute!
The comment at the end of the story was that as terrible as that was, it sure made the game exciting.
Perhaps we could say that one of the main reasons people find themselves living — shall we say — long and boring lives is that the kind of choices they’re making involve minimal risk to themselves if any at all. They are just trying to preserve what they have and pursue the next thing that feels good.
In Jesus’ mind, nothing could be further from Life — with a capital L — than that. For him, true life is all about putting our lives on the line. That is to say, it’s about making a commitment of your life so complete that should you lose, you lose everything — it will be you jumping from the plane without a parachute. It was for nothing short of just such risk that all the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 received commendation.
To live trusting God 100% means that if your total commitment proves to have been a mistake, you know it’s all over for you and nothing matters anymore. Yes, such a prospect is indeed terrible but with the stakes that high it sure makes everyday living exciting. You find Life as Jesus intended for it to be lived.
*One Minute Wisdom. Anthony de Mello
Romans 12:1-2 (NET) “Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God — which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.”
The goal of mind renewal is a transformed life. But what is that? What does it look like?
I suggest to you that it’s a life through which the influence God wants to have on others flows freely.
And what is God’s intended influence?
In essence, it is that everyone at all times be helped as much as possible — in spirit, soul, mind, and body — because God is pure helplessness. It is impossible for him to do anything unhelpful.
Anyone who at any time or circumstance accuses God of being unhelpful in anything is professing their ignorance or foolishness.
I grant that people and demonic forces interfere with God’s will and his influence on themselves or others and which result in needless suffering. But no matter the situation you can be perfectly sure of this: God is always overcoming or going to overcome evil with good be it in this world or the next. That is what, I suggest, the scriptures mean in various passages that refer to God’s prevailing purpose.
So while God’s will can be and is often thwarted by virtue of human and demonic rebellion and disobedience, his purpose of always overcoming evil with good can never be undermined.
Hence perhaps we could say that the transformed life, as an extension of God’s helpfulness in this world, is primarily engaged in overcoming evil with good.
And the way forward is clear. Know this simple truth: a warped character cannot come from wholesome thinking, and wholesome thinking cannot produce a compromised character.
So if you want direct access to who you are becoming, you already have it. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, a transformed character is fostered through the thoughts you direct your mind to think and those you tell your mind to reject.
And here’s a helpful principle: be careful to think what you know would be wholesome thoughts in the eyes of people you know and respect.
No doubt you are familiar with the phrase, “laughter is the best medicine.” There is evidently some truth to that. A recent study “demonstrated that having a chuckle causes the tissue inside the heart to expand – and increases oxygen flow around the body. Patients with coronary artery disease who engaged in a course of laughter therapy had reduced inflammation and better health, the research found.” (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/27/the-best-medicine-study-finds-laughter-is-good-for-heart-health)
The Scriptures alerted us to this thousands of years ago in Proverbs 17:22— “A joyful heart is good medicine.”
However, I’m convinced that there’s a far more potent healing agent available to us than laughter. What I’m referring to is gratitude. While I’m sure that there are physiological benefits to being grateful, the spiritual, mental, and even emotional benefits I suspect are incalculable. Someone has said, “patience wins all” but even patience can be practiced rather begrudgingly so better yet, thanksgiving wins all. Even the most despondent or embittered heart can be completely healed if the medicine of gratitude is applied.
So pause for a moment and ask yourself, how am I doing in living up to this: “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Have I been taking the best available medicine for my heart?
Jesus, in referring to himself as the good shepherd, said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
It may very well be that the biggest mistake we make in our day to day living — the taproot of all our frustrations — is believing that what we have in mind for ourselves will bring us a more abundant, satisfying life than what Jesus has in mind for us.
The sooner we wake up from such delusional thinking, the better. And then from cover to cover in the Bible a call comes to us something like this:
6 “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:6-9 (NIV))
I heard a remark the other day that had me rewinding immediately to write it down. The person said, “When I do the little things right, then God takes care of the big things.” (R F Kennedy)
It reminded me of the words of Jesus to that effect from Luke 16:10 — “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
So here’s the situation. By far and away, our days are made up of what could be considered “little things”. Things such as picking up after ourselves, keeping things clean, and putting things in order. That means that every day we have a chance to incrementally grow more trustworthy and responsible just by virtue of how we handle those little things.
And all the while, God is watching. He is eager, if you will, to entrust us with more and more responsibility. Why? Because the more responsible we are the more he can extend his influence into the lives of all who will benefit from our growing reliability. However, no matter how trustworthy we are with little things, we will always feel like the big stuff is beyond us. That’s a mentally and emotionally healthy attitude. But we don’t need to shy away from the bigger stuff because when we do the little things right, God will help us take care of the big things too.
So how do we know when we are walking in the wisdom of God?
The apostle James makes it clear:
“If you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.” James 3:14-17 (NET)
In other words, so long as we are preoccupied with our own self-centered interests and desires we can be sure of this: we are no where near functioning in the wisdom of God.
But “the wisdom from above is first pure….” Keep in mind that what the Bible means by the word pure is having a singularity of motive behind everything we do or say. Or to put it another way, it is the opposite of being manipulative, of leading others to hear one thing while also having a secondary interest in play. And while that is so, the truth is that we are still trying to be in charge of what’s going on.
When we are receiving God's wisdom, on the other hand, it makes and keep us pure. We know he’s in charge so we are free to be true to what’s true regardless of where it takes us or what comes of it.
In my last podcast I suggested that the primary reason for asking for wisdom is so that we can effectively cowork with God in winning him more friends.
So how do we know when our prayer is being answered? We don’t have to guess. The apostle James writes about it in James 3:13 —
“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings.” James 3:13 (NET)
Hence, the more people walk in God’s wisdom, the more gentle they are.
The apostle Paul writes, “Let your gentleness be evident to all people.” (Philippians 4:5)
Conversely, no one is coworking with God while being harsh, gruff, callous.
Ephesians 5:15-16 (NET) “… consider carefully how you live — not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
As we move towards an answer as to what wisdom is for, I want us to notice that to relate to the source of that wisdom, God himself, requires a receptive heart that’s willing to be helped, on the one hand, and a listening heart that’s ready to be an agent of his helpfulness on the other. That’s because this helpful God seeks to touch our lives in two ways.
1) First by revealing to us how precious we are to him — so much so — that he seeks each of us out to be his unique friend.
C S Lewis suggested that while God has need of nothing, he created us with a need to be needed. Consequently, God must have, in some sense, “created” in himself something we can satisfy.
We could picture it as a room in his heart reserved for a unique friendship we were each created to have with him. That is to say, that each one of us stands to offer to God, in terms of intimate friendship, some enjoyment no other being in all creation can offer.
So if you really want to be who God wants you to be then first occupy that room in his heart that has your name emblazoned on the door. It is your exclusive place of fellowship with him. It is where you open your whole life up to him and tell him everything about your past, present, and future, your sins and shame, your thoughts and feelings, your joys and sorrows, your disappointments and frustrations, your everyday likes and dislikes, your hopes and longings, dreams and aspirations — everything.
Beyond amazing, you will notice that out of such intimacy will come messages so tender they border on being embarrassing: messages such as you are always being thought of, you are liked, you are wanted, you are being cared for, you are being enjoyed.
David writes of this in Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!”
i.e., All the ways in which you consider me precious to you — if I tried to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand.
2) The second way God touches our life is when we realize he’s looking for coworkers to work with him in making more friends.
Here the accent falls on the preciousness and eternal wellbeing of our neighbor. As with us, he wants every man, woman, and child to become his unique friend and also cowork with him in making even more friends.
Such coworking with God to win him friends is what wisdom does. This, I suggest, is what wisdom is for, so we ask him to fill us with his wisdom.
Proverbs 2:6 — “…the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
Have you ever wondered just what wisdom is for? Let’s think about that.
To love the Lord is to adopt his highest interest as your own.
What is his highest interest?
Someone might reply, “the praise of his glory” seeing as the apostle Paul repeats that phrase two times in Ephesians 1 (v12,v14) as being the motivating factor in his great redeeming work.
So we might ask, just what is his glory?
Isn’t it that he is pure, self-disregarding, self-sacrificial helpfulness? That is to say that when we meet up with God we always find him in the act of being helpful. That’s his nature.
So it seems that any attention he seeks — as in the case of doing something “to the praise of his glory” — has a far deeper rational behind in it then we realize.
He knows that the moment we recognize in him the all-surpassing worthiness of his self-giving life we will be so radically overjoyed that we will become a living “praise of his glory”. We will be awestruck that there should exist someone so good as he is — let alone that such a being is actually the Creator at the heart of all creation!
Hence, I suggest that it is ultimately for the sake of our endless delight that he draws attention to his glory — his nature of pure, self-giving, self-sacrificial helpfulness.
Every so often I come across lists posted on the internet that people come up with to help apply correct grammar to common words or expressions we use. I find them helpful if for no other reason than to reinforce my memory. However, I have yet to see a list of emotionally filled expressions people routinely use to deflect personal responsibility.
So, allow me to offer the following examples.
1) “That makes me so angry!”
2) “That frustrates me to no end!”
3) “That leaves me feeling depressed!”
4) “It’s just driving me crazy!”
5) “That worries me!”
Do you see the pattern? In each case we are attributing how we feel to something going on around us as if people or circumstances force us to feel a certain way.
Children do this all the time. “He made me cry!” or “He made me mad!” But the time must come for all of us when we leave such childish irresponsibility behind.
1) “That makes me so angry!” No, you choose to be angry with that.
2) “That frustrates me to no end!” No, you choose to be frustrated with it.
3) “That leaves me feeling depressed!” Nope, you choose to let it get you down.
4) “It’s just driving me crazy!” No, that’s on you. You choose to let it bother you like that.
5) “That worries me!” No, worrying about that is your choice. No one is forcing you to worry.
You see, as long as we blame someone or something for our reaction, we make it all but impossible for God to help us with our reaction. Why? because we are saying, in effect, that until he changes so-and-so or changes our challenging circumstance, we will continue reacting as we are. That’s like being diagnosed with a malignant tumor that needs to come out and yet telling the surgeon that he needs to confront so-and-so and then our tumor will go away.
Jesus made it clear that what defiles us comes from within us — from within our hearts — not from anything outside of us. So it’s not people or circumstances in our lives that need to change so that we feel better, what we need is a change of heart.
1 Corinthians 9:24 (NIV)
24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
Have you given much thought to just what that “prize” would be for you? Elsewhere the apostle Paul writes about winning a “crown of righteousness” but righteousness seems to me like a many faceted jewel. Each of us will be attracted to some different facet of it as a prize we value and seek.
Allow me to share with you the prize I find worth running towards every day of my life. As a category I would define it as a growing success in something of eternal value and an achievement I am convinced would bring me the greatest conceivable satisfaction and joy.
That said, two achievements come to mind:
1) a life devoid of all self-regard — that is — a life free of expecting others to think, say, or do what I think they should. That is, totally accepting where others are at in life and turning my attention elsewhere.
Expecting certain behaviors from others stems from assuming that I’ve got the right idea regarding how they should presently behave so they should listen to me. But I don’t have the right idea and I never will. Only Jesus knows what anyone needs to do at any given moment.
2) so the second achievement would be that I redirect my attention away from my expectations of others to living a life dominated by an eagerness to impart or impress upon others only what Jesus shows me is on his heart for them — first in prayer, then as he gives opportunity.
And, here are some things that are always on his heart that he wants me to impress on others:
1) that they are precious to God. Upon thinking of others, I want to practice first thinking that of them followed by lifting them up to God.
2) I want to impress on others that God is pure helpfulness. That means looking for opportunities he gives me to be helpful — things he guides me to think, pray, do, or say.
3) and when it comes to the unbelievers in my life, being sensitive to the chances God gives me to tell them that God freely offers them a friendship with himself too
In summary, all who believe in Jesus are freely blessed with a friendship with God that will last forever. But the rewarding effects of growing that friendship will vary depending on how committed each believer is to run in such a way as to get the prize.
"The Christian faith is ultimately not only a matter of doctrine or understanding or of intellect, it is a condition of the heart." That is a quote from the famous English preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
With all due respect to him whose writings years back helped me grow in my walk with the Lord, I would put it like this: that the Christian faith for each of us personally is ultimately about the truth of who Jesus is and how we respond to that truth.
Our heart condition will not grow in becoming what it needs to be unless we know the truth of Jesus — who he is and what he wants.
The early church went through greats pains to summarize the biblical teaching on the person of Jesus, and did so in what became known as the Nicene Creed. In reference to Jesus it reads that he was,
“…eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.”
Any definition of Jesus at odds with those affirmations gives us another Jesus, a demigod, that is, “a being with partial or lesser divine status.”
Consider this: when doubting Thomas came face to face with the risen Lord here’s what Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) First off, no Jew would ever refer to another Jew as his God. Such a statement would be so blasphemous that to say it would be beyond-the-pale unthinkable. But of equal importance is the fact that no Jewish rabbi or religious leader would ever for a split second allow himself to be referred to as “God.” That too would be so heinous as to warrant an all but violent rebuke.
However, Jesus accepted Thomas’ confession.
And if historical references to what subsequently happened to Thomas can be trusted, he went to India in 52 AD where he established seven church and where he was martyred in 72 AD. In other words, he lived a life devoted to the one to whom he said, “My Lord and my God.”
That affirmation embodied the truth of who Jesus was and Thomas believed that of Jesus. And Thomas’ response to that truth took over his whole life to the point of laying down his life for his Lord and God.
So I say, the Christian faith for us as well is ultimately about the truth of who Jesus is, and how we respond to that truth.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Here’s an exercise for doing a spiritual inventory. Take some time to walk yourself through these verses. As a help I offer you the following questions to bring to the Lord for his input.
1) What is it for me to “run in such a way as to get the prize” What would that look like? What does it entail?
2) What specifically is the “strict training” that I need to engage in right now? What must I consistently avoid? What must I ruthlessly train myself to master?
3) What am I presently doing that is rather aimless and a waste of time? that in some sense is “like a boxer beating the air”?
4) What would it mean for me to “strike a blow to my body and make it my slave”? At what point am I allowing my physical appetites to call the shots instead of enslaving them? am I routinely putting them in their place with a decisive “no!”
5) Am I allowing myself to do anything or letting thoughts linger in my mind that — truth be told —contradict the tribute to God that I want my life to be?
In our walk with God, the battle against every temptation is won through a stronger interest in a more satisfying and enduring reality.
Consider how Jesus dealt with his temptations. Each one appealed to a different aspect of life — the flesh, the world, and the devil himself.
After forty days of fasting he was hungry: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
Then the world — human applause and acceptance: “the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Then the devil saying, in effect, I myself will give you all the kingdoms of the earth in exchange for worship.
Take note that embedded in each of his replies, Jesus gave voice to a stronger interest he had that trumped anything the devil was offering. That passion served as an expulsive power that rendered the devil’s efforts futile.
And so with us. The secret of being able to resist any and all temptation is a growing fixation on spiritual realities that are so interesting and precious to us that compromising our pursuit of them becomes just plain unthinkable.
I was recently informed of was has been dubbed an artificial intelligence Jesus, or AI Jesus for short. The news heading read, “AI Jesus talks dating, relationships, morals — even offers video-gaming tips.” The article goes on to say that “"AI Jesus" says, "It’s essential to focus on faith, love and kindness, as these are the core teachings of Christianity.”
Well, whoever programmed the AI Jesus to serve up the core teachings of Christianity as “faith, love, and kindness” is badly mistaken right out of the gate. The core teaching of Christianity is the person of Jesus Himself — his life, his teachings, his death, his resurrection, his second coming, and his everlasting kingdom. Next to that is the truth that everyone lives or perishes based on whether or not they respond to his voice.
Jesus said in John 5:25: “I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”
And his voice is far nearer and way more personal to each of us than any AI Jesus could ever be. And though we are inwardly, spiritually dead, God gave Jesus authority over each of us, and in his love for us Jesus cuts through our deafness with just enough awareness of his call that we can begin to listen to his voice at any time if we so choose.
How will we know when it is his voice addressing us? That comes down to the extent of our willingness to do whatever he tells us to do. Whoever truly wills to do what God wants will know that voice as to whether it is Jesus or not.
I’ve mentioned before that I think it could rightly be said that in the Old Testament, the attitude that most reflects vibrant spiritual health is the fear of the Lord.
Consider this statement from Proverbs 9:10 —“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” That sounds to me like there is no true wisdom possible to us without that deep regard for the Lord. But what does that mean in the light of the fact that there are a lot of truly wise sayings to be found in virtually every culture and religion around the world?
Perhaps one way to look at it is that from God's perspective, wisdom is more than a pithy statement or observation. It has to do with how we treat other people, and that in turn is founded upon how God sees them.
From anything I’ve read, Christianity alone affirms the intrinsic value of people to God. That is to say, each person is infinitely precious to him so much so that he laid down his own life to bring them into a friendship with himself. Consequently, to possess wisdom is to constantly work at doing justice to God's view of those around us. They are so important and precious to him that we tremble at the very thought of failing to adequately affirm their value to him. That is, we “fear the Lord”.
It could very well be that the greatest danger we face in the Christian life is to live day by day one step removed from acting on the immediacy of Jesus’ counsel and guidance. That is to say, we live off of inferences we make from the scriptures as to what to think and do instead of the direct counsel of the Holy Spirit.
An inference is “a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.” The more we study our bibles the greater the danger of using them to reason our way through life — living according to our growing knowledge of the Bible and yet missing the whole point of the Bible.
The Pharisees of Jesus day fell into that trap. Many of them had the whole Old Testament memorized — let that sink in! But, they failed to grasp it’s central message. And Jesus confronted them on it:
“You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.” John 5:39-40 (NET)
How can we avoid such an indictment ourselves? Here are some ideas:
First, by reading our bibles and thinking through what we read while practicing remaining attentive to the immediate presence of Jesus. He is our teacher.
Second, by reading not to draw our conclusions but to absorb his. We can ask things like, “what to you think of what I’m reading here, Lord?” “Lord, explain this to me. Give me understanding.” “Lord, how does this apply to my present circumstances?”
Third, in John 6:63 Jesus says this: “The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit-giving and life-producing.” So take note of the thoughts that come to you that enliven your heart and fire up your sense of purpose. That’s a strong indication that you’re not just arriving at conclusions served up by your own human-nature, but that Jesus himself is teaching you something.
Allow me to share with you what I think the whole of the Christian life comes down to. I’ll put in into three steps.
First, read about Jesus — his life, his teaching, his death, and his resurrection.
Second, fix your eyes on him. By that I mean, practice thinking about him in terms of what you’re reading. Meditate on it.
Third, expect him to help you become his follower and friend. That means practice listening for what he would have you think, pray, do, or say, day by day and act on it.
“Ships don’t sink because of the water around them. Ships sink because of the water that gets in them.” -anonymous
People don’t sink — feel sad or afraid, ashamed or angry — because of the adversities around them. They sink because of the adversities they allow in them.
What is an adversity? It is something that happens to us or those close to us that we don’t like. People say or do foolish things. Nasty things happen. What we hoped would happen doesn’t. What we were trying to avoid becomes unavoidable. But in and of itself, an adversity is neutral. It doesn’t force us or anyone to feel sad, afraid, ashamed, or angry. It just IS.
But a negative reaction to adversity lets the adversity in, so to speak, and so we sink into sadness, fear, shame, or anger.
The apostle James has an answer for all that: a good and noble reaction. He writes,
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 (NIV)
And what does he mean by “the testing of your faith”? He is referring to keeping your eyes on Jesus — trusting in him. That is what’s being tested. But when we react to adversity with more and more trust in him, adversity cannot get into us and as a result we grow more stable and reliable.
In thinking of the human family, let’s ask the question, what does God want and why?
To begin with, let’s consider what he created us for. Three passages stand out to me, two that reference God in general and the third that speaks of Jesus.
Regarding God we read,
Romans 11:36 (GWT) — “Everything is from him and by him and for him.”
Hebrews 2:10 (NET) — “For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
So, the universe comes out of God, by means of God, for God.
Regarding Jesus we read,
Colossians 1:16 (ESV) — “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him.”
Notice that God created us — along with everything else — for himself, and Jesus as a member of the Godhead through whom all things were created also created us for himself.
What does “for him” mean? I suggest to you the following two things.
He created each of us for his personal enjoyment — that is — to have a unique and intimate friendship with each of us. The net effect in us being perfect peace and endless delight.
He created us to work with him in helping others become his friends too or help them grow in their friendship with him.
If I have it right, then having been created for him means that if I’m not living for him — growing in that friendship and work relationship with God — then I’m completely lost in every sense of the word. My life is a rudderless ship on a stormy sea.
In 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NET) we read, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. But if someone loves God, he is known by God.”
Knowledge, in the absence of love, tends toward arrogance. But love focuses on building others up. And think of love as “helpfulness.” To love is to help others become what God created them to be. But if we think we know all about that then we are no where near knowing what we need to know.
In other words, there needs to be a point in each of our lives when we realize that when it comes to spiritual reality, we know next to nothing. Then we are ready to believe the one truth that puts us on the path of true knowledge, that is, that Jesus himself will teach us everything we need to know to be his true friend, and everything we need to know in helping others become his friends too.
Such knowledge — coming as it does from him — is imbued with love. For that matter the apostle Paul here implies that building others up is what it means to love God and be known by God.
No doubt you’re familiar with the saying, “a hill to die on”? One dictionary of idioms gives this definition:
“A position or argument that one maintains with total conviction, without concern as to whether or not one will be considered correct or change anyone else's opinion.”
I’m convinced that there are many ways to understand and interpret the scriptures and life itself for which we do well to keep our conclusions open ended. We would be wise to think together with other earnest believers and seek to grow our understanding. This is especially necessary when we subscribe to a view that many godly and knowledgeable people did not or do not hold to. It’s simply prudent and humble to hold it with an open hand, freely acknowledging that we could be wrong.
But then there are those truths that are worthy of our deepest conviction. We would do well to isolate just what they are in our own personal “statement of faith” if you will. Take a hard look at, say, the top five to ten statements that you’ve accepted as truths to live by and ask yourself: would I lay down my life before I would ever deny this one? And what about that one? Am I prepared to die on this hill? Then, with whatever survives that acid test, live it to the bone come what may.
The choice to be pure in heart may very well be the deepest and most far reaching change that we ever make in our friendship with Jesus. Essentially it means we chose to adopt as our own his singular motive behind all we think, say, and do.
And what was that? Here’s how he put it in his prayer in John 17:4 (NET) “I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
And what was that work? I think we find one summary statement of it in Mark 1:14-15 (NET)
“Now after John was imprisoned, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God. He said, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!”
Notice that the apostle Paul defines his life’s ultimate motivation in virtually the same language:
In Acts 20:24 (NIV) we read, “…I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
So we have Jesus giving voice to what motivates him above all else. We have the apostle Paul echoing the words of Jesus in defining what his motivation is. Now it’s your turn. Put it in your own words: if you were to adopt Jesus’ motive and Paul’s motive as your own, what would it sound like? Take some time to write it up for yourself. Commit your whole life to it — to being pure in heart.
Listen carefully to the following two statements Jesus made, and then I’m going to quote historian and biblical scholar William Barclay. He gives us an excellent insight into what Jesus was saying.
First Luke 11:20 — “If I with the finger of God cast out devils, there’s no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.”
Now Matthew 12:28 — “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
William Barclay writes, “For Jesus the Spirit of God and the vivid phrase the finger of God meant the same thing. It is of the utmost significance to note that this phrase the finger of God occurs in the Old Testament in three connections. It occurs in connection with the creating work of God. The heavens are the works of God’s fingers (Psalm 8:3). It occurs in connection with the revealing work of God. The tables of the 10 Commandments are written by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 9:10). It occurs in connection with the demonstration of the power of God for the deliverance of his people. The reaction of the Egyptian magicians to the wonders which preceded the exodus is “this is the finger of God.” Exodus 8:19.
When Jesus speaks of the finger of God — the Spirit of God, acting through him — it means that in him there came to its consummation the creating, the revealing, and the redeeming power of God.”
Today I listened to a man give his testimony about being diagnosed with stage four cancer through out his body. He was given only six to eight weeks to live. He faced it with both a traditional and holistic approach to treatment, and now has outlived the prediction and been declared cancer free.
But what he most highlighted as the key to his recovery was simply gratitude.
Here’s what he said: “I used a lot gratitude for going through the suffering that I was going through. If you’re going to be grateful you’ve got to be grateful for all of life. When you’re in gratitude you reach a level of sincerity that is akin with the divine. In pure gratitude where you’re grateful for everything in your life you reach that point of stillness so that it allows you to be able to see that pathway forward. I was using gratitude as kind of an anchor to help me.” — David Bennett
Little wonder the apostle Paul calls us to be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:20)
In 1 Timothy 4:7b-9 (NIV) the read the following exhortation the apostle Paul gave to Timothy, “…Train yourself to be godly. ‘For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.’” This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance.”
I recently asked one of our local physical therapists the following question: “What percentage of the people who come to therapy would probably not be there if they had maintained a weekly routine of exercising throughout their lives?”
She did some research and replied that roughly 40%. So people could avoid about 40% of the problems that require physical therapy just through regularly exercising. I think we could assume that that helps explain what the apostle Paul means in giving us the saying that “physical training is of some value.” In other words, it stands to improve the quality of one’s life on earth. But, that’s it. It only helps our present life. Godliness, on the other hand, no only enhances our quality of life on earth but in eternity as well when God creates a New Earth for us to live on.
What is godliness? I suggest to you that it is to be always growing more and more receptive to God and what he wants to do in us and through us.
That is obviously going to benefit us here and now because wherever God is allowed to have his way, we are given more things to do for others followed up with greater peace and joy.
But how does godliness positively affect our life after death? Won’t everyone on the New Earth be given responsibilities in help others and be overflowing with peace and joy? Yes. However, not everyone will be given equal responsibilities. Perhaps we could compare a little bit of godliness to a thimble. The person will be given helpful things to do and will be filled and overflowing to the their own perfect contentment. However, a big godliness on earth we could compare to a 55 gallon drum. Like the thimble, it too is full to overflowing with peace and joy, but the assigned responsibilities given will be greater, and as such will mean greater honor.
I read the following exhortation in a devotional today. As we grow in our faith we must always see that there is a new discipline that needs to become a part of our armor. The explanation for that was that as we grow our trust in the Lord, so our influence for the Lord grows. And with that will come increasing satanic opposition.
Someone has said that satan only rocks the cradle of a sleeping Christian. But let that Christian wake up and get serious about trusting the Lord more, and, literally, all hell breaks loose to get him to go back to sleep.
We all need to periodically hear the words of Ephesians 5:14 — “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
So what is that new discipline that the Lord is seeking to teach you right now in these very days?
“Christ never promises peace in the sense of no more struggle and suffering. Instead, he helps us to struggle and suffer as he did, in love, for one another.” -Frederick Buechner
What is it “to struggle and suffer as he did, in love, for one another”? The writer doesn’t explain it so I’d like to offer the following.
If we define love by substituting the word helpfulness I think we get a better idea of what Jesus’ love is all about. Jesus loved his friends and his enemies. That is to say, he did everything divinely possible to help each one experience and respond to the goodness of God. In his presence no one — friend or foe — is helped any less or any more than anyone else.
So what was it about such complete helpfulness that generated struggle and unspeakable suffering in him? It had to do with coming face to face with how utterly deceived people were. They all had satanic lies imbedded in their hearts regarding God’s goodness and lies about what would happen to them if they were unwilling to try and make sense of what he was teaching and doing.
Think of it this way.
Suppose you are visiting a remote island. Aside from a rare few who know a smattering of english, the natives only speak their native tongue.
You are on the beach soaking in the sun. Many native people around you are going about their daily business — some are fishing, others are working on various crafts and trade work, children are running about and playing games.
Suddenly someone from your travel group comes racing down the beach to you. He frantically explains that there’s been a massive earthquake out in the ocean. An enormous tsunami is headed towards shore. In short order, half the island will be inundated. You must get to higher ground immediately.
You look around and are instantly distressed for all the native people milling about. They know nothing of what’s coming.
It’s simply unthinkable to you to just flee the area to higher ground leaving them all to perish.
But can you imagine the struggle and suffering in your soul while trying to communicate to them the horror of what’s coming? Your frantic efforts would likely become such a spectacle as to give them the impression that you’d lost your mind.
And so with matters of eternity. We will never experience anything more than a subatomic particle of how much Jesus cares for people, but even just that will result in struggle and suffering throughout our lives as we reach out to people fooled by satan. And the more care in our hearts, the greater will be our heartache.
However, heartache does not have the final say:
“For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” — 2 Corinthians 1:5 (CSB)
And just as in his moments of greatest anguish we read that “an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him” (Luke 22:43 NIV) so with each of us, “…the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:10NIV)
In Isaiah 11:1-3 (NIV) we read this wonderful prophetic statement regarding Jesus:
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him —
- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
- the Spirit of counsel and of might,
- the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD —
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.”
What has stood out to me recently in these words is that last phrase, “and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.”
It seems to me the command to fear the Lord has fallen on hard times. Perhaps it is because believers want to emphasize that God is love and is to be loved, not feared. Then the Apostle John is quoted where he wrote, “there is no fear in love.”
However, the Scriptures are not going to command us to relate to God in ways that are mutually exclusive. There is a sense in which fear has no place in love, if we define fear as “being frightened”. So with that as our definition, we certainly are not called to be scared of God.
Hence the word fear, when referring to the “fear of the Lord” must mean something different.
One way to look at it is in the context of what God wants to accomplish. In that case, to “fear” him would be to never want to interfere with anything he wants to do. For that matter, it would be manifested in our lives by an eagerness to see God get his way or better yet to actively work with him to see to it that he gets his way.
With that in mind, let’s ask, what then would it be to delight in the fear of the Lord? It would be to have a relentless enthusiasm to work with God in everything he is doing as he seeks to freely flood every human heart with all that will bring endless delight. That truly defines the life of Jesus, doesn’t it?
Imagine being so responsive to Jesus that you could say to others, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Those are the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:9 (NIV). Clearly, he understood that Christ had transformed his life and with all his heart he sought to walk with Jesus. So with him as our example, let’s listen to him tell us what his life was all about. He tells us in Acts 20:24 (NIV)
“…I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
When we talk about “our life” it seems to me we are referring to the sum of our interests — the kinds of things we routinely think about especially when we don’t have anything in particular requiring our attention. That comprises what each one of us could call “my life.” And so with the apostle Paul. However, he was so caught up with the bigger picture of what Jesus had called him to do that all of his other interests in life were made subservient to this one interest. Comparatively speaking, such things were worth nothing to him.
“My only aim,” he writes, "is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
So here we have a purpose for our lives that we can readily adopt as our own. It’s not a lifestyle change so much as a change in our hierarchy of values and in our main motive for all we do.
If we are going to follow the apostle’s example then we commit all our interests to God and consider them nothing to us insofar as they would interfere with finishing the race and completing our task. Then, in all we do day by day, we make it our chief preoccupation — our dominant motive — to testify to the good news of God's grace.
What is God’s grace? It is the good news of what God has done and is doing to freely flood every human heart with all that will bring endless delight. And to be called to be a coworker with God in such a joyful adventure is well worth all our attention behind the scenes of our everyday life.
In my life I’ve likely heard many comments in sermons if not whole sermons on Peter’s betrayal of Jesus on the night of his trial. You will remember that Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him three times that night and in spite of Peter’s vehement disavowing of such a possibility, sure enough. Terrified as he was of what could become of him if he identified himself with Jesus, he proceeded to cower before a servant girl and the group of those warming themselves around a fire during Jesus’ trial.
Beyond all doubt it was Peter’s lowest point in his life and following his betrayal we read that we went out and wept bitterly. I don’t think we can measure the depth of how bitter those tears were.
But let’s ask: what was at the heart of his grief? Was it that he had pledged to even die with Jesus and then, in effect, ran scared as soon as he thought harm could come to him? Was it that he had allowed his self-regard to come between him and his loyalty to Jesus?
No doubt these things grieved him beyond words. But I would like to suggest that there was something far more grievous that occurred that night of which I don’t think Peter was at all aware of.
Of course, Jesus wants us to be loyal to him and when we fail to be it is heartbreaking. But I suggest to you that its not because of how it personally offends him or hurts us. It is because at that moment we are no longer working with him to reach the hearts around us with something more of much he cares for them. We’ve abandoned our post, so to speak, and left Jesus to do the work alone in that which he has made us essential to his goal.
You see, from her conception to that very hour, Jesus had been hard at his work of seeking to win that servant girl’s heart to himself and the hearts of those around that fire. And now with Peter right there in that courtyard with them Peter was on a blessed assignment to be his witness to them and advance Jesus’ influence in their hearts. But Peter allowed himself to get caught up in his own world of self-regard and the opportunity was lost. I suggest to you that that loss was the most poignant grief on the scene that night, and it was in Jesus’ heart not Peter’s.
If we would draw near — as much as we possibly can — to the true meaning of anything we read in the Scriptures or experience in life, here’s a principle that I think must serve as our guide. We have to think the matter through until it becomes as clear to us as it can be that — within the enormous amount of latitude God has given us (and all sentient creatures) to do as we please — God is always being as helpful as helpfulness can possibly be. Always.
That principle rests on this truth: God — by virtue of his own nature — never helps any person less or more than he does anyone else in seeking each person’s highest good. That goes for all the Hitlers and Mother Teresas of the world, past and present.
Notice how such absolute divine helpfulness makes each one of us fully responsible for how we react what comes our way. We can either open up to God’s help and increasingly benefit from it or we can progressively shut it out of our hearts.
When in eternity we see all the variables involved in each person’s heart and circumstances we will instantly realize that — one by one — there is no way God could have done anything more helpful for anyone.
Then everyone will receive precisely what they want. They will either keep opening up to more of God’s influence or close their hearts more and more to it. In the words of Scripture, each one will enter into greater blessedness or, tragically, into a deepening accursed condition.
Are you familiar with the idiom, “like a deer in (the) headlights”?
I found this definition on the internet:
“In a state or manner of paralyzing surprise, fear, or bewilderment.
Likened to the tendency of deer to freeze in place in front of an oncoming vehicle.”
It is relatively easy and common for those of us who are Christians to be baffled by how blind unbelievers are to the good sense found in what we believe. For example, tell them that the God who created them loves them more than they will ever know and the chances are you’ll get some measure of that “deer in the headlights” look.
Why is that? The apostle Paul explains it perfectly. Listen to how he contrasts the experience of the Christian over against that of an unbeliever.
12 “Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 14 The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”1 Corinthians 2:12,14 (NET)
So whenever you visit with an unbeliever, don’t be surprised at how little understood what you hold dear is to them. Be wise. Realize that until they have the same Spirit of God that you have, you are a bewilderment to them and what you say sounds like foolishness.
I have been advocating for what I consider to be the best synonym for the word love, that is, helpfulness. God is helpfulness by nature and since he cannot deny himself he could never help anyone any more or any less that he does.
But I don’t mean to imply that God has no tender affections and feelings associated with his love. He does. Think of it this way: while God’s helpfulness is indiscriminate and showered equally on everyone, he does not choose to feel the same way towards everyone. His affections and a special sense of his presence is reserved for those who act on his help and live to please him. Here’s how Jesus put it:
“If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him.” John 14:23 (NET)
I mentioned in my last podcast that the best synonym I can think of for the word “love” is the word “helpfulness.” One reason I think that is on account of the Lord’s teaching in his Sermon On The Mount. He said this:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48
Clearly, Jesus’s use of the word “love” in this context means something quite different than our common emotionally loaded use of it. One clue is his reference to the Father as our example. It is not as though the Father in his love for people maintains warm affections towards the evil and the good. Rather, the Father indiscriminately helps the evil and the good by giving them sunshine and sending rain on them both. That is to say, he helps them regardless of whether they respond to him or not.
And because he loves every person in the world, it means he never helps anyone less or more than anyone else in the interests of drawing them into a friendship with himself. For that matter, since by nature he is love — that is — helpfulness, he cannot help but help all created beings with everything that he is and all the time.
So, we are called to be like that — pure helpfulness every where we go and with everyone we know. It must never matter to us how others choose to treat us. Like our heavenly Father, let’s help them, keep helping them, and keep helping them again. God himself will guide us and strengthen us.
The best synonym I can think of for the word “love” is the word “helpfulness.” When we read in 1 John that “God is love,” I’m persuaded that he could have just as well written “God is helpfulness.”
Listen to how paraphrasing the following passage along these lines sheds light on it:
1 John 4:7-12, paraphrased: Dear friends, let us help one another, for helpfulness comes from God. Everyone who is helpful has been born of God and knows God. Whoever is not helpful does not know God, because God is helpfulness.
This is how God showed his helpfulness among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is helpfulness: not that we helped God, but that he helped us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God helped us in this way, we also ought to help one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we help one another, God lives in us and his helpfulness is made complete in us.
In yesterday’s podcast I read a passage in which the apostle Paul gave us the goal of why he proclaimed Christ: “so that we may present every person mature in Christ.”
Let’s see if we can flesh that out a bit by asking, what is a mature Christian?
Two indicators come to mind:
A mature Christian is someone who no longer questions his or her preciousness to God — the conviction has become as solid as rock. And the reason I see this as being critical is because everything we could possibly want to be for God flows from knowing that truth. The fact that we may not be sure of it indicates that we still have a lie active within us, and to that extent our friendship, loyalty, and service to God will be compromised.
Secondly, a mature Christian sees to it that his or her whole life is devoted to helping others know how precious they are to the Lord as well. That is to say, the truth is so dear to us that we can’t help but give it away.
So if these two indicators hold up, where do you see yourself on the spectrum of Christian maturity if a number “1” you’re just getting started and a number “10” means you’re all over it?
In Colossians 1:28-29 (NET)the apostle Paul sums up the content of his preaching, his methodology, the goal of his preaching, and what he relies on to do it. All that in just two verses. Listen to what he wrote: referring to Christ, “We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. 29 Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.”
Now I’m persuaded that this isn’t just for preachers. Each of us, I believe, is called to live and work precisely as the apostle Paul did. For that matter he calls us to follow his example. Now I grant that by that he didn’t mean that all of us are to do our preaching in the same way he did. But we are to be no less preachers than he was in that our whole lives are to be the means of our proclamation over against simply delivering sermons like some of us are called to do.
So let’s have a look at what these verses mean for all of us.
The content of our life’s sermon is to be Jesus Himself: “We proclaim him.”
Our methodology, however we go about it, is to be God’s wisdom: “instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom.”
Our goal? “so that we may present every person mature in Christ.” In other words, we want everyone whose life we influence to yield their lives to Jesus and follow him in every aspect of their lives.
And how do we get it done? “Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.” We must live entirely dependent on Christ’s power which powerfully works in each of us.
I took time today to write the following parable and I’d like to share it with you. When Jesus told parables, on occasion he would explain it to his disciples after he told it. However, I’m going to do some explaining before I tell this one so that you can piece it together more readily as I read.
THE RIVER stands for the helpfulness of God — his love, which is pure and everlasting adventure. It’s as dangerous as can be to go all out on it because then you are no longer in charge of your life and because of not knowing where it may take you.
THE RIVER GUY stands for Jesus, who beckons you to leave your life on the shore and join him on the river. He will never let you sink and will navigate everything so you need not fear.
THE HOTDOGS and MARSHMALLOWS stand for life’s increasingly dissatisfying pleasures.
THE STONE GAME stands for defining our value by whoever acquires the most stuff.
THE SUPPLY GUY is satan and his demons who work at keeping us convinced that we need what he has to offer even though we know its rotten.
THE TRAVELERS stand for those who outgrow all this life has to offer and are willing to take the risk of giving it all up regardless of the cost. They are out on the river with the river guy but routinely stop at campsites along the way to try and convince other campers to join the adventure.
With that in mind, here’s the parable.
I have to admit I was getting bored. I lived at a rivers edge with a number of other guys. We kept a small fire going on which we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. We each had a tent where we guarded our stash of stones. These stones appeared to be laced with gold. I think we all knew it was fool’s gold but that didn’t matter. We played a game with them by drawing a circle in the sand. Each player would toss a stone into the circle. Then we’d take turns trying to knock other players stones out of the circle. Stones you knocked out you kept, but if your throw stone remained in the circle you were out until the next round. If your stash of stones was running low you had to go digging. The problem with that was that you would only dig within the immediate vicinity of the camp site because unless you could watch your tent, campers would sneak in and raid your stash. So finding more stones in such a limited area was a growing challenge but it did increase their value.
We all loathed our dog-eat-dog existence, but that wasn’t our primary irritation.
On one side of our campsite was what we called the supply trail. Every so often the supply guy would show with more hotdogs and marshmallows he would trade for stones. But in this jungle like heat and humidity his hotdog buns were always moldy, the hotdogs often tasted rotten, and the marshmallows were about as hard as the stones. And on top of it all he’d mock our complaints and threaten to leave us to starve to death if we didn’t deal with him.
On the other side of our campsite was the river. We were always having to talk over the thunderous sound it made as it gushed over rocks and up against giant boulders where it exploded with sprays of water that went up some 10 to 15 feet in the air. It was a frightful sight. We all stayed clear for fear of being swept away.
In yesterday’s podcast I said, in effect, that all of us who claim to follow Jesus must live in such a way as to be able to say, Jesus is always at his work and we also are working. And by that I meant working with Jesus in creating optimum conditions for everyone in our lives to experience more of their preciousness to God through us.
Now the question might be, how do we know how to create such optimum conditions? First lets think about the fact that Jesus spoke of “seeing” what his Father was doing and copying that. How did he do that?
Here’s what I think was the key. In the messianic passage in Isaiah 11:1-3 (NIV) we read the following:
1 “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him —
- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
- the Spirit of counsel and of might,
- the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD —
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.”
I’m persuaded that that is where Jesus got his knowledge of what his Father was doing. This wonderful Spirit was God’s liaison, if you will, whereby Jesus was kept constantly informed of precisely what his Father was about.
So then what is it for us to “see” what Jesus is doing so as to copy that? Here’s what we read in 1 Corinthians 2:12: “…we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God.” Beyond all doubt we can be assured that God wants us to live our lives doing only that which we see Jesus doing. Such a desire God will never deny. So, like Jesus, we need look no further than that very same Spirit that we too have received from God. That wonderful Spirit will not only inform us but help us work with Jesus in creating those optimum conditions for everyone we know to become more aware of how much God loves them.
In John 5:19-20 (NET) we read these words from Jesus. “…I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does.”
So Jesus, the Son, does only what he sees the Father doing. That brings up the question, what is the Father doing?
To answer that I think we first have to ask, in all that is going on in all creation, what does the Father most want? What would he be most satisfied with?
I suggest to you that he wants the satisfaction of having every man, woman, and child, know — to the full extent of their capacities — just how precious they are to him.
And there is no secondary motive in it whatsoever for God is perfectly pure. Whatever he does he does for one reason only.
When someone says that God does everything “for his glory” or to be “glorified” through it. I agree. All I’m doing is explaining what I think that means in which case my assertion would read like this:
God is most glorified when he is most satisfied. And he is most satisfied when people know — as best they are capable of knowing — how precious they are to him.
So, for example, when we read the Lord referring to Israel as “everyone who belongs to me, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed—yes, whom I made.” (Isaiah 43:7)
This is what I hear him saying: I created Israel to bring me the satisfaction of communicating to the whole world — every man, woman, and child — how infinitely precious each person is to me.
If I have it right then here’s our answer as to what the Father is doing when Jesus says, “the Father is always at his work, and I too am working.”
And this is precisely what we too must be able to say of Jesus: Jesus is always at his work and we also are working.
And that is true of us when everything we do — directly or indirectly — has this singular purpose behind it:
to work with Jesus
in creating optimum conditions
for everyone in our lives
to experience more
of their preciousness to God
through us.
In yesterdays podcast I highlighted the importance of learning from our mistakes. The day is coming when we will each give an account of our lives to God so we do well to not waste anything but turn everything into an opportunity to learn and grow.
But have you ever asked yourself what — more than anything else — you want to learn in this life? If on that great day of accountability Jesus were to ask you, what did you learn? what precisely do you want to be able to tell him? If you were use all your life’s experiences to practice learning one big lesson, what do you want that lesson to be?
One high schooler in our youth group asked a question about coping with mistakes we make. I gather he was referring to poor moral choices, the kind of things we greatly regret having done.
I would first point out that there is perhaps no more important aspect of self-awareness than knowing we have made many serious mistakes in how we treat others and that we have no one to blame but ourselves. No one gets anywhere with God apart from such an acknowledgement. For that matter, the zenith of spiritual deadness and evil is the refusal to notice the damage we routinely do to others by our failure to act according to the value God places on them. If we could see just a fraction of how much God values every person around us, we would be utterly devastated almost beyond recovery to see how far we fall short of honoring that. So to at least acknowledge our mistakes is a good beginning.
A second important step is to be determined to learn all we can from every mistake. I pointed out to the group that successful athletes almost always highlight the fact they learned far more from their failures along the way than from their successes. Doesn’t that apply to all of us? If we are determined to grow in life, our stupidities stand to become our most effective teachers. So we do well to study them and ask, what can I learn from this?
I have read of more than one near death experience where the big question that came to them on the other side from the Being of light was simply, “What have you learned?”
So let me leave you with that question. Don’t waste your mistakes. Don’t wallow in regret or despair. Keep growing. Put them in the hands of Jesus and ask, Lord help me, what can I learn from this?
I cannot sufficiently emphasize the importance of this one thing in spiritual development. In fact, it is so vital to such growth that it is well nigh impossible without it. What am I referring to? In a word, repetition.
It may not be that apparent in our English translations, but in the greek it is indicated many times over by virtue of a verb in the present tense. That tense calls for continual habitual action, that is, repetition.
Consider the following verses that are themselves at the heart of what spiritual progress is all about:
Galatians 6:14 — “Walk by the Spirit, and you will in no way gratify the desires of the flesh.”
The word translated “walk” is in the present tense. In other words, continually — as a matter of habit — walk by the Spirit.”
Colossians 3:1,2 — “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
In this passage the words translated “seek” and “set your minds on” are in the present tense. In other words, keep continually, habitually seeking things above, keep continually thinking about things above, do so as a matter of habit.
As you can see, these verses — and I could give you many besides — call us to an inner life characterized by repetition. If someone were able stop us at any moment on any given day and see an instant 10 second video of what’s on our minds, what would they see? The apostle Paul, and, by extension, Jesus wants them to see that we are in the throes of repeatedly processing some precious truth we are seeking to integrate into our lives. And that is to be true of us day and night.
Perhaps you’ve heard someone say of an aspiring athlete, “man, that guy lives in the weight room.” You can be sure that that young man is working those weights over and over again. In fact, a weight room is essentially useless to anyone who loathes repetition. And so it is with strength and endurance training in the Christian life. Unless we apply ourselves to relentless repetition, we will not progress, it’s as simple as that.
Here is question for you: how are you doing in considering the trials you are presently going through as pure joy?
“My brothers and sisters,” writes the apostle James, “consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials…” James 1:2 (NET)
He goes on to explain that these difficulties test our trust in the Lord, help us learn to stay focused when things are hard, and result in spiritual maturity. But along the way they also help with another critical need we have: they help us see where we are at, that is, they expose to us just how much of God’s Word we have integrated into our lives.
You see, our reactions to nasty stuff that happens to us or around us teach us more about ourselves than any amount of self-reflection can do. We get to see how much of God’s Word is in charge of what is going on inside of us. If we react well in the face of trouble, we have reason to praise God for the progress being made. If we react poorly, it is our opportunity to take a good hard look at what is awry within us and bring it to Christ for his transforming help.
In either case, trials are a win-win situation for us so we do well to welcome them with joy.
In somewhat of a response to my question, “what is it that you most want out of this life?” someone came forward with the word, authenticity. In yesterday’s podcast I gave 5 hurdles that I think a good answer must clear, and being authentic seems to clear them all.
The definition of authentic that stood out to me in Webster’s dictionary was, “true to one's own personality, spirit, or character.” And perhaps, next to Jesus himself, the best biblical example of this quality comes from someone whom we know next to nothing about other than what Jesus said of him:
“When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” (John 1:47)
Just think about that! What a compliment. Especially since it came from the lips of Jesus and so, by definition, was the truth. Nathanael was what a true Israelite was supposed to be — someone dominated by a single motive to think, speak, and act, in any way that mirror’s who he is and where he’s at.
It is interesting to note, however, that within that very same context we are alerted to a weakness in Nathanael’s character.
Jesus was calling his disciples, and leading up to his remark about Nathanael, we read that,
“Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
Do you hear what he did? He took an undesirable trait from something he’d heard or from some experience he’d had in Nazareth and applied it to all Nazarenes. The word for that is stereotyping, and it is a serious moral error because it takes a problem someone in a particular group of people may have and indiscriminately projects it upon the whole group. It is patently unfair.
But even at that point, Nathaniel was being honest about what was going on inside of him. And perhaps just as importantly he was willing set aside his stereotypical assessment of Nazareth and proceeded to check the Nazarene out.
So regardless of where we are at along the path of outgrowing our weaknesses, we can at least be authentic — true Israelites in whom there is no deceit. Very little about us is what it needs to be, but let’s at least stay clear of trying to fool ourselves or anyone else regarding who we are or where we’re at.
Here’s a question for you: what is it that you most want out of this life?
And here are 5 hurdles that it seems to me have to be cleared in arriving at a solid, worthwhile answer:
1 — It has to be the highest and noblest good you can see yourself doing.
Why would aim for anything short of that?
2 — It has to be pursuable regardless of your age or the state of your health right up to your last day on earth.
If age or health can shut down you getting what you most want out of life then your vision is too narrow — too dependent on factors outside of your control.
3 — It has to be something you consider so worthwhile that you face every adversity, disappointment, or regret along the way, ready to use it to grow closer to your goal like a flower uses the sunshine.
4 — It has to be something so important that it demands all your attention and energies — 24/7 — which means that you know that unless you have a power beyond your own constantly helping you, namely God, you will not be able to fulfill it.
5 — It has to be something that death itself cannot take from you.
Why would you commit your life time and energy to something that death will ultimately take from you?
So, what is it? What is it that you most want out of this life? And did it clear each of those hurdles?
Lord, remember me not for all the wrong I do and the helpful things I fail to do, but for the good work you still manage do in me and through me. Help me be less distracted by my self-serving interests, and more joyfully alive to what you would show me is delightful in those I meet each day.
In Revelation 2:17, we read of Jesus’ message to the church in Pergamum where he said, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.”
You may know that names in the Scriptures are far more than just a label. They are a shorthand way of highlighting a persons character. With reference to God, for example, his name is his self-revelation. When we praise his name we are not just referencing a label, we are praising him for who he is in his character or attributes.
With that in mind, this statement from Jesus is fascinating. Jesus gives the overcomer “a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.”
I suggest to you that in that new name Jesus will reveal to the overcomer something that defines the totality of who that person is in the eyes of God. And that name will remain a secret between Jesus and that person.
When referencing God’s knowledge of him, the psalmist writes,
“How amazing are your thoughts concerning me, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand —…” Psalms 139:17-18a (NIV margin)
So imagine one name that, in essence, embodies that vast sum of Jesus’ thoughts of who that overcomer truly is. What an unbelievably precious secret. The only response possible will be unspeakable delight in the joy of knowing who we really are. But the most joyful of all will be Jesus himself in bestowing the secret name.
In Matthew 23:37-39 (NIV) we read Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate!”
And in Luke’s gospel we read that, “As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Luke 19:41-44 (NIV)
There may be no greater danger to our spiritual wellbeing than to be unwilling to receive that which Jesus wants to do for us right now because there is a sense in which every moment is a time of God’s coming to us. Every moment is unique. It comes and it goes and it will never be duplicated. And embedded in each moment is a gift from God to us — something tailor made just for us that — if responded to — will not only draw us nearer to his heart but will become something that will make us the blessing to others God intends us to be.
To be fully responsive to what God wants to do in our lives right now is every bit as urgent for us as it was for the people Jesus wept over. And the fall out of indifference is every bit as serious: desolation and disaster.
But we need not let not come to that. “Lord, make us better listeners. Give us humble hearts ever ready every moment for all that you want to be to us. Amen.”
In Colossians 3:1-4 (NET) we read, “1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.”
Notice how the key to the apostle Pauls exhortation is his repetition of what he calls, “things above.” We are to “keep seeking the things above”, and “keep thinking about things above” over against “things on the earth.”
What is he referring to? He goes on: “for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Perhaps there’s our clue. Our life before being united to Christ was derived from whatever on earth gave us a sense of security and wellbeing. We might condense that down to family, friends, money, and an assortment of whatever pleasures we could enjoy. But when we came to Christ that lifeline died. No more were we to derive any sense of security or wellbeing from anything or anyone but Jesus. We are on sight — so to speak — not to gain something from what life in this world offers us — no matter how near and dear — but to give something, namely, whatever Jesus puts on our hearts to give at any particular moment.
Our life truly is “hidden with Christ in God” and we will only know who we are when Christ, our life, appears. In the mean time we have work to do. We must redirect our hearts and thoughts to things above — the interests of Jesus as they relate to our day to day routine.
In John 18, we read of Jesus’ interrogation by Pilate.
“Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate.
Sadly Pilate didn’t wait for Jesus to answer him. He left to go speak with the Jewish leaders.
How would Jesus have answered that? We can’t say. But then again, what is truth? What might Jesus have had in mind when he said he came to testify to the truth?
Allow me to suggest the following. “Truth” is the true meaning of something or someone, that is to say, the reason why it exists, why it was created — what it’s for.
For example, what is the truth of a pair of shoes? Generally speaking they go on a person’s feet to provide protection or help with mobility. What is the truth of a car? Generally speaking a person gets into a car and uses it to go from point A to point B. That’s the reason why it exists, why it was made. That is its truth.
If this is so, then in testifying to the truth, Jesus is saying, in effect, “I came to bear witness to the reason God created what he did — what purpose he had in mind.
And then in John 14 where we read Jesus said, “I am the … truth….” he takes it a step further. He is saying, I am the one who knows why you or anything else exists — why you were created.
And because, in a sense, we can say that Jesus came into the world to set us free from the bondages of this world, of sin, and of the devil, the critical factor in entering into his freedom is truth — knowing why he created us.
“You will know the truth” said Jesus, “and the truth will set you free…if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed…” (John 8:32;36)
In other words, once you know why you were created, you will be set free from the lies of all other reasons or explanations for your personal existence and which have a hand in everything that tempts you and would hold you hostage.
The greater the clarity regarding our meaning, our truth — why we exist — the greater will be our freedom. And all of this comes from Jesus, and everyone on the side of truth listens to him.
In 2 Corinthians 4:6 we read, “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Then in John 1:14 (NET) writing of Jesus as “the Word” John writes, “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.”
First of all notice that the apostle Paul tells us that where we see the glory of God is in the face of Christ. And then the apostle John equates seeing the glory of Jesus with the fact that the Word — Jesus — was full of grace and truth.
In my studies of this I stumbled upon the following initial explanation of what grace is. One scholar wrote that the word translated grace “basically denotes that which causes joy”. -Leon Morris
Consider how beautiful this thought is: the very glory of God, found in the face of Christ, is all about that which causes joy. The more we open our hearts to the glory of God, the more we will find ourselves living in the presence of all that brings us nothing but joy.
Little wonder the apostle Paul calls us to, “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.” Colossians 3:1-4 (NET)
And the apostle Peter writes, “…set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13 ESV)
Someone recently asked me if all our trials involve spiritual warfare. It was a good, I thought, and an important one to think about. My response was that satan preys on human weakness. And let’s define “weakness” as an area in our lives in which we are needing to learn to depend more on the Lord.
A hardship or difficulty puts pressure on that area of weakness — that lack-of-trust area.
It is a “trial” when it is God who is growing us. He brings hardship into our lives in seeking to strengthen us in an area of weakness. Hence the purpose for the difficulty is a victorious one: the trial is given to be overcome by growing more trust in the Lord. Hence we are to consider our trials “pure joy” writes the apostle James.
On the other hand, it is a “temptation” when satan is trying to get us to cave into a weakness by getting us to keep trying to solve the problem on our own.
Notice that in either case, it is our weakness that is the object of God’s attention and/or satan’s assault. From God we hear something like: “I’ve got this. Just trust me and let me lead.” From satan we hear something like: “You’ve got this. Get after it and straighten it out.” When we hear that we must, “submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you, draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”
In James 1:2-4 (NIV) we read, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Could it not be said that these words, especially the first sentence, are some of the strangest words ever written? “Consider it pure joy … whenever you face trails of many kinds?” Who on earth — literally — would write such a thing? No one that I know likes it when things go south and are disappointing and hard. Trials, by definition, are unpleasant and perhaps painful and even life-threatening. So consider it pure joy when they come around? On the surface of things that is ridiculous.
However, if we will take time to think it through we will have to admit that it has been the hard things in life that have yielded our best lessons. I have yet to hear anyone say something like, “Everything has been going so well in my life that I’m learning all kinds of things.” Usually I hear the opposite. That it’s the trials and difficulties someone is facing that are proving to be instructive.
I like the analogy of what goes on in a weight room. Just as weight rooms exist because a given sport requires strong players in order to win the game, so trials exist because strength is required to overcome evil with good, that is, with helpfulness.
And just as repetition and more resistance are necessary to build muscle, so repeated trials and choosing to express more helpfulness in the face of greater disrespect, depreciation, or disregard of one’s value to God builds spiritual muscle.
On the other hand, unforgiveness, resentment, or bitterness in the face of evil are like an athlete lounging around in the weight room waiting for the practice session to end. He gains nothing and ends up being useless to the coach.
So the apostle James is calling us to live on that deeper level of knowing that God uses our trials to strengthen us in the way of ever increasing usefulness to him. The perseverance we will develop as we express more and more helpfulness in the face of opposition and difficulty will indeed equip us to handle anything that comes our way. Yes, it calls for pure joy.
I suggest to you that the bedrock of all morality is God’s nature. That is to say, God calls and commands us to be as he is and to always think and act in ways that correspond to his nature.
What has he revealed to us as to his nature? Jesus himself was the full and final revelation of God, and the apostle John writes that this — in essence — is what he revealed: “This is the message we heard from him and declare to you, God is light, and in him there is no darkness whatsoever.” 1 John 1:5.
In other words, God is good — thoroughly good.
Then he writes that “God is love.” 1 John 4:16.
So God, by nature, is perfectly good and he is love. How are these two qualities related to each other? Perhaps we could say that his love is not only innate, but is the active expression of his goodness. And for the sake of clarity, I would like to differentiate God’s kind of love from all other kinds of love. I see God’s kind of love as being simply this: total, self-giving helpfulness.
In other words, it is God’s nature to be continually helpful. That is to say, anything that comes into contact with him is always helped. It can be no other way, because it is about who he is and not some thing he chooses to do or not. God cannot deny himself — his nature.
Upon creating the universe, God imbued his creation with different degrees of value. For example, Jesus speaks of our being more valuable than birds or flowers. But upon creating us, God went all the way to the top of the value chart, if you will, and placed on every human being intrinsic, infinite value. We know this from looking at the price tag of our redemption. Here it is:
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV)
If we could calculate the value of the blood of Christ then we would know the value of a human being. But the truth is that the blood of Christ is incalculably precious. Consequently, every man, woman, and child, is incalculably precious to God. That is how God sees us, and when he manifests his inherent goodness through his helpfulness, this is what he has in mind.
With his nature as our standard then, goodness for us would be defined as anything we may think, say, or do, that respects, affirms, or magnifies the value of someone to God. The active expression of that goodness — love, i.e., helpfulness — would be to think, say, or do what affirms the value of another to God (including oneself).
By this definition we can also infer what evil is. It is anything anyone thinks, says, or does that in anyway disrespects, depreciates, or disregards the value of someone to God (including oneself).
I routinely think about just what my purpose in life is, so a few days ago I wrote up the following. I offer it to you here as something for you to reflect on.
In Colossians 1:15-16 (NET) with reference to Christ, we read, 15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, 16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him.”
So you have been created through Christ Jesus and for him.
Hence, your ultimate purpose in life is found in living out what for him means, that is, by responding to his intention in creating you.
What was his intent?
To please his Father by giving himself in every way to see you (and all creation) full of his Father’s life / his Father’s glory.
And what is his Father’s life/glory?
Pure and total self-giving helpfulness.
Hence, the more you respond to Jesus’ influence on your thoughts, the more of the Father’s life or glory fills you — which is to say — the more his pure, self-giving helpfulness flows into you and through you.
So just what influence is Jesus presently having on your thoughts? What do you know he’s saying to you? How are you responding? I’m suggesting that therein lies your purpose in life.
Growth in the Christian life could be defined by how many of our anxieties, trials, and temptations we keep in the hands of God. By that I mean, we make them all God’s to deal with and therefore none-of-my-business — NOMB.
How do we go about it?
In Exodus 14 we read about the Israelites facing disaster. They had left Egypt but now the Red Sea was before them, there were mountains on either side of them, and Pharaoh and his army were behind them determined to re-enslave them. It was the perfect storm and there was no exit. They were terrified and understandably so.
The Israelites cried out to Moses and Moses cried out to God and God answered him. Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Consider, first of all, that humanly speaking the situation was helpless. The Israelites were no match for Pharaoh and his army.
In the same way, we really are no match for our anxieties, trials, and temptations. I think intuitively we know that we are helpless. Our personal history of failure upon failure bears this out. So God’s intervention begins with our awareness of our raw need for help.
Secondly, in their desperate state, they did cry out to Moses and Moses turned to God.
Hence, we have to bring our troubling or tempting situation to God for his help. We need to talk to him straight up about our trouble.
Thirdly, we need to do what we’re told: “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. … The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” The people didn’t panic. They obeyed.
In much the same way, we must resist fear in the name of Jesus.
Then, stand firm. Be bold in God’s assurance that he will handle whatever it is that’s troubling us.
Then, be still. Let God do all the fighting for us so much so that every time it comes to mind we can say, “This trouble, this trial, this temptation is really NOMB. My God is going to fight for me. All is well. I will have nothing to do with what in me is getting all stirred up and I trust him to resolve it.”
Until recently, it never occurred to me that perhaps the biggest burden in life for a believer is temptation. I have rather subconsciously made a distinction between the burdens of what we might call stress or anxiety, and the reality of temptation.
But why not lump them together? After all, what could possibly be more stressful to the soul that yearns to be a true friend to Jesus, than to be tempted to betray that friendship? Whereas other kinds of burdens may actually motivate us to deepen our dependence on Jesus, temptation, by definition, threatens the friendship itself.
Think for a moment of someone you dearly and affectionately love. Now, contemplate saying or doing some thing to that person that would leave them feeling utterly rejected by you. Doesn’t the very thought of this generate anguish?
Hence I dare say that there’s possibly no greater burden we shoulder in life than the ever-present, real possibility of wounding the heart of Jesus by yielding to a temptation.
If that is true, then we need help in knowing what to do with such a crushing load. And the Bible is straightforward on what we can do: “casting all your cares on him, for he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
Casting our cares on the Lord, I think, comes down to a matter of deflection. That is, the moment we are aware of a stressful thought in our minds, we deflect it away to the Lord. We say to him, “you handle that Lord. You deal with it, and I give you thanks that you will work it out in the best way possible.”
So, why not do that with temptation as well, to where we deflect tempting thought-suggestions away to him for him to deal and then fill our minds with gratitude.
[Before I begin this podcast I want to let you know that starting next week I’m going to be publishing podcasts only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.]
In James 1:14-16 we read, “Each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.”
Every temptation has something real in it. It is not entirely a lie. Think of a trap with bait in it such as a chunk of meat. Is the meat real? Would it give some satisfying pleasure, some measure of freedom from hunger to the animal that would consume it? Sure it would. But then down comes the trap door, and the animal’s whole life is altered. The freedom it had — even though it was hungry — is now gone. There’s no going back. Fear, misery, and perhaps even death awaits.
So what our imagination serves up in terms of pleasures, delights, satisfaction, and eagerly getting something we especially want, is real. That’s what makes it attractive. And for the time being, we will get these things. We will feel the satisfaction we were after. But then down comes the trap door and with it tormenting regret that strikes immediately or in time. And with that comes a heap of different kinds fears and troubles we never anticipated.
Can God redeem the mess we make in caving into deception? For sure. Redemption means that from those ashes something unbelievably good can be brought forth, but the truth is, the loss is real. Something precious is truly gone and cannot be reclaimed. There’s no going back. Other doors of healing, learning, and blessings will be opened to us, but the doors we closed behind us can and never will be reopened.
Hence we must be steady at our prayers for ourselves and one another to never give that little chunk of meat in the middle of that odd-looking box a second thought or let our imagination work on it. Why? Because of this spiritual law: the more we think of something we find desirable the more our desire for it will grow. And alongside that growing desire, more and more reasons will pop into our minds as to why that little chunk of meat would be so satisfying. (Many of those thought-suggestions will come from the evil one who by this time is onto what it is we’re thinking of doing).
As someone put it: “Better by far to shun the bait than to struggle in the snare.”
In Matthew 6:22-23 (NET) Jesus teaches the following,
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Notice that he is highlighting two realities: your eye and light. Here are some thoughts to consider.
Your eye is the lamp of your body in that it guides your bodily movements. So I think we could say that Jesus is referring to what guides all you do — your will.
Now just as your eyes need and use LIGHT in determining where to go and what to do, so your day to day decisions — your will — needs a reason to act, that is, it needs a MOTIVE.
Hence, your motives are, in effect, the light by which you exercise your will.
So if your will is healthy, that is, committed to helping others come what may, then your motivation will give you light and your whole body — all your activities — will be full of light.
But if your will is divided, that is, committed only when it’s expedient, then your will is diseased, and the light — your motivation — is darkness. All your activities will be full of darkness.
Here’s a quote from Jordon Peterson that I think is worthy a lot of reflection: “Make your life about attempting to present to others what you believe to be true as clearly and as consistently as possible and at whatever cost.” - Jordon Peterson
Put that alongside the apostle Pauls statement: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9,10
And then consider Jesus’ statement to Pilate: “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18:37
These verses seem to suggest that if we love anything that’s true anywhere we find it and hold fast to it, we are on our way to meeting up with Jesus himself, who said, “I am the truth.” Or at the very least, we begin to part company with satan about whom Jesus said, "there is no truth in him.” John 8:44
So in this world which the apostle John tells us “is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19) let’s be found among those who walk through it fully armed, first with the belt of truth buckled around our waist.
I recently saw a video clip in which a guy said, “Thirteen years ago, I got clean and sober off of drugs and alcohol and I was taught that I have to give it away to keep it.”
From what I gather, he went around helping as many needy people as he could with acts of kindness and words of encouragement. In other words, he took the very life he had been self-medicating to make himself feel good, did an about face, and gave it away in service to others and in so doing preserved his life from self-destruction.
To some degree, his experience illustrated the words of Jesus: “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.” Luke 17:33
Here are some thoughts I’ve been having regarding motivation and desire. I thought you might like to reflect on them.
Motivation has to do with why you act on this desire over against that one. What motivates you determines what desires you choose to entertain. If you are motivated to just serve yourself, you act on self-serving desires.
Allow me to borrow an analogy from the computer world.
Until we are regenerated by God’s Spirit, motivation is a hardware problem. Our inwardly defective motherboard only cranks out self-serving desires and only recognizes coding — thought patterns — that cater to those desires. All other coding that would suggest living to love God or to self-sacrificially bless others is instantly redirected to the trash bin as gibberish.
However, God, in kindness, to some extent is constantly overriding the defective motherboard with influence that gives unbelievers desires for something more satisfying than living just for themselves. His activity gives them a choice and and even sufficient strength to act on his influence.
Consider this: “From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” Acts 17:26-27 (NET 2nd Ed.)
That desire to seek God and grope around for him is a gift from God — influence overriding the defective hardware.
If a person starts to act on that influence and hangs in there, they find God. God answers by regenerating their inner life. The motherboard is replaced with one that generates motivation to live for God and God supplies the corresponding desires. Since it now recognizes coding that caters to desires to live for him, the Word of God comes alive because it’s full of information on how to live for God.
However, even though the hardware problem is now repaired, a software problem remains. There’s old coding in there, some hacked in by the malicious encoder, satan himself. There’s malware and destructive viruses still generating command lines trying to reintroduce old, self-serving motives and desires.
What’s going to win the day — our lingering, old motivation and set of desires or our new motivation and set of desires?
At bottom, if you are a follower of Jesus you are already motivated to live for him. That motivation was his gift to you and came installed with the new motherboard. But the old coding has to be overwritten with new coding. How?
It comes down to this simple truth: think about what you find desirable and your desire for it will grow.
In other words, the more we direct our thoughts to what the Holy Spirit desires, the easier it will get to think even more about what the Holy Spirit desires. That momentum of thought will overwrite the corrupt coding. It will increasingly become natural and instinctive for us to set our minds on what the Holy Spirit desires.
I took some time to write up a simple story today that for me, at least, helped me better understand and illustrate an important truth. I’ll read it then make a few comments.
A father and son were getting ready to settle into a weekend together. This was their first night in their newly remodeled cabin. It was a cozy looking place with the woods coming right up to the back door while the front door opened up to a sandy beach and the lake.
They had bought it for a song but it came with a lot of work. Bears had managed to get in followed by some other wildlife and had done some serious damage.
“Dad, how come you didn’t fix this door?” the boy asked. He was referring to the heavy wooden front door that upon being opened made such a creaking noise that you almost wanted to cover your ears.
“I’ll tell you why,” his dad replied with a smile. “Here’s what the owner told me. He said, ‘Let me tell you how I dealt with the bears. I didn’t want to do any killing so I got myself a paintball marker gun. Whenever I heard them at the back door, I grabbed my gun and went out the front door, around to the back and opened fire. That got them going.’”
“But here’s the funny part”, the dad added. “He told me that upon opening the front door, of course, it made that terrible creaking sound. He said, “those smart bears soon got it figured out. When they heard that creaking sound, they’d take off before I could even get out the door! So whenever I heard them messing around at the back door, soon that’s all I had to do — walk over and open this door.”
The boy grinned. “That’s a good plan, dad. We could probably …” He stopped mid sentence. There was a rustling and scrapping sound at back door. The Father and son locked eyes. Bears!
The son went straight to the front door. He slowly opened it. It creaked something terrible. In short order, the scrapping and rustling stopped.
The boy rushed to the back window.
“Sure enough, dad! It was a bear! He’s bookin’ it outta here!”
When the apostle Paul wrote, “live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) it seems to boil down to dealing with our temptations indirectly. That is to say, when a tempting thought-suggestion scrapes on the back door of our mind, we turn instead to the front door. And it’s in the very act of attending to the Holy Spirit’s desires, that the desires of the flesh are, in effect, scared off.
A friend recently asked me, What do you think of the following paraphrased statement…the author said he preaches not “fixing what’s wrong with ourselves” as much as uncovering the true nature of what God created in us that we’ve ignored or covered up with all the foolishness in our lives.
My response was, I guess I would ask, “do we have a hardware problem or simply a software problem?” In other words, is it just that we’ve been conditioned by our environment / the devil / and human weakness with foolishness that has programed junk into hardware that’s essentially intact? If so, then we just need to be reprogramed so that all the stupid coding, malware, and viruses are dealt with.
If, on the other hand, there is something fundamentally wrong with the hardware then no amount of reprograming is going to get anywhere.
The hardware must be fixed/replaced and then the reprograming can go forward.
It seems to me that the Bible points to both a hardware and software problem, and that there’s far more wrong with us than we could ever speculate. I look inside and see simply no end to what’s awry — in the words of song writer Bob Dylan — “everything is broken.”
The truth is that we must be born again, not just reprogramed. Without that we are still dead. But I will grant that henceforth our transformation is contingent upon the renewing of our minds, which could fall into the “software problem” category.
When you are being tempted, you are actually being enticed to abandon the chance God is giving you to become more effective at helping and encouraging others.
That is what makes any temptation so abhorrent: it is an attempt to diminish the possibility that you might alert others to the truth of how precious they are to God.
The more we pay attention to the desires the Holy Spirit has put in us, the more victorious our attitude towards temptation will be. We will always want our lives to say to others, “insofar as it depends on me, I’m not going to let anything in me get in the way of making sure you know how exceedingly precious you are to God.”
In Romans 9:1-4 (NET) the apostle Paul writes, 1 “I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit — 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed — cut off from Christ — for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen, 4 who are Israelites.”
Of all the trials that the apostle Paul endured, I don’t recall him saying anything about the devastating impact they had on him like he says about this one.
Recall the fact that he was flogged five times with 39 lashes each time. Three times he was beaten with rods, and once was pelted with stones after which, thinking he was dead, they dragged his body out of town. But of none of these adversities does he say that they left him in great sorrow and chronic anguish. However, to contemplate the fact that his fellow countrymen were lost souls, that was tormenting. In effect, he even wishes that he could take their place in hell if that would help their situation.
Elsewhere the apostle writes, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)
Interestingly enough, what the apostle was only able to wish that he could do on behalf of his fellow Israelites, Jesus actually did do for us. He did take our place in hell, cut off from the presence of God so that we might never have to be.
So now the call goes out to us to follow their example, to think like that and be like that. In other words, let the most distressing and painful trial in your life always be that someone you know — someone who may even be making your life difficult — knows next to nothing about how precious they are to the Lord. Then constantly commit yourself to cowork with Jesus at all times to be as gentle and helpful to them right now as he gives you opportunity to be. Be who Jesus wants you to be and he’ll do the rest.
In James 1:2-4 we read, 2 “My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.”
Notice that the apostle doesn’t here tell us what being “perfect and complete” is for. We could rightly ask him: James, why do you want us to be “perfect and complete, not deficient in anything”? What is the purpose of the competency you are advocating?
How would he reply to that? What is he after? I suggest that what he wants to see in us is a lifestyle of constant helpfulness and encouragement. That is to say, he wants to make sure that under no circumstances whatsoever do we fall short of helping and encouraging whoever it is who momentarily has our attention.
If that is the case, then the greatest threat to that lifestyle is to mismanage the trials and temptations we face along the way. By “mismanage” I mean that we allow them to refocus our attention on ourselves.
Reflect on this for a moment and you will realize that anything you face on any given day that you don’t particularly like has a way of easily becoming something that holds your attention hostage. And while you are preoccupied with what you’re going through, how can you maintain your focus on your calling to be a constant agent of God’s helpfulness and encouragement?
But when our lives are full of all kinds of trials, the apostle is calling us to hang tough on not allowing them to distract us from our mission. And the more we do that the more our endurance grows which results in competency to never be distracted from our calling by the ups and downs of life. That is to say, everyone we meet walks away helped and encouraged by us in some way even when some trial is clawing at our thoughts, tempting us to self-absorption or self-pity.
So consider it nothing but joy, says the apostle, when these trials pile up. They are to you what weights in a weight room are to someone who wants to gain strength. The more you push through those trials out of your commitment to be a constant blessing to others, the more your endurance will grow into a competency to help and encourage others no matter what is going on.
God’s glory is his character.
What defines his character? A holy, self-disregarding helpfulness.
Holiness is not a character quality alongside things such as patience, kindness, or gentleness. It has to do with how close to perfection a particular character quality is. The closer that quality gets to being perfect, the more it can be said to be holy.
In other words, holiness means that a given quality is so quantitatively different that it appears to be qualitatively different. For example, a good person who is holy is so thoroughly good that their goodness seems to be of a different kind. It is still goodness by virtually anyone’s definition, but it’s radical. It’s far beyond anything else we would consider good. That is to say, it’s holy.
So to say that God’s character — his self-disregarding helpfulness — is holy is to imply that we will never be able to fathom the depths of how completely he self-effacingly attends to the wellbeing of his creation.
Purity means singularity of motive. And because God is perfectly pure, we could say that he has only one motive behind all he does, and that is to fill all sentient life with the joy of being as he is, self-disregardingly helpful.
So to sum up, God is self-disregarding helpfulness to a radical degree. That is his glory.
In everything he does, his purpose is to make us as he is. When he seeks his glory, this is what he has in mind.
And whenever God has his way and someone does, in fact, become a little bit more self-disregardingly helpful, God is glorified.
Here’s some information from Mayo Clinic: “A cataract is a clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye. For people who have cataracts, seeing through cloudy lenses is a bit like looking through a frosty or fogged-up window. Clouded vision caused by cataracts can make it more difficult to read, drive a car (especially at night) or see the expression on a friend's face.
“Most cataracts develop slowly and don't disturb your eyesight early on. But with time, cataracts will eventually interfere with your vision.”
Spiritual deception is a phenomenon that grows in a way that closely resembles the development of an eye cataract. It is virtually unnoticeable in its initial stages. But by the time you notice something restricting your vision, you’ve probably been doing a lot of living with a limited clarity that you simply got used to.
Why is a judgmental/resentful/unforgiving attitude hard to see in oneself? I think it is because it plays off of rightly knowing that this or that behavior that’s affected us in indeed wrong. It warrants condemnation which is to declare something wrong or evil and worthy of punishment.
It’s not wrong to condemn sinful behavior. What’s wrong is to condemn sinful people. But what’s the difference? Sinful behavior is worth nothing — zero, and rightly condemned as such. But every human being is immeasurably and intrinsically valuable.
To condemn someone is the effect of lumping together the person with their behavior. It has the effect of diminishing their value to God and to us.
A judgmental assessment condemns not only the wrong but the person as well for foolishly doing the wrong. Mercy, on the other hand — while not condoning the wrong thing done — knows that a precious person has gone awry and has compassion on that person.
“How happy are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” Matthew 5:7
This week begins the season of Lent. For centuries God's people have had a special regard for these forty days leading up to the crucifixion and Easter Sunday. Regardless of what we may think of the actual observation, one thing seems to me to be of vital importance: the necessity of reflecting deeply on our sinfulness and mortality and the corresponding need to reaffirm our complete dependence upon God’s mercy. It’s a 4o day chance to set aside some time each day to take to heart in a fresh way the first beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The following quote comes from James Allen, who in 1903 wrote the widely published self-help booklet entitled “As A Man Thinketh.” That title was taken from the KJV translation of Proverbs 23:7 “as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
While I wouldn't endorse numerous core ideas expressed in James Allen’s writings, every so often he expresses biblical truths with immense clarity and insight. For whatever it’s worth here’s what I think is one such quote:
“Know this simple truth—wrong does not result from right, and a good present cannot give birth to a bad future. You are the custodian of your deeds, but not of the results which flow from them. The deeds of to-day bring the happiness or sorrow of to-morrow. Be therefore concerned about what you think and do, rather than about what may or may not come to you; for he whose deeds are good does not concern himself about results, and is freed from fear of future ill.” —James Allen
2 Corinthians 5:10 reads, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.”
See yourself standing alone before the judgement seat of Christ on that great day. Then let’s say that one by one he sets beside you each person who ever brought trouble into your life on earth or hurt you or someone close to you.
As you recall in detail what it is they did to you he asks you, “Would you like me to remember what they did to you and punish them for it?”
What would you say?
If you replied to him, “No, Lord, I don’t want you to recall anything they did to me or anyone close to me. Nothing at all.”
What would the Lord say to that? Here’s what I think he would say: from Matthew 7:1 — “with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Are youhaving trouble with how someone has treated you or someone close to you? Here’s a question that came to me this morning in facing my own quandary along these lines:
So how does my attitude or reaction to that person stand to help them get to know Jesus or get to know him better?
In absolutely everything Jesus thought, said, or did in all his actions or reactions (private or public) he had one objective: to help each person he encountered get to know God or get to know God better.
Matthew 20:28 — “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Galatians 5:13b — “…through love (helpfulness) serve one another.”
That singularity of motive behind everything in one’s life is what the Bible means by having a “pure heart.”
The opposite of a pure heart is a hard heart. A hard heart harbors conditions that must be met before it will serve (help) someone whose behavior it disapproves of.
And such is the power of the cross that it alone can break the grip of hardness on our hearts and set us free to be pure in heart. Why? Because at the cross we meet God forgiving us of all our own human weakness and frailty whereby we ourselves have acted in ways we now condemn in someone else.
Romans 2:1 — “You are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.”
In other words, none of us “gets it right” so on what grounds do we look down on anyone who’s not “getting it right” towards us? We have no excuse for our attitude.
Matthew 5:7 — “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
In Psalms 119:92 (NET) we read, “If I had not found encouragement in your law, I would have died in my sorrow.”
Tragedy and malevolence in life are such that beyond all fear and anger, beyond all disappointment and hurt and even depression, lies that which can only best be referred to as sorrow. It’s beyond the reach of words. You know when it comes, but you cannot explain what it is. It is an emotional dead end of unfathomable sadness. There’s nowhere to go. At least that’s what it feels like.
But there is an answer. Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” No one ever has or ever will know the depths of sorrow his heart felt at all that was and is troubling beyond all words to express. He knows, and we need to know that he knows. Why? Because unless underneath us are everlasting arms our sorrow will leave us with a lifeless existence in this world.
But, praise God, those loving arms are there for us and we find them in Jesus to whom the law, the psalms, and the prophets direct us. He has something to say to you in your sorrow. Read his word. Seek him out for how he intends to comfort you. He understands perfectly how you feel and will be to you precisely what you need.
Everything you do day to day really does come down to this: you do only what you consider worth your time and effort to do. If you get going on something you consider worth your time and effort, but after awhile you become convinced isn’t worth it, you’re done. You’ll find the quickest way out.
This is just human nature. We were created in such a way that to keep applying time and energy to anything, we need to envision something desirable coming from it.
There’s an assumption in the Bible that all human beings want certain things. I suggest that foremost among them are three realities:
- We want to constantly experience inner perfect peace.
- We want our hearts to always be full of joy.
- And above all, we want to be unfailingly helpful to everyone we meet because if we’ll take time to notice it, early in life we find out that “it is more blessed [happy] to give than to receive.”
Having been created like this by Jesus, doesn’t it follow that he intends to fulfill these longings in our hearts? He sure does. When you look up to him, you are in the presence of someone totally committed to fully satisfying these yearnings. For that matter, with everything in him, Jesus works day and night to bring these things about. His passion does not wane and he never gets tired. No one even comes close to desiring the highest and best for you like he does. And no one could ever sacrifice themselves more for you than he has to see you filled to overflowing with these blessings.
So how worth it is it to you to live such a life? Or perhaps the more important question is, what does it take to bring to the surface the yearning deep within you to possess these things?
Here’s the simple truth: think about what’s desirable to you and your desire for it will grow.
This is a principle that seems to be at work in any one who aspires to some great achievement. It seems especially apparent in sports. What athlete doesn’t dream about being at the top of his game to where he has the admiration of fellow athletes and fans? Isn’t that vision what keeps him inspired during the drudgery of those many lonely hours in the weight room or out on the court or the field?
I’m convinced that it’s the same with anything we hope to see become true of us.
Routinely see yourself always at peace deep within. Think of how good that would be. Sit on the edge of your bed and ask, “what could I do to have a more peaceful heart?” Won’t the Lord answer that? Sure he will.
See yourself full of cheerful contentment — a glad and thankful heart. Meditate on how pleasant such a condition would be. Ask, “what would it take for me to have a more joyful heart?” You will receive an immediate reply.
But more than even these, see yourself as a person who is consistently helpful to everyone who crosses your path, who always imparts some kind of blessing — a prayer, a word, or action that generates encouragement. Doesn’t that resonate with you? Jesus is all in on this because he’s always looking for coworkers. He’ll instantly and gladly take you up on your interest.
You will come to so long for these things that you will begin to change up your thinking habits and your daily routine so as to spend more time in the light of the presence of Jesus. He will richly reward your earnestness. He said so himself, “Keep on asking and it will be given to you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
Here’s a question I came across the other day. I modified it some to suit my purpose.
Ask yourself: Is there a path that I could walk down that would be so rich, so rewarding, and meaningful that I would find the challenge of dealing with the nasty and ugly things in life ennobling and worthwhile? (main idea from Jordon Peterson)
Let’s give that path a name: the path to the Promised Land.
So tell me: What is your Promised Land? What for you is something you so desire to be or see happen through your life that you can say with the psalmist, “I run in the path of your commands for you have broadened my understanding”?
IOW’s because you have put a vision before my eyes of living a life so ravishingly delightful that I cannot hunger and thirst for it enough.
If you don’t have any vision of your life that you just yearn to be, then what have you allowed to highjack your attention?
And where do you plan to get sufficient inspiration to keep on obeying God when the going gets tough and you really don’t want to?
Have you noticed this? You will not make a sacrifice — give up something you presently value, a possession, a habit or routine — until you believe that what you stand to gain from giving it up is worth it.
Look closely enough and you will realize that you make sacrifices all day long. You sacrifice spending time doing one activity because you consider it more worthwhile to do something else. Every time you pay for something you are sacrificing the time and effort those dollars represent because you consider what you're getting worth it.
Every sacrifice in scripture is predicated on that principle, even Jesus’ sacrifice. Remember this?
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NET)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, 2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”
And in the OT sacrifices the same principle was at work. If an Israelite valued his relationship to God and yet disobeyed God, he would bring to the temple something of value to him and consider it worth it to sacrifice it in order to be restored to fellowship with God.
In Deuteronomy — God set before his people a blessed life in the Promised Land as a worthwhile reason for obeying him. Not to mention the additional incentive of avoiding a heap of trouble by loving God and remaining true to him.
If you are having a hard time doing the right thing, ask yourself what’s missing? What’s missing is something to aspire to that is so valuable to you that it fires you up to stay true to God.
We can lean into doing right and avoiding wrong — no matter what it is — if we have a desirable enough reason.
But if such a reason is missing in your life, ask the Lord to reveal to you more of his purpose for you. What he will show you will become for you a “Promised Land” that will be well worth your every effort to become.
In Genesis 22 (NIV) we read of God’s call to Abraham’s to sacrifice his son Issac on Mt Moriah. He went through all the motions to do so in full obedience to the Lord, but then was stopped short just as he raised the knife over his son. After that we read that,
15 “The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
I think it could be said that ultimately, the “Promised Land” was not just a wonderful place on earth for Abraham’s descendants to settle into and live out their lives. That was merely the context for their true calling. The real promised land, if you will, was the prospect of living in such a way that their joyful relationship to their God would be made available to the whole world.
Let’s fast forward to your life. Where you live, what you do for a living, or what activity occupies most of your time is merely context. Your true Promised Land is being the kind of person whose thoughts, words, and ways constantly expose others to your joy in God and God’s love for them. And just as Abraham's descendants faced enormous opposition in the course of possessing the Promised Land, so Satan opposes you. He knows that the more you enter into God’s ultimate purpose for you, the more your life will spread the joy of life with God to everyone who knows you.
You have a wonderful calling. So stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58) You will win many hearts with Jesus and for him.
Allow me to supply the following definition of what I think it means to be spiritually mature in Christ. We are mature in our faith to the extent that we maintain our hold on a promise God has given us regardless of how much time it takes before he fulfills it. By “maintaining our hold” I mean we refuse to do anything we would otherwise do if we had no promise to look to.
For example, consider what could pass for one of the biggest promises in all of Scripture. “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) We can infer from the context that the apostle Paul primarily had financial matters in mind. But we know from other scriptures that God pledges himself to meet all our needs of spirit, soul, mind, and body. That is how thoroughly he cares for us. But we also know that in the ebb and flow of life, we routinely experience mental, emotional, or physical needs that aren’t instantly resolved. And while that is so, it appears to call into question God keeping his promise. And if our faith is weak, we allow that challenging interval to unsettle our peace of mind. We might complain or become discouraged or make some impulsive attempt to do what we think will remedy the situation. Our inner disturbance exposes our infantile faith in the area in question.
In contrast to that, consider how our father in faith, Abraham, handled his 25 years of waiting regarding God’s promise to him of a son:
From Romans 4:18-21 (NIV)18 — “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”
That is a mature faith. He kept his heart at peace because “he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God”. Why? Because he was “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”
And that seems to be the crux of the issue. Abraham could not possibly have known all the things God was putting in place that required precise timing and delicate work in the course of fulfilling his promise to him. But he knew his God well enough to know that a promise given was a promise fulfilled, and so he did not allow his trust in God to waver in spite 25 years of waiting and physical realities that defied the possibility of procreation.
So what are you waiting for today? What need in your life remains unaddressed? Why not face it head on and do as Abraham did: be strengthened in your faith and give glory to God because God is both faithful and powerful. The moment is coming when you will hold God’s answer in your arms like the day Abraham held his.
We do well to encourage ourselves and others to always remain devoted to the Lord. But have you ever considered how the Lord is completely devoted to you? that he wholeheartedly and in every way possible constantly pursues the very highest and best for you? That is at the very heart of what it means that God loves you.
Just as it is inconceivable that that you should love someone and not simultaneously seek out the best for them, so with God. But whereas we have only a limited idea of what is best for someone we love, God has no such limitation. The highest and best God has in mind is, indeed, the highest and best.
So here’s the challenge: put yourself in his hands, put your future in his hands, put all that matters to you in his hands, and then trust in him with all your heart that what he does in you and for you can and will never be able to be improved on. When it all comes around, you will be able to truthfully and confidently say at every moment, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
In Psalms 16:11 David writes of the Lord that “You make known to me the path of life.” In Psalm 23:3 David writes “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
I’ve been defining righteousness as having two aspects. First it is found in how we view others. It means seeing them through God's eyes which is to see them as so very precious that it cannot be measured. Then it means treating them accordingly. Obviously that is going to entail doing everything we can — day and night — to see to it that they enter into the fulness of God's purpose for them.
However, I find it interesting that in Psalm 23:3 David refers not to “a path” but to “paths of righteousness.” What I see there is this. When it comes to walking in righteousness — treasuring people and seeking out God’s best for them — there isn’t just one path upon which to go about it. Every person we know is unique. Their way of seeing life and all reality is distinctive. If we are committed to work with Jesus to reach them, I think we’re going to discover that Jesus has all kinds of different ways to go about it — paths of righteousness. Consequently, growing our capacity to listen to him for what he signals us to think, pray, do, or say, in our work with him is beyond important. We might say that such listening is the path of life upon which God leads us in paths of righteousness.
In Matthew 5:20 Jesus says, “…I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Those words, spoken in Jesus’ sermon on the mount, were no doubt among the most shocking words the common people heard from Jesus. The Pharisees were the epitome of what it meant to meticulously keep the law of Moses. If their track record wasn’t squeaky clean, the chances are they wouldn’t remain a Pharisee for very long. And the everyday folks knew this. So they must have been overawed by the very thought of having to out perform the Pharisees in practicing what they understood righteousness to be, and so should we if we believe righteousness is rule-keeping.
But I’m convinced that righteousness is something quite different from that. Jesus made it clear in the rest of his teaching that what God is really after is for us to love one another, that is, to help each other grow more responsive to God. And even that was to be rooted in first seeing each other through God's eyes, that is, as being exceedingly precious to him.
Pharisaic righteousness always has an eye on self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. Self is on the throne. The righteousness of God has our eyes on how he sees other people and on being as helpful as we can be in helping them open up to God. God is on the throne.
In John 1:9a (NET) we read of Jesus that he was “The true light, … [that] gives light to everyone.”
I am beyond persuaded that the root of all human bondage to self-centeredness, sin, and error is deception, and specifically deception regarding God’s existence, his nature, and his motives. False thinking about God instantly alienates us from God because having been made by him and for him, such thoughts put us in the position of sawing off the very branch we’re sitting on.
If we were on a slowly sinking boat in a stormy sea, we wouldn’t try and climb onto a rescue ship if we were convinced that — in short order — it too was going under.
Tragically, believing lies about God sink the human spirit. And with death staring us down day after day, we find ourselves utterly devoid of any final hope. And it is out of that inner void that a host of attempted survival mechanisms — called sin — arise that pivot around whatever makes us feel good, period.
If you are among those who question that there could be a perfectly good God behind all reality, but are willing to entertain the possibility, here’s a mental exercise that I think will help answer your doubt.
To begin with realize that no partially good God will do. Either he is perfectly good or forget it. So start by confronting your own assumption that God could have even a sliver of darkness in him. That must be put on hold before you can proceed.
Then take a good hard look at any one thing that you would consider to be indisputably and universally good. Examine it from all angles, as it were, and ask, how could this be? In a world like this — this quagmire of tormenting evil and suffering — how is it that something so wonderful, so precious as this could cross my path?
I grant that that one good thing is only a small light on a narrow path running through the dark woods of this world. But if you will walk in it, that is, think and keep on thinking about it, you will eventually meet up with the living source of that light. And you will know that you were fooled and come to laugh at having believed such pathetic nonsense as God is not there or not thoroughly good.
2 Corinthians 5:21 — “God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.”
Think about that. He doesn’t say that in him we would become righteous before God, but become the righteousness of God. If I’m understanding this right, he’s not pointing out something we will do, but something we are: God makes us his righteousness.
This sounds unbelievably liberating to me: God makes us his righteousness and we go from there just to live true to what we already are.
And just what is the “righteousness of God”?I propose the following: it is God always acting according to the value he has placed on people.
You see, we are immeasurably precious in God’s eyes. That’s the message of the cross, isn’t it? That God would sooner surrender to an unspeakably horrifying death before he would see one man, woman, or child, lost? So God, in absolutely everything he thinks, says, or does, always treats people in a manner that reflects their value to him.
So now if we are the righteousness of God in this world then to be that means being a living expression of how God sees others. That is, like God, we too in everything we think, say, or do, always treat others in a manner that reflects their value to him. In so doing, we become what we already are — what God has made us to be — his righteousness for time and eternity.
Did you know that there are pages on the web devoted to helping you choose a name for your newborn? One search that I did on boys names delivered this: “Top 1,100 Boy Names for Your Baby Boy in 2023". The criteria used was that the names were “strong, classic, awesome, one-syllable, unique” and on a similar web page, for girl’s names, the criteria was “unique, beautiful, pretty, sweet, or cute”. I didn’t read much of the articles but it appeared to me that what wasn’t on the list of criteria was that the name be an embodiment of the child’s character or life mission.
Therein lay the contrast between how we decide on names verses what we find in the Scriptures. Especially with God, his name was intended by him to be a self-revelation. His very name was to serve a purpose in our lives by becoming a reminder to us of something in him that we could completely rely on as it related to some trouble or difficulty. Or it could become to us something to simply rejoice in that God should be like that.
For example, the Lord reveals himself in various names that, upon translation, mean, "the Lord My Banner”, "the Lord My Provider”, "the Lord My Healer”. One Bible commentator pointed out that these appears some 30 different times, and he goes on to say that there is one name that the Lord uses for himself about 290 times, some ten times more than the sum of these other self-revelations. Here it is: "the Lord of Hosts”, that is, “the Lord of Heaven’s Armies*.”
This tells us that by far and away, even more than the other revelations of himself embodied in those precious names, God wants us to know him in the image of a great warrior — the greatest warrior — the Supreme Captain of the armies of heaven.
This can only mean that we must think far more than we do in the language of the apostle Paul when he wrote, “Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” (Ephesians 6:10-12 (NET) And we must battle daily against these evil forces not only in the Lord’s mighty power, but in his name as Lord of Heaven’s Armies. We need to know that “having disarmed the powers and authorities he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”, (Colossians 2:15) Jesus is invincible. In him, we conquer. And our great foe — satan and all his armies — are on the run.
*Francis Frangipane
In my studies I came across an important way to highlight the distinction between two greek words. One word is properly translated “servant” and the other “slave.” In sensitivity to the ugly cultural overtones associated with the word “slave”, some English translations have stuck to almost exclusively translating them both with the word “servant.” But that’s unfortunate because here’s the distinction: a servant only works for someone, a slave belongs to someone. As you can imagine, that’s a big difference.
So in Romans 1:1 when the apostle wrote of himself “From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus” he was making it clear that he doesn’t just work for Jesus, he belongs to Jesus. And then a few verses down he writes that we, as believers, are “called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
Add to that the fact that the wellbeing of a slave in those days was completely dependent upon the temperament of his master. A kindhearted master meant a slave had it made but a mean-spirited one and the slave’s life could be a living hell.
What about Jesus? What does belonging to him mean for us if not heaven on earth? If we will just keep yielding to his ownership, give him all that we are — belong to him — then, come what may, we have it made.
In Psalm 81:13a the Lord makes this plea: “If only my people would listen to me.”
So how do we know when we’re listening to Jesus? Let me offer this simple checklist.
- When you pray for others, you’re listening.
- When you are patient with others, you’re listening.
- When you are kind towards others, you’re listening.
- When you are honest with others, you’re listening.
- When you forgive others, you’re listening.
- When you return good for evil, you’re listening.
- When you encourage others, you’re listening.
- When you are happy with others when things go well for them, you’re listening.
- When you share their griefs, you’re listening.
- When you comfort them, you’re listening.
- When you give others undivided attention, you’re listening.
- When your words and ways are gentle, you’re listening.
- When you seek to honor others above yourself, you’re listening.
- When you are good-natured in spite of idiosyncrasies or mannerisms you don’t like in others, you’re listening.
- When you are compassionate and understanding when others fail, you’re listening.
Here’s a life purpose I would consider worthy of everything we can possibly do achieve it: commit yourself to being an undefeatable blessing.
What’s that? It means that you are so irrevocably committed to benefiting everyone in your life that you allow nothing anyone can say or do against you — or what matters to you — to in any way alter your commitment to their wellbeing.
Just think about what that means in this non-committal, horror-show of a world we live in, if everywhere you go you show up as an undefeatable blessing. Does it get any better than that? Doesn’t your heart yearn for this?
I’m convinced that the key to this is what the Bible calls a “pure heart.” This requires keeping a sharp lookout for the thought-suggestions put forward by any desire that are at variance with that life’s purpose. If we entertain those thoughts then, in short order, they become a degrading alloy within us. Our attitude and manner no longer express the pure gold of being what we most purpose to be. If, however, we continually dismiss such thoughts we safeguard our heart and our single-minded attentiveness to being the person Jesus is calling us to be 24/7 — an undefeatable blessing to others no matter who they are or what they do.
Colossians 3:1-4 (NET) “…if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.”
The word “preoccupy” is defined as “to engross the mind to the exclusion of other thoughts.” That could be detrimental in the case where someone needs to stay on task but is preoccupied with something else. But I suggest that there is a kind of preoccupation that needs to become chronic our lives — a preoccupation with two realities, what the Apostle Paul refers to in our text as “things above.” The first one is with Jesus and learning to walk with him as our best friend. The second is a preoccupation with what Jesus would have us do in helping him help others become all that God created them to be. So it is Jesus and working with him as his friends that must engross our minds day in and day out. We must never let other interests get the upper hand on what we think about.
What is it to love others?
As I presently see it, here’s an answer that may surprise you: to love others is to worship God.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1 (ESV)
To offer your body as a living sacrifice to God is to, in effect, give him everything you do with your body — all you think, say, and do — and the apostle calls that “your spiritual worship.” Add to that the paramount teaching of Scripture that absolutely everything we do is to be defined by love. We read that unless that is so, all we are and do amounts to nothing.
Here’s another teaching on worship. You will recall Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. She had a question for Jesus about worship to which he replied,
“A time is coming — and now is here — when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”John 4:23-24
I suggest that to worship God “in spirit” is to have our attitude governed by God. To worship him “in truth” is to have our actions governed by God. And you well know that, “God is love.” 1 John 4:16
So to begin with, I’m advocating that to love someone starts with an attitude towards them whereby we inwardly acknowledge the following: “you are exceedingly precious to God.”
Then — flowing from that attitude — we make an irrevocable commitment to each person we meet to do all that we can to help them become all that God created them to be. That is to say, we listen to Jesus so as to work with him in whatever he would have us do.
So, love others as he has loved you — worship the Lord.
“Before I was afflicted I used to stray off, but now I keep your instructions.” Psalm 119:67 (NET)
I can see no better use of affliction than to drive the point home to our hearts that we must obey God.
To be honest, “obey” is not a word I particularly like, but as I’m finding out, it is the way back from misery. I am also discovering that, yes, it can be done. God would not ask us to do something that we simply cannot do. But ironically, the first act of obedience that gets us anywhere with God is to humble ourselves and admit that we are powerless to change ourselves. He will bring our misery to our attention and show us what a mess we’ve made, but it’s up to us if we will take ownership of the ship wreck or not.
If we do humble ourselves then the next act of obedience is to trust him. That is, we trust his promise to help us take each step we must take from then on until, at last — to our immeasurable joy — disobedience will become unthinkable.
Hebrews 11:8-10 (NET) 8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
1 Peter 2:11 (NET) — “Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul.”
Notice why we are to shun “fleshly desires”: it is because we are “foreigners and exiles” on earth. This earth is not our home, so why indulge desires that are strictly tied to it?
By faith Abraham, who is our father in the life of faith, lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country. Why? “He was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” His faith in God informed him that God had far more in store for him than even the land God promised him. So he refused to put down roots into this earth’s soil, so to speak, and kept living in a tent.
Indulging “fleshly desires”, on the other hand, is all about what this world has to offer. We are attempting to put down roots into sand, into what is passing away. And as such it does battle against our souls. We end up feeling terribly conflicted because we were not made for a transitory world like this. “The world is passing away with all its desires,” writes the apostle John, “but the person who does the will of God remains forever.” 1 John 2:17 (NET)
So perhaps what we need to do is what Abraham did: live in a tent. That is to say, whenever our time-bound, fleshly desires, make their appeal we talk back to them. By the power of the Holy Spirit we say, “No. You have no place in my life because this sinking world is not my home. I’m looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Recently one of the young men in our youth group asked the question, “How do I know when I have found my purpose?” Here are some thoughts to reflect on in answer to that.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NET)
“Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!”
“Do what is easy, and your life will be hard.
Do what is hard, and your life will become easy.” -Les Brown
1) reject the wide gate and spacious way => destruction
- The wide gate: the gate of self-indulgence
- The spacious way: doing whatever feels good or best to you, essentially, just live to please yourself
2) choose the narrow gate and difficult way => life
- The narrow gate: knowing Jesus as the good Shepherd, our best friend who will meet all our needs
“I am the gate. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture.” John 10:9
- The difficult way: the responsibilities or Christian disciplines that keep us useful to him — worship, prayer, Bible reading, corporate worship and fellowship, giving of our resources, and keeping a day of rest
“The athlete says no to foods and drinks and indulgent lifestyles that would interfere with his goal because he has first said yes to the goal of winning his race.” –Peter Kreeft
The more we practice the disciplines, the more aware we will become of our specialization: the specific and personal reason Jesus took hold of us. That is “winning the race” “the prize.”
“Not that I have already attained this — that is, I have not already been perfected — but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.” -Philippians 3:12 (NET)
“Nobody else can do what God put you here to do — nobody.” - Ken Davis
Walk with Jesus and that wonderful calling will become increasingly clear.
Colossians 3:1-6 (NET)
1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.
5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
The apostle Paul’s exhortation to “put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth” seems to me is done in only way: starvation. What is true of our physical body I think is also true of this nature that belongs to the earth: it will die if we deny it food. That is to say, through the Holy Spirit’s power, the more we starve a temptation to death by not entertaining it’s thought-suggestions for even a split second, the weaker it will get and the easier it will become to wave off thought-suggestions the next time, and then the next time and so on until whatever it is we were feeding is dead.
In Proverbs 4:20-23 (NET) we read, 20 “My child, pay attention to my words; listen attentively to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your sight, guard them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and healing to one’s entire body. Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life.”
The word translated “heart” in this last verse most commonly stands for ‘mind’, and considering the contextual references to pay attention to words and sayings I think that’s an accurate interpretation of its use here. As the Expanded Bible translation has it, “Be careful what you think,because your thoughts run your life.”
Romans 12:2 (NET) sounds like a New Testament equivalent: “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.”
So the question I think we need to answer is this:
- What is so precious to know and always remember that we must protect that knowledge with everything in us?
Two things come to mind, the key to which has to do with the word “life” and the phrase “the sources of life.”
Here’s what we read in John 1:1-4 (NET)
1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2 The Word was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.”
Notice: Jesus is the source of life, and life generates light. And in this context it seems to me that light could be understood as wisdom, especially since elsewhere Jesus is referred to as the wisdom of God.
So back to our key question: What is so precious to know and always remember that we must protect that knowledge with everything in us?
I suggest it is
#1— knowing the presence of Jesus — as your best friend
2 — knowing the influence of Jesus — “the light”, his wisdom to know what’s best in helping others
So to “above all else guard your heart” in the context of the NT would mean,
1) do whatever it takes to make sure that you allow nothing to hinder your awareness of Jesus’ presence with you
2) and do whatever it takes to make sure nothing stifles his influence — his wisdom for all that you need to work with him in helping others.
Here’s a thought that I think is worth a lot of reflection: everything going on in your life is actually just between Jesus and you. What comes to you is to be filtered through the light of his friendship with you. Then you’ll know how to respond to it. And what you consider thinking about, saying, or doing, is also to be filtered through the light of his friendship. Then you’ll know how to act.
Here’s just a simple reminder that the Lord of the universe wants to get in on everything that is going on in your life. You cannot disinterest him. He’s listening like no one could ever listen to you, and there’s a sense in which he is not a part of your life without you telling him about it. So make this statement yours from Psalms 119:26 (NET 2nd Ed.)
“I told you about my ways and you answered me. Teach me your statutes.”
Proverbs 4:18 (NIV) — “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”
Let’s consider the word “righteous.” It’s a big word in Scripture and is used to define the effect that trusting in God has on a person’s relationship to God. We could say that the more someone trusts in God, the more righteous they are. That is to say God responds immediately to that trust and instantly establishes a friendship with that person, and then as the trust grows so does the friendship.
So let’s consider the “path of the righteous” as the path of a growing friendship with God.
Is your friendship with God getting brighter every day? Can you say that your trust in him is growing to where you are enjoying your friendship with God more this week than last week? Is it “like the morning sun, shining ever brighter”?
Following the testimony of what we might call heroes of faith in God, we read this in Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Notice that Jesus made it through all his terrible trials and death by what he did with his thoughts; “for the joy set before him he endured the cross…” That is, he concentrated his attention on what, I suggest, was the joy of God’s purpose for him. He never lost sight of it. Like he said to those opposing him, and with reference to the Father, “I always do those things that please him.” (John 8:29b)
Now, in all our difficulties, what Jesus did with respect to the Father, we are called to do with respect to him. Here’s how it reads, “fixing our eyes on Jesus”.
We keep your eyes on Jesus by staying focused on his purpose for us as it relates to whatever part of the race track we’re on.
Matthew 5:37 — “Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.”
If I’m getting this right, heart purity is to be free of all ambivalence, all double-mindedness. It means ignoring any motive at variance with your main purpose for being where you are, saying, or doing what you’re doing at any given moment.
To that end, simply ask yourself, why am I here right now? or why am I doing this? Once that reason is clear to you, purity of heart means fusing together your main reason and your main motive for what you’re saying or doing and then ignoring alternate motives the instant they rap on the door of your mind. In effect, your whole being says ‘yes’ and means ‘yes’, or says ‘no’ and means ‘no.’
Consider what having an endless supply of something means. Let’s suppose that you had an endless, infinite supply of money to give away. If you gave someone a million dollars, would that cut into your supply? No. Your supply is infinite. That million takes nothing from you. You could give away millions upon millions and all you would be doing, in effect, is moving it around, allocating it. As for your resources, nothing whatsoever would change because, again, your supply is endless. It would be as though you gave nothing away. It can never be cut into. It cannot be diminished.
God's resources are like that. Let’s pick just two: patience and kindness. He can lavish patience and kindness on anyone and everyone in endless abundance and it poses absolutely no difficulty for him. They are never diminished.
Now notice what it means when someone says something like, “my patience is wearing thin” or “I’m running out of kindness.” It means their supply is limited. They gave some away and now they have less to give. That’s understandable because they are relying on human resources and such resources are indeed limited.
But for followers of Jesus to say such things is to confess that they are still drawing on what’s in them instead of the person of Jesus within them. We need to consciously close the human account and draw all the patience and kindness we could ever need from Jesus for everyone in our lives. As needed, a simple prayer will do, “Your patience, Lord, your kindness, Lord. Let it flow through me right now.”
In a Messianic passage in Isaiah, the Lord says, “You are my servant, Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” (Isaiah 49:3)
I’m convinced that that is precisely God's purpose for us as well by virtue of being “in Christ.” God is determined to cause each one of us to shine brightly with his splendor, that is to say, with his goodness and helpfulness.
So one way to safeguard God's purpose for us is to recommit ourselves daily to making sure everyone we meet experiences some measure his goodness and helpfulness through us to where they know that they matter to us and, by extension, to God. If we will just ask, the Lord himself will show us how to do that.
Here’s a way of highlighting the difference between pride and grateful praise. Pride thinks, “I got this. I made this happen.” Grateful praise always says of every achievement and every blessing, “I was given this. God made this happen.”
There is no amount of inner turmoil or sullenness that can stand against meditating on the comprehensiveness of God’s shepherdly care. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” means exactly what it says.
Conversely, inner peace and joy inform us that we are walking in the truth.
If you want to know what you most need help with, have a firm grasp on what it is that you ultimately want.
Having been created by Christ and for him, there is no doubt in my mind that what we most want our lives to be is, in fact, what Jesus created us to be. Sin has fouled up a lot of what goes on inside of us, but it cannot cancel why Jesus made us. And I believe that reason makes up the very DNA of the image of God in us. Consequently the closer we get to understanding his purpose for us, the more insight we will have on what our deepest needs actually are. And if we keep that purpose before us the Holy Spirit will use it to provide us with constant clarity to know what thought suggestions must be met with a firm no or a welcoming yes.
This year I am determined to do better at praying more consistently and with greater confidence in God answering prayer. I want to take to heart this wonderful truth where the apostle Paul writes:
“Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
That suggests to me that every time we pray we need to know that God is going to take what we pray and so work with it and through it that his answer is going to go way beyond all that we thought possible.
Theologian Peter Kreeft I think expressed this truth perfectly when he wrote, “I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those prayers were destined to affect we would be so paralyzed with awe that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.”
Luke 9:23 (NET) — “Then he said to them all, ‘If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.’”
All progress in growing in friendship with God is predicated upon sacrifice. There is a cross at the heart of it. It’s simply impossible to get closer to God without giving something up, and then another something, and another.
- Something unhelpful — or that has become unhelpful — is sacrificed for the sake of what is helpful.
- Something deadening our sensitivity to God’s voice is sacrificed for the sake of better reception.
- Something hindering our alertness to what needs prayer is sacrificed so as to remain attentive and ready.
Notice as well that when we give such things up, two things are happening:
1) first, we are actually repenting. We’re changing our minds, setting aside our relationship to something we thought was no problem.
2) Second, we do so in the interest of what we know is a better path forward and upward.
What may not be so apparent, however, is that what we’ve done that we’re leaving behind doesn’t just dissipate like fog. What we thought, said, or did, that was unhelpful, and perhaps downright cruel, did damage.
Giving that up — sacrificing it — however important, doesn’t erase that. Our failure to be helpful must be avenged. Why? Because of the intrinsic and incalculably great value God places on each of us.
So Principle #1 — We cannot affirm or uphold the value of something without a corresponding cost for damaging it.
If someone foolishly drops a clay vase that was sold to a museum for 2 million dollars, and no consequences are forthcoming, doesn’t that beg the question, was it really worth anything? Only if the foolish fellow is made to work for the rest of his life to try and pay off the 2 million is the value of that vase upheld.
So retribution affirms and upholds value.
Principle #2 — the more precious something is, the greater the retribution warranted.
So what does damaging something of incalculably great value warrant? Incalculably great retribution.
Now here’s a problem: both the unhelpful person and the person left unhelped are exceedingly and equally precious to God.
So in affirming and upholding the inestimable value of the mistreated person, endless retribution is warranted. But the abuser is also exceedingly precious to God and so even though warranted, God does not want to consign that person to endless retribution.
So he came up with a plan.
He himself would suffer the endless retribution on behalf of the offender. He would take his place in eternal hell. And because he, God, is eternal, he can experience it all on everyone’s behalf in a moment. But it’s a moment of such unspeakable torment that even he, in Jesus, wanted to be spared if at all possible.
Mark 14:35-36 (NET)
35 Going a little farther, he threw himself to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour would pass from him. 36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
He went through with it. Now we not only can be forgiven, our lives can be redeemed from the Pit of endless retribution.
Here’s a thought that I consider worthy of a great deal of reflection: “Every day you get up you live according to whether or not others have intrinsic value.” -W L Craig
In other words, how you treat others all day long reveals the extent to which you know or don’t know that they are exceedingly precious to God.
In Luke 9:62, Jesus made this statement about the strict conditions of discipleship: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” In other words, the kingdom of God belongs to those who practice unconditional allegiance to the priorities and values of the kingdom. I can think of two that are inseparable: loyalty to Jesus, the King, and a commitment to the total wellbeing of everyone I meet. Let’s consider the second one first and practice some self-confrontation.
If my commitment to the total wellbeing of every person I meet is open to challenge, which is to say, if there’s even a slight chance I could be tempted to set it aside — doesn’t that instantly demand an answer? What on earth is my hang up? What in me is still so blind, so duped, that a moment of retraction is even conceivable?
Now let’s self-confront along the same lines regarding our commitment to Jesus.
If my loyalty to Jesus is open to challenge, which is to say, if there’s even a slight chance I could be tempted to set it aside — doesn’t that instantly demand an answer? What on earth is my hang up? What in me is still so blind, so duped, that a split second of deviation is even conceivable?
Think of this: among the millions of redeemed souls in heaven, is it possible that there could be one, just one, who could be tempted to turn away from the Lord? And if not there, then why here?
With that in mind, make this following pronouncement a life-or-death resolve:
Let conditional loyalty encircle me, beckon to me, deride me,
let it be rendered conventional in virtually every heart.
But never in mine.
In his teaching on what exactly defiles a person, Jesus said, “Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.” (Matthew 15:17-20)
Notice that Jesus directs our attention to the human heart as the locus of all the evils in a person’s life. The reverse implication is therefore clear: if our hearts are pure, our whole life — everything about us — will be pure.
And as I’ve suggested before, purity of heart seems to come down to what our dominant motive is.
Consider the following. Let’s define a pristine motive like this: it is when everything we think, say, or do, is primarily motivated by a desire to please God. When that’s the case, our heart is pure. Why? Because everything in Jesus’ list of evils that come from the heart share one common denominator: pleasing self. That is to say, my daily activities are fueled by what I can get out of them, or by what’s in this or that relationship for me. And that corrupt motive — the DNA of an impure heart — defiles everything about us.
Conversely, when God gives us a new heart, one of its main features is that it wants to please God at all times and in every way. We concur when we make it clear to God and ourselves that we want everything we think, say, or do, to be subject to that motive. And while that is so, we safeguard our heart’s purity.
Never forget this simple truth:
misery cannot come from wholesome thinking.
Deviate, and to that degree
life’s difficulties will be tormenting.
Harbor wholesome thoughts,
and, come what may,
your heart will remain peaceful.
Don’t fool yourself:
with mathematical certainty,
every thought you entertain
either fuels purposeful living
or invites disaster.
So now, let’s ask, What are wholesome thoughts? Thoughts that reflect the Holy Spirit’s influence — thoughts of being helpful, patient, and kind, forgiving, reliable, and honest. Thoughts of cherishing and honoring others. Thoughts of seeking God, of trusting him, being true to him, of doing what pleases him.
And what is it to deviate? Thoughts that reflect self-regard, self-aggrandizement, self-promotion, self-reliance — thoughts of pursuing my own interests at all costs, of resolving tension or problems in my life in my way.
So never forget this simple truth: wholesome thinking will never give birth to misery.
In Matthew 5:8 we read the following beatitude of Jesus: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
From what I recall, in the history of Christian thought, the vision of God — seeing God face to face — has been considered in some sense the ultimate joy that a human being or any created being could or ever will know.
To put it more directly, you will never experience a greater moment of joy in your life than to “see God”. On account of that alone, we have reason to be dead earnest regarding the heart condition Jesus says is essential to that joy: a pure heart.
Here’s some research on the word translated “pure”:
“The Greek word for pure …has a variety of usages, all of which have something to add to the meaning of this beatitude for the Christian life.
(i) Originally it simply meant clean, and could, for instance, be used of soiled clothes which have been washed clean.
(ii) It is regularly used for corn which has been winnowed or sifted and cleansed of all chaff. In the same way it is used of an army which has been purged of all discontented, cowardly, unwilling, and inefficient soldiers, and which is a force composed solely of first-class fighting men.
(iii) It very commonly appears in company with another Greek adjective …used of milk or wine which is unadulterated with water, or of metal which has in it no tinge of alloy.
So, then, the basic meaning of this word is unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed.” (William Barclay)
This gives rise to the question, just what is it that is supposed to be “unmixed” within our hearts? The answer may very well have to do with our motives. If that is so, then when our words and ways are inlaid by a single, dominant and noble motive it indicates purity of heart. And what is a noble motive? I suggest that it is one that is exclusively devoted to another persons benefit. In other words, a selfless motive. And that is precisely what God is like. He is completely and perfectly selfless in all he does. His whole existence, if you will, is entirely devoted to the wellbeing of all he has created. Consequently, it is no wonder that only the pure in heart — those with unmixed motives in their own actions — will see him, for in the words Psalm 18:26, “to the pure you show yourself pure.”
So this beatitude could be translated like this: Blessed are those whose motives are always entirely unmixed, for they will see God.
With the dawn of a new year, I asked myself what attitudes would I like to have governing my outlook on life at all times throughout this year? For whatever it may be worth, here they are:
Attitude #1 —“My life, though precious to Jesus, is a catastrophe that only he can set right — past, present, and future — so I trust him, and refuse to let my heart be troubled by anything I’ve been or done.”
Attitude #2 — “I cannot be patient, kind, gentle, and helpful enough, for I live among people — family, friends, neighbors — who are exceedingly valuable to God.”
Attitude #3 — “God so richly and completely keeps forgiving me of all my innumerable offenses against him, that I could never get enough of forgiving anyone and everyone of any and all offenses against me.”
Attitude #4 — “God’s Word anchors my life in Jesus so everyday I want to grow in having a deeper, constant, trembling respect for everything it says.”
Attitude #5 — “God has promised to guide me and meet my needs each day of my life so I am free to rest in his Spirit’s timely counsel, help, and strength.”
Attitude #6 — “Jesus has utterly defeated satan and destroyed his works so, in Jesus’ name, mine is the responsibility and privilege of enforcing that victory in all I do and in all that concerns me.”
Attitude #7 — “God is always going to respond to my prayers by doing far more than all I could ask or imagine so the honor is mine to pray, pray, pray, with great confidence and joyful anticipation.”
Philippians 2:14 — “Do everything without complaining or arguing.”
One of the greatest causes of God’s judgment against the Israelites in their wilderness journey was their complaints against Moses and God. The Apostle Paul refers to one instance of complaining by the people that resulted in 14,700 deaths and he warns us, “And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.” 1 Corinthians 10:10 (NET 2nd Ed.)
Complaining has this one reason that’s always behind it: we are focused on only one thin slice of what’s happening. Consider how one writer put it, “It makes no sense to stop in the middle of a story and complain that it didn’t turn out right.” (Frank Turek) But, sadly, that is what we are doing any time we complain. We are saying, in effect, “This isn’t turning out right!” even though we are only in the middle of the story.
Hence, the antidote to complaining is first of all the humility of honesty. We don’t know the whole story. We don’t know precisely how things are going to turn out in the end so what’s with the complaining?
The second part of the antidote is our trust in God. That means we put the situation we’re annoyed with in God’s hands with the understanding that he will work out a perfect answer for it. God is a master at redeeming even the most desperate of situations. We need look no further than our own experience. Haven’t we all complained of something only to realize, in time, that something very good came of it? So let’s take that to heart with the next thing we are tempted to complain about. Let’s take a step back and affirm that our great God has got this in his hands and those hands never fail to make all things beautiful in good time.
Someone has said, “The one supreme business of life is to find God’s plan for your life and live it.” (E Stanley Jones)
With the first of yet another new year fast upon us, could you readily answer the question, “What is God’s plan for your life?”
The apostle Paul certainly could, and does so in various ways through out his writings. Here’s one example: 13 “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 14 with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 (NET 2nd Ed.)
He says lot here that needs to be deciphered, but this much is clear — he was doing everything he could to obtain a prize he believed God had in mind to give him. He calls it “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
So what would you say constitutes the upward call of God in your life? If you are unsure as to what that is, I strongly encourage you to talk to the Lord about it. Let’s begin the new year with that life goal in sharp focus. Then God’s Spirit can use it to help us constantly discriminate between what behaviors will get us closer to our goal and which ones won’t.
In Psalm 119:45 the psalmist writes, “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.”
On the face of it, something doesn’t seem right. How is it that seeking out God’s precepts, presumably to obey them, is to walk around in freedom? How does obedience go together with freedom?
Actually, this relationship between obedience and freedom is commonly understood in developing any skill. Consider what goes into learning to play a sport like, say, basketball. I’ve watched young people practice this or that way of dribbling the ball and they do it over and over until it becomes second nature to them. They want to master the skill so that they become free from the need to always be concentrating on it.
So with matters of the Spirit. The more carefully we follow the do’s and don’ts that govern the process of listening to God, the more freedom we will experience from the grunt work of it all. Then, as with mastering any skill, our initial, careful obedience will eventually yield in us an effortless response to God in which we feel truly free.
If there is one word that seems to embody all that we would want to characterize our relationship to God perhaps the word is adoration. One dictionary defines it as “deep love and respect, worship; veneration.”
Let’s expand on that. In thinking of God, I think we could look at adoration in two ways: the first way we could describe as the
- Adoration of his person. These are moments in which we feel overwhelmed by a powerful emotional appreciation for who Jesus is and what he did for us. Frankly, I wish I felt like this all the time, and I am looking forward to the day when that will, in fact, be how I always feel — the day I am at home with the Lord.
The second way we could call
- Adoration as a lifestyle. We could define this as a continual responsiveness to what he came to do for us, that is, walking in the freedom from satan’s lies, the power of sin, and the deceitful desires of the lost world around us. And it’s not only a freedom from something but a freedom to something, to be his friend and coworker in this world.
We can't do much about constantly feeling the adoration of his person, even though we do well to thank and praise and rejoice in the Lord regardless of how we feel. But we can continually walk in the freedom he secured for us through his death. Adoration can be our lifestyle.
In the parable of the sower, you may recall that Jesus referred to four different soil conditions upon which the seed fell. Those conditions determined the success of the seed sown, that is, how fruitful or not it would become.
We understand from Jesus’ explanation of the parable that he was equating soil conditions to the conditions of the human heart. When he spoke of the seed that multiplied to 30, 60, even 100, times what was sown, the reason for that was that the seed fell on what Jesus referred to as “a good and noble heart”.
Have you ever wondered how that person acquired a “good and noble heart” before the seed of the gospel ever landed on his heart?
Jesus seems to be implying that even before hearing and responding to the gospel, it is possible for a person to honestly be searching for God to such an extent that he develops a good and noble heart in the process. Then, when the truth of the gospel does land on his heart he is ready to make good on it and begins to produce a beautiful abundant harvest.
Perhaps the following statement from Jesus also sheds light on this situation. He said,
“If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority.” John 7:17 (NET 2nd Ed.)
The case seems to be that to the honest, searching heart — “a good and noble heart” — truth is self-authenticating, and such a person instantly receives it and starts to grow. In the words of one Christian writer, “The soul that wants to fly knows the difference between wings and lumps of lead.” (George MacDonald)
Galatians 6:7-8 (NET 2nd Ed.)
“Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.”
The spiritual law of sowing and reaping is not something we can turn on or off nor can we manipulate it. We don’t determine the outcome either. That’s already determined based on what we choose to sow just as we can’t sow spring wheat and then expect to harvest cucumbers.
Hence, the only thing we have control over is what we sow. But consider for a moment what an immense amount of control that is. We can actually decide day by day what we want our future to be. There is truly a sense in which God says to each of us, you decide.
Thankfully, the options are straightforward and limited to two: corruption or eternal life.
- in the Gk. the word translated “corruption” can mean “destruction, ruin, decay, spoiling, generally a fraying or wasting away.” (CWSB Dictionary)
- “eternal life” it could be said is God’s life of peaceful, purposeful living, characterized by the joy of being constantly helpful.
The sowing process is also straightforward. Just as we sow seeds into something — the ground — so we sow thoughts into something — “the flesh” or “the Spirit.”
“The flesh” could be summed up as the universal desire to do what we want when we want to regardless of what God may want. To sow to the flesh then would mean that we set aside what in us knows better and proceed to sow thoughts to our on-the-spot interests. The harvest, however, will be corruption, destruction, ruin, decay.
Conversely, sowing to “the Spirit” means we devote our thoughts to determining what pleases God. The harvest will be peaceful, purposeful living, characterized by the joy of being constantly helpful.
Here are a couple of passages that call us to adopt an overall motive for everything we do.
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NET) “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”
Colossians 3:17 (NET) “And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
The name of the Lord in Scripture refers to his self-revelation. So to say and do things "in the name of the Lord Jesus" is to act in harmony with Christ’s self-revelation. Doing “everything for the glory of God” I suggest carries essentially the same idea. We must do whatever we do in a way that reflects what he has shown us of himself.
And since God is pure love, that is, pure helpfulness, then what could better serve to do that then to have a singular, dominant motive of helpfulness behind our every contact with others? It could sound something like this:
“I have one purpose and one purpose only for being in your life: I am here to work with Jesus in whatever he may have me think, pray, do, or say in helping you become more of what God wants you to be.”
And, behind everything we do:
“Whatever I do, I do in the interests of being more helpful to others, that is, more sensitive and responsive to Jesus’ guidance in working with him to help others.”
It seems to me that both of these statements equate to doing everything “for the glory of God”, or “in the name” of Jesus.
In Matthew 10:39 (NET) Jesus taught that, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life because of me will find it.”
What I would call “my life” on earth is not in any sense “mine,” it is only mine–to–share. If I do not share it — causing all my thoughts, actions, and words to serve the purposes of God’s helpfulness — it is not as though I retain something. It slips through my fingers. I lose what was given me.
In other words, the life and helpfulness of God only become a part of us in the act of being shared. What we do not give away, we throw away.
“…You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” Jesus said, “and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NET 2nd Ed.)
We tend to associate being witnesses with saying things, and no doubt it includes that. But the bigger witness is a transformed life. Our loving God wants us to live with a settled confidence that there is a power at work in our lives today that is greater than our failures, weaknesses, and sins, and who is going to redeem everything we would think is beyond repair. To know that means constant peace and joy. And in a world like this, that is a powerful witness.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, may very well have preached the most powerful sermon ever preached regarding Jesus. It’s found in John 2:5, and it is only 5 words long. Here it is: “Do whatever he tells you.”
There is nothing more important this day — this moment — than what’s on Jesus’ heart for you — something he wants you to know or do. So prepare yourself.
How? Ask yourself: when have I been most sensitive to Jesus and his guidance? What was I doing that made my heart most responsive to him? There’s your answer. Practice that. Keep at it. Keep yourself prepared for all that Jesus has on his heart for you.
In Luke 18:9-14 (NET) we read the following: 9 “Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
13 The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’
14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The very awareness of our need for mercy — to the extent that we can hardly bring ourselves to ask for it — is precisely the awareness that God readily and superabundantly responds to with mercy.
Conversely, it is the lack that awareness of needing mercy that keeps us alienated from God and under condemnation.
In other words, at the root of what separates us from God is a dismissive attitude towards how profoundly self-regarding our every thought, word, and deed actually is. We turn a blind eye to that, and end up suppressing the truth of how much we need mercy. Hence, no mercy is forthcoming.
That’s why everything Jesus came to do for us begins in us only when we are poor in spirit — that is — when we admit that we are spiritually bankrupt and that God's mercy is our only hope. For such individuals is the kingdom of heaven.
In Matthew 1:21 we read the angels words of reassurance to Joseph regarding Mary — “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Notice that the angel didn’t say Jesus would save his people from the consequences of their sins, but from the sins themselves. Something is amiss if our main concern is with the consequence of a sin over against the sin itself. Sin, not its consequence, is our main problem.
So how does Jesus deliver us? One way is through revealing the truth to our hearts. “You will know the truth,” he said, “and the truth will set you free.”
What truth? The all-important truth regarding what God is like, specifically, that he is thoroughly good — pure self-sacrificial helpfulness.
The more this truth comes home to our hearts, the more we will abandon any and all sin. Why? Because we will increasingly know that because of who our God is, all is well. He will never fail to meet our every need and help us with even the smallest of troubles every moment of our lives.
Once we know that truth with a rock-like confidence, we are saved from sin because every sin is instigated by faithlessness. We sin because, in the area in question, we simply don’t believe that “the Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.” So Jesus comes and speaks that truth to our hearts day by day, situation by situation. And the more we believe it, the more we turn away from our sins.
Psalm 33:5b — “…the earth is full of his unfailing love.”
Love is behind everything God does because God is love. That is to say, everything God does is helpful because God is pure helpfulness. However, the less we believe that, the more unsettled our hearts will be in a world like this. So, behind all that happens in our lives, we would do well to constantly reflect on the question, how is God helping us right now? and pray, “Lord open the eyes of my heart to see your unfailing love at work behind the ups and downs in this day.”
Truly every sin is a crime against God’s helpfulness and willingness to help. We could label it an act of idolatry.
We are looking to someone or something other than God to answer a hunger, a need, a desire, a longing, or an interest, not realizing — or else forgetting or ignoring — the fact that God cherishes us so much that He would never withhold from us an answer to our every need.
This is why a heart trust in God is the antidote to idolatry. We know that our God will come through for us in His time and way with precisely what is needed so we look to nothing but Him and our hearts rest in Him.
When we read, as in 1 John 4:16, that God is love, I take that to mean that God is pure helpfulness. That means that everyone who comes in direct contact with him is helped as much as possible to the full extent of how receptive that person is to his influence.
Now, since, as Christians, we are God’s co-workers, and, for that matter, the body of Christ in this world, we too participate in his helpfulness. If we are true to this honor, then as with God himself, everyone who comes into direct contact with us will find themselves helped insofar as they are receptive to God's influence.
1 Corinthians 4:5 "So then, do not judge anything before the time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God." Romans 14:10b-12 “…For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”
If you truly want to know what makes you tick, study your motives. I suggest that why you do what you do says far more about you than what you are actually doing. That would help explain why it is that upon his return Jesus is going to reveal the motives of every heart. It will tell who we are and who our neighbor is and be the bases upon which we give an account of ourselves to God.
So when the Lord returns, do you want to be surprised by the motives that his light reveals? or would you rather have very few motives exposed that in any way surprise you? How do we minimize disheartening surprises when it’s our turn to give an account to God for the life we’ve lived? The answer may be to be proactive on just what you want motivating your life. How? Choose your life’s motives in the light of choosing your life’s purpose.
Perhaps we could put it this way: what a port of destination is to a ship, your life’s purpose is to your life. That is to say, your life’s purpose is where you want to end up when the journey is done. Your motives are like the ship’s rudder. If the movements of that rudder do not correspond to keeping the ship on course to the desired destination, the ship will end up somewhere else. So for the success of the journey, two things have to be clear: there has to be a fixed destination in view, and there has to be vigilant, 24/7 attention given to every movement of the rudder to make sure the ship stays on course.
Conversely, if there is no established destination in view, then who cares what the rudder does? It could be set to where the ships just goes in circles, but so what? We weren’t going anywhere in the first place. If a destination has been decided on, but no attention is given to the position of the rudder, then there’s no hope the destination will be reached, right?
So let’s start with the destination of your life — your life’s purpose. Is that clear to you? Do you have it written down somewhere where you can repeatedly remind yourself of it? Can you easily complete the following sentence, Jesus, more than anything in this world I want to…. If not, then that’s the place to start. And it seems to me a life’s purpose needs to have two parts to it, a vertical and horizontal part. In other words, (part 1) What do you always want your relationship to the Lord to be like? That’s the vertical part — spell it out. (part 2) What do you want to always be doing in every contact you have with someone else? In other words, what kind of influence do you want to have on each person you come in contact with? — define that.
Once you have your life’s destination in view, then it’s time to constantly examine the position of the rudder.
Here’s a helpful prayer to that effect: Psalms 139:23-24 Then with the Lord’s search light on us we can ask: What is motivating me to think (say or do) the thoughts I’m about to think (say or do) right now? Does it square up with my life’s purpose? I'm beyond convinced that to have a well defined life's purpose and then use it to ruthlessly examine our motives goes a long way to preparing us for Jesus' return.
Luke 16:10 (NET) — Jesus taught that “The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”
So let’s ask: What is the smallest responsibility in which one can be faithful or not?
It would have to be something over which we are most responsible at all times and in all circumstances. And what could we be held more responsible for than our own individual thoughts?
It seems to me that in the Scriptures God reveals what it is that we must prioritize in the use of our thoughts. First, our friendship with Jesus, and second, our helpfulness towards others.
With that in view, here are some questions to consider: are the things I think about whenever I am free to think of whatever I’d like in some sense revolving around my friendship with Jesus? Do I routinely think about how precious the people in my life are to him? Am I preoccupied with how I might be able to help them know how much he cares for them?
Our overall capacity to manage any big responsibilities in life is being decided right there, in the deep recesses of our minds — in what we do with our thoughts.
I stumbled onto a quote the other day that caught my attention in a big way. The observation was attributed to the well-known British preacher Charles Spurgeon.
“In the four Gospel accounts given to us in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—eighty-nine chapters of biblical text—there’s only one place where Jesus tells us about his own heart.” -Spurgeon
Following that, I did some research of my own and found this:
“Once you exclude the duplications of Jesus’ speeches in the four gospels, the total number of words spoken by Jesus is 31,426.” (Quora and How Many Words of Jesus are red? | The Synoptic Gospel)
Now, in only 7 of those words does Jesus tell us what is at the very center of all that he is — what he is in his innermost being, his heart. He said, “I am gentle and humble in heart.” Here’s the context from Matthew 11:28-30 (NET)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NET)
Let’s go deeper. Consider this: since Jesus is “the radiance of his [God’s] glory and the representation of his essence” (Hebrews 1:3) (NET) — what his heart is, God’s heart is. That means all that he thinks, does, or says — all that God thinks, does, or says — flows from these two heart qualities: gentleness and humility.
Now let’s factor in 1 John 4:16 — “God is love.” I take that to mean that God is pure helpfulness. Altogether, then, we could conclude that that helpfulness — in both attitude and action — always flows from a heart that is perfectly gentle and humble. I’m persuaded that the fact that God is love by nature and gentle and humble at the very center of his being is the quintessence of God’s glory, a glory that is seen in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV) “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”
So next time you look up to the Lord, remember, pure helpfulness is coming your way, full of gentleness and humility.
The Apostle Paul wrote, in effect, that no matter what I may do with my life that appears exceptional, if I do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2) He allows for no exceptions. No one is or has ever been exempt from that truth. It reveals that the ultimate spiritual and moral authority in the universe is Love, that is, self-sacrificial helpfulness. Where there is no love there is no spiritual or moral authority – there is nothing.
Ultimately, for us and all conscious creation, only one response to God will do: receptivity.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.” Acts 17:24-25 (NET)
Clearly, God does not seek our worship, our love, our obedience with an eye on something within himself that needs these things. He is perfectly self-sufficient. Therefore, he seeks out our loving attention strictly because we need it. In his love for us he can offer us nothing better than himself as his highest blessing, and so he calls us — even commands us — to receive all he so longs to give — that is — his very nature of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
That, I suggest, is what worship is. It is to approach the Lord receptive to all he wants to do in us and for us. The more receptive we are the more deeply we are worshiping him. And then out of that comes our service, for now we have received something we can pass on.
The very nature of God, being love, that is — as I see it — pure helpfulness, means that every moment of the day he is helping us and wants to increasingly help us be all that he created us to be. This process will go on forever because even though we will be sinless on the new earth, we will still be revealing to one another facets of God’s goodness that are unique to our friendship with him.
Along the way here on earth, he alone counsels each of us regarding where we need the most help to walk in his friendship. While the Scriptures give us the framework, that is, what it is he is going to teach us, it is the Holy Spirit who applies that Word to our lives. He receives all he gives from Jesus and shows us all we need to know to grow in friendship with Jesus. And the more of that help we receive, the more we have to give.
The value of any circumstance in your life to you personally is determined by whether or not you use it to draw closer to God in greater dependence on him. Hence, even situations of sinful failure can be made valuable to us if we will use them to turn back to God with a deeper trust in him.
When Jesus said, “let nothing be wasted,” regarding leftover loaves of bread, I don’t think he just had food in view. There’s a principle here: Life is full of all kinds of blessings, pleasures, joys, glad surprises, trials, adversities, heartaches, and setbacks. O.k., regardless of what gave rise to any one of these things, use it to learn everything you can about depending more on Jesus. Let nothing be wasted.
Here’s another way to define what faith is. Faith is looking to Jesus confident that he will make a difference regarding the concern or need on our hearts.
So to pray in faith is to pray assured that the prayer will be heard and answered. It is to be able to say, yes, I know he will do this for me.
How do we come to have such an assurance, such faith?
1 John 5:14-15 — “This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.”
There it is. The key to praying with perfect confidence that our prayer is heard and will be answered is to take time to find out what God's will is, what God has already promised to do, or what God is showing you he wants to do in a given situation.
When we pray along those lines, we will be heard, and our request will be answered.
The greater the value you place on the people in your life the more in touch with God you are. The more you see others as infinitely precious to God, the more God is having His way with you.
However, it is what we do or don’t do (not what we think) that reveals what we believe. So what will we do if we, in truth, do value others and acknowledge their preciousness to God?
- We will realize that there is a monstrous disparity between how precious another person is and our ability to affirm it. In other words, it will become increasingly clear to us that even if we were to die a thousand deaths for another’s sake we would never be able to do justice to that other person’s worth to God.
- This realization helps us humble ourselves and brings us to the truth: only God affirms preciousness.
- Knowing that, we then set ourselves to live a life of what the apostle John calls, “abiding in love.”
How do we abide in love? First let’s define the word “love,” and the word that seems to me to be the best synonym for the love that comes from God is the word “helpfulness.” Hence, God is love would mean that God is pure helpfulness.
And that means that
- only what God thinks is the most helpful thing to think.
- only how God evaluates a person or a situation is the most helpful way to evaluate.
- only how He feels about someone / something is the most helpful way to feel.
- only how He reacts to someone or a situation is the most helpful way to react.
- only what God says is the most helpful thing to say.
- only what God does is the most helpful thing to do.
Consequently, if I am going to abide in helpfulness, it will not happen apart from a continual looking up to God with a receptive heart whereby God can share with me his perspective and activity.
Jesus lived the ideal to aim for. He said of the Father: “I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” John 5:19 (NET 2nd Ed.)
- In order to develop courage in you, God uses situations that are unpredictable and challenging. But instead you could decide to run from everything you find uncomfortable or demanding.
- In order to develop a never-give-up attitude in you, God uses other people’s problems or situations you badly wish would just go away. But instead you could decide to quit leaning on God for strength to hang in there no matter what.
- In order to develop a compassionate heart in you, God uses various kinds difficulties that easily give rise to mental distress, emotional, or physical suffering. But instead you could decide to become resentful, bitter, and combative.
- In order to develop humility and gentleness in you, God uses your weaknesses and the foolish stuff you do even while you know better. But instead you could deny that’s there’s anything wrong with you or blame anyone or anything handy for your foolishness.
- In order to develop your trust in him, God uses all kinds of needs and problems that you can’t solve. But instead you could decide to turn into a defeated, chronic complainer.
- In order to develop joy in you, God gives you innumerable chances to be a blessing to others. But instead you could ignore those chances and just stick with doing your own thing.
- In order to keep your heart at peace, God calls you to put every problem in his hands and thank him that he’ll handle it. But instead you could decide to hang on to the problem and stay anxious or fearful.
- In order to develop gratitude in you, God fills your days with countless little pleasures, encouragements, conveniences, and delights. But instead you could fixate on all that you wish were better than what it is.
You see, everything God does in our lives is in the interests of a life that is mature, complete, and not lacking anything. But the choice is ours as to whether or not we will make good on his work and steadily grow.
When it comes to discerning what is or is not a sin, we have the Ten Commandments and no doubt all sins in some sense break one or more of those commands. What is not so obvious, however, are things we do that have an undeniable appearance of being perfectly legitimate and even commendable, but are sinful nonetheless.
How so?
Because they violate the consummate goal of all the commandments. And what is that? The apostle Paul answers,
“For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:9-10 (NET 2nd Ed.)
So we might ask, how is that we can be violating the law of love while doing something any observer would consider perfectly legitimate?
It seems to come down to our motive.
The love of God, flowing as it does from his nature, is entirely other oriented. That is to say, God does nothing just to make himself feel good, joyful, happy, or satisfied. These emotional states are only a byproduct of his intention and activity which is, in its entirety, focused on the wellbeing of what he loves. In other words, by his very nature, the byproduct of joy on account of benefiting what he loves is never his reason for loving. He loves because he is love and for no other reason.
When we read in scripture of God doing something for his own sake or reputation or for his glory, it is only because the wellbeing of what he loves is at stake. That is to say, when he, at times, radically asserts himself, he is like a physician demanding a very sick patient’s undivided attention. The physician knows that death is drawing near. The patient must yield to an intervening radical surgery or die, so in various ways the physician is all but screaming to secure the patient’s consent.
So with God. This world is so sick and gasping for air that God must assert himself and his purposes with even violent activity or it’s game over for all of us. The intensity of his wrath regarding our unfolding demise only matches the intensity of his love. And since he is the fountainhead of all peace and joy and wellbeing then, of course, he’s going to insist on our undivided attention so that we will say “yes” to radical surgery apart from which we die with a capital D.
But as I trust is clear, God’s activity has nothing to do with just making himself feel good. He is the gold standard of all purity, and a pure heart always has only one motive in play — the wellbeing of the beloved.
So what can make a perfectly legitimate looking action sinful? The absence of God’s love, that is, a behind the scene motive that says, in effect, this I do for me.
James 5:16 — “The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.”
One of the defining hallmarks of a “righteous person” is that they maintain an exclusive reliance on God to make all the difference. And if we can say that no one can do anything more positively effective for this world than what is done in prayer, then that would explain why a righteous person commits so much time to it.
So let's ask the question, what makes for effective prayer? What does exclusive reliance upon God look like in prayer? Three words come to mind. First of all, the word
- Faith. That is, knowing that Jesus hears your prayer, and knowing that he is more than ready and willing to answer it.
The second word is
- Love. In this context, we could say love is an attitude of complete agreement with Jesus because his very nature is love. So, along with him, we passionately want the very best for that person or situation we are praying for regardless of what his answer may end up looking like to us.
And the third word is
- Perseverance. That is, we pray incessantly and never, ever give up regardless of anything we see or don’t see.
The result? Great effectiveness.
Here’s what I see as two of the most empowering verses in the Bible.
Now, I use that word “empowering” with caution because, frankly, it sounds like a trendy new age cliche that has you focusing on empowering YOURSELF and the sky is the limit on what YOU can do, etc.. But allow me to use it nonetheless regarding the verses I’m going to read to you. They do, in fact, indicate that because of the way God has set up reality we have at our fingertips an incalculably big say in how our lives are going to play out. To take it one step further, this leverage or control given to us is so great that we can easily deceive ourselves about it and tell ourselves it’s no big deal or that it doesn’t really apply to us, or that we are exempt, and so on.
So the apostle Paul warns us about being deceived on this and then lays bare the truth.
Here it is:
Galatians 6:7-8 — “Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.”
I suggest to you that what it is we are sowing is our thoughts. So if I have it right, the Apostle is referring to where we direct our thoughts — what we choose to think about. And the options come down to two.
First what he calls the “flesh.” And if we were to sum up what the Apostle writes about “the works of the flesh” in Galatians, perhaps we could put it this way: the flesh is what in us calls us to constantly think about what feels good and what in us will aggressively oppose anything that gets in our way. If that is where we direct our thoughts, the net effect will eventually be “corruption”, that is, the completely inner disintegration and decay of the self we asserted. Elsewhere, the apostle says simply, “you will die.”
The other option he calls, “the Spirit”. We also have before us the possibility of sowing thoughts to the Spirit, that is, to constantly think about what matters to the Holy Spirit. And he gives us a list that I think could be summed up in one word: love, that is, the act of acknowledging the immense preciousness to God of each person we meet, and seeking to help them in any way God guides us to. If that’s where we direct our thoughts, the net effect will be “eternal life from the Spirit.” That word “life” in the Bible seems to me to mean that in which the purposes of God are being fulfilled. So “eternal life from the Spirit” would mean that our lives become full of all that God has in mind for us. I don’t think it can get any better than that.
Now take a step back, and soak all this up for a moment. Don’t be deceived. God has given us an unbelievable prerogative in his law of sowing and reaping. Each of us has before us the possibility of seeing our lives end up in a heap of corruption or an abundance of purposeful living. And it is as near to us as where we sow our thoughts.
Righteousness is a very big word in the Bible. It goes a long way in defining all that pleases God. Let’s think about it. It seems to me to have two parts in scripture:
(1) Being righteous is a position before God of having been made right with God by God himself. God does this in response to an act of repentance and trusting prayer that says to God, in effect, “I turn my back on my answers for my life. From now on I trust in you, God, to make me your friend.”
(2) The second part has to do with the evidence of having been made right with God. That evidence is that a person God has made right with himself, that is, a righteous person, increasingly rejects pride, covetousness, and sensuality.
To walk in pride is to walk in self-asserting self-regard.
To walk in covetousness is to desire for yourself something God has not given you.
To walk in sensuality means to constantly focus time and attention on anything that feels good.
The “righteous” are those who
(1) clearly see in themselves pride, covetousness, and sensuality;
(2) they know that without God as their help and friend, they will not get free; so
(3) they constantly recommit themselves to doing whatever it takes to be true to God and their friendship with God. They keep turning back to trusting God no matter what and never quit turning back regardless of how defeated they may feel at times.
In 1 Corinthians 10:31 the apostle Paul writes, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
We have various motives that turn up in almost anything we do or say, but it seems to me that in each of us there is invariably a baseline — a dominant motive behind them all.
Perhaps we could say that we are like a ship with multiple rudders. They each exercise some influence on the direction the ship goes, but the biggest rudder will determine the actual destination.
I suggest that our dominant motive is one of three possibilities.
The first is that we do what we do essentially to make things easier for ourselves, that is, we live our lives ultimately serving ourselves. The second is that we do what we do to make things easier for others, that is, we ultimately live to help others. The third is that we do what we do to make things easier for God, that is, our ultimate concern is to see God have his way with us and through us.
Let’s consider these motives. The first one of just living to serve ourselves is obviously a self-centered dead end. We’re dead even while we live.
The second of ultimately living to help others is noble and good, but it all to easily overlooks the fact that our deepest needs are spiritual in nature. Hence, we rarely know what people around us most need. That can give rise to a lot of help that — while perhaps making a desirable difference at the time — doesn’t necessarily help from the standpoint of eternity.
The third ultimate motive of living to see God have his way is the only motive worthy of dominating our hearts. Our hearts were fashioned after God’s own heart, and his heart has this singular motive behind all he does — he lives to pack as much blessing as he can into all he’s created, especially every human heart. That to me defines his glory.
If you adopt glorifying God as your ultimate motive, you will do what you do with a prevailing regard for what God wants to do in you and through you. Everything you do will be inspired by your friendship with him and then he can exercise as much influence as possible through you in the lives of others.
If this is going to be our predominant motive then the way forward is clear: we must surrender our hearts to Christ to be filled with his Spirit and then ask him to motivate us with what motivates him.
Psalms 81:13-16 (NIV) “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Whenever God says “no” to this or that desire or plan we have for ourselves, it is only because he is safeguarding to us a supremely desirable “yes”.
God always has his eye on seeing us full of such joy that we simply cannot contain it, and his ways for us are always the fastest time and shortest distance possible to bring us into that joy.
This is why he is so vehemently opposed to any deviations from his will. For that matter, that explains to me what his wrath is all about. His wrath is his total and settled opposition to anything that does not contribute to the fulness of joy he has in mind for us. I would want God to be exceedingly angry with anything I do that stands to interfere with all the peace and joy he wants to fill me with, wouldn’t you? God is so much on our side that — as one guy put it — his wrath is the final hope for humanity.
Consequently, when facing temptation we would do well to redirect thoughts to God’s “yes”. I need to ask, What precious reality is he seeking to fill me with that this temptation is threatening to take from me?
In the words of one writer, “The athlete says no to foods and drinks and indulgent lifestyles that would interfere with his goal because he has first said yes to the goal of winning his race.” –Kreeft
Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there your heart is also.” Matthew 6:21
Let’s have a close look at that statement. To know what our hearts are attached to, we need to know what it is we treasure. And if you want to know what it is you most treasure, then the best way I’ve found to do that is to take a close look at what you think about when you are free to think of whatever you’d like, that is, when nothing requires your focused attention?
For example, when you are driving down the highway, you have a lot of freedom to think of whatever you will. What do you think about right then? Washing dishes or doing some habitual routine usually doesn’t require your full attention. What is then on your mind?
Whatever that is, that is your treasure, it is where your heart is — your inner life is being ordered around it.
I would do well to ask myself, is that where I want my heart?
In Proverbs we read, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23
Hence the critical importance of paying careful attention to what we think about when we are free to think of whatever we’d like.
Someone has said that, “The Joy of Heaven is consciousness of God’s Love.” (God At Eventide)
I agree. What could possibly be more joyful than the contemplation of God’s nature? And we read in 1 John 4:16 that his nature is Love.
Now as a synonym for the word love I would suggest the expression pure helpfulness with the added thought that God treasures us, having made us in his own image and likeness.
So when you entertain the thought of God, always think about him within the context of these these primary truths about him:
1 you are exceedingly precious to him,
2 all that flows from his heart towards you is pure helpfulness.
And #3 his helpfulness is at work in seeing you become all that he had in mind in creating you, that is, to be the best of friends with you and to make your friendship with him a huge blessing to others everywhere you go and in all you do.
So yes, the more conscious you are of these precious truths not only in heaven but right now, here on earth, the greater will be your joy.
Everything going on in your life is primarily between Jesus and you.
The reason I say that is first based on the most important fact about you, that Jesus, for whom all things were created, created you for himself — to live in friendship with you as the best of friends.
That means that everything about you — your thoughts, words, attitudes, intentions, motives, reactions, choices — is intended to be anchored in that friendship and flow from it. That is, it is intended to always express his guidance.
By contrast, nothing inside of you and nothing that happens to you is to be allowed to have any final say on anything you think, say, or do. None whatsoever. For that matter, that could serve as a good definition of sin. Sin is anything we do that does not in some sense flow out of our friendship with Jesus.
So here it is once again: Everything going on in your life is primarily between Jesus and you.
- Between you and what you think about must be your friendship with Jesus and the thoughts that flow from that friendship.
- Between you and what you say must be your friendship with Jesus and the words that flow from that friendship.
- Between you and what you do must be your friendship with Jesus and the actions that flow from that friendship.
Someone once asked me, “am I hard to love?” A relative had told them that so they were wondering if it was true.
My response had to do with what is meant by the word “love.” If we are talking about true love — God’s love — then being “hard to love” seems to me a gross misunderstanding of what that word love actually means.
For one, to love someone has nothing to do with the beloved — the person being loved. To love is dependent upon a person choosing to love. It has nothing to do with whether or not the other person is “lovable.”
Love comes from God and his love is essentially a choice, a choice first of all to place supreme value on that other person. They were created by God and he gave his life to hold them close to his heart forever. God treasures each person like that. Therefore, to love them is to choose to think of them the way God does and treat them accordingly.
And since God is love, that is, pure helpfulness, then to love another person is to seek to work with God in helping them in any way God guides. Whether that other person is, so called, “lovable” or not has nothing to do with it.
God’s love is also infinitely loyal and perfectly true to the commitment to a loved one’s total wellbeing. No amount of resistance or rejection can cause God to love a person any less than he does. His nature is love and his nature is unchangeable. God will, however, respect a person’s decision to reject him and give that person the distance they want to keep from him, but that kind of respect is an element of his loving nature.
So the answer to my friend’s question, “am I hard to love?” is simply this: if we are taking about true love — the love of God — then, never. If we’re talking about human love, which is always conditional, and not worthy of the word love, then it comes down to whether or not you are what that person wants you to be. As long as you measure up to their expectations of you, you are supposedly loved, but as soon as you don’t tow their line, then, in their eyes you’re “hard to love.”
“Seek the Lord and the strength he gives. Seek his presence continually.” Psalm 105:4
What is it to “seek the Lord”? Look at it this way: if you want to be someone’s friend, you have to find common ground upon which to build the friendship. By that I mean, you have to have shared interests. And the more interests you have in common with each other the deeper the friendship you stand to have.
So to “seek the Lord” suggests to me a call to pay careful attention to what you know pleases him and also pleases you. In other words, do a lot of thinking and praying about such things.
Here’s one example: in Romans 15:5 we read that God is the source of encouragement. He takes great pleasure in encouraging people. Well, don’t you? Don’t you like to see anyone who spends time with you encouraged? Sure you do. So God and you have that interest in common. Therefore, for you to “seek the Lord” would be to do a lot of thinking with God about when and how to go about encouraging people.
What’s another interest you have in common with God? Set it before you and then “seek the Lord.” Ask him, What does it mean for us to do this together? You keep that up regarding your shared interests and your friendship with God will grow deeper and deeper.
I’m convinced that the deepest hunger in our hearts is one and the same with the highest purposes of God for us. I say that because, in reference to Christ, the Apostle Paul writes that we were created “through him and for him.” That being true, is it even conceivable that Jesus would create us with a desire that’s greater or deeper than a desire to be all that he would have us be and do? I don’t think so. Consequently, here’s the overarching joy — the joy unspeakable — it is also God’s promise to us to completely satisfy that hunger. Philippians 1:6 — “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
James 1:2-4 — “My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.”
Trials afford us the possibility of spiritual growth to where we are able to cope effectively with any difficulty that comes our way and so we are called to count them “nothing but joy”.
However, trials also expose inner weakness — the very weakness we are being called to out grow. That is to say, trials brings us face to face with the temptation to, in effect, attempt to cut short the trial with our answer to the problem.
So, in a sense, what we are actually having to endure when facing a trial is not the discomfort of it, but the temptation to just do our own thing to try and get rid of it. That’s why the apostle James writes that it is our faith that is being tested — will we continue to look to God for his answer in his time or will we resort to our own immediate answer? When we keep looking to God, it produces endurance in us — we endure the corresponding temptation by practicing walking right past it.
And such endurance not only strengthens our character. The apostle goes on to write, “Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)
This is the last of a series of podcasts regarding that in which I suggest we most want to experience peace of mind.
We want the peace of mind of knowing that Jesus will redeem every sin and every mistake we’ve made.
If your past is anything like mine, you have generated heartbreak in others and left a trail of tears in the wake of poor decisions you’ve made. Even to this day, you find yourself failing to be what you aspire to be, what God has called you to be, and others — knowingly or unknowingly — are let down. And the more sensitive you are to God’s call, the more sorrowful you are at the realization of having let him down.
We could grieve the rest of our lives over these failures and I think that many people do go to their graves full of despairing self-incrimination.
Thankfully, Jesus knows all about our troubled hearts in this, and I suggest to you that his answer is found in a phrase he employed regarding the end times and the overt inauguration of his kingdom. The phrase is this: “the renewal of all things”. (Matthew 19:28) It is the same word the Apostle Paul uses in Titus 3:5 to describe the total transformation of our inner life through being born again by the Holy Spirit. In addition to renewal, the word can be translated, regeneration, restoration, renovation, or rebirth.
In Isaiah 61:3 we have a summary statement of Jesus’ ministry. For that matter, in Luke 4:16-21, Jesus actually quoted a portion of this text at the very onset of his ministry, indicating that he was the fulfillment of it. This is what he’s going to do:
“provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them
- a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
- the oil of joy instead of mourning,
- and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
What we must do is bring the ashes to him, bring our mourning, bring our despair. We must tell him all about it. In exchange he will give us a crown of beauty, oil of joy, a garment of praise, together indicators that a joyous festival is at hand — the renewal of all things. And he would have us know that he will not overlook restoring even the smallest of our failures — everything will be repaired. So he says to us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” (John 14:1)
This is part 3 of a series of podcasts regarding that in which I suggest we most want to experience peace of mind.
This third one is that we want the peace of mind of always knowing how to be most helpful to everyone we know or meet.
In Acts 20:35 we read that Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” God is therefore pure joy because he is, by nature, pure self-giving helpfulness. Anyone who makes any contact with him is instantly helped in the most essential way possible all things considered. Since we were made in his image and likeness, our spiritual DNA, if you will, is governed in its development by Jesus’ principle. We experience fulness of joy only when our lives are far more about giving than receiving.
But just what is the most helpful thing we can do for anyone we know or meet at any given time? The answer is just a heart’s beat away. It is instantly available to us the moment look to the Lord for his help:
- Psalm 32:8 — “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
- Isaiah 41:13 — “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
This is part 2 of a series of podcasts whereby I hope to highlight that in which we most want to experience peace of mind.
Number 1 was that we want the peace of mind of knowing that all our needs are going to be met day by day.
2) we want the peace of mind of being able to confidently say, “all is well” regarding everyone and everything that concerns us
This peace of mind rests on promises that have to do with how wonderfully God is going to act on our behalf and answer our concerns above and beyond our wildest hopes and dreams.
- Psalm 65:5 — “Awesome things will You show us in Your righteousness,
O God of our salvation, O Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away.” * Psalm 40:5 — “Great things are they that you have done, O LORD my God! How great your wonders and your plans for us! there is none who can be compared with you.” * Ephesians 3:20 — “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Notice: Awesome things will you show us … How great your wonders and your plans for us! … and he will do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
So what do we need to do with today’s concern? Bring it to him. Place it in his hands. Then begin to praise him whenever that concern revisits our minds:
“Lord, awesome things will you show me in how you resolve this. How great are your plans for this troubling situation! I can rejoice because you are going to do immeasurably more than all I could ask or imagine with it! All is well and all manner of things will be well. I have nothing to fear.”
In the words of one Christian writer written centuries ago, God wants us to know that our least concern is not forgotten. For just as he made all things out of nothing, so will he make well all that is not well. (Julian of Norwich, 1342c.-1416, adapted)
I’ve mentioned before that I think it could be said that all progress in the Christian life is determined by how relentlessly we apply the promises of God to every difficulty we face. In fact, the promises God has made to us are intended to keep our hearts and minds perfectly at peace at all times and in all circumstances. And it is only when we live and act out of such inner stillness that we can be effective in working with God to help others. We can’t rescue others whose boat is sinking if our own boat is sinking.
Over the next few podcasts I’d like to consider what I suggest are four major areas of our lives in which we want to live in that perfect peace of mind, followed up with Scriptures that embody the truth we need to take to heart.
The first one is that
1) we want the peace of mind of knowing that all our needs are going to be met day by day
- Psalm 23:1 — “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” That statement is so powerful that we could live the whole of our lives in perfect peace even if that’s all we knew. The Lord is such a good Shepherd, so thoughtful, so conscientious, so competent, that we can be sure that our every need — spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical — has been anticipated and the answer has been dispatched to arrive right on time. The more we take our stand on that, the more peace of mind we will experience.
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Romans 8:32 — “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
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God is, by nature, pure helpfulness. He always does the most helpful thing possible in all situations.
- No matter how great our need may be, God will always help in a way that is more than sufficient to meet it.
- Our greatest need is for a restored friendship with God. So God did what it took to bring us back to himself — he gave up his own Son to take responsibility for our sin and take our place in enduring eternal punishment for our sin — alienation from God. God gave us his greatest gift to meet our greatest need.
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Therefore, of this we can be absolutely sure: “how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
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Philippians 4:19 — “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” The context is referring to financial needs, but frankly, Jesus made it clear that food and clothing are low level needs in God’s economy on par with God clothing the flowers and feeding the birds. So if we are assured that he meets such needs, how much more so the greater needs we face in life?
Romans 3: 25,26 (NET) — “God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.”
God’s justice means God upholds the consequences of a decision. It is expressed in the law of sowing and reaping. His justice is never suspended or set aside anymore that one could say that God becomes other than Who He is.
All that Jesus endured in His suffering and death was “for us” or “on our behalf” only in the sense that we were “in Him” or “with Him”. On account of that union and His eternal nature, the death He endure with us in Him “satisfied” justice, that is, the full consequence of sin — death, eternal separation from God.
Through Him and in union with Him we did, if fact, experience the wages of sin in full — we died an eternal death. However, that oneness was so complete that, lo and behold, we also rose with Him. His indestructible life — the only spiritual life there is, now became our life — a life death could not hold on to, eternal life.
Hence, God is perfectly “just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.”
I think it could be said that every sin is a crime against God’s helpfulness and willingness to help. We could label it an act of idolatry. That is, we are looking to someone or something other than God to answer a hunger, a need, a desire, a longing, or an interest, not realizing — or else forgetting or ignoring — the fact that God cherishes us so much that He would never withhold from us an answer to our every need.
This is why a heart trust in God is the antidote to idolatry. We know that our God will come through for us in His time and way with precisely what is needed so we look to nothing but Him and our hearts rest in Him.
I suggest to you that at the close of our lives, we will be judged by how much of Christ’s helpfulness we let flow through us. If that is so, then the greatest tragedy in life would be to remain unavailable to Christ for his helpfulness to flow through us.
2 Peter 1:3,4 — “… his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire.”
2 Corinthians 1:20 — “For every one of God’s promises are “Yes” in him; therefore also through him the “Amen” is spoken, to the glory we give to God.”
Joshua 21:45 — “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”
I think it could be said that all progress in the Christian life is determined by how relentlessly we apply the promises of God to every difficulty we face.
Take a moment to consider the following questions:
1) what are the three main difficulties I’m facing right now?
2) what is each difficulty suggesting to me is true?
3) what promise of God directly answers each suggestion to where if I filled my thoughts with it my peace of mind would be unshakable?
Here’s the situation: Nothing that happens to you or around you has any power to disturb your peace of mind without your mental consent, that is, without you agreeing with what the difficulty suggests is true instead of what God has promised you.
So who are you going to believe — you, and what you tell yourself is going on or could happen, or God, and what he has promised to do for you?
By way of announcement, I will be out of town for the next few days so my next podcast will likely be Monday, November 7th.
Philippians 4:8 — “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Here’s a brief self-analysis that can shed light on specifically what we allow ourselves to think or say about others:
Harbor the kinds of thoughts regarding each person you know so that if anyone you know — while knowing your thoughts — were to come to church and see an empty seat beside you, he or she would be delighted to sit by you.
Say the kinds of things about each person you know so that if anyone in your life — knowing all you say about him or her — were to come to church and see an empty seat beside you, he or she would gladly take that seat.
Galatians 5:6 — “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
It seems to me that one of the most consequential and confusing interpretations bible students make in bible study is to water down the relationship between what I’m going to call being an object and being an agent of God's helpfulness.
Everything in the Christian life begins with being an object of God’s helpfulness. That is to say, we cannot pass on that which we do not have. So to help others in any spiritually significant way means we must first experience that help ourselves.
- In order to help others understand repentance we must practice it ourselves.
- In order to help others learn to trust God, we must be trusting God ourselves.
- In order to help others see how precious people are to God, we must ourselves be regarding them as precious.
So only as we are objects of God's help can we be agents of God's help. However, if we are not agents of God's help in this world then it is self-deception if we think we’ve taken to heart the help God has been to us. One of the trademarks of having absorbed God's ever free and superabundant help is that we can no longer live with ourselves if we do not simultaneously become agents of his helpfulness.
In the more classical wording of what I’ve said, it seems to me that to differentiate between faith and works in such a way that either of them can stand alone and still count with God is shortsighted. The only kind of faith that saves is the kind of faith that expresses itself in love.
In other words, you can only know that God has helped you enter into a restored friendship with himself by how readily and eagerly you want to work with him in being an agent of his helpfulness.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 —
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Let’s consider this exhortation. Notice how the apostle Paul in writing about the “momentary troubles” we experience, differentiates between the things we see and what we don’t see. In effect he’s saying, Don’t let your attention linger over the interruptions, setbacks, difficulties, or frustrations that unsettle the flow of your day — they are the stuff you see.
Focus instead on what you don’t see — the “unseen” purpose and plan they’re intended to serve. And he calls that purpose, “eternal glory.” I suggest to you that he’s not referring to eventually being a blazing light in the celestial sky. The glory of God is his self-giving, self-sacrificial nature of pure helpfulness. That is intended to be our glory as well — the capacity to unhesitatingly and selflessly help others at all times and under all circumstances. It is to that end that, though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
All we need to know is only that which is essential to living a life of friendship with Jesus, which is to say, living a life of self-sacrificial helpfulness. I’m using the word helpfulness as a synonym for the word love. As the apostle Paul taught, we might have all kinds of remarkable spiritual gifts and a faith that can move mountains but if it is not helpful to others, what we do or what we are amounts to nothing.
So here’s a simply exercise in self-evaluation: invite the Lord to examine every aspect of your daily life — thoughts, words, attitudes, actions — and ask, is this in some way helping me be a more helpful person to those around me? Jesus, in every way possible, am I truly being your friend?
Have you noticed that almost anytime someone comes into direct contact with God in the Bible, they are called to either believe or do something in response? God’s interactions with the first man, Adam, puts him under orders to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28)
Peter, James, and John, have that direct encounter with God on the so-called “Mount of Transfiguration”, and “A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” (Luke 9:35)
The Apostle John meets God in the overwhelming presence of Jesus in the book of Revelation. He writes, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” (Revelation 1:17-19 (NIV))
If we started looking around I think we’d find many more examples. These tell us something about what to expect when we seek God with our whole heart. Like he promised, we will find him, but the experience will be more than something unspeakably remarkable. From within that encounter will come an assignment of some kind. Either he’ll call us to believe something or do something that will prove essential to all that he wants to do in us and through us. We would do well to expect that and be ready for it.
It seems to me that, taking into account various passages of scripture that reference God’s grace, we could define like this: God’s helpfulness freely given. What is the help he freely gives us? Here are some things to reflect on:
- He freely forgives our sins;
- He freely gives us a new heart so we can know him and start our life over;
- He freely fixes up the messes we’ve made and keep making;
- He freely empowers us to cheerfully bear with stuff we don’t like but can’t change;
- He freely gives us wisdom for any decision we bring to him;
- He freely guides and strengthens us to deal effectively with temptation;
- He freely authorizes us to use his name to shut down all influence from the kingdom of darkness
- He freely enables us to always be helpful to anyone who comes to our attention.
With realities that beautiful and freely given, little wonder that the Apostle Peter ends his second letter on this note: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18 (NIV)
Since God is love, and, as I see it, love is best defined as helpfulness, then God is helpfulness. All that God is and ever does is helpful. That means that every time we make contact with him, say, in prayer, we are instantly helped. It could not be otherwise because he cannot be otherwise.
Think of what that means: when you look up to God in any way with even the weakest of struggling appeals, you are immediately helped. It’s not a matter, initially, of feeling helped but that you are helped simply because God cannot be other than true to himself.
And when we read the Scriptures, it is of paramount importance that we not believe we are rightly understanding them until we can see that all God said or did is the most helpful thing that could possibly be said or done under the given circumstances. Again, God never says or does anything that is not perfectly and supremely helpful.
Going one step further, all so-called disappointment or disillusionment with God is nothing but disappointment or disillusionment with a figment of our imagination we call “God.” The true and living God is and can never be disappointing. Our struggle is with a distorted image we’ve projected on him. Hence, it is not without reason that the first of the ten commandments is, “You must not have any other god but me.” (Exodus 20:3) God is addressing the tap root of all our life’s troubles: a god made up of a distorted idea of who he is, that is, a god whose nature is not perfect helpfulness.
This also would explain why the first act by which we come into contact with the true and living God is repentance. That means we change our minds regarding the false image we’ve projected on him. We must utterly abandon it. The next act is to believe the good news: the true and living God is pure helpfulness. You will always be helped every single time you open up to him, anywhere and regarding any concern. And imbedded in that Good News is his grace. That means his help is assured because it is freely given.
Allow me to be as direct and blunt with you as I am with myself on this point: nothing is to be so important and precious to you as the next thing Jesus tells you to do.
Alright, but we might ask, is not Jesus Himself that ultimate preciousness? For sure, he is the paradigm of all that is important or precious in all creation — he is self-giving Life itself. However, that truth does not become part of our experience except upon friendship with him. So in a sense, there is no use talking about how supremely important Jesus is if we are ignoring the small gate and narrow path upon which we alone experience something of how important he is.
This path is exceedingly narrow if for no other reason than that there is no other. Either I am listening to him or I am not, and literally everything I value in life remains or disintegrates based on that.
1 John 4:16 reads in part, “God is love.” That is to say, love defines his very nature such as no other attribute does. While God is good and righteous and merciful, the Scriptures don’t say that God is goodness or that he is righteousness or that he is mercy. But that God is love? Yes.
So what does it mean? Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13 — that great love chapter in the Bible — only let’s substitute God in for the word love in verses 4-6. Doing that I think gives us some precious insights in God’s nature. Here it is:
- God is patient,
- God is kind.
- God does not envy,
- He is not boastful,
- He is not arrogant,
- He is not rude,
- He is not self-seeking,
- He is not irritable,
- and He does not keep a record of wrongs.
- God finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.
Someone has said, “The secret of true discipleship is service in little things.” -God Calling
We can all too easily believe that we would give our lives for Jesus, but the truth as to where we’re at is not found in prospective big sacrifices but in how readily we work with Jesus in the small details of everyday helpfulness. If we are not learning to pay attention to the chances God gives us all day long to do the little stuff for him that makes someone else’s day easier, we don’t have much reason to believe we will rise to the challenge when our lives are on the line.
So practice is in order to suffer through little setbacks cheerfully, overcome impulses to assert ourselves and our way, snuff out our me-first tendency, and welcome chances to be helpful in matters so trivial that we could easily overlook them.
In the words of Jesus, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Luke 16:10
In John 1:17 we read, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.”
Two words have been on my mind a lot lately, the word love and the word grace.
When it come to the word love, I’m convinced that the best substitute word that defines it is the word helpfulness. So that when we read that, “God is love.” (1 John 4:16) I understand that as, God is pure helpfulness.
The word grace, on the other hand, in the Bible seems to focus on something freely given. So when we read that salvation is by grace, I take that to mean salvation is freely given.
Now let’s put the two concepts of God is love and God's grace together. Here’s what I think we get: together they mean God’s helpfulness freely given. In fact, I think that serves as a good definition for the word grace. God, being in essence love, is represented by the word helpfulness and his help is freely given.
With that in mind, let’s consider John 1:17 — “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.”
It’s not that there was no law after Jesus or no grace or truth before him, but that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of grace, that is, God’s help freely given, and is the source of all that is true.
So all the help we could ever need at any time for anything is found and freely given to us in Christ. And everything we need to know, the truth about how to act, what to think, or how to get along with others is also found in Christ, in whom “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3)
Hence, the supreme value and total sufficiency of learning to talk with him and walk with him as friend with friend.
In the greek language in which the New Testament was recorded, a verb written in what is called the imperfect tense “always indicates an action continually or repeatedly happening in past time. It portrays the action as going on for some extended period of time in the past.”
You will recall that when Jesus was being crucified, he prayed, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’.” Reading that in just our English Bibles would lead us to be believe that he made that appeal just once and that was it. But as one scholar pointed out, “Jesus seems to have prayed for his tormentors actually while the iron spikes were being driven through his hands and feet; indeed the imperfect tense suggests that he kept praying, kept repeating his entreaty.”
And then he adds, “If the cruel torture of crucifixion could not silence our Lord’s prayer for his enemies, what pain, pride, prejudice or sloth could justify silencing [our prayer]?” (John Stott)
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) — “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Where do we get such confidence and assurance? From trusting in the promises of God. In other words, the more our lifestyle reveals that we believe that God will do precisely what he says he will do, the greater our faith.
How do we come to believe that God will do what he promises? By actually trusting him to help us with specific difficulties and challenges we face.
Here are some proportions as to how I think our faith grows.
- The more you trust him to resolve problems in your life, the more he’ll come through for you;
- The more you see him come through for you, the more you’ll realize he keeps his promises;
- The more you realize he keeps his promises, the more you’ll know he loves you;
- The more you know he loves you, the more you’ll share your innermost thoughts and feelings with him;
- The more you share your inner life with him, the more your friendship with him will grow;
- The more your friendship with him grows, the more his love will flow through you to others;
- And the more his love flows through you, the deeper your joy and God’s joy in you.
Ephesians 3:18, 19 — Paul prays that we “may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
There’s no doubt in my mind that a love this intense seeks each of us out day and night, from the moment we wake up, all through the day, when we go to bed, and even through the night.
And what does he want?
- He wants to carry every burden in your life and free you of all concern by being the one who you look to to resolve it.
- He wants to bear all your griefs and sorrows and be the one who carries the tormenting anguish of it all.
- He wants you to talk to him about every problem you’re facing and ask him for wisdom to make the right decision.
- He wants you to give up thinking you know what’s best for you and listen to him instead and trust him to meet your need.
- He wants you to confess your weaknesses and sins to him and receive his forgiveness and full acceptance and restful peace.
- He wants you to abandon all regrets in your life, that is, learn what you can from them, and then move on.
- He wants you to step into the scene of your life each day excited about all that’s on his heart for you — all the ways he wants to surprise you with blessings.
- He wants you to trust his promise to always be with you and always help you so that you never worry or are afraid.
- He wants you to know that no one cherishes your family and friends as much as he does so that you will not fear for them.
- He wants you to know that no one knows how to encourage and help the people in your life like he does so that you practice listening to him for what to say and do.
- He wants you to realize that the most important part of any relationship in your life is the amount of his patience, kindness, and helpfulness your words and actions reveal to that person.
- He wants you to always remember that your success in life is determined by the amount of his love and will your life reveals to others.
In Jude 1:21 we read, “keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” In other words, let him have his way with you.
You will always find a way to do or quit doing anything you’re sufficiently motivated to do or not do.
Even though the Apostle Paul wrote, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” — evenhe was nonetheless sufficiently motivated to not just throw in the towel and resign himself to that living hell. He pressed on and discovered God’s way of breaking that bondage:
- “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15;24-25)
- “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)
So what does it take to become sufficiently motivated to walk in the freedom for which Christ has set us free?
Two thoughts come to mind.
First, we must fear the Lord. By that I mean, fear doing anything that brings on his discipline.
Hebrews 12:5b-6 (NIV) — “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
However, it seems to me that if all we envision when it comes to God’s discipline is some personal pain or suffering, that still won’t adequately motivate us to stay on track. Why? Because it’s all too easy for us to brush off any risk we pose to ourselves and go ahead with our wayward plan.
God knows that avoiding trouble for our own sake ultimately won’t cut it. No doubt you’ve noticed how casually we do things we think only harm ourselves.
The reason self-regard fails to sufficiently motivate us is that we we’re made to be like God. God never does anything out of self-regard. Everything he does is with an eye on bringing maximum benefit to everyone and everything besides himself. He is perfectly self-sufficient and in no way whatsoever does anything to benefit himself .
When we are fathered by God we discover that our desire to care for others and always protect them and all creation is non-negotiable. We simply cannot stand the thought of deliberately instigating suffering in anything or anyone dear to us.
This warning suffices: “When you [the Lord] discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him…” Psalms 39:11 (ESV)
Another contributing factor to being sufficiently motivated to do what we need to do is our desire to be a continual blessing to everyone we know. Where did that desire come from? It came from God. When he recreates us, our spiritual DNA, so to speak, generates in us his very own impulse to give all that we are to constantly lift others up into the arms of Christ.
To sum up, fearing the Lord’s discipline motivates us to avoid what we know will bring on tormenting anguish in what is dear to us. And our passion to be a living blessing to others motivates us to safeguard the chances each day brings.
I’m persuaded that the more we nurture these two God-given desires by constantly thinking of them, the more we will experience adequate motivation to always seek to be who God wants us to be.
What kind of person do I most aspire to be? Someone who is always true to Jesus. That, I believe, is the race marked out for me. Or, the the words of the apostle Paul, I see it as “that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
From notes in my journal, this is the last of five propositions I drafted for myself to define what that means. It’s been my hope that you might find something in these propositions helpful as you too seek to grasp that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you.
So number 5 is, that I want to live before Jesus and others in total transparency. That is, I want to be instantly dismissing all thoughts, motives, impulses, decisions, or reactions I would not like streamed to a Jumbotron on my front lawn for others to see exactly what’s going on in me at any given moment of the day, as well as streamed to a 13” TV screen hanging from my neck whereby anyone around me can see what’s on my heart at any time. (Anything instantly waved off is cut from the stream as being merely temptation.)
- Romans 12:17 — “Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.”
- 1 John 4:20 — “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
- Here’s the principle: the transparency we may think we have before God is no more than the transparency we live out before others.
- In other words, are we really living honestly before our unseen God if before the people we see everyday we are hiding stuff or doing things that require stealth?
- Are we really opening up and confessing to God that which we would want to make sure no one else knows about?
- James 5:16 — “…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” The context is regarding physical healing, but surely extends to the healing we often need in other areas of our lives as well.
- Transparency invites God’s healing touch where it is most needed in the interests of not only physical relief but spiritual freedom.
What does it mean to be a true friend to Jesus? This is number 4 of a series of five propositions I wrote for myself to answer that.
It means to be useful to him by being full of gratitude and prayers for each person I’m around and everyone who comes to my attention.
- 1 Timothy 2:1 — “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 — “pray continually.”
Notice that no one is to be excluded from our thank you list, so to speak. We are commanded to give thanks for everyone, irrespective of who they are or what they do. Why is that? I’m persuaded that it is because — as we read in Colossians 1:16 — Jesus, along with everything else, created each person for himself. That suggests to me that since he created each person unique, each one of us stands to be something to him that no one else can be. But it also suggests that on account of that unique relationship, each person stands to reveal something of Jesus to all creation that can be found no where else. Consequently, that is why we give thanks for them. We are in line to be uniquely blessed through every man, woman, and child the more they become who Jesus created them to be.
And notice that “pray continually” means that every moment of time in our lives needs to become a moment of prayer. That is how intimate our friendship with Jesus is intended to become.
What does it mean to be a true friend to Jesus? This is number 3 of a series of five propositions I wrote up for myself in answering that.
Number 3 is to work with him in having others know something more of how precious they are to him.
In Galatians 2:6 we read that “God shows no partiality.” Now there’s no question that he works with certain people groups our individuals first in the interests of reaching everyone else through them, and to me that explains what the biblical expression “the elect” means. But being totally impartial reveals to us that the Lord never does anything more or less for any one person’s ultimate wellbeing than he does for anyone else’s ultimate wellbeing.
So as you listen to the following verses, see them as applying to every man, woman, and child. Hence, in working with Jesus this is the message I want to deeply impress on others.
- Jeremiah 31:3 — “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
- Isaiah 49:15-16 — “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
- Romans 5:8 — “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
What kind of person do I most aspire to be? Someone who is always true to Jesus. That, I believe, is the race marked out for me. Or, the the words of the apostle Paul, it is “that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
From notes in my journal, this is part 2 of a series of five propositions I drafted for myself to define what that means. My hope is that you will find something here that could help you know what Jesus is calling you to as well.
The first one was that in being true to Jesus, I want to be 1) walking with him as friend with friend — sharing all of my thoughts with him and listening with everything in me for his voice so as to unflinchingly act on his guidance or take his counsel to heart.
Secondly, I want to be 2) trusting in him to meet my every need in his time and way.
- Psalms 23:1 — “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”
- Proverbs 3:5-6 — “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
What does the apostle mean by “the race marked out for us”? One way I’d like to answer that is by referring to the desires the Holy Spirit puts in us upon recreating us. When we receive the Spirit, I believe he comes with a specific and tailor made plan for each of us. He wants to implement in our lives that which embodies the idea Christ had in mind for us when he created us.
The way I think we tap into that plan is by paying close attention to just what those desires of the Spirit are. And one question that has helped me bring those desires to the surface is this: What kind of person do I most aspire to be?By working at answering that question I believe I am getting an idea of what the race is that God has marked out for me.
What came to me was this one statement: I want to be someone who is always true to Jesus. From there I proceeded to spell out just what I think that looks like for me right now. Five propositions came to mind, and over the next several podcasts I’d like to share them with you. Perhaps there will be something in them that you will find helpful in answering that question too.
So, What kind of person do I most aspire to be?
Someone who is always true to Jesus, by
1) walking with him as friend with friend — sharing all of my thoughts with him and listening with everything in me for his voice so as to unflinchingly act on his guidance or take his counsel to heart.
- John 15:14 — “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
In 1 John 4:7 we read, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
God is at the center of our lives insofar as we are talking with him about what matters most to us and participating in what he is doing to help the next person we think of, see, or meet.
That strikes me as to what it means to love Him, glorify Him, or honor Him. When He is not at the center — that is, when we are not communicating openly with him and co-working with Him, He takes action. He will discipline us as severely as needed and by all possible means as he seeks to get us on track or back on track.
God is love and the effect our lives has on others is incalculably important to Him. He overlooks no trifling behavior in this matter.
The fulness of God’s blessing upon a person could very well be summed up in the phrase “eternal life”. That expression emerges predominantly in what could be dubbed the most important verse in the Bible, John 3:16 (CSB) — “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
And that eternal life is not so much an endless life — even though it certainly is that — but rather a high quality of life, God’s life. And it is not only something we possess as a result of believing in Jesus, but something that it is intended to possess us. Just as our physical life is more than something we have but is the animating force behind all our physical movements so eternal life is intended to be the animating force behind all goes on within us.
How do we know when that is happening? I suggest it is when we are increasingly giving undivided attention to who or what is before us, at any given moment, while remaining conscious of the presence and actively of God — so as to work with Him in what we think, say, or do.
In Matthew 11:12, Jesus makes a statement that has been found difficult to interpret. He said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.” I’m not sure to what he’s referring to, but here’s one idea.
Suppose you are having a quiet evening sitting and reading a newspaper. Your child is asleep on the sofa. You are so engrossed in a story line that it is only upon hearing a strange noise that you lower the paper to look. There before you is a man standing over your unsuspecting child with a raised knife. Would not everything in you react in utter shock and horror? Why you would instinctively and instantly spring into action and act with as much violence as necessary to stop what you see unfolding.
That must be our reaction to temptation. Something exceedingly precious to us stands to be destroyed or stolen. No way. That must never happen.
It could very well be that it’s those kind of “violent” people who are the ones raiding the kingdom.
1 John 2:17 — “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
As long as we set our sights on being right or on proving we are right, or on changing ourselves or changing others, we will live in perennial inner frustration. Why? Because if we are honest, once we examine our motives, we will see that what we think is right is never right enough. And as far as changing ourselves or others goes, if we could do that we would have got the job done a long time ago.
But suppose we just accept where we at and where others are at — warts and all — and practice displacing such get-things-right thinking with a passion to daily live the answer to this question:
“What does God want of me in this world? That is, what does he want from me in relationship to my spouse, my children, my friends, my neighbors, my enemies?”
If we were to make that our dominant concern, I’m persuaded we would soon discover God to be our best friend, our strength to act, and our guide in answering that question day by day, situation by situation. And on top of that, “whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
I recently pulled together passages of scripture that had to do with words. It was a salutary exercise just to read them through so let me share them with you.
Proverbs 11:9 — “With their words, the godless destroy their friends…”
Proverbs 11:12 — “It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor; a sensible person keeps quiet.”
Proverbs 15:4 — “Wholesome words are a tree of life (= life-giving influence); a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”
Proverbs 16:24 — “Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
Proverbs 18:21 — “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” (good or bad)
Proverbs 12:18 — “Careless words stab like a sword, but wise words bring healing.”
Now in the words of Jesus from Matthew 12:33-37 (NIV)
33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Colossians 4:6 (NIV)
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
With these truths in mind, here’s an appropriate prayer David prayed that we would do well to pray: Psalm 141:3 — “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.”
In John 20:30-31 (NIV) the apostle John gives us the purpose he had in mind for recording for us what he did of Jesus’ life. He writes, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
It could be said that all that is recorded in the New Testament is seeking this one response from us, namely, to “believe in Jesus.”
What does that mean? I suggest to you that believing in Jesus has three aspects to it.
The first is that we cease believing that we know what’s best for us. We don’t get anywhere close to believing in Jesus so long as we think we know what is best. For that matter, such faith in our perspective is the tap root of all sin. So step one is to repent of that belief — to reject it, and all that we’ve done that has flowed from it.
Secondly, to believe in Jesus is to welcome his overtures of friendship, that is, we say our “yes” to his desire to be our intimate friend. This means we begin to talk to him about everything that’s on our hearts and ask him to guide us and help us. He has been yearning to be our friend from the moment he thought of creating us so in our response of believing in him we are letting him have his way with us.
Thirdly, it is to invite him to cause his loving helpfulness to flow through us and help us be helpful to everyone we know or meet.
These three aspects of believing in Jesus center our lives on friendship with him and on being a blessing to others. In the words of the apostle John, it means we now have life in his name.
In Psalm 43:3–4 (CSB) the Psalmist prays, “Send your light and your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to your dwelling place. Then I will come to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise you with the lyre, God, my God.”
Notice that his desire for light and truth was not motivated by a desire to get things “right” or to have a theologically tidy mind. It was for the sake of drawing near to God, being led, as it were, further into friendship with him and joy in him.
And I’m convinced that it is out of that intimacy, that God then teaches us all that we need to know, that is, all that is essential to fulfilling his purposes for us, purposes we so desire to see fully accomplished.
This morning I got to wondering, What supreme truths or axioms must I affirm and build all my thinking around if I am going to grow as a person each day? Here’s what I think they are. I thought of five.
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That God is thoroughly good and therefore worthy of my total self-sacrificial loyalty and devotion.
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That God reveals himself through creation and in the Scriptures and then by appearing and living on earth in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, who is his supreme self-revelation.
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That Jesus created me for himself. He lived, taught, died, and rose again to have me as his intimate friend and then to manifest his loving helpfulness through me in time and for eternity.
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That through his death on the cross Jesus completely overcame the world, the flesh, and the devil — he broke their compelling influence in my thoughts.
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That in my human weakness I cannot make good on what Jesus has done for me. Therefore, when he went back to heaven he sent the Holy Spirit to empower me to be what he wants me to be and do anything he tells me to do.
In Psalms 39:11 (ESV) we read, “When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him …”
Until we have an intensely serious reason for wanting to be free of a bad habit, we’ll never get free. Freedom will remain wishful thinking. What I mean by an intensely serious reason is a reason that outweighs our attraction to the temptation that led to our bondage.
When it comes to freedom from a bad habit, it seems to me that we are incapable of receiving that gift from God until we cannot endure the damage being done or that could be done to something we hold dear. So long as that isn’t a big deal to us, we’ll never get free.
Conversely, I think it could be said that when we truly cherish God’s precious gifts to us, we will sacrifice anything to safeguard their wellbeing and presence in our lives.
In part of David’s confession of sin to God in Psalm 51:6 he says to the Lord, “You desire truth in the innermost being.”
I think it could be said that when we sin against the Lord, our biggest problem is not the foolish choice we made. It is what in us accepted the rational that led to the choice. That is to say, our true problem is what in us listened to the misleading voice.
And what could that be? It could probably be summed up in two words: human weakness. And it’s primary liability is that it’s constantly vulnerable to thought-suggestions to go ahead and resolve inner fears, frustrations, needs, or desires with our own answer.
But sadly, our own answers are always faithless. They spell defeat because it is only faith that overcomes. Human weakness can only be surmounted by trusting God.
First of all, by believing that he cares deeply for us. Secondly, by believing that all we are going through matters to him, and, thirdly, by believing that he alone can give us the best and most satisfying answer for our inner fear, frustration, need, or desire.
It is only when we occupy our hearts with such faith-filled affirmations, that we are empowered to wave off the voice that want us to do our own thing. Such truth in the innermost being sets us free.
In Acts 17:25 we read that God “…is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
I consider it a sad thing that worshipping God is — in some circles of thought — something we do to placate him. That means, to “make (someone, in this case God) less angry or hostile”. Nor am I satisfied with the idea that to worship God is to “give him his due” — returning to him something our rebellion took from him, as though he needs something from us.
But God needs nothing from us. Consequently, it seems to me that to worship him would be to seek to satisfy his longing to flood and overflow our lives with his life, his light, and his helpfulness, the presence of which engenders in us peace, and joy. The more we satisfy that longing in God to bless us and others through us, the more we are, in fact, worshiping him.
But notice that to do so — to worship — entails a giving up, a surrender of something that matters to us, that is, our own way of trying to fill our lives with peace and joy. This is why sacrifice is a the center of worship in both the Old and New Testament. At the heart of all things sacrificial is this axiom: give up — sacrifice your way of trying to bless yourself for the sake of honoring God’s longing to bless you and others through you. That is to say, “worship the Lord.”
In Galatians 5:16,25 (NIV) we read, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh….Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
What does the apostle Paul mean by, “walk by the Spirit…keep in step with the Spirit”? How do we know if we are doing that?
Several things came to mind.
First, to even be ready to keep in step with the Spirit, and perhaps the way he first intends to help us walk with him is to make sure our heart is peaceful and at rest. The reason that is so important is that we can hardly receive the information it takes to walk by the Spirit if our hearts are stormy and unsettled. So we must cast all our cares on God and repeatedly thank him that he will resolve our concern. Then, our hearts are ready to listen and be guided.
Second, we pay attention. Our very desire to be guided by God will bring on his guidance so, while moving through the day from one thing to another, thoughts will come that, in effect, call us to do this or do that, pray or say this or that. When such a thought comes, we must act on it as soon as we can.
When there’s no clear directive calling us into action, then keeping in step with the Spirit is as simple as sticking with our routines and planned activities.
It is important, however, to remember that Jesus described the Holy Spirit and his influence in terms of the wind, which is notoriously unpredictable. Consequently, in walking by the Spirit we must stay alert and ready to respond quickly to a sudden notion that we need to do this instead of that right now.
And we also need to know that all our worship, praise, thanksgiving, devotional reading, study, and prayers, is bearing fruit to the extent that we are, in fact, keeping in step with the Spirit. How so? Because only in walking by the Spirit is the influence of the flesh rendered null and void.
In Romans 14:10-12 (NIV) we read that “…We will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”
It seems to me that the standard by which we will be judged is the standard that, the Apostle Paul elsewhere makes clear, sums up all the moral teaching of the Bible, that is, the standard of love. Now for the sake of clarity, allow me to define the word love with another word that seems to me to best indicate what love is. That word is “helpfulness.” So what we will be giving an account to God about is to what extent, if any, we lived helpful lives.
Such helpful living is contingent upon the extent we listen to God. Only he knows in what ways he wants us to be helpful. And only he has the power to make it happen and help us help others. Consequently it behooves us examine ourselves daily in the presence of the Lord and, in effect, call on him to judge how we lived the day. “Lord, did I listen to you today? Where was I on target? Where did I stray off course?”
Consider this, if we will but take the time to give an account of ourselves to God each day, when the time comes for us to actually stand before God’s judgment seat, it will be for us just another day.
In Psalm 139:23 & 24 we read, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Spiritual development almost always has to do with superficial or unworthy desires being either displaced or ordered according to the deepest desires in our lives.
The Holy Spirit gave us a new nature. And that new creation came with a whole new set of desires. Among them is the desire to be helpful, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, gentle, faithful, and self-controlled.
But beyond those wonderful desires, that new nature in us is simple and ultimately desires one thing: to be motivated in all things and at all times by a desire to please God. When we choose that as our dominant motive in what we do, we are at rest — our hearts are peaceful and joyful even if the path we’re on is difficult. When we give precedence to any other motive, our new self is distressed. Why? Because any alternate motive is foreign to its nature.
So we do well to ask the Lord to examine our motives any time we feel an inner disturbance. We are likely being given a fresh chance to refocus our attention on pleasing the Lord.
In Psalms 103:5 (NIV) we read that God “…satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
I met up with a mom at a big rummage sale. She had her little daughter with her. As she was passing by she noticed me looking her way and said of her daughter, “she wants a toy,” and all but rolled her eyes implying, ya, like we need another toy. But where was she headed with her little girl? To the kitchen section? The clothes section? No! She was headed straight to the toy section.
And yet we can all too easily think that — unlike her — God has no heart for what matters to us? How have we come to this?
We came to this the first time we questioned God’s intentions, the first time we assumed that what matters to us does not matter to God.
Let’s call that what it is: the lie.
Adam and Eve believed it and the whole human family has been duped ever since.
Only now, hooked as we are on our own self-gratifying ways we actually suppress the truth about God to where — when we got our hands on Him some 2,000 years ago — we killed Him. That is how warped we’ve become under the influence of the lie.
O.k., so what is the truth again?
1 John 1:5
“This is the message we have heard from him [Jesus] and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
Let me put it this way:
- God cares completely, and there is nothing in Him that does not care.
- God cherishes your friendship, and there is nothing in Him that is uninterested in you.
- God answers your every prayer, and there is nothing in Him unwilling to answer.
We must learn to think big, as big as we can possibly imagine regarding the goodness in God's heart toward us. Like one person put it, God is always kinder than you think.
Pray for whatever blessing you will, but then get ready and lift up your eyes, God is going to act and answer at a time and in a way whereby your whole person is healed and everything is set right.
Why? Because we are so precious to God that nothing less than his highest and best will do.
John 16:23-24 (NIV) Jesus says to his disciples. 23 “… Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
Here’s a principal regarding prayer that I think we do well to remember: when it appears that God has said “no” to a specific, time-sensitive request, it is only because He has incorporated that request into what is going to be a far more comprehensive and satisfying answer.
Consider a grade school boy who’s been asking to go to the State Fair in Minot. He’s been dreaming about it and talking steady about all those carnival rides. He even marked the date on the family calendar in the kitchen. He finds pictures of various carnival rides and leaves them lying around — some on his Dad’s desk, on the kitchen table, in the pickup. But all his dad keeps saying is, “well, get your clothes ready and pack your bag.”
And yet the week of the fair comes and goes without a word from his dad about it. The boys sits in his room stunned and heartbroken, staring at his packed bag.
Request denied.
Isn’t that how we can come to view prayer? We’re commanded to pray so we ask. Nothing happens. We ask again, and perhaps even again — nothing. Dismayed or heartbroken or even embittered we shrug our shoulders and try to move on.
Request denied.
What the boy in my story doesn’t know is that the first time he asked, his dad started setting aside the time and money for a trip to Disney World.
Do you get the picture? The boys request, far from being ignored, was incorporated into what was going to be granted as a far more comprehensive and satisfying answer.
After one of Jesus’ teachings, we read that “From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”
Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:66-69 (CSB)
The expression “eternal life” is not really a reference to unending life so much as the highest quality of life possible to us, essentially, the life of God. So Peter was affirming that from Jesus alone came the “words of eternal life” — that is, words that would bring them into experiencing God's life. They could be found no where else.
The implication? Everything in our lives derives its value based on what Jesus thinks of it. Only what matters to Him matters. Only what He values is valuable. Only what He considers important is important. Only what He wants to see happen is what must happen. All that He wants avoided must be avoided. Anything He’s not interested in is a waste of time. So we do well to keep questions like these in mind in all our decision making to see if our actions correspond to the life of God or not:
- “Jesus, what do You think of this?
- What matters to You in what’s before me?
- What would You have me do?
- What do You want me to avoid?”
The more we practice that kind of scrutiny of the decisions we are about to make, the more we position hearts to hear what Jesus has to say to us — words of eternal life.
In repentance for committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband Uriah in attempting to cover his tracks, King David cried out to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.” Psalms 51:4 (NIV)
“Against you, you only…” How so? What about Bathsheba? What about Uriah? Hey David, what about all your trusting family and friends and a nation that looked to you for godly leadership? Did you not also sin terribly against them by what you did?
Perhaps David was getting a faint glimpse of the reality Jesus spoke of when he said: “‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”(Matthew 25:40 (ESV))
But let’s first ask the question: when is someone or some aspect of creation being sinned against?
I think we could say that it is when what is done contravenes the purposes of God for what or who is affected by the action.
Since the Fall, we could say that some aspects of creation are here for the sole purpose of our getting rid of them such as wildlife when it becomes a menace, destructive rodents, plants, or insects. God’s purpose is also fulfilled when we do all necessary killing for food. “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” (Genesis 9:3 (NIV)) Then I think there is also a place in God’s purpose for mercy killing to alleviate animal suffering.
But whenever anything is done that contravenes God’s purpose for the life in question, here’s what I think happens: Jesus identifies himself with whatever it is, so much so, that what is done is being done to him.
If we are willing to see it, this is what I think we’ll see. Our sin broke the purpose of God for what we victimized, which is to say that, to some degree, we shed its blood — we took away its life.
And this gives rise to a shocking paradox: Jesus, in identification with what we victimized, says to us through our victim’s suffering, “this is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you.”
Wait a minute. I know what I did, but “for YOU”?
His reply, in effect is: “Yes, for you. What you did, you actually did to me. This very body you broke and blood you shed is me giving my life for you — for your salvation, the salvation of you having your pride so shattered that it can never rise again.”
Let it be said once and for all: Christ crucified is the final and only hope for us and all fallen humanity. There simply is no other god who has done nor can do what it takes to save us from our damning pride. But even so, there is no room for despair. All that we have victimized will be redeemed for Jesus rose from the dead and the day is coming when he will wipe away all our tears at what he calls “the renewal of all things.” (Matthew 19:28)
One greek scholar has pointed out that the greek word generally translated “saved” (sozo) “has the basic meaning of rescuing one from great peril. Additional nuances include to protect, keep alive, preserve life, deliver, heal, be made whole. The context must be considered to determine whether preservation of physical life or spiritual life is in view.”
With that in mind, consider Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV) 4 “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Now listen to the Apostle Peter comment on that passage. 1 Peter 2:23-24 — 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
Now listen to the Apostle Matthew reference Isaiah 53 as well: Matthew 8:16-17 16“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
Notice that the Apostle Peter quotes from Isaiah 53 in a way that highlights Jesus delivering us from our sins: “‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
Matthew, on the other hand, quotes from Isaiah 53 also, but clearly has Jesus’ healing ministry in view. "He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
Let’s put those two ideas together. We need to repent of our sins and and be forgiven. That is, we must be saved. But in tandem with that is our need to be healed — healed of the inner woundedness that can give rise to our poor choices and even physical infirmities. I have noticed that usually healing must come to someone when they’ve experienced some measure of early childhood rejection. At times, such trauma issues in physical infirmity. Clearly that is not always the case, but when it is we know that Jesus took both dimensions of our need onto himself and by his wounds we are healed.
Colossians 4:2 — “Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.”
Here are some word studies to reflect on. The greek word translated “devote" means "to give constant attention to a thing, to give unremitting care to a thing, to persevere, to wait continually upon, to be in constant readiness for."
I have to admit how convicting that exhortation is in my life. To give “constant attention” and “unremitting care” to prayer can only mean that our whole inner life must increasingly become nothing but a place of prayer. It sounds like everything that comes to our minds must become something we pray about. What a challenge.
Then the apostle writes, “stay alert in it”. The greek word translated “stay alert” means "to give strict attention to, to be active, to take heed lest …some destructive calamity suddenly overtake one." One biblical scholar writes: "Long continuance in prayer is apt to produce listlessness. Hence the additional charge that the heart must be awake, if the prayer is to have any value.” (Lightfoot in Wuest’s Commentary) Or in the words of Shakespeare, “words without thoughts never to heaven go”.
Consider the effect of a rudder on a ship. Even the slightest of movement alters the ship’s trajectory and destination.
The influence we have on others — be it ever so small — is like that. It adjusts the rudder of another person’s life. It alters the direction their going and where they’ll end up.
The burning question, then, is this: what influence do we want to have? Have you ever asked yourself that — something like — by the time I’m crawling into bed tonight, what influence do I want to have had on others today?
A second question is equally important: what about us does the most influencing? Or let me put it this way, what about us determines how much influence the Holy Spirit can have on others through us?
Three things come to mind.
First, the Spirit's influence through us is determined by the extent to which we are true to the good things we resolve or commit ourselves to do. In other words, the amount of self-discipline we practice greatly affects the flow of the Spirit’s influence.
Consider the greatest act of self-discipline ever achieved and then reflect on the incommensurable impact it had:
Mark 14:33-36
33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.” 35 He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.”
Everything in Jesus wanted to yield to walking away from taking to himself the sins of the whole world and the resulting separation from his Father. He was so tempted to cave into it that the war within generated bloody sweat. But he had made a promise to God when he came into the world. He said, “‘Here I am — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, my God.’” (we read that in Hebrews 10:5ff) And because he kept his promise, you and I and the whole world can be saved. That’s the incalculable influence effected by Jesus’ doing what he said he would do.
Secondly, prayer is a mighty instrument of influence in this world. In James 5:16b we read, “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” A “righteous” person is simply someone who lives in active dependance upon God. And the amount of praying we do reveals how much we’re depending on God. That’s what makes prayer so influential. God always responds to anyone who is depending on him, and wonderful stuff happens.
Thirdly, our attitude towards others greatly influences them. Have you noticed how a bad attitude all but cancels a good deed? or how a good attitude stays with us in spite of a person’s bumbling effort? In a sense, our attitude speaks louder than our words or actions. I’m persuaded that people intuitively pick up on what we think of them beyond what we say or do. And I’m equally convinced that when people feel valued by us because we know they are precious to God, it has a profound influence on them. It taps the rudder in their lives and alters their life’s trajectory and destination.
Promise keeping, prayer, and an affirming attitude, give rise to enormous influence.
In Ephesians 5:15-16 we read, “Be very careful, … how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
Consider the following regarding the widespread influence each of us has in this world: it has been observed that,
- Each of us will have some degree of meaningful contact with 1,000 people throughout our lifetime.
- That 1,000 people will each, in turn, have meaningful contact of their own with a 1,000 people, so now we’re up to a million.
- That million will then each have meaningful contact of their own with another thousand, and we are at a billion.
- That puts each of us just two groupings of people removed from influencing a billion people.
- And we dare think that our prayers, words, and actions, don’t amount to much?
Let’s hear it again: “Be very careful, … how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
In Matthew 10:39 we read where Jesus said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
What was Jesus referring to by either finding or losing ones life? One way of looking at this is by associating finding ones life with self regard, and losing ones life with self disregard.
Let me put it this way, perhaps the only justifiable reason for thinking of oneself is on account of what may be required for us to stay attentive to Jesus and his purposes for us.
It could be said that the quintessential lie within satan’s every lie is this: regard yourself — trust your perspective, your answers, what you think is the way to go. That’s finding oneself, and in the end its spells total disaster.
Losing oneself, on the other hand, is self disregard. In that case, for the sake of what Jesus wants to do through us in helping others get to know God, we pay only as much attention to ourselves as it takes to keep focusing our attention back on Jesus.
In Hebrews 3 and 4, the writer draws our attention of the unbelief of the Israelites by with they forfeited entering into the Promised Land. Even though Caleb and Joshua gave them a positive report about conquering the land, the people did not share the faith in God that Caleb and Joshua had, so the good news meant nothing to them
Hence we read in Hebrews 4:2 — “The Good News was preached to us just as it was to them. But the message they heard did not help them, because they heard it but did not accept it with faith.”
One commentary reads, “Hearing a message of good news does not guarantee that what has been promised will be received.” (Word Biblical Commentary)
So how do we make sure we will receive what God has promised us? What is it to hear or read the Word of God with faith? What is that faith? Simply put, it is to believe that God keeps his promises. You will always receive what God has promised to do for you or in you if you believe that what God says he will do he will most certainly do.
In 1 Corinthians 10:31 the apostle Paul makes this summery statement as to how we are to live our lives. He writes, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Lets’s ask several questions about that glory.
First of all, What is the glory of God? I suggest to you that it is his self-sacrificial nature of helpfulness. Absolutely everything about God is helpful, and he will go to any needed extreme in sacrificing himself to be helpful. So anytime you are in his presence, thinking about him or responding to him in any way, you are being helped. That’s his glory.
What is it to glorify him? It is to constantly grow less unlike Him — that is to say — to become increasingly self-sacrificially helpful ourselves. That we should seek to be like him honors him.
How do we do that? By walking in friendship with him each day, freely telling him all that’s on our hearts and by acting on his counsel. When we practice being his friend and doing whatever it is he calls us to do, we are like a well-watered flower in warm sunshine and like such a flower, he causes us to grow in self-sacrificial helpfulness. Such a friendship is to be the content of our daily lives, everything else is merely the context.
1 Kings 18:21 the prophet Elijah goes head to head with the 450 prophets of the false god named Baal. But before doing so he confronts the people. “Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
If those were the options at that time, what are our options now? It seems to me the choice we must make today is far more subtle because instead of some fake external deity we face something within ourselves. In other words, when it comes to all our interests, problems, or concerns, our lives are either going to be about our answer for these things or about seeking out God’s answer for them. And if I do choose the Lord as my God, I need to “follow him.” That is to say, in all my interests, problems, or concerns, I need to live each day standing on his promises.
In Psalm 16:7-8, David writes,
“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
Someone has pointed out that, “The term right hand in the Old Testament indicated a valued, honored, and even intimate position. If you sat at the right hand of someone, then that was the best seat in the house.” -Louie Giglio
David had the Lord at his right hand. He gave the Lord that valued, honored, intimate place in his heart. So here’s a question to reflect on: does Jesus feel valued, honored by me? Does he feel like he’s my most intimate friend? Do I have him at my right hand?
In 1 Corinthians 11 the Apostle Paul dealt with what he saw as problems in how the Corinthian church was practicing the Lord’s supper. He points out that because they were failing to rightly honor each other in communing together, God was disciplining them. They were weak, sick, and a number had actually died as a result. So, he calls them each to examine themselves and writes in verses 31 and 32, “If we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.”
I see a spiritual principle here that transcends this immediate context: it is that an integral part of the Christian life is the practice of self-examination, the act of judging oneself. In so doing, writes the apostle, we will not need the Lord’s discipline to keep us on tract.
How do we go about it? How do we know if our thoughts, words, or actions, pass the test, so to speak?
I think the all-important question is this: are they — in some way — contributing to a life of self-sacrificial helpfulness towards others — especially other believers?
Here’s a prayer that may help: “Lord, search my heart. Is everything I’m thinking and doing in some way making me more helpful to others? Please show me how I can grow in this.” The Lord will most certainly answer such a prayer and, thankfully, keep us ahead of the need to be disciplined by him.
Psalms 27:4 (CSB)
“I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire:
to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
gazing on the beauty of the Lord
and seeking him in his temple.”
Consider what strikes me as the obvious relationship between desire & motivation.
The more I want something, the more motivated I will be to do whatever it takes to experience it or acquire it. When you see a highly motivated person, you will find that they are acting on a strong desire that fuels their efforts.
But desires, like so much in life, start small — just a thought-suggestion, an impression. Track your own desires. Have a look back and you will see that desires that now perhaps even shape you daily life once were just an idea.
How did those desires come to be what they presently are? How do we strengthen a desire? Just by thinking about it. Desires feed on thoughts. That’s how they grow. The more you think about something you want, the stronger your desire for it will become.
What does “stronger” mean? It means that the desire produces even more thoughts about itself and more frequently.
Now let’s ask, What did David find so interesting in the Lord, what beauty did he see in him that He should write,
“I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire:
to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
gazing on the beauty of the Lord
and seeking him in his temple”?
What did he think about throughout his growing years that gave rise to this desire becoming so strong that it defined his whole outlook for time and eternity?
No doubt David thought of God’s protection: Psalms 32:7 (NIV) “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”
For sure David thought about God’s helpfulness: Psalms 54:4 (NIV) “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.”
But what I think he most occupied his mind with was God's unfailing love and faithfulness. Here’s just one of his many references to these qualities in God: Psalms 36:5 (NIV) “Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
What happened to David will most surely happen to us too if we will fix our attention on these two qualities — God's unfailing love and faithfulness. We will find our hearts saying with David, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” Psalms 27:8
Jeremiah 29:13 reads, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
How do we know when we are seeking the Lord with our whole heart? Three things come to mind.
1) It is when we are wholeheartedly trusting in him. That is, we are giving him all our concerns and trusting him to solve them in his way and in his time.
2) It is when we instantly act on his guidance or counsel as soon as it becomes clear to us what we need to do.
3) It is when — more than anything else — we want his influence to flow through us in all our interactions with others.
I realize that the Scriptures have quite a bit to say about the importance of seeking rewards, or what the apostle Paul calls, “the prize”. Listen to what he wrote:
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)
24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
So what is that prize? I would suggest that he tells us what it is in the following passage, Philippians 3:12
(NIV) 12 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Perhaps we could say that to be what Christ redeemed each of us to be is its own reward. Just to become what he had on his heart when he took hold of us is the prize. Nothing else is needed. Nor could it ever be improved on or added to for anything other than what Jesus had in mind would be less than his highest and best for us.
I’m convinced that all promised rewards set before us in Scripture find their consummation in this — taking hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us. And to be what Jesus wants us to be is perfect blessedness, fulness of joy.
Let’s face the truth head on. We are to blame for any wrong we do. We cannot be substituted out. We are the guilty party and that’s that.
Still worse is that the wrong done cannot be undone — it cannot be made to disappear. The violence, the horror, the damage done cannot be taken back or reversed. That is the truth.
But suppose we are the ones suffering at the hands of foolishly evil behavior in someone else? And suppose it is inflicted on someone dear to us? The more precious that someone or even an animal is to you, the greater your mental anguish when it is made to suffer by someone’s bad behavior.
But the truth brings us face to face with worse news than even that. Foolishly evil behaviors are not reserved for some nasty folks who happened to cross our path. The truth is that in someone’s experience, somewhere, at sometime, we ourselves were, to them, the nasty ones. We acted with cold indifference to the bitter suffering we generated in the experience of someone precious to them. We brought on the heartache and the tears and the unspeakable grief.
If that weren’t bad enough, the truth highlights something even worse. In order to see it, first take a moment to reflect on the mental anguish you at some moment in your life endured upon witnessing someone precious to you torn open on account of someone’s evil behavior. You likely have a troubling emotional resistance to just recalling what happened.
Now take another step. Think: every person you know or have ever encountered in your life is precious to God. In fact, they are so precious to him that to help them he was willing to pay the incalculable price of the death of his own son.
Now take yet another step. See yourself in the act of generating suffering in one such God-loved individual. Is it possible to measure the flood of tears — so to speak — the depth of tormenting anguish God felt by what you did to one he so cherishes? It is not. It simply cannot be measured.
We know we are coming to terms with the truth of this horror when there’s such a piercing pain in our souls and such a flood of tears in our eyes that we cannot believe there’s anything we or anyone could ever do to mitigate our regret. That is the moment we stand to understand what Jesus meant when he said, “blessed are those who mourn”. The word translated “mourn” is the Greek word indicating such piercing sorrow as would warrant endless open wailing in inconsolable grief.
How on earth could Jesus teach that such mourners are blessed, which is to say, happy? Such devastating grief and overflowing happiness are flatly incompatible, are they not? No doubt about it, but only if we close the door of our hearts to what flows from the heart of the one who we ultimately wounded. Yes, we did it. In our wretched foolishness we brought agonizing distress to someone exceedingly precious to God and thereby profoundly grieved his heart.
But even so, here’s his answer found first in Isaiah 43:25 (NIV) “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Then from Matthew 19:28 and Revelation 21:5 — “At the renewal of all things…I am making everything new.”
The rest of Jesus’ beatitude on those who mourn reads, “they will be comforted.”
Bring yourself to him. Let yourself feel the searing pain, the agony he felt over the heartless brutality of what you did and let the tears flow. But then wait for him in the stillness that follows. He has a renewing touch in store for you that will comfort your heart far beyond what you could have ever imagined possible.
In Galatians 4:19 (NIV) the apostle Paul writes to the Galatian believers, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you...”
Jesus was formed in Mary to what end? To be presented to the world as God’s Messiah — His ultimate Answer to every conceivable human weakness, sin, or problem.
What was happening in her was not ultimately just for her. She was merely a vehicle, a meeting place of heaven and earth through which the world and all reality was to be blessed.
I’m convinced the same intention is behind Christ being formed in us. Our lives are to be a place where others encounter a convergence of heaven and earth.
As God’s people we are referred to as the Lord’s temple both collectively and individually — a place where God dwells by His Spirit. It’s not the temple that’s so important. It merely serves as a venue for people to encounter the One who is in the temple.
What is to be our primary function as the Lord’s temple on earth? Jesus put it this way: “It is written … “My house will be called a house of prayer.” (Matthew 21:13)
Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV) reads, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”
Allow me to repeat this quote that I’ve shared before, written by Celeste de Blasis
“There are people who live lives little different than the beasts,
and I don't mean that badly.
I mean that they accept whatever happens day to day without struggle or question or regret.
To them things just are, like the earth and sky and seasons.”
Now let's ask the question, What does that kind of acceptance towards the everyday things of life look like? It seems to me it is to be able to say that nothing in your circumstances or in someone’s life has to be anything other than what it is for you to be inwardly quiet and at peace.
This mustn’t be confused with passivity which can amount to indifference. For that matter, the opposite is true: we care more than words can say, and are hard at work and prayer at all times to see situations and people go God’s way, but here’s the point: all the while we accept what is. Nothing has to happen for us to be inwardly quiet and at peace.
How do we come to this settledness of spirit? By keeping our minds on Jesus — by directing our thoughts, concerns, fears, and worries to him in trust and thanksgiving that he will resolve what needs fixing all in his good time. Listen to it again: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”
1 John 4:7 reads, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
Let’s take a moment to define what God’s love is, and the definition that I think best expresses its meaning is this: self-sacrificial helpfulness.
Now consider this: because God is love, where self-sacrificial helpfulness is, God is.
Now think of how near he is to any one of a us at any time: that is to say, anytime — in our thoughts, prayers, words, or actions — we self-sacrificially disregard our interests in favor of benefiting someone else, God could not be nearer. He is right there, manifestly present in that act. Love comes from God. It is his essential nature. So we are acting literally surrounded by and in God.
This gives rise to an answer we could give ourselves whenever we feel unsettled and start wondering where God is. Well, he’s as close to us as the next self-sacrificially helpful thing we could do for someone. So we can have him instantly right there with us, acting in us and through us, if we will just go and do it.
Let me share with you what for me is one of the best, if not the best quote I’ve ever read on prayer. It is written by theologian and philosopher Peter Kreeft. He writes, “I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those prayers were destined to affect we would be so paralyzed with awe that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.”
Allow me to share some thoughts with you that came to me rather spontaneously. I wrote them down in order to reflect on them and perhaps you’ll find them helpful too. If not, set them aside.
Who you will be around other people is being decided by your routine thoughts during your times alone. If you would be a blessing and bring Jesus’ loving and healing power to bear on everyone and everything you encounter day by day, you must devote your thought life to the disciplines his Spirit initiates in you — worship, praise, thanksgiving, and praying for others. If you are lax in this as you move through the day, you will limit what he would like to do through you. If you are faithful, everything you do will be infused with his presence and power. Lives and destinies will be changed for time and eternity. And never forget that your frame of mind, your mental attitude — how you actually see others — has a far greater impact on them than what you say or do.
In Exodus 20:5 we read, “You shall not bow down to them [other gods] or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God."
Did you know that God is jealous over you? You may wonder why? What’s behind it?
Well, to start with, He loves you so much He wants to see you overflowing with incommensurable peace and joy. However, He alone is that peace and joy to us, for He created us for Himself. Consequently, He alone can be all we could ever desire and He yearns to be that to each of us. So, if we look elsewhere for it, if we look to something or someone other than Him, His jealousy is ignited because He knows that whatever it is will never bring us into what he alone can be to us. We have reason to rejoice that our God is like that. He is that intensely dedicated to our complete wellbeing.
I had a wonderful thought occur to me yesterday regarding God’s silence. In various passages of Scripture God's silence is seen as something undesirable. For example, in Psalm 83:1 the Psalmist writes, “O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.” Also, Psalm 109:1, “O God of my praise, Do not be silent!”
No doubt we can all sympathize with such prayers. For my own part, I experience a lot of silence between moments of what I would consider to be a direct communication from the Spirit of God to my spirit.
However, reflect on this thought by the notable theologian Paul Tillich. He writes that “The first duty of love is to listen.”
Now if we put that together with the truth that God is love, what do we get? We have a God whose first commitment to us is to listen to us. Could it be that what we humans can so easily be unsettled with — God’s silence — is rooted in a huge misunderstanding on our part? It may very well be that what we think is some form of indifference or disinterest in God when he is silent is precisely the opposite. He is actually listening. And since he is love, he is listening with his whole being — he is perfectly silent, giving us his undivided attention.
If we truly take that to heart we may discover that that stands to be more disconcerting than attributing his silence to some degree of disinterest. We have never had and never will have someone listen that carefully to us. What are we to say? How are we to handle a love for us that’s that intense, that attentive to our every thought?
In Matthew 5:8 we read that Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Here a question to consider: Can everything you are doing in your life be ultimately explained by a single motive?
From what I gather in the use of the greek word translated “pure” in the New Testament, that is its meaning. When all we do flows from an ultimate, single intention or motive, namely, to please the Lord, then our heart is pure.
So in the light of Jesus’ beatitude, here’s a fitting prayer found in Psalm 86:11: “Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”
In Isaiah 41:13 we read that the Lord says, “I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
Every temptation is, in a sense, rooted in fear to where we are vulnerable to start trying to make something happen right now instead of relying on God to meet our needs, desires, interests, or to solve a problem. And as soon as we’re not completely relying on God — in whatever it may be — we are stepping into satan’s territory.
How do we know when we are totally relying on the Lord? Two words come to mind: believe and give.
We first believe that everything that matters to us matters to Him because He is our greatest friend and dearly loves us. So we give Him our needs, desires, interests, or problems. We turn them all over to him praying something like,
“Lord, all that I am and all that I am interested in is yours. Guide me to do whatever I need to do regarding what’s on my mind, help me ignore whatever I need I ignore, and protect me from doing anything I need to avoid.”
Psalm 145:9 declares, “The LORD is good to everyone; his compassion rests on all he has made.”
It seems to me that one of the greatest errors in biblical interpretation is to make a distinction between God doing something “for His sake” that is, for His benefit, and his doing something “for our sake” — for our benefit.
That distinction implies that God could treat something he has created in less than the highest and the best manner possible. Frankly, that is an actual impossibility along the lines of imagining that God could create a square circle. God's very nature — being love — means that whatever he does for His sake, is always invariably going to be the best thing that could ever happen in the highest interests of all creation. And whenever God does something for our sake, it is always in his highest interests.
In short, everything God does “for His sake” is always indistinguishable from him doing something “for our sake” — for our highest good and vice versa. If we could see the whole picture we would see that they occur simultaneously.
1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV) “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
To understand something of the cost of our redemption, I’m persuaded we have to start by knowing what sin is at its core. To get there let's first realize that every law has love as its aim. That’s why the apostle Paul writes that to love one’s neighbor as oneself sums up the entire law. That means that every one of the 613 laws in the Bible each say in one way or another, “here’s what it looks like to love God and your fellow human being.” It follows then that every sin is an act of not loving someone — God, others, or oneself.
And because God loves us and everyone we know in a manner that is incommensurable, any act of non-love is incalculably grievous. It puts us at odds with God because we are not only powerless to undo the wrong, but powerless to change our unloving selves into loving selves.
Hence the inestimable value of Christ’s shed blood to set things right and change our hearts. In some inexplicable way, he went down to the very bottom of our completely hopeless condition and opened up a way for each of us to come back with him into a brand new life of restored friendship with God that overflows with his love.
Romans 13:8-10 (NIV) 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
So just what is it to “Love your neighbor as yourself”? Perhaps we need to first ask, What is it to love yourself? I suggest it is to practice being the person Jesus created you to be, namely, his friend and his coworker in revealing God’s love to others. So to love others as you love yourself is to help others become what Jesus created them to be, namely, his friend and his coworker in revealing God’s love to still others.
At the heart of all we do to help others experience the love of God, must be this: “submit yourselves, …to God...”. Why? Because Jesus himself said that he did nothing of His own accord, He did only what He saw His father doing. So with us. When it comes to anything we do to help others open up to God, unless Jesus has spoken or acted we must not speak or act. Anything short of this and we are playing god, imagining that we know enough to know what needs to be said or done in a given situation.
What does it mean to do only what we see Jesus doing? In Proverbs 3:17, we read of wisdom that “all her paths are peace.” Now consider the fact that Jesus is called the wisdom of God. It follows then that, at minimum, to act only as Jesus leads means we make sure that what we are about to say or do flows from a place of perfect peace within us.
Luke 4:8 — “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”
The extent to which I am worshiping the Lord is evidenced by the amount of helpfulness flowing through my life. The more I sense the preciousness of the people I meet each day, the more attentive I am to help them, the more I can be assured that I am worshiping God.
Worship is an offering of one’s whole self to God in the sense of offering Him an empty vessel to be filled.
The reason God seeks and takes pleasure in our worship is precisely because He is thereby being allowed to fill us with His helpfulness for everyone we meet each day.
We read in John 15:22-24 (NIV) something that Jesus said regarding the spiritual leaders of his day. He says, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.”
Notice that these leaders were in a sense “off the hook” in terms of being held accountable for their sins up until they heard the teaching of Jesus and witnessed what he did. Jesus gave them sufficiently satisfying reasons for them to put their faith in him. They refused to do so and so their guilt stood.
That suggests something to me regarding the nature of faith. To exercise faith is to give allegiance to that which you have sufficiently satisfying reasons to believe is true.
If you are wondering or doubting that something is true, you won’t hand your life over to it. You just can’t. You’re not buying it. You’re not convinced. What you need is not more faith, you need more information and a willingness to act on that information. When your mind is satisfied and you can say something like, “yes, I can see that. That makes sense,” then you are ready to make a decision, to respond, to trust, to exercise faith and move forward in doing what your new understanding requires of you. Had those leaders made good on what Jesus said and did to help them realize who he was, they would have all they needed to begin to trust in him and become his disciples instead of his enemies.
Whenever my heart is not at rest, full of peace, and joy, I am allowing something other than the love, promises, or purposes of God to dominate my thinking.
I’m allowing myself to believe that if this or that situation were “resolved” I’d be just fine.
But that’s a lie. Our hearts can find rest only in God — in his love, promises, and purposes. Like one guy put it, “Trying to fill the God-sized hole in our hearts with things other than God is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with marbles.” (Peter Kreeft)
So what must I do?
First of all I must confront the lie and say something like this to myself: “I’ve been telling myself that ‘if only this, and if only that, I’d be at peace.’ Not so. That’s a lie. I reject it.”
Secondly, I must keep bringing my attention back to simply trusting God in the middle of what I’m going through — trust His love for me, trust in His promises to me, and trust in His purposes for me and then be thankful for his constant presence and care.
A Bible teacher named Ray Comfort had this two say about his dad: He writes, “Let me tell you about my father. When I was young, he regularly left my mother and us three kids to fend for ourselves. I was there when he killed a helpless animal with his bare hands. Not only that, but he hit me (often). Based on this information, you could be justified in believing that my father was a tyrant.
However, there is some missing information. The reason he left us each day was to work to earn money to provide food, clothing, and shelter for us. He killed the animal because it had been hit by a car and was in agony. He put it out of its misery, and it grieved him to do so. He regularly chastened me because he loved me enough to teach me right from wrong (I was a brat). So, now you can have a balanced view of my dad. He was a loving father and a very compassionate man.”
Friends, if the God of the Bible, the creator of heaven and earth, does not do everything He does out of perfect wisdom, goodness, and love, then nothing matters. Absolutely nothing. But just because I find it impossible to see what he is doing when I’m face to face with some mind boggling horror, says nothing about what He is, in fact, doing. So then the only basis upon which I can reject Him is arrogance. That is to say, I believe I know enough about what God is doing or failing to do, to rightly condemn what I believe he is doing or failing to do. In actuality, all I am doing is shaking my fist at a figment of my imagination projected upon what I call the "God of the Bible.”
I’m convinced this is one main reason why it’s been said that the quintessence of Jesus’ teaching is the Beatitudes, and that the foremost among them is the first one: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” That is to say, blessed are those who know they are spiritually bankrupt and as knowledgeable about the ways of God as a kindergartener is of quantum physics.
American author, Celeste de Blasis wrote the following poem:
“There are people who live lives little different than the beasts,
and I don't mean that badly. I mean that they accept whatever happens day to day without struggle or question or regret. To them things just are, like the earth and sky and seasons.”
So even in the face of unspeakable tragedy, we would do well to humble ourselves, accept what is before us and, I would add, just continue to be helpful. One day our most wise, good, and loving God will open the eyes of the humble to see that they did not trust him in vain. “In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9)
You can determine how much you value something by what you give up to protect it and keep it in your life. The biblical word for that is sacrifice.
Sacrifice was one way God’s people demonstrated to God the value they placed on their relationship to him.
It also functioned as a proxy death whereby the worshiper identified himself with the animal sacrificed and said to God, in effect, “I totally reject what I did that undermined the value I place on our relationship. In this sacrifice I declare myself dead to that decision and wish to be forgiven and restored to fellowship with you.” Hence it was fundamentally an act of repentance. Consequently, retribution for the sin was deferred and the wrath of God was satisfied.
But let’s ask why. Why is God wrathful towards us in our sin? And why is retribution so important to God that, for that matter, without a sacrifice we must forever forfeit our lives on account of our sin? After all, we read in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death.”
In other words, What makes our sin so serious that it warrants God’s wrathful and eternal retribution?
First of all, consider our self-centered motivation. Left to ourselves everything we do is done to serve our selfish interests. The net effect is that we live chronically using or abusing others no matter what it looks like or what we think we’re doing. Just think of how contrary this is to a God whose whole nature is to help lift all creation into maximum blessedness. Secondly, serving our selfish interests also results in denying others any help God intended to give them through us. It is on par with standing at a pool side and coldly watching a drowning child drown. And thirdly, our sin is so dreadfully serious because it leads us to reject God’s own merciful answer to our desperate state.
On the cross, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)). On the cross, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6 (NIV))
In other words, God himself in the person of Jesus took upon himself the totality of all that’s wrong with us — all our horrific, insolent self-centeredness. But he not only died in our place, we were crucified and died with him as well. With him the wage of our sin — death — was realized. Consequently, the warranted wrathful, endless retribution we deserved was resolved.
Frankly, there is no other sacrifice that can so completely embody our repentance and our death and so deliver us from God’s wrath and just retribution. And if we are united with Christ in his death we will be united with him in his resurrection and live forever in friendship with God.
1 John 1:5 could arguably be the most important verse in the Bible. With reference to Jesus, it reads, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
Why could that be so all important? Because the apostle John is summarizing the whole of Jesus’ life and ministry in one sentence. He was born, taught, performed miracles, cast out demons, suffered, died, and rose from the dead, all to give us this message: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
What I take that to mean in view of the use of the images of light verses darkness in Scripture is that, as light, God is good, thoroughly good, with not one bit of evil or wrong in him.
Another way of defining his goodness is that every single thing God thinks, says, our does is always of maximum possible benefit to all of His creation all at once. God by His own nature of perfect goodness cannot do otherwise. He cannot act in any way that would be anything short of the highest and the best possible good for everyone. This perfect goodness is His glory.
And when in this or that situation we read that God does something “for His glory,” it means He is acting to make sure that nothing interferes with His intentions to maximally bless everyone involved. And to glorify Him is to celebrate the fact that He is like that and cannot be otherwise.
The more we grasp this one truth, the more we cannot but treasure Him intensely and supremely above all things. Truly, if all we took to heart from the totality of Jesus’ life and ministry is this one truth — God is light; in him there is no darkness at all — we would find the implications to be so unimaginably powerful that we would realize it is all we need to know to be all that we want to be.
I rarely listen to the radio, so it was years ago that I turned it on just to hear what folks were singing about. Sure enough, there were several songs within about a 20 minute span that were love songs or that mentioned the word love. However, not surprisingly, not one of them included any definition of the word love. I would guess that what they had in mind is a common conception of love defined as liking someone a lot. It goes something like this: you like someone a little, and then a little more and then even more until you say you love them.
Now, I’m not disparaging the fact that there certainly can be and eventually will be an emotional component to loving someone, but such emotion is hardly what the Bible is referring to when we are commanded to love God and each other. Emotions can’t be controlled by a commandment anymore then you can command a butterfly to land where you’d like it to.
So allow me to offer what I think the Bible means when we are commanded, in this case, to love our neighbor. I see two components in it.
To love is to — first of all — value more than anything else that the purposes of God be fulfilled in another person’s life. That means we want them to experience the highest and best realities they could ever know. And secondly, to love is to constantly cowork with Jesus in what He shows us will help that person take the next step towards fulfilling God’s purpose for them.
Isaiah 55:6 reads, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”
What is it to be seeking God? Here are four actions that come to mind:
(1) To seek God is to humble ourselves before Him by routinely confessing our sins to Him;
(2) To seek God is to practice trusting Him to help us in all that concerns us;
(3) It is to practice sharing all our thoughts with Him
(4) and it is to practice listening for how He wants to use us to bless others.
In Matthew 16:21-23 (NIV) we read that “…Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
William Barclay in commentary explains that, “Satan is any force which seeks to deflect us from the way of God; Satan is any influence which seeks to make us turn back from the hard way that God has set before us; Satan is any power which seeks to make human desires take the place of the divine imperative.”
So here’s a question to carefully consider: what do I need to look at right now and say with Jesus, “get behind me, satan…”?
In 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV) we read, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
Those who would have us believe that God can just simply suspend the consequence of sin, which is death, if someone just repents of their sin have overlooked one of the most highlighted attributes of God: he does exactly what he says he will do. His integrity, reliability, and faithfulness are perfect and He does not change. So when He declared that, “the soul that sins shall die”, that’s exactly what will happen. No exceptions. All of us must face the consequence of our sin and die. And that is not just the death of our bodies, but the dreadful spiritual death of banishment from experiencing the presence and love of God forever.
However, that is not the end of the story. There is Good News in the Bible, very Good News for us to take to heart: God himself came up with a way in which to be both true to his word and yet rescue us from death. His answer was that while we will most certainly die on account of our sins, that death will occur in union with the death of his own Son, Jesus.
The Apostle Paul summed it up like this:
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” — 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV)
And he also writes,
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” — Galatians 2:20
This Good News now leaves us with a choice. We can say no to what God did for us and choose to die separate from the death of Christ and remain dead forever, or we can say yes to God and choose to die in union with Jesus. And that also means that, united to him, we will participate in his resurrection and rise with him to live forever.
What will it be for you?
In 1 John 3:2-3 the apostle John writes, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
There is way more of me that has yet to love God than what is loving Him, and there is way more of me yet to love others than what loves them. The marshaling of all of me in the interests of love is a long, winding road ahead that disappears over a distant horizon. Truly, all will be love only when He appears for then, and only then, “we shall be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.”
In the words of a poem by Christina Rossetti:
Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
In 2 Corinthians 12 (NIV), the Apostle Pauls tells of some fantastic revelations that the Lord gave him. They were so amazing and Paul was evidently so vulnerable to becoming proud that the Lord had to protect him from this danger. Listen to what he writes:
7 “…because of these surpassingly great revelations…. in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
It seems to me quite clear from this passage and in the Bible generally that the healing of the body is subservient to the needs of our spirit. That means that whenever having our bodies healed of some infirmity will best help us grow in our friendship with Jesus, healing will most assuredly be granted. But when healing the body stands to hinder our spiritual growth, God will give us grace in the middle of our affliction to keep growing and stay close to Jesus, not healing. The apostle Paul was the perfect illustration of this: God did not heal his physical infirmity which he called a “thorn in the flesh” because of the greater need in his spirit. And he tells us what it is he was being protected from. He writes, “to keep me from becoming conceited.”
And once he caught on to what the Lord was doing with his infirmity, and that it was actually occasioning a magnification of Christ’s power in his life, he switched up his attitude in a big way: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
In Galatians 6:9-10 (NIV) 9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Instead of regretting what you’ve been, damaging choices you’ve made, your self-centeredness, and so on, ask yourself, “what am I doing right now, each day, to be as helpful as I can be to the next person I’m with? the next person who cross my path? the next person who comes to my attention? In other words, let all self-regard be lost in the adventure of working with Jesus in everyday helpfulness.
No doubt you are familiar with Issac Watts’ great hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” In it he writes,
*“Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.”*
Let’s ask the question: Why does God’s love demand our soul, our life, and our all? I’m persuaded that it is so that every cell, every particle of who we are might serve as a living sacrifice — a channel of his white-hot love for everyone in our lives. Nothing about us can be left out.
If we are going to belong to Jesus, we need to know that everything we have — our relationships, our use of time, our abilities, possessions, finances, health, and so on — everything — will be put to the service of his love.
Consequently, repentance simply means we give to Jesus for his discretionary use all these blessings that we’ve been accustomed to use for ourselves.
I’m persuaded that to worship God is not primarily something we do by prayers, songs, or ritual. It has more to do with how we live and whether or not our lifestyle fulfills God’s highest intentions for us.
In Romans 12:1 the Apostle Paul writes, “…offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
To offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifice takes in everything we do with our bodies. Hence, we are living a life of worship when — in all kinds of ways — all that we are doing fulfills God’s highest intention for each of us, which, I suggest is to be his true friend. Prayers, songs, or ritual are just ways we celebrate that unspeakable honor.
A famous brain surgeon and his good friend had grown up in the same city and over the years spent as much spare time as possible doing things together.
But their ways began to grow apart when the surgeon’s friend started making some poor decisions. The surgeon warned him.
“You have no idea how many mind-warping, brain tumors I’ve had to operate on because of that drug you want to mess with. Once one of those tumors gets going, it changes you. Nothing will matter to you anymore except what you want. And then, by the time some patients have wanted help, we’ve had to restrain and sedate them in order to get them under the knife. That tumor gets them thinking that we are out to kill them. Things get ugly.
Listen. Stop now while you still have your wits about you. Think of your wife and family. That drug will rob you of them and our friendship and everything that matters to you.”
But his friend ignored him and, sure enough, in a matter of months, it was evident that a tumor had begun to grow. His friend went from being a gracious, thoughtful man, to becoming distant and self-absorbed. If something didn’t matter to him, it didn’t matter at all. His wife and children felt completely shut out of his life and ignored.
A year went by until one day the surgeon was informed that his friend was in the hospital lobby inquiring for him. Excited, he rushed to the lobby. He hoped to have him admitted on the spot and prepped for surgery.
But upon seeing him in his surgical scrubs, his friend exploded in a rage. He screamed, “oh no you don’t!” and lunged at the surgeon to strangle him. Thankfully, several staff who had come with the surgeon intervened. An intense struggle ensued after which they finally got him restrained and strapped down on a gurney.
In order to limit the number of possible ugly meltdowns, the surgeon set aside as many pre-operative protocols as he possibly could.
But there was one that the surgeon insisted on: he would not do the surgery without his friend’s consent.
For days the surgeon spent every spare moment he had with him in hopes of hearing that all-important “yes” to do surgery. But even though the surgeon was as lovingly gentle as could be, all he got were screamed abuses and blame for his friends distress.
Then, one day after one more routine fit of rage against the surgeon, the restraints, and all the misery, his friend screamed, “fine! do the surgery! Please do it now!”
Well, did the surgeon do it? Was he successful? Of course he was! You’re doing o.k. now, aren’t you?
Ephesians 2:4-7 (NIV) reads, 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
See yourself where you really are: seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.
If all heaven grew silent, and you were given the opportunity to voice one thank you to the Father for what you most appreciate in Him, what would you say? Write it down and rewrite it until, as much as possible, your words capture your sentiment.
Do the same for Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Your answers embody your highest, best thoughts of God. They are what I think need to comprise the substance of your worship first thing in the morning and all through the day.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 reads simply, “pray continually”.
It’s not what you’re doing that is making the biggest difference in your life or through your life, it’s what you’re praying. What matters most in this world is what God is doing and prayer is all about opening ourselves and our circumstances to his influence.
Here’s one way of looking at God’s glory: it is his nature of self-sacrificial love. God glorifying himself is him revealing his self-sacrificial love. We glorify him by revealing his love. We worship him by revealing his love. When he does things for his glory it means that his self-sacrificial love might be revealed and experienced.
We praise him for being like this and for all the ways we experience his love. We thank him that he is like this and for all that his love does for us.
There are no ulterior motives in God. He is absolutely pure which means his motive is one, and everything he does has this one ultimate aim: it is to reveal his glory — his self-sacrificing nature of love — that all creation might experience fullness of joy. That’s it.
That is what it means when he acts “for his own sake.” That is, he acts to fulfill his intention that we come to know him as he is.
I have a question for you to consider. For that matter, I would encourage you to write it down and take time to pencil out your answer. Here it is: If God said to you today that — in regard to the person you aspire to be — you could make one request with the assurance that — whatever it is — he would grant it to you before you die, what would you ask for?
After you have an answer, then ask yourself: how desperately do I want God to answer my request? Am I prepared to reorganize my daily life around what it may mean for me to become the person I want God to make me?
Something as precious as what you will ask for isn’t just going to fall out of the sky and — bingo — there you have it. If you actually do want to be that person then ask Jesus to help you reorient your daily life so as to make the probability that you will become that person as certain as possible. God will then work in you and with you to do immeasurably more than all you could ask or imagine.
In Galatians 6:7-8 (NIV) we read, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
I’m convinced that our desires grow by being fed thoughts. If that is so, then we have an amazing proposition in front of us: we can decide what kind of person we want to become by deciding what desires we think about, that is, feed our thoughts to. Those desires we think about will get stronger, and by that I mean they will produce even more thoughts, more frequently about themselves.
I really think it is our thoughts that the Apostle Paul was referring to when he uses the language of sowing and reaping. We sow thoughts to the flesh, that is, to the desires of our self-centered self, and we reap destruction — a completely self-absorbed self. However, if we sow thoughts to the desires of the Holy Spirit, we reap a high quality of life — eternal life.
When it comes to our Christian faith and practice, it seems to me that one of the most troubling and distracting of all presuppositions is this: only when things look just so, are prayed just so orsaid just so, aredone just so, does the grace or power of God flow.
Such assertions seem to fly in the face of the fact that when Jesus helped people, his help was tailor made to meet the need each person had right then. He didn’t even heal blind people in a set way. Sadly, as his disciples we all too easily believe that only upon doing things this or that way will God grant his blessing.
It is better, I think, to remember that God only blesses what Jesus is doing. However, Jesus is ever present with us and is most willing to reveal to us what he is doing situation by situation and how to work with him so that we can follow suit.
Someone raised the following question: “Suppose you are in a certain place and you need to find the way to a distant destination over country that you have never traveled. God gives you two options. You can have a map (his law), or you can have a personal guide (his grace).” -D Prince
A good definition of “grace” may be this: the guiding presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
If we choose the guide, then the all-important issue all day long and especially in the face of a challenge is the inward posture of, “am I following my guide right now? am I right beside him? does he have my attention? what does it mean for me to stay close to him regarding this stretch of the journey?”
Notice: I don’t need to know his plan; I just need to stick with him by being sensitive and responsive to his instructions and directions.
In Psalm 73:23-24 the Psalmist writes, “I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”
In Ephesians 4:2-6 we read, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
In Matthew 9:16 and 17 Jesus taught, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Beyond a shared commitment to the integrity of the biblical record and the testimony of the apostles as handed down and condensed into the Nicene creed, thereafter, as soon as a particular system of faith or practice is put forward as being essential to friendship with Jesus and usefulness to him, it seems to me Jesus is being marginalized and the scene is ripe for division.
By system I mean, “special” rituals or routines, “special” ways of praying or acting, “special” emphasis on certain truths or days or seasons. I see nothing wrong with such distinctives in and of themselves. Explosive creativity and diversity in response to the greatest truth on earth — the truth that is Jesus — is natural, welcomed, and even warranted. The Gospel wine does indeed constantly need new wine skins to be preserved and passed on from one generation to another. But when those born into a given church system, or who are attracted to the creativity, the diversity, the history, the stability, or structural authority embodied in a given system begin to assert: if you do not think as we think, believe as we believe, do as we do, sound like us, or look like us, you are not truly, fully Christian, then, as I see it, the wine skins have hardened. It is the spirit of pride at work. And that spirit of pride is the taproot of all division in the body of Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 13:5 — we are exhorted to, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”
What does the apostle Paul mean by this call to examine and test ourselves? How do we make sure we are, what he calls, “in the faith” and that if we are Christ Jesus lives in us?
I like to interpret “in the faith” as meaning in a growing friendship with Jesus. So, examine yourself: if Jesus lives in you, are you communicating with him more? more frequently and intimately? Are you telling him more and more what you’re thinking about, how you feel, what you desire and long for? Are you in the faith?
Along with that, friendship with Jesus I think also means that we only address our needs and the needs of others by increasingly working with Jesus. To be “in the faith” surely must mean that we no longer meet needs by just doing what we think is best. Rather, we look to Jesus to receive from him his answer to the need, that is, what to do, how to go about it, and the strength to get it done. That’s our part, and we trust Jesus to do the rest whatever that may be.
So test yourself: are you in a growing friendship with Jesus and working with him in meeting the needs that come to your attention?
In James 1:2-4 (NIV) we read, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
“Live in a manner that justifies your own suffering.” — Jordan Peterson
See to it that everything you are experiencing that you would gladly get rid of if you could, is forced to be a blessing in disguise by virtue of how you react to it.
Cover to cover, the Bible informs us that absolutely everything that happens to us — irrespective of the instigating factors — presents us with an opportunity to grow, that is, to do whatever it takes to more consistently be someone in whose presence others feel helped and encouraged.
So long as we choose not to benefit from it, we exacerbate our suffering — in the words of Jesus to Saul, the persecutor, “it is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 26:14) “The figure is from an ox, being driven on in his work. When restive or lazy, the driver pricks him, and in ignorance of the consequences, he kicks back, and so gets another wound.” (Cambridge Bible)
In 1 Corinthians 9:25 (NRSV) the apostle Paul calls for us to train ourselves like athletes do. He writes, “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.”
What might that “self-control in all things” look like for us as Christians? I want to suggest that it is to bring yourself back each morning and throughout the day to the one all-important purpose or goal you have for your whole life. And just as an athlete stays focused on his or her goal to stay motivated and on tract, so with us. We must see to it that our life’s purpose increasingly governs our every decision and sheds light on what is worthy of our thoughts and time or not.
But if you are not increasingly discerning and fine-tuning what your all-important goal in life is, it seems to me that is like a ship out at sea without a rudder.
How do I know if I have “saving faith”, “justifying faith” — the kind of faith by which God restores me to friendship with himself? Only if that faith keeps me busy asking,
“Lord, show me what I can do to be helpful today, to make things better or easier for everyone I’m around.”
And — relying on his power — I act on what he shows me.
If that is what increasingly concerns me, I can be assured beyond all doubt that I am “born again.” I am “saved.” I am God’s friend.
Matthew 26:36-38 (NIV) 36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
I’m convinced that the sorrows Jesus experienced didn’t end when he died on the cross anymore than his love ended. And to love is to suffer. Everyday, Jesus feels afresh the loneliness, the brokenness, the heartaches and fears, that each person around you is experiencing. He deeply suffers — beyond all words to describe — the broken-heartedness that plagues each heart that knows there is something profoundly disordered within them, something they yearn and hunger and thirst for but don’t know why it’s there or where to turn.
He sees them try and try again to fill their emptiness with life’s pleasures and pursuits only to see their happiness quickly fade and that haunting hollowness return.
As Jesus walks through the day he feels all this and in his intense love and compassion he tirelessly works to bring them to the place when they will see in him the answer to all their emptiness and sadness.
And when it comes to the specific people in your life he also yearns for you to walk with him, share his pain, and be his visible presence among them. In so doing you share his burden even if only a small portion. It is not small to him anymore than the comfort you feel is small when you realize that a person who’s with you in some sorrow understands something of what you’re going through.
So each day you can walk with Jesus among your family, friends, and acquaintances and be to him that comforting friend who’s willing to feel something of what he feels and yet be his ray of light or seed of hope in each of their lives.
The question is, will you do that — walk with him? stay with him at his side come what may? Or when some distraction once again makes its appeal to you, will you excuse yourself and turn back and leave him to go on his way alone?
Here’s what I consider to be one of the most important truths in the Bible to take to heart: Romans 8:32 — “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Think of the most loving, self-giving person you know. When needed, you have benefited at every turn in your life by that person‘s thoughtfulness, patience, and encouragement. He or she has been there for you at all times, eager to help you and see you become everything you can be.
Now think: Do you have to be commanded to love that person?
The fact that we have to be commanded to love God is perhaps the most tragic commentary that could be made on the depths of human ignorance.
“Oh how he loves you and me,
Oh how he loves you and me,
He gave his life, what more could he give?
Oh how he loves you and me.”
Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Galatians 5:14 (NIV)
“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
I suggest that in this context the word love is best understood as “value” or “cherish”. And I suggest that the best way we value or cherish the Lord, ourselves, and our neighbor, is by doing the most helpful thing we can presently do for who it is we’re cherishing.
Here’s a question that I think sheds light on what the greatest commandments are aiming for:
“Lord, what is the most helpful thing I can do for you in working with you as you seek to help the people in my life today?”
Notice:
- “for you” = has loving/cherishing God in view
- “with you” = has loving/cherishing our neighbor in view
How so?
Why is acting “for you” — for the Lord — cherishing the Lord with all that we are?
Because to love God is to make what is most important to him most important to us. And nothing is more important to the Lord than revealing who he is. Who is he? He is a personal, live torrent of self-giving, self-sacrificial helpfulness that works day and night to make all his creatures just like him.
And why is acting “with you” — with the Lord — also loving my neighbor as myself?
Because if I value myself then I want God to reveal himself to me and make me like himself, and so with cherishing my neighbor. But here’s the catch: only God knows how to best reveal himself to my neighbor right now and help move them a step closer to his goal of making them like himself. Therefore, I must work with God. I must hear from him as to what he would have me do lest I say or do something that doesn't line up with his present activity in my neighbor’s heart.
So, back to the question:
“Lord, what is the most helpful thing I can do for you in working with you as you seek to help to the people in my life today?”
Will the Lord answer that question? Asking that is on par with asking, “if I stand under the Niagara Falls, will I get wet?”
Just as the Niagara Falls, by nature, gets everything it touches wet, so the Lord — who by nature is helpfulness — will most certainly help anyone who asks to be as he is: always helpful.
The value of something to me personally is determined by the effect I allow it to have upon me. If I use whatever it is, desired or not, to become more responsive to the Lord then it is of infinite worth to me. If I allow it to distract me from such responsiveness then I have rendered it valueless to me.
Hence there is no difficulty that I cannot make vital to my life if I will but determine to use it to deepen my sensitivity to the Lord so as to meet the situation precisely as He would have me meet it. Therefore my biggest challenges are, in truth, my greatest assets in life. I stand to be more careful to respond to the Lord in them than in the seeming trifles of life.
But then notice how the “trifles” are therefore the more dangerous for me. It appears that not much hangs in the balance so I can easily relax my responsiveness to the Lord. Whoa. Listen to Jesus: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Lk 16:10
Evidently, to mishandle the small stuff—that is, to not faithfully use even those “trivialities” as situations in which I listen to Christ—is proof positive that I am not to be trusted to faithfully manage bigger things.
How do I live this day in such a way that when I stand before the Lord for my life review, I will be delighted for him to see how I lived it? What will I want him to see that I did with my thoughts and words, my eyes, hands, and feet? What primary motivation will I want him to bring to the surface that was behind it all?
I will want him to see me faithfully fulfilling my life’s greatest responsibility.
What is my life’s greatest responsibility?
maintaining OCMH = Optimum Conditions for Maximum Helpfulness
What is maximum helpfulness?
It is when what you think, say, or do, directly or indirectly helps others realize something more of God’s love for them and/or helps them take a step in his direction.
We maintain the conditions, Jesus guides and makes us helpful. So what are the optimum conditions?
- personal worship — praise, thanksgiving, rejoicing in the Lord
- prayer — family and friends we pray for daily and weekly and prayers we pray on the go
- Bible reading and reflection — even if it is just a few verses a day that we then reflect on
- corporate worship — gathering with God’s people for worship
- corporate fellowship — being together to think with fellow believers about the kinds of things that strengthen, encourage, comfort, instruct, and help us persevere in our loyalty to Jesus
- sharing God’s blessings of time and resources — “Lord, show me how to be a cheerful and generous giver.” “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”2 Corinthians 9:6
- practicing a weekly day of rest — The principle of one day each week set aside from our hectic lives to worship God and rest is for our benefit. The busier we are, the more we honor someone when we give him our time. If Jesus appeared bodily to you and said, “I would like to spend the day with you and give you a special blessing,” would you say, “I’d really like to, Lord, but my day is full!” Every Sunday [or whichever day of the week you are free to set aside for him] the Lord is saying, ‘I want to spend this day with you and bless you. Will you set this day apart for Me?’” (Steven J. Cole, Bible.org)
What happens if you maintain those conditions?
The Holy Spirit works through them to keep your heart sensitive to Jesus, to what he needs from you at any given moment of the day in working with him. And to act on his guidance means we’ll unfailingly walk in maximum helpfulness.
“Do what is easy and your life will be hard. Do what is hard and your life will become easy.” — Les Brown
How true is that statement? If we consider it in the context of the Christian life, I’d give it a thumbs up.
What is it to “do what is easy”? It is to just go with the flow of the world, the flesh, and the devil. All we have to do to go down stream in a river is pull in the oars in. Easy enough. But what’s the end game? Jesus put it this way, “I tell you the truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” And sin is a cruel taskmaster the end of which is disintegration of our inner life and death. Yes, do what is easy and your life will indeed be hard — very hard.
But what about “do what is hard and your life will become easy”? Let’s face it. The hardest decision we make in a God-seeking life is that of constantly having to face off with something we want to do that we know is questionable and yet saying “no” to it. But if we keep at that hard thing and never give up no matter how many times we fail, the truth is that we will discover Jesus helping us every step of the way. And it is living life with him that increasingly displaces our awareness of the up hill climb we’re on with a growing sensitivity to his presence and friendship. It’s kind of like working on a very difficult project, but doing so with a good friend. By virtue of that friendship doesn’t the project in a sense become easy?
Have you ever wondered how it is the satan is still so active in spite of this truth, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8) Wasn’t Jesus successful in doing this? Of course he was. So what’s going on?
Here’s a true story told by Carolyn Arends that I think answers that question. (Christianity Today - Feb 2011)
She writes:
As a kid, I loved Mission Sundays,
when missionaries on furlough
brought special reports in place
of a sermon. Sometimes they
wore exotic, foreign clothing;
they almost always showed a tray of slides
documenting their adventures. If they were
from a dangerous enough land, the youth in
our congregation would emerge from our
Sunday stupor and listen intently.
There is one visit I’ve never forgotten.
The missionaries were a married couple
stationed in what appeared to be a
particularly steamy jungle. I’m sure they
gave a full report on churches planted
or commitments made or translations
begun. I don’t remember much of that.
But what has always stayed with me is the
story they shared about a snake.
One day, they told us, an enormous
snake—much longer than a man—
slithered its way right through their
front door and into the kitchen of their
simple home. Terrified, they ran outside
and searched frantically for a local who
might know what to do. A machete-wielding
neighbor came to the rescue, calmly
marching into their house he decapitated
the snake with one clean chop.
The neighbor reemerged triumphant
and assured the missionaries that the reptile
had been defeated. But there was a catch, he
warned: It was going to take a while for the
snake to realize it was dead.
A snake’s neurology and blood flow are
such that it can take considerable time for it
to stop moving even after decapitation. For
the next several hours, the missionaries
were forced to wait outside while the snake
thrashed about, smashing furniture and
flailing against walls and windows, wreaking
havoc until its body finally understood that
it no longer had a head.
Sweating in the heat, they had felt
frustrated and a little sickened but also
grateful that the snake’s rampage wouldn’t
last forever. And at some point in their waiting,
they told us, they had a mutual epiphany.
I leaned in with the rest of the
congregation, queasy and fascinated. “Do
you see it?” asked the husband. “Satan is a
lot like that big old snake. He’s already been
defeated. He just doesn’t know it yet. In the
mean time, he’s going to do some damage.
But never forget that he’s a goner.”
Colossians 1:16 — “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
Romans 11:36 — “For from him and through him and for him are all things.”
Why were we created by God through Christ “for himself”?
Wasn’t it that he might love us, take delight in us, walk with us in intimate friendship, and cause his love to overflow our lives to the benefit of others?
Had there been something better, more satisfying, more joyful, for which he could have created us then — by virtue of his intense love for us — he would have created us for that. But there isn’t. To belong to Jesus is the greatest good and highest joy he can possibly give us. And to flood every receptive heart with himself is his glory.
In contrast to depending on something we do to be made right with God, the apostle Paul writes in Galatians 6:15 — “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”
The first and most important posture I think we need in life is that of receptivity to be made a new creation. There is no greater way of honoring God’s highest intentions and desires for us than to receive what he so longs to give — that new self-giving nature which is, in fact, his very own self-giving self. Receptivity, then, could considered our highest and most loving response to God. I suggest that another word for that is worship. We are living a life of worship to the degree we are actively receiving from God all that he longs to give us and do in us.
In Ephesians 5:10 we read: “Find out what pleases the Lord.”
So what pleases him? Here are some things I found:
- Jeremiah 9:24 — “I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”
- Hebrews 11:6 — “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Clearly, the more you trust in God and believe what he says, the more faith you have and the more pleasing to God your life will be.
Praying for everyone who comes to your attention pleases God:
- 1 Timothy 2:1-3 — “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior.”
- Hebrews 13:16 — “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
And take note of this: since we were created by him and for him, whatever brings God the most joy, happiness, delight, and satisfaction is precisely what will bring you the most joy, happiness, delight, and satisfaction.
So we pray: “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” ~Hebrews 13:20,21
Psalms 37:5-6 (NIV) “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”
It is actually your trust in God that increasingly reveals to you, as-it-were, the presence of God’s loving helpfulness in your daily routine.
Consider the following: what temptation you are presently most concerned with? What are you regularly doing or tempted to do that stands to derail the precious things you aspire to be and do in the kingdom? Now realize that when Jesus said, “come to me,” he had you and precisely your struggle on his mind. He alone can handle it and he wants to. So, commit your way to the LORD; trust in him — that is — go to him as often as it comes to your attention and trust him to deal with it for you, stripping it of its power to distract you from your calling.
Proverbs 4:23 — “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Here are three ideas for guarding your heart.
Relying on the Holy Spirit, first, guard your heart from unworthy impulses or desires that come from within you. Redirect them to the Spirit for him to destroy.
Second, guard your heart from questionable suggestions or impressions that come from around you. Rely on the Spirit to do whatever it takes to instantly “turn the page” on them so to speak.
Thirdly, ask God to give you a trustworthy friend to team up with in guarding your heart, someone with whom you can share your ups and downs.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV) 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
Matthew 3:1-8 (NIV) 1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
In reading this I get the impression that when we are up against a sinful habit, the central issue isn’t our weakness, but our failure to repent.
In other words, my repentance — to be complete — needs to show up in action. One way is to study my behavior in the Lord’s presence and ask, “where is the loophole? At what precise point of entry did I get started down this path?” and then ask, “What is involved in closing that loophole?” You see, so long as we do not, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” and close the loophole, there will be no lasting progress made in overcoming the temptation.
What is the greatest, the most important truth in the whole world? I’m persuaded it is the message of Jesus’ life and teaching. The Apostle John concentrated it into one sentence. Here it is:
1 John 1:5 (NIV) — “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
In other words, God is perfectly good. We can completely trust him and be at rest in his presence forever.
If that is it then the greatest lie in all reality is that God is not pure light; that there is a measure of darkness in him — something that cannot be trusted, something unsettling.
If the lie were true, and the ultimate reality was a being vacillating between good and evil, then nothing matters. Life is absurd.
But if we believe Jesus’ message, then there is only one way for us to demonstrate that God is indeed pure light: it is to completely trust him, at all times, in all situations, and for our every concern.
Here are several truths I affirm upon trusting him:
- he will completely meet and satisfy my every need;
- he will always guide me on the best path and teach me his way;
- he will always empower me to act on his guidance;
- he will never disappoint or fail my trust in him;
- he will always forgive and redeem my sins and failures, overcoming them all with good;
- he will safeguard or redeem the message of my life so that my life does no permanent damage and is interpreted to others in a way that does not dishonor him nor derail their chances of trusting in him as well;
- he will always keep his promises.
Here is a reason why I cannot “judge” anyone in the sense of looking down on them — “condemning” them for any reprehensible attitudes or behaviors: It is because I could have avoided or curtailed almost all of my own rankling character issues, difficulties, and temptations were it not for the numberless self-serving, self-centered thoughts and choices that characterize and shape my life to this day.
Consequently, it is blind, hypocritical, and, for that matter, arrogant for me to allow another person’s repugnant attitude or behavior to dictate my responses to them. The question that needs to be asked — and that only the Holy Spirit can answer for us — is this: what does being helpful to this person look like right now, under these circumstances? What can I think, pray, do, or say, that will best serve to help them outgrow their problems, whatever they may be?
We need to ask the Spirit straight up and start the process of listening and acting on his answer.
Here’s something I wrote not to guilt trip myself but to challenge myself to think with greater perspective on my temptations. I wrote, In resisting temptation and to fulfill God's will for him, Jesus submitted himself to what everything in him reacted to with utter revulsion. He yielded himself to unspeakable mental anguish, agonizing physical pain, and death by asphyxiation, and you won’t say “no” to your temptations?
When you are visiting with someone, have you ever wondered what exactly needs to be going on inside of you? After all, every person who comes to your attention is someone exceedingly precious to God. He does not take kindly to withholding from them something they need from you or, of course, outright mistreating them in some way. We come up against what the Bible calls God's wrath.
So we do well to plan in advance of any contact with another person who we want to be in their presence.
Here are some suggestions:
First, stay quiet. That is, maintain an inner, listening silence into which that other person can speak.
“To answer before listening” says Proverbs 18:13 “— that is folly and shame.” And again, “Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Proverbs 29:20
Secondly, stay still. When you have given yourself to God and know that he is in charge of the flow of your day, then to “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) means we let him be in charge of that particular conversation or contact and keep our own inner commentary in check.
Thirdly, listen for anything that helps answer the question, “how can I help you care for this person, Lord? What would you have me say or do?” God’s answer can range from simply carrying on a casual conversation to suddenly receiving a thought he gives you that you are to pass on.
Two words stand out to me as being so completely interconnected that we must never allow them to be separated. If we do, we will live walking in darkness, and die full of satan’s biggest lie. What are those two words? God and worthy.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (NIV) 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved — even though only as one escaping through the flames.”
Only work that is devoid of self-regard will survive that consuming fire.
What is self-regard? Allow me to define it like this: it is the wood, hay or straw of a preoccupation with what we want at the expense of what we’re needed for.
So the question is, just what is it that we’re needed for?
Let me personalize it like this:
1) First it seems that in some mysterious sense God has created in himself a unique place for you to walk with him in intimate friendship. God, who by definition needs nothing, has chosen to need you. He delights in your friendship as a particle in his eternal joy. To respond his need is to love him.
2) Secondly, based on that friendship and flowing forth from it, he has chosen to need you to help spread his love to everyone he places in your life. To respond to that need is to be faithful to him.
So let’s say that to build with gold, silver, and costly stones is to do what you do completely alive and responsive to God’s need of you. In the words of proverbs, it is to bind love and faithfulness around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3 NIV)
What I consider one of the greatest prayers ever prayed is found in Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)
The Apostle Paul reflects on God’s great plan for our salvation and writes,
14 “For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
One of the reasons I find this prayer to be so beautiful is that in it the Apostle reveals what may be considered the ultimate purpose for all humanity in God having created us for himself: “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
It seems to me that we can give no greater glory to God than letting him do in us what he most wants to do — fill us to overflowing with all his fulness.
Here’s how I like to think of God’s glory: It is God intensely, passionately desiring, and in every conceivable way tirelessly working, to become each person’s greatest friend. It is his glory that He allows nothing to get in the way of His pursuit while He works and works for each person to say “yes!” to him. The final chapter of a person’s life only closes when God knows that — having thoroughly exhausted all possibilities — to not respect a person’s insistent “no!” would be unloving of Him. Hell becomes, then, a place of mercy, a painful refuge, to be sure, but a refuge nonetheless from exposure to the light of God’s love that would generate further suffering on account of having been belligerently and finally rejected.
It will be the just sentence handed down that actually accommodates a person’s determination to be left alone by God.
With these thoughts in mind, I took time to write a story last night that could be called a parable. Let me share it with you.
There was a homeless man who got tired of living under bridges and in homeless shelters and having nothing. So he made up his mind to look around for a job. But no one would open the door to him.
After weeks of trying a passerby on the street struck up a conversation with him. The man was the CEO of a local pharmaceutical company. The company produced a specific medication that kept people alive who had a rare and often fatal chemical deficiency.
The CEO listened to the man’s situation and decided to offer him a job. However, in order to work there he was going to have to begin his shift showering up in the company facility. He would need to wear the uniform, head gear, and gloves the company provided. He would also need to go through strict training on keeping himself and everything in his immediate environment in pristine condition.
In addition to that the CEO wanted to visit with him first thing every morning to see how he was doing and to just get to know him. He also wanted his new employee to each day see the large mural of photos of the faces of people, young and old, who were being helped by the work he would be doing. He told him, “If you’ll stay focused on the fact that you are helping all these people stay alive and flourish, you’ll have the stuff to stick with this job.”
Things went well for awhile until the man started to resent the routine of having to meet with the CEO. He started to loathe having to shower and meticulously scrub down every time he stepped into the building and he grew tired of having to constantly sanitize his work area.
But he hated the thought of quitting the job and being back out on the street. “Life in prison would be better than this misery,” he thought.
And then he concocted a plan.
He knew where to go and who to meet to get his hands on a deadly drug. He bought some in powder form. He showed up at work. He managed to sneak the drug to his work station. Every so often throughout the day, he would add the drug to the bottles he had to realign on their way to being safety sealed.
It didn’t take long for the deaths to be reported. Accusations were directed at the company. The CEO was devastated with grief.
He quickly handed over all the surveillance video for analysis. Sure enough, there was the former homeless man occasionally doing something unusual to some of the bottles going by him. After an on-site inspection, they detected the killer drug. He was arrested, charged with murder, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison.
When the cell door was being closed behind him that first day, the guard reported that the man said, “better to sit around in this hell hole than work for that stupid company.” He got precisely what he wanted.
Psalms 84:4 — “Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.”
Where does God dwell? Habakkuk 2:20 — “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” But when Solomon dedicated the temple he said in his prayer, “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).
Bible students have long said, and I think rightly so, that God is omnipresent, that is, present everywhere at all times at the same time. The fact that he should choose to manifest his presence in a particular way at given location — such as in the temple — gave rise to the idea that he was right there, right then. But that didn’t preclude the fact that he was also everywhere.
King David emphasized this point when he wrote,
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” (Psalms 139:7-10 NIV)
But I would like to suggest another kind of a locality if you will. Perhaps it could be called the proximity of likeness or commonality. That is to say, the more we share a quality of character we see in God, the more we are, in a sense, dwelling with him by virtue of that. We are sharing the same space.
Consider for example this statement God makes: “For this is what the high and exalted One says — he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15 NIV)
Jesus, being “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3) said, “I am gentle and humble in heart.” (Matthew 11:29). Therefore, God is gentle and humble in heart.
Little wonder, then, that he says he dwells with the “contrite and lowly in spirit.”
The principle here may be this: we will find ourselves dwelling with God within any attribute of God’s that we share. That is to say, as we act on what we know God wants us to be and do, he works in us to make us as he is which results in that proximity of likeness. In the words of Jesus, — “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23 CSB)
Isn’t it amazing that people the world over see beauty in selfless action? When people bravely and unselfishly help others, the universal response is the same — admiration, affirmation, exaltation. And the more selfless the act is, the more beautiful it is.
I’m persuaded that these are intimations of what ultimate glory is all about. When we reach a glory that is so great that there is no glory beyond it, what do we see? We meet a being who has absolutely zero self-regard. We stand before a being who thinks, says, and does everything with 100% attention and devotion to the complete wellbeing of every living thing. We come face to face with the essence, the gold standard, of beauty.
Add to that what is also the universal experience of what makes for true happiness. We all know that our greatest joys in life arise out of doing something for someone that truly helps that person. I defy you to come up with a happier moment in your life than when someone was deeply grateful to you for the difference you made in his or her life. And the more helpful it was the greater your joy in having done it.
So where can we witness ultimate joy, a joy beyond which there is no greater joy to behold? We will encounter it in the presence of the being whose life — every thought, word, and action — is perpetually active to maximally benefit all creation.
This perfectly and gloriously beautiful and joyful being is God. To stand in his presence is to come under a torrent of unimaginable and incalculable tenderness and care. It is to be immersed in his overflowing interest in you that says to you, in effect, “I live to fill you with my beauty and joy. Open up to me.”
He says in Psalm 81:10, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” What does that entail? We open up to him the same way we open up to a good friend. We share our most intimate thoughts with him in ever increasing measure — our fears and longings, our sins and failures, our hurts and disappointments, our joys and sorrows — and then we trustingly wait on him to do what he promised and fill us.
Looking through my journals I found something I wrote down awhile back that I believe the Lord was saying to me. For whatever it’s worth I’d like to pass it on to you. It reads like this:
“Charlie, who you will be around other people is being decided by your routine thoughts during your times alone. If you would be a blessing and bring My loving, healing power to bear on everyone and everything you encounter day by day, you must devote your thought life to the disciplines My Spirit initiates in you — worship, praise, thanksgiving, intercession. If you are lax in these as you move through the day, you will limit what I would like to do through you. If you are faithful, everything you do will be infused with My presence and power. Lives and destinies will be changed for time and eternity. And never forget that your frame of mind, your mental attitude — how you actually see others — has a far greater impact on them than what you say or do.”
Psalm 101:3 reads, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.”
If some interest I have or something I pursue doesn’t in some way have a hand in making me more responsive to the voice of Jesus, what’s it ultimately worth? Zero.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Yesterday I quoted Psalm 101:3 — “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.”
I’d like to follow up on that verse. What does the psalmist mean by “…anything that is worthless…” and “…what faithless people do…”?
Allow me to suggest the following:
- “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless…”
That is, I will not set before my eyes anything that does not make me more responsive to the voice of Jesus or that does not help me work with him in extending more of his love to others.
- Then he writes, “I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.”
We have to ask, to what is he referring? Godless people can do a lot of good things that benefit others. Think of scientific researchers who even though they may be atheists make great discoveries, say, in medicine that help millions of people. So I think we need to realize that the psalmist is referring to specific activities that have no lasting value for us personally. So we could paraphrase his words like this: I choose to be completely indifferent to anything faithless or godless people do that contributes nothing to my walk with Jesus. I will have no part of it.
You see, the more we value our friendship with Jesus, the more we will avoid anything that adds nothing to that friendship. We will see it for what it is, not necessarily something evil, but just a waste of our time.
Psalm 101:3 reads, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.”
If some interest I have or something I pursue doesn’t in some way have a hand in making me more responsive to the voice of Jesus, what’s it ultimately worth? Zero.
I’m presently asking the Lord to teach me what Galatians 5:24 means. It reads, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
It seems to suggest that we are only truly free from the passions and desires of the flesh when we no longer have to make a decision regarding temptation that comes from the flesh. Why? Because we’ve already made a decision to be dead to it. Thought-suggestions coming from the flesh are then met with a simple nope becausethere’s nothing in that area left alive to even say maybe. It has been crucified. That’s true freedom. But these are only some initial thoughts. I’m looking to the Lord to teach me more about this so that I can experience what it means.
“You open my ears to listen.…I delight to do your will, my God, and your instruction is deep within me.”Psalms 40:6,8 (CSB)
Such delight can only be experienced — coming from Jesus’ heart to ours — when we are persuaded that there literally is nothing better that we can ever do than the next thing God tells us to do. Regardless of what we may tell ourselves, absolutely every deviation from what God wants reveals that we are not fully convinced that his way is best.
So, a prayer is in order,
Jesus, help us.
Give us a trust that is rock solid — fully persuaded.
Open our ears too.
Share with us your delight in doing God’s will.
Place your instruction deep within us.
And then let’s walk together as friend with friend in this adventure of blessing others today. Amen.
Since God’s loving kindness and faithfulness have no limit it follows that there is no limit to how worthy of praise he is. In other words, because God is completely self-sacrificially loving and good, we and all creation could never praise him enough. And the moment all creation sees, in the words of Isaiah, “the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God”, God will be thoroughly vindicated in everything he’s ever done.
I have to wonder if the reality of God’s wrath is not, in fact, the presence of God’s vindication as seen through praise-less eyes. That is to say, when the glory and splendor of God is revealed, the unforeseen and unbelievably explosive revelation of his immense goodness will be so overwhelming that the only way all the ungrateful could possibly experience it is as white hot wrath. Why? Because they have been so fixated on their lifelong unworthy view of God, that they can only stand in abject horror at God’s self-revelation radically contradicting the very truth they suppressed. And since there will be no place to hide, we read that, “They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” (Revelation 6:16) Imagine that! Wanting to hide from what is actually the undeniable and inescapable revelation of perfect goodness and love!
In sharp contrast to that, let’s prepare our hearts for that momentous day by joining the Psalmist when he wrote, “I will praise you more and more.” (Psalm 71:14)
Psalms 34:1 reads, “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
Let’s ask, Why do we praise someone? Because we observe that person doing something we or someone else stands to benefit from in some way. And notice that the more people benefited the more praise we lavish on the benefactor. Also take note of the fact that praise gets even greater in proportion to the degree of self-sacrifice involved in delivering the benefit.
The more people impacted and the greater the self-sacrifice on the part of the benefactor the more praise we heap on him.
So what thoroughness and frequency of praise do you think is warranted if everything and everyone in the entire universe is maximally benefited, and that for that to happen, the benefactor even sacrificed his own life?
God never does anything, be it ever so “small” that does not simultaneously benefit everything in the entire universe to the highest and greatest degree possible, and, to that end — in Christ — he laid down his life.
Yes, “Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise.” Ps 145:3
In Philippians 3:10-14 (NIV) the Apostle Paul writes, 10 “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
The thought occurred to me today that every sin has this in common: it wastes time. For that matter, that’s what time-wasting is — thinking, saying, or doing, anything not in line with the Lord’s purpose for us.
The very opposite of sin, we might say, is to have a pure heart because a pure heart, by definition, has but one dominant motive — only one good reason — at play in all we think, say, or do. And when that’s the case, there’s no time wasting going on because everything we’re doing is serving that good reason.
What does living like this entail? Three things come to mind:
(1) Like the apostle Paul, we need to establish the reason why we are going to do what we do on any given day. We may need to ask,
- What’s the one thing, the singular goal we want to remain attentive to behind all we do?
- What do we see as the all-important purpose we would dedicate all our thoughts, words, and actions to fulfilling?
(2) Then I’m finding it helpful to memorize a verse or phrase of Scripture that encapsulates that motive or reason.
(3) And thirdly, the moment temptation comes around we instantly recall that verse or phrase and repeatedly run it through our thoughts, trusting Jesus to deliver us until the temptation backs off. Enfolding that Scripture in thanks and praise will strengthen its hold on us.
Here’s a summary from Psalm 119:11: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
In Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV) we read, “Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
In view of that exhortation, here are what I think are two important and helpful questions we can consider regarding anything we intend to do:
Number one: is Jesus in it?
- that is, Do I stand to experience more of him in thinking along these lines? in doing this? in pursuing that? Are we together in it?
And number two: is this being useful to him?
- that is, Does what I’m thinking, doing, or pursuing, now or eventually result in somehow making it easier for others to experience his goodness and love through me?
If in the world to come, eternal hell and death is the wage of my sin — what I justly deserve — then can any amount of trouble I face in this world somehow be more than I deserve? No matter how bad, will it not always be far less than I deserve?
And isn’t it stunning that right this moment I’m not burning in the lake of fire for my sinfulness? Isn’t that fact alone reason enough to openly weep with amazement and joy that, clearly, my life is being held in the hands of unimaginably great mercy?
Ezekiel 33:11 — “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’”
In Luke 18:8 we read that Jesus said, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
So what is it to have faith? to live by faith in Jesus? I offer you the following:
To live by faith is to walk as friends with Jesus. You don’t see him, but you confined in him because you have satisfying reasons to believe he is as real as you are, exceedingly powerful, loving, and trustworthy.
Perhaps one of the greatest truths in the Bible in terms of revealing God’s nature and therefore, by extension, governing the DNA of all reality is this: “…the words the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35b NIV)
The word translated “blessed” could justifiably be translated happy, but it goes far deeper than the irregular condition that word usually implies.
As one biblical scholar points out, it refers to a joy which is serene, untouchable, self-contained, completely independent of all the chances and changes of life. It is a joy that transcends sorrow and loss, pain and grief. It shines through tears and nothing in life or death can take it away. It is the kind of joy Jesus referred to when he said, “no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22).
Now the reason for its constancy is quite obvious: it is rooted in giving not receiving.
Receiving is outside of our control — whatever the gift may be, something or someone needs to give it to us. Sometimes we get and sometimes we don’t so our experience of such happiness goes up and down accordingly.
But whether or not we give is always within our control. We can be constantly giving to God — worship, praise, thanksgiving. And we can be constantly giving to others — wholesome thoughts about them, prayers, and inner affirmations that surround them in the presence and love of God. These things can be done day and night regardless of our circumstances.
And because the God of this universe is like that, there is no greater joy to be seen in all reality than in his heart because there is no being that comes anywhere near being as totally, constantly, and permanently self-giving as he is. He is the paradigm of self-giving blessedness.
And here’s what so remarkable: we have this same joy at our fingertips. It is as close to us as giving God thanks and praise and as close as the next affirming thought, prayer, or something we can do to help someone else.
In Psalms 78:40-41 we read this of the Israelites after God delivered them out of Egypt — “How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the wasteland! Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.”
What is it to “put God to the test”? It is when, facing a problem, we make it clear that only if the Lord resolves it in a particular way and right when we want it solved will we believe that he truly cares for us or that he is powerful enough to help us.
In contrast to that is to live knowing that “the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” so I entrust my need to him, believing that he can and will resolve it in the best way possible and at just the right time.
Consider the following verses and ask yourself: just what is meant by the word “life”?
Psalm 16:11 — “You show me the path of life, in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
John 1:4 — “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
John 8:12 — “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
So what is meant by that word “life”? I offer the following definition for you to think about:
“Life” is God’s power at work in the world to bring people to the fulfillment of their purpose, the purpose of having been created “for him” — that is, for friendship with Jesus.
Jesus also said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
If we apply the definition I suggested then Jesus is saying, at least in part, I am God’s power at work in the world to bring people to the fulfillment of their purpose, the purpose of having been created for friendship with me.
How do we know when we are relying on something or someone other than the Lord for our peace of mind?
When we are preoccupied with how we feel about things and what we want or don’t want. That is to say, we are not talking to God about an interest we have or a plan or about a decision we we’re about to make. And our emotions generally give us away: we are irritated or abrasive or impatient or anxious or self-assertive or controlling or frustrated or fearful or hopeless or despairing, because things are not going our way.
Contrast that with this from Proverbs 3:17 — in reference to wisdom it reads, “Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.”
The presence or absence of peace within tells us whether we are on the path of God’s wisdom or not.
If all deception were gone, would it be apparent that what human beings most need is, in fact, what they most want?
Is it even conceivable that God should make us for a certain purpose and not have it be what we most want? If we were free of all deception we would instantly see that God would never command us to do anything other than what we most want to do.
- “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” Colossians 1:16
- “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9
- “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:14
- “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:7,8
- “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4
We know what each human being most needs: a restored friendship with God. And if all blindness, all lies, and all self-deception were gone, I’m beyond convinced that every human heart would instantly realize that for which they were created. What they most need — that restored friendship with God — would be plain as day to them as being what they also most want.
So when the air clears, what you most need is what you most want, and what you most need is not to be happy, but to belong to Jesus as his personal friend. However, the byproduct of this is indeed perfect and eternal happiness.
But the fact that we are born with a broken friendship with God, and consequently profoundly unhappy, we make being happy our goal and do all we do to try to find lasting happiness.
But while it’s been proposed that the pursuit of happiness explains what’s behind all human behavior, happiness is not what the human heart was made for and most needs so neither can that be what it most wants.
The deepest want of the human heart — of your heart — is to be restored to friendship with God, namely Jesus, and walk hand-in-hand with him.
So how clear is it to you that the person you were created to be, the person you most need to be — Jesus’ personal friend — is the person you most want to be?
Then ask yourself: is life really worth living if you are not becoming the person you most need and want to be? Would heaven itself be a happy experience to you if you were not that person?
Don’t ever see anything but yourself as your life's biggest problem and challenge to overcome.
That sounds brutal, for sure, but consider this: nothing forces a reaction out of us. Nothing makes us react poorly to an adversity. Nothing compels us to cave into temptation. For that matter, the Apostle James writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4 NIV)
The word translated “trials” is the same greek word translated “temptations.” Clearly, then, we choose how we are going to handle both our trials and our temptations. So it is we — our reactions to life’s nasty stuff — who are either generating misery in ourselves or accelerating our growth.
But there is great help available to us. I’ve been reflecting on this verse in Romans 8:26: “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”
So when facing trial or temptation, I’ve been praying something like, “Holy Spirit, in my weakness I don’t know how to best pray right now. You pray for me so that how I react to this is what God wants.”
Psalms 16:11 reads, “You will show me the path of life.”
In John 8:12 Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In the realm of the Spirit as in all of life’s relationships, friendship with God, that is, proximity to him is experienced to the degree that there are shared interests and values. That means that to the extent we become a certain kind of person whose interests and values align with God’s, to that extent we experience friendship with God.
Jesus is constantly working on growing our friendship with him. He does so by opening our eyes to see in him what we both need and want to be. So what has God revealed to you of Jesus that you want to be?
For that matter, fill in the blank: Name three qualities you see in Jesus that you like so much that it would be intolerable for you to imagine not having them?
Then the question is, what is the straightest path to becoming that kind of person?
We have it in John 2:5 — “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
So that is the path of life, the light of life. Who you are in fact becoming comes down to this: the next step you take. And bear in mind, what Jesus tells you to do he empowers you to do.
Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV) — 15 “Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Perhaps the greatest personal tragedy on earth is to leave this life with our purpose unfulfilled. Next to that may be to know our purpose and yet waste time.
The beginning of the end of living such a tragedy is sacrifice — the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart over all that’s gone wrong in ones life. But just as importantly, a heart that never gives up relying on God and what he can do to set things right in the lives of those who trust in him.
In Hebrews 3:15 (NIV) we read, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
What habits keep our hearts receptive to God's counsel? Of the likely many habits, allow me to suggest just three:
1) Practice thinking of the kind of person you most want to be throughout the day, especially as you see it in Jesus. One way of doing that is to pray: keep on asking, seeking, and knocking for the Lord to grant you your heart’s desire.
2) Believe that your prayer is being answered as you do what your life’s commitments require of you. And when he shows you something specific you need to do, act on it. That is Jesus keeping you on the best path forward.
3) When making a decision, pay careful attention to act on any internal doubt that says to you, in effect, “avoid that” or “probably not a good idea.” Just as it is wise to pay attention to those inner alerts with physical safety issues, so it is with spiritual safety.
The thought occurred to me today that perhaps there is ultimately only one good reason for doing anything: am I doing what I do because of how precious people are to me?
Now, on second thought, we might ask, what about loving God as the one good reason?
In answer to that it may be helpful to distinguish between the most important reason for doing something and the most important reality in our lives. God must be the most important reality in our lives, but he is that to us only when our greatest reason for doing what we do is because people are so precious to us.
Remember these words from the Apostle John? “…Whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20)
So if there is ultimately only one good reason for doing anything, and it is because we treasure people, then that means God is the most important reality in our lives.
Whatever you rely on that you think can’t or won’t fail you is your god. Whatever you depend on to maintain your peace of mind is your god. Whatever you trust will always be there for you is your god.
- How do you know when you are relying exclusively on the true and living God? When nothing can shake you because you are employing the power of the Holy Spirit to allow nothing to disturb you, frighten you, or rob you of your peace of mind.
- How do you know when you are relying upon something other than the true and living God? When you are irritated, impatient, insistent, controlling, anxious, self-assertive, frustrated, fearful, hopeless, despairing.
- How do you know when your faith is robust and growing? When you constantly welcome disappointment, difficulty, or adversity as a light by which to see in yourself any misplaced confidence or dependence. You use trouble as a chance to double down on your reliance on the true and living God.
So here’s an exercise in self-confrontation:
- When trouble comes, are you suddenly anxious? Confront yourself — “Aha! I caught you! So what is it you were trusting in that has now failed you?”
- When you’re irritated, confront yourself — “Oh ya, there you go again! So what is it you were hoping would go your way instead of leaving it to God?”
- When something falls through. Are you disappointed? Confront yourself — “Gotcha! What is it that you were relying on to come through for you instead of the Lord?”
Then, of course, turn back to the Lord and keep your eyes on him.
James 1:17 — “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 — “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Have you ever wondered as to what’s the sense of thanking anybody for anything? Almost everyone from day one is taught to say “thank you”, my question is why?
I wonder if it isn’t related to the fact that people the world over naturally praise whatever it is they admire.
I’m a soccer fan and I like to watch South American and European soccer. It never ceases to amaze me how wild the fans in the stands can get when their team scores, or especially when some star player scores a spectacular goal. They will even chant his name in unison and go through the motions of bowing down to him.
But we take our praise to a higher level than that when we witness serious self-sacrifice that benefits someone else. This past week I read of a guy who donated a kidney to help someone he didn’t even know.
Suppose it was you that had kidney failure and now you need dialysis. Your doctor tells you that depending on the method prescribed, you will need dialysis treatment anywhere from a few times a week to several times a day. In other words, that routine treatment is going to define your life day after day and week by week. And if you don’t do it, you die.
A year into that miserable routine, a stranger intervenes and donates a kidney to you.
Notice the two things at play here: not only are you greatly benefitted, but that stranger is worthy to be praised big time for their selfless self-sacrifice.
I’m convinced that something like that is going on all the time in our lives. Our self-disregarding God loves to constantly care for us irregardless of the cost.
I read that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Notice: the Apostle James is saying that all that you are thankful on any given day actually and ultimately comes to you from God’s heart. You are precious to him, and he is unchanging in his love for you. So “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Let me share with you what I consider some insightful thoughts to reflect on. They come from a psychologist named Jordon Peterson and may help explain why Solomon wrote the following in Proverbs 4:20-27.
20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
24 Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.
The quotes are these:
- “As you start to wander off the path, the probability that you will wander further off the path increases.”
- “As you wander towards the edge the probability that you will fall off the cliff increases.”
- “But as you improve, the probability that each improvement will produce a further improvement increases.”
In Ephesians 5:10 we read, “…find out what pleases the Lord.”
We will grow increasingly careful to do what Jesus wants us to do or avoid to the extent that we (1) know how exceedingly precious people are to the him and (2) cherish our assignment to work with him in helping others.
Why is that? 3 reasons:
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- Because we treat others according to the value we place on them.
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- Because only Jesus knows how to best care for those around us.
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- Because only in coworking with him, in picking up on what he’s doing and acting on that can we know what to pray, think, say, or do, and have the power to do it.
In 2 Peter 3:18 — we read, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
The Greek verb translated “grow” is in what’s called the “present imperative active” tense. That is to say, the apostle Peter is commanding us to continually be growing as a matter of habit.
Grace is sometimes made to sound as if it is some wonderful, ethereal spiritual substance somewhere out there that we ingest. Frankly, the grace of God is simply God in action. In other words, the grace of our Lord Jesus is Jesus at his work.
So when we read we are to grow in the grace of Jesus, we could paraphrase it to say, grow in allowing Jesus to work more freely and completely in your heart. Let him be increasingly in charge of what you think about and the decisions you make. That would mean that you are growing in his grace — in his activity in you.
And in addition, grow in the knowledge of our Lord as well. In other words, be constantly doing what you already know would help you get to know him better.
Imagine that you are training to be a woodworker. You are in a large shop with about 15 other students, but each of you is assigned to a master woodworker to be personally tutored by him.
Presently you are side-by-side at the lathe with him. He’s working on half of the piece and you are beside him on the other half. He’s teaching you by having you duplicate whatever you see him doing on his end of the work piece.
But there you are thinking about the skills and projects that other students in the shop are working on. You’re constantly glancing around the shop over your shoulder and even barking out orders as to how you think they should be doing it.
Notice how detrimental your distraction is to what you’re supposed to be doing and learning and to the end product.
In Psalms 25:15 (NIV) David writes: — “My eyes are always on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.” In other words, each of us has enough trouble to contend with that only Jesus can help us overcome and we each have things to learn that only Jesus can teach us. Consequently, it is paramount that we keep our eyes on him, that is, resist distraction and look to him alone to help and guide us.
At all times, absolutely everything you think, say, and do, directly or indirectly reflects and is even determined by the value that you place on the people that God has put in your life.
Think of it this way: what matters most to you operates as the rudder in your life. And what you treasure is revealed when you are at liberty to think of whatever you will. That is where your heart is, and it is decisive regarding your day to day decisions.
So if affirming the preciousness to God of everyone in your life is becoming increasingly important to you it is simultaneously affecting everything you think, say, and do.
And if you know that a friendship with Jesus is truly what others need and were created for then helping them get there will be the growing preoccupation within your daily life. Pointing others to Jesus is the quintessence of what it means to love them.
In Galatians 5:13-16 (NIV) we read, 13 “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
The apostle Paul in this passage in effect calls us to treasure the freedomfrom the law Jesus purchased for us.
In what sense have we been set free? Those led by the Spirit have no need to be under the Law because the Spirit produces in them everything the law was intended to produce: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
And as we read, especially love, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”” Galatians 5:14
Implicit in treasuring thatfreedom from the law is to treasure the peaceof simply living everyday trusting God to make us all he wants us to be. And keep in mind that it is his commitment to us that matters and is to be the focus of our devotion, not our commitment to Him.
Then the apostle calls us to, in effect, treasure the adventure of working with Jesus in what he’s doing in the lives of those around us. I put it in those words because to, “serve one another humbly in love” requires listening carefully to Jesus for what he would have us do. Only he knows what others need from us and how to lovingly care for them.
I suggest to you that treasuring our freedom in Christ and our privilege to work with him in blessing others, helps explain what the apostle meant when he goes on to write, "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Here’s a followup principle to reflect on: The more you treasure something the greater will be the self-sacrifices you make to keep it.
Here’s a well known passage of Scripture:
Proverbs 3:5-6 (CSB)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways know him,
and he will make your paths straight.
You are likely more familiar with the translation that reads, “in all your ways acknowledge him.”
But the translation I read from, the Christian Standard Bible, is here supplying a more literal translation. The Hebrew word really is to know. “In all your ways know him.” And the word implies a close and even intimate acquaintance.
What is meant by that? Here’s an idea: during the day, as you move from one thing to the next, ask Jesus: “Are we together in this? Are we on the same page?” Know him, and he will make your paths straight. That is, he will get you to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for you along the most direct path possible.
Jesus said, “you are my friends if you do what I command.”
What makes obedience so central to this friendship? Why is his every command so precious and indispensable? Because whether directly or indirectly our obedience has to do with participating in his loving work in people’s hearts.
Hence the extent of our obedience also reveals the extent of our awareness of another person’s value to Christ. The more we are aware of another person’s value to God, then, fearing God, the more we want to make sure we treat them as best we can.
And to that end we can do no better than to act on precisely what Jesus calls us to do in working with him as he draws them into their own friendship with himself.
In 2 Corinthians 4:6 we read, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Then, in Luke 19:10 Jesus tells us what he — the embodiment of God's glory— came to do: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
I think it could be said that the essence of God’s glory therefore, found, as it is, in the face of Jesus, lies in his greatest intention.
He never does anything that, in an ultimate sense, is simply for his own sake or benefit because he has need of absolutely nothing. When he commands our worship or obedience, total allegiance or trust it is only because apart from these we are lost and cannot enjoy the fullness of life he so yearns to overflow our lives with.
The reason God is by nature the locus of all power and authority to where his very presence influences everything for its maximum benefit, is because he is completely self-disregarding by nature.
And God is always seeking to maximize the influence of his presence through you to where your presence also influences others to their benefit. The same condition applies: the more self-disregard you have the more of God's spiritual authority will flow through you.
See yourself on a ship in a terribly stormy sea. The wind is raging and waves are crashing on the sides of the ship and up and down it goes with the huge swells of water.
Here’s the principle: to the precise degree that that ship is unsinkable under those conditions, you are unsinkable if you stay on board.
Here’s the point: Knowing Jesus, and being one with him, makes you as unsinkable as Jesus is in the face of all life’s storms. Nothing can take you down. Life’s difficulties will not be able to disturb your heart. Temptation will not be able to command your attention. Why? Because by his death and resurrection Jesus proved that he cannot be confounded or overthrown or defeated or fail. He is invincible.
The question remains, What is it to know him? It is to know, from experience, that he cares for you and always will and so you trust him. In other words, it’s knowing, from experience, that Jesus is your friend no matter what. The effect this has on you is invincible peace.
And, What is it to be one with him? It is to share in his calling — to adventure with him in revealing his love to others. The effect this has on you is invincible joy.
In Matthew 6:22 Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
To what was Jesus referring to? Allow me suggest the following.
What the eye is to the body, our primary motive is to the soul. Just as our eyes guide almost everything we do with our bodies, so the value of all we do is determined by our primary motive for doing it. And just as if our eyes are diseased or injured, all our mobility is impacted, so if our primary motive is dishonorable, all we do is off target.
Before being made a new creation by the Holy Spirit, that is, born again, our primary motive was ultimately self-regarding and self-serving. That is the human default mode on account of the Fall in the Garden of Eden.
We can stay that way, or cry out to God for a change of heart. If we honestly seek him, he will see to it that what Jesus came to do for us happens in us.
The new creation comes with a new primary motivation that seeks to be God-conscious and self-giving at all times. That is called “what the Spirit desires” or “the things of the Spirit.” However, even the new creation has the lingering influence of what used to be the primary motive of self-regard and self-service. This influence is called “what the flesh desires” or “the things of the flesh.”
As a new creation, then, we now have a choice.
If we allow our old, self-serving motive to regain the upper hand, then our eye is bad and every part of our inner life will be plunged into darkness. We will be confused and frustrated at every turn. But if we make growing our friendship with Jesus and working with him our primary motive behind all we do, our eye will be healthy and our whole inner life will be full of light, light to always make wise decisions in what’s before us.
Perhaps the biggest question any one of us ever asks is, Why am I here? Thankfully, the Bible is far from silent in answering that. And one of the most significant replies appears in Colossians 1:16 where with reference to Jesus we read, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
Especially take note of those last two words: “for him” that is, for Jesus. So, you and I and all creation come to be what we were created to be when we are properly relating to Jesus Christ. And the concept that makes the most sense to me in defining that relationship is friendship. Jesus created us to be his friends. And since we are each unique, that means our friendship with Jesus will be unique. He looks to have the joyful satisfaction of an ongoing walk with you that he can have with no other being in all his creation. And it is a great discovery to realize that Jesus also intends for us to work with him in passing on the blessings we experience in walking with him.
In Psalm 16:11 we read, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Unfortunately, this verse seems to be reserved as a promise pertaining to the afterlife. I prefer to see it as speaking to the here and now so that when we read, “You make known to me the path of life” that’s Jesus calling us to friendship with himself. He is the way. He reveals himself to interested hearts as the path of life.
Then, “you will fill me with joy in your presence.” That’s what happens to us the more aware we become of who he is and his constant companionship.
Then, you will fill me “with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” I suggest to you that those pleasures are the thrills associated with what happens to us day by day as we work with him in blessing others. Since he said so himself that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” then there is no pleasure that gets any better than sharing the blessing of his love with others.
Have you ever wondered what makes sin and evil so repulsive? We know something is wrong just on the sheer basis that God says so. And, ideally, that should always be sufficient reason to avoid it. But I find added incentive in reminding myself of how utterly repulsive it is.
Consider this. Nothing but the face of Jesus himself is so beautiful as a simple act of self-forgetful help. That is to say, when someone does something helpful for someone else that is so spontaneous and natural as to be devoid of all self-regard — why, that is the very definition of beauty.
Conversely, ugly would then be defined as an act laced with calculated self-regard. That is to say, doing something for someone with little else in mind but what’s in it for me. Doesn’t that sound repulsive to you? Yet sadly, this is the sickening knowledge of good and evil we now have to put up with. And self-absorption is in the DNA of all temptation. Every temptation is a fresh appeal to just think of you, only you, make life all about you.
Little wonder, then, that Adam and Eve wanted to hide from the Lord after they disobeyed him. I’m inclined to think that their attempts to cover their physical nakedness had more to do with the shame they felt at knowing they were now infected with it’s-all-about-me ugliness. Imagine: coming to visit them in the garden was the One whose very nature was so spontaneously self-giving and self-disregarding that they could not bear the thought of him seeing in them their self-serving ugliness. So God’s questions, “who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” were as if asking, “where did your innocence go? who got you thinking of yourself?”
And therein lies untold tragedy. God is love — spontaneous, self-disregarding helpfulness — truly unspeakable beauty — and here we are, calculating and self-absord, indeed so repulsively ugly that the more aware of ourselves we are, the more we hurry to get as far away from his presence as possible. Little wonder then that Jesus said that to enter God’s presence, “you must be born again.” We could not otherwise bear the shame. We would prefer hell as at least a refuge from that.
In Acts 20:24 the apostle Paul wrote, “…I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
Notice how well the Apostle Paul had defined for himself his life goal.
If we fail to cross the finish line of fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives, the reason may be quite simple: we had no clearly defined goal to begin with. And since being the person God created each of us to be is like running a course that’s tailor made for each of us, the chance that we will, at random, end up stumbling across our finish line is zero.
So where do we start? We have to want to finish the race well — be all that God intends us to be. In fact, we have to want it so bad that we are willing to constantly look up to God for wisdom as to what will help us advance toward our finish line.
But just how do we grow our “want to”?
That too is quite simple: we start with even the smallest desire we already have and strength it. How? By just thinking about it. The principal is this: every desire we think about gets stronger. So once we define for ourselves, as prayerfully as we can, what we’d like our finish line to be, it’s a matter of continually bringing our thoughts back to it. The more we do that the stronger it will grow until leaning on God’s wisdom for our daily decisions is as natural to us as breathing and, in the end, we will indeed finish our race well.
A book I read in college put me on what has now been a lifelong quest to clearly define for myself my life purpose. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve written and rewritten it coupled with multiple versions and modifications. That’s because it has become more specific, on one hand, and more reflective of a deeper desire on the other.
My latest version is perhaps the simplest so far: I desire to be a true friend to Jesus and adventure with him in the joy of blessing others.
Here’s something to notice, however. If I am to pursue that purpose then any alternative motive for doing anything must be sacrificed. There has to be a “shedding of blood” as it were, which, it seems to me, is a sign of repentance. In other words, when we read in Hebrews 9:22 that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” I think one way of understanding that is that without repentance there is no forgiveness.
If that idea holds, true repentance then means sacrifice. In the act of changing one’s mind — which is what the word repentance means — a person slaughters the ulterior motive they entertained that resulted straying from what they believed God is calling them to be.
This is why to stay on track, sacrifice was and is inevitable and necessary. We simply cannot stay committed to a desired outcome if we do not constantly dispense with — that is, sacrifice — any motivation that sabotages the outcome.
In Matthew 16:25 (NIV) we read that Jesus said, 25 “…whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
Someone has said that ultimately, the only thing you take with you when you die is what you gave away. Think of it this way: when death comes, it takes everything you’ve got. And if all you have is what you’ve got then, sure enough, you lose everything. But what if you give your self away before death comes? That is to say, what if you give your self away by using your self to bless others? Now when death comes, it finds nothing to take from you because your thoughts, words, actions have already been given away in helpfulness to others. So, you lose nothing. This is something of what I think Jesus means in this passage. You lose your self in the act of using your self to benefit others in making life easier for them. In so doing, you will find yourself participating in the very life of Christ because his is the only life that gives, and gives, and gives again to the benefit of all creation. And it is a life that cannot be lost for it has conquered death.
“In James 1:12-16 (NLT) we read, 12 “God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. 14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. 16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.”
Then in Romans 7:11 (NIV) we read, “For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.”
Notice the same idea regarding temptation and sin coming through in each of these passages. Whenever we are being tempted we are being enticed and deceived by sin.
I read in a Bible commentary today a statement by Henry Vaughan (1621–95) who was a Welsh religious writer in the 16 hundreds. He highlighted three ways in which sin deceives us:
1) “we are deluded regarding the satisfaction to be found in sin. No man ever took a forbidden thing without thinking that it would make him happy, and no man never found that it did.
2) we are deluded regarding the excuse that can be made for it. Every man thinks that he can put up a defense for doing the wrong thing; but no man’s defense ever sounded anything else but futile when it is made in the presence of God.
3) we are deluded regarding the probability of escaping the consequences of it. No man sins without the hope that he can get away with it. But it is true that, soon or late, our sin will find us out.”
Here are four questions I asked myself today that I’d like to keep challenging myself with. Let me pass them on to you. Here they are:
- Do I really have anything better to think about than Jesus — his friendship and presence with me?
What else could be so worthy of my attention?
- Do I really have anything better to do than to listen for his guidance and act on it?
What could be wiser than that?
- Do I really have a better place to put my problems and regrets than in the hands of Jesus for him to resolve or redeem?
In what better place could I put them?
- And all the while, do I really have anything better to occupy my heart with then worshipping him, praising him, rejoicing in him, giving him thanks, and showering his blessings on everyone who comes to my attention?
What else could be so worthy of constant practice?
In Mark 12:30 and 31 Jesus gives us the two greatest commandments, the second of which is this, “‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
In other words, just as you help yourself get through a day with as little difficulty and inconvenience as possible in spite of how undeserving you know you are of anything going well for you, even so, help your neighbor — make his day a little less difficult and inconvenient — no matter how undeserving you may deem him to be.
Consider a young man who’s a trainee on a bomb diffusing squad. A live bomb is in the dirt before him and now it’s his turn to follow the trainers instructions and diffuse it. How carefully do you suppose he’ll listen and do precisely what he’s told to do?
In the same way, it’s usually our awareness of what’s at stake that determines how closely we pay attention the voice of Jesus. The more conscious we are to the immeasurable importance of listening to him, the more instantaneously responsive we will become to all that he says to us.
Jesus’ words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” imply that life’s greatest, deepest, most satisfying, joy is ultimately experienced not in being an object of Christ’s love, but an agent of it — in coworking with him in manifesting his love to others.
If you are standing beside someone and overhear them say, “well, it’s all over now.” What do they mean?
The likelihood of it is that they were observing a situation that they hoped would turn out in a certain way. But then something happened that was big enough and bad enough to destroy their hope.
One Christian writer — Timothy Keller — pointed out that, in the case of the disciples, the nail marks on Jesus’ hands and feet initially symbolized a crushing defeat. He writes,
“The last time the disciples saw Jesus, they thought the scars were ruining their lives. (They) thought that they were on a presidential campaign. They thought that their candidate was going to win and they were going to be in the cabinet, and when they saw the nails going into the hands and the feet and the spear going into the side, they believed those wounds had destroyed their lives.”
So see yourself standing beside one of the disciples at the crucifixion site. You watch as one of the soldiers positions a nail on one of Jesus’ wrists. Then you hear the blow of the hammer as he strikes the nail and you hear Jesus cry out in agony. That disciple beside you clasps his face in his hands and through clenched teeth says, “it’s all over now.” You’d know exactly what he means. Remember what the two disciples in the road to Emmas said to Jesus when he appeared to them unrecognized? They said of Jesus, “we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” Luke 24:20
But those nails put an end to their hope.
Keller goes on to write:
“And now Jesus is showing them that in his resurrected body scars are still there. … Seeing Jesus Christ with his scars reminds them of what he did for them — that the scars they thought had ruined their lives actually saved their lives.”
So let’s ask the question, in what sense did those scars actually save their lives?
The scars certainly didn’t represent a political salvation for the nation over their Roman oppressors. For that matter, things only got worse for the nation politically.
Did the scars point to Jesus’ victory over death? In showing the disciples his scars, was he saying to them, in effect, you have nothing to fear — see, I have conquered death!
That certainly makes sense. It’s true. In reference to his resurrection, Jesus had said to them, “because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19) So praise God death is dead, right?
But I suggest to you that there’s a deeper meaning in those scars than even victory over death, but it’s agonizingly sensitive beyond measure. It’s so painful to the touch that, if you’re anything like me, we want to run from what those scars mean. We don’t ever want to see them and we want to keep our thoughts as far away from them as we can.
What am I referring to?
- I’m referring to those times when I did and said things that were unbelievably cruel.
- I’m referring to those times when what I remember saying to this and that person brought on unimaginable pain and in one situation destroyed all hope.
- I’m referring to those times when what I did or was doing was so distracted and foolish that my behavior directly undermined what God was doing.
And I’m referring to the fact that, to this day, these kinds of things still happen and can easily happen in the heartbeat of one unguarded moment.
- So when Jesus shows me his scars, what am I supposed to think?
- Am I not the reason they are there?
- Are they not my doing? How am I to supposed to react?
- Do I react with joy? Yes — he’s alive! But then, what about this as expressed in this hymn by Horatius Bonar:
In Psalm 73:23, the psalmist says to the Lord, “I am always with you.”
What does he mean by that? Consider this: you can have two people in a house, obviously in close proximity to each other, and yet they may not necessarily be “with” each other.
Some of the Pharisees had the whole Old Testament memorized. They knew God’s word. But as Jesus made clear, many of them really were not with God.
Many Christians today can know a lot about God and his ways. They can attend church, be in Bible studies, and enjoy constant interaction with other believers. But it’s possible that while they are, in effect, around God, they may not be “with” him.
Judas Iscariot was around Jesus for about three years. And yet in a sense he really wasn’t with Jesus. Jesus could have said to him, “I am with you, Judas, but you are not with me.”
So prayer, Bible reading, worship, fellowship, sharing our resources — habits that we associate with a healthy Christian life — can put us in close proximity to God, and yet we still may not be “with God.”
Notice from the following verses what God truly wants from us:
Proverbs 23:26 — “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.”
Isaiah 29:13 — The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
So the people even worshiped God, and yet God said, “their hearts are far from me” that is, “they are not ‘with’ me.”
So how do we make sure that we can honestly say to God with the psalmist, “I am always with you”?
Here are some questions to consider:
- Is being what Jesus wants me to be more important to me than being what I want to be?
- Is living to do what Jesus wants me to do more important to me than living to do what I want to do?
Jesus said, your heart is where your treasure is. So if more than anything else you treasure God's guidance in your daily life, then that is where your heart is. It is with God. And while that is the case, you are with God.
In John 17:3 in his prayer Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
One way we get to know God is to consider something we know he values and then asking the question, “Lord, why does that matter to you?”
That sets us up to hear from God about it. And when we do hear then, in the matter in question, we go from understanding a fact about God to knowing him.
In other words, when we go from knowing what matters to the Lord to understanding why it matters to him we are entering into a true knowledge of him.
I think it could be said that we could live our whole lives completely carefree if all we knew and believed in the Bible was the first line of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.”
If we ever do, why does it take a whole lifetime to enter into the perfect peace of that one statement? Perhaps it’s because temptation has such a subtle and deceptive way with us.
Every temptation is first of all an attack on God and the all-sufficiency of his love for us. It suggests that God is not enough, that his care is insufficient, that he cannot satisfactorily answer the need we feel or the desire we have. Temptation looks to have us substitute ourselves in for God and says, “you need to take care of this. You need to respond to this need. You need to act on that desire right now, and here’s how.”
Every temptation also wants to make life all about us. Temptation says it’s what you think, how you’re feeling, what you desire — that’s what’s all important.
But we’ve been given an answer for all that nonsense: The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.
If someone does something well that we are interested in doing, we seek to imitate how they do it.
To seek to imitate them is to honor (and, in effect, glorify) them, and the more time and effort we commit to imitating them the more we are honoring/glorifying them.
In Ephesians 5:1 we read, “…be imitators of God, as beloved children.”
The word translated “imitate” comes from the greek word indicating “the positive imitation that arises by admiring the pattern set by someone worthy of emulation, i.e. a mentor setting a proper example.”
So what does it mean to be an imitator of God?
In first John 1:5 we read that the essence of Jesus’ message was that God is light, which I take to mean, God is good.
Furthermore, I suggest that his goodness is defined by the essence of who he is — self-giving, self-sacrificial love. And it seems to me that God’s love and life are synonymous. In other words, to have God’s life in us is to be living self-giving, self-sacrificially loving lives and vice versa. And we could say that that is also what it means to have God’s word dwelling within us.
Consider the following from John 5:36. Note the relationship between Jesus’ references to the word of God, eternal life, and the love of God.
He says to the Pharisees, “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41“I do not accept glory from human beings, 42but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.”
Hence, to seek to imitate God, we must have his word dwelling in us, which means we have his life in us, which means we have his love in our hearts, which means we share his goodness.
Conversely, to share God’s goodness means we have his love in our hearts, which means we have his life in us, which means we have his word dwelling in us, all of which is to say, we have “Christ in us the hope of glory.”
In other words, we become “imitators of God.” The message of our lives truly honors and glorifies God, and that fulfills our hoped for glory!
“When the pain is gone, the opportunity is gone.”
- •The pain of dissatisfaction, disappointment, distress.
- •The pain of defeat, upheaval, loss.
- •The pain of frustration, temptation, betrayal.
- •The pain of disillusion, rejection, loneliness.
- •The pain of disorder, physical infirmities, abandonment.
So what’s the opportunity? The opportunity to grow in a way that upon death will be gone forever.
That is, first, the opportunity to find out what God wants to teach us about his loving care for us in the midst of that specific painful situation, and, second, the opportunity to practice remaining helpful to others no matter what.
We make way for that kind of personal growth,
first, by not allowing our attitude to be in any way defined by the pain,
and second, by leaning into and even rejoicing at the chance being given us to firm up our commitment to being what Jesus needs us to be come what may.
Luke 24:1-12 (NIV)
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” 8 Then they remembered his words.
What is love? I find it clarifying to use that precious word interchangeably with the word helpfulness.
So that you are loving yourself when you do anything that helps you be more helpful. You are loving others when you do anything that helps them be more helpful.
So when we read, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” I take that to mean, help others be more helpful by doing for them the kinds of things that help you be more helpful.
- Do you pray for yourself to be helped? Then listen for how Jesus would guide you to pray for others to be helped.
- Do you do what helps you feel refreshed and encouraged? Then listen for what Jesus would have you do for others that stands to refresh and encourage them.
- Do you seek to avoid what you find unhelpful for being what you need to be? Then listen for how Jesus would help you help others avoid the same pitfall.
And then when we read that Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” I take that to mean help each other be helpful just as I have helped you be helpful.
- What has Jesus done for you to help you experience his peace? Look for the chances he creates for you to help others experience his peace.
- What has Jesus done for you that has gladdened and encouraged your heart? Look for the chances he creates for you to gladden and encourage others.
- What has Jesus done for you that gives you purpose in your day? Look for the chances he creates for you to stir up purpose in others.
So what is it to love? We could say it is to practice doing what Jesus shows us will help others learn to be more helpful.
In Genesis 2:15 we read that after creating Adam, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
Then in 1 Corinthians 14:33a, 40 we read, “For God is not a God of disorder….everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”
The context is a church service, but it’s applicable, I would suggest, to all aspects of life. To bring order to anything pleases God and when done for him it is an act of worship.
Romans 11:33-12:1 (NIV)
33 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Barclay — “for that is the only kind of worship which is truly spiritual.”)
Allow me to read a section from William Barclay’s commentary on this passage that I think you will find insightful.
“The word in verse 1 …translated worship, has an interesting history.
It is … the noun of a verb…[that] originally meant to work for hire or pay. It was the word used of the laboring man who gave his strength to an employer in return for the pay the employer would give him. It denotes, not slavery, but the voluntary undertaking of work.
It then came to mean quite generally to serve; but it also came to mean that to which a man gives his whole life. …In that sense, it came very near meaning to dedicate one’s life to.
Finally, it came to be the word distinctively used of the service of the gods. In the Bible it never means human service; it is always used of service to and worship of God.
Here we have a most significant thing. True worship is the offering to God of one’s body, and all that one does every day with it.
Real worship is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, and a ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is the offering of everyday life to him, not something transacted in a church, but something which sees the whole world as the temple of the living God. …
A [person] may say, “I am going to church to worship God,” but [they] should also be able to say, “I am going to the factory, the shop, the office, the school, the garage, … the mine, the shipyard, the field, … the garden, to worship God.” — William Barclay
In Exodus 33:18 when Moses was in the process of receiving the Ten Commandments, he made a request to the Lord, he said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.”
Notice how the Lord equates Moses’ request to see his glory with his goodness: “show me your glory…and the Lord replies, ““I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you.” And the Lord adds, “and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.”
So I think we could rightly conclude from this that the Lord defines his glory as his goodness. Then there’s the fact that in Biblical history a persons name revealed something about the person. So when the Lord spoke his name it was a self-revelation, a short hand way, if you will, of expressing the entirety of his nature or character.
Therefore, the Lord was not only going to reveal his goodness to Moses, but his character as embodied in his name. He proclaimed before Moses, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” (34:6)
Another insight into the meaning of God’s glory comes from looking at the original meaning of the Hebrew word “kavod” translated “glory.”
One scholar writes, “The original concrete meaning of kavod is battle armaments. The meaning "armament" fits with the literal meaning of the root of kavod, which is "heavy," and armaments are the heavy weapons and defenses of battle. In Exodus 16:7, Israel will "see" the "armament" [that is, the “glory”] of YHWH, the one who has done battle for them with the Egyptians.” (article on Glory by Jeff A. Benner)
Notice that God’s glory is his armament, his heavy weaponry and defenses with which he wages war. That is to say, God overcomes everything that opposes him with his goodness — his compassion, his graciousness, his patience, his abounding love and faithfulness.
Little wonder, then, that we are commanded by the Apostle Paul, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 (NIV)
In other words, when you face opposition, wage war as God does — use the weaponry of God’s glory!
Have you ever wondered how a believers trials and difficulties differ from that of an unbeliever?
At the heart of an unbelievers sufferings is the frustration of, “things are not going my way.”
At the heart of a believers sufferings is the preoccupation of staying focused on pleasing Christ more than oneself when “things aren’t going my way.”
Isaiah 50:4-9
Here’s a principle: the higher your aim in life, the more committed you will need to be to reach your goal because the reasons to quit will be greater.
Climbing 4-Buttes vrs. climbing Mt Everest.
If all you want in life it’s to make things relatively comfortable for yourself and your family and friends well then, OK, you’ll face some adversities along the way, all right, but you might just be able to complete your two mile climb and retire comfortably until you’re left watching the world go by from a bed by the window.
But if you’re determined to please God come what may no matter what, the reasons to quit that climb will stack up in front of you like Mt. Everest.
So here’s the problem. How do you stay sufficiently motivated so as to overcome every single reason you would have to quit no matter how daunting?
Before we consider that let’s think about what the goal is. And to answer that let’s ask what did Jesus have in mind when he set his face like flint and heading into Jerusalem?
Mark 10:32-34 (NIV)
Clearly, Jesus already knew what was going to happen to him. I don’t think those were the details on his mind.
So what was on his mind? What was that flint-like look on his face declaring? Perhaps we could put it this way:
I refuse to yield on making sure that my life is a pleasing sacrifice to God. I will not allow anything to get in the way of being all that God wants me to be or do all he wants me to do.
“The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.”
“Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced.”
And what was God’s plan for him? It was to make him everything you and I could ever need to experience the freedom and joy that comes through pleasing God.
Hebrews 5:8-9
Our hearts were created to where we find no greater joy in life than to please God, by virtue of the fact that there is no greater self giving, self sacrificial being than God.
However, for Jesus to please God in becoming all that we would ever need to live lives pleasing to God cost him his life.
And if we too are going to live to please God then we too must sacrifice our own interests whenever they conflict with living to see others come into the freedom and joy of pleasing God.
That is our Mount Everest, and it is fraught with all kinds of reasons to quit and just go back to paying attention to our own stuff. In other words, reasons to grow weary and lose heart.
So back to this problem: How do we stay sufficiently motivated so as to overcome every single reason we would have to quit?
Jesus know all about that and replies: 4 “The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.”
In our weariness Jesus speaks to us.
Listen for what he is saying to you. It will sustain you and keep you on your journey of constantly being his radical agent of freedom and joy in the lives of others.
It seems to me that in the realm of the spirit as with any relationship, proximity is determined by shared interests.
In his love, God extends his arms to every human heart. He wants every man, woman, and child to live forever within his embrace. But someone can only experience that closeness to the degree that they share God's interests.
Isaiah 33:5,6 (NIV)
“The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.
He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.”
“The Bible uses the word fear at least 300 times in reference to God…” Christianity Today Article
I think it could rightly be said that in the Old Testament, the attitude that most reflects vibrant spiritual health is “the fear of the Lord.”
It seems to me that it is to the Old Testament believer what living a life of love is to the New Testament believer. They actually come to the same thing: no one truly loves others in God’s way without walking in the fear of the Lord, and anyone who fears God will live a life of love.
How do you know if you fear God? Here’s a question that you can ask yourself that I think can answer that:
“Am I growing more careful to do what I know would please the Lord than what I know would please me?”
If so, then be assured, you do fear God.
Every sin is either a subtle or an overt rejection of the love of God. How so? Because God in his love for us has committed himself — and signed it with his own blood — to care for our every need. He insists on it and delights to do it. Hence, when we look to something other than him to meet the need, we are rejecting his loving care for us. That is what sin is and does.
Spiritual maturity, on the other hand, is marked by a growing confidence in God and his loving care.
To love is to value.
The more you value (love) something the more motivated you will be to sacrifice anything or do whatever it takes to have it or keep it in your life. It will increasingly fill your thoughts.
God the Father supremely values friendship with you. Therefore he is boundlessly motivated to sacrifice anything or do whatever it takes to have you or keep you as his friend. You are constantly on his mind.
Because Jesus supremely values his friendship with the Father, he too will sacrifice anything or do whatever it takes to have you or keep you in friendship with the Father. You are constantly on his mind too.
Friendship with God the Father comes through friendship with Jesus, and the evidence that you are responding to his overtures of friendship is more and more peace and joy filling your heart regardless of the ups and downs of daily life.
Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)
12 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
Why fear and trembling?
Because it is so easy to lose sight of these two truths:
Truth #1 —
You reap what you sow.
A. What you most think about when you are free to think of whatever you’d like is what you treasure.
B. What you treasure is where your heart is.
C. Where your heart is, is what you’re serving.
That means you are constantly “sowing seed” — thoughts — to whatever it is you’re serving.
E. What you reap is a character that is being shaped day by day by what you serve.
In other words, who you will be on the day you die is being determined daily by what you treasure — by what you think about when you are free to think of whatever you’d like.
Here’s the second truth we can all to easily lose sight of:
God’s work in you is based on his love for you. That means he’ll never force you to say “yes” to what he wants to do in you. He makes his appeal but then awaits your permission. Hence the “fear and trembling” have to do with the ever-present, ominous danger of ignoring his voice even once.
So to “work out your salvation” amounts to an urgent, unceasing prayer:
“Yes, Lord, work freely in me. Give me a willing spirit that always wants what you want and acts on it.”
Seven All-important Responsibilities in a Growing Friendship With Jesus
- personal worship — praise, thanksgiving, rejoicing in the Lord
- prayer — structured and on the go
- Bible reading and reflection — even if it is just a few verses that you then think through
- corporate worship — gathering with God’s people for worship
- corporate fellowship — being together to think with fellow believers about the kinds of things that strengthen, encourage, comfort, instruct, and help you persevere in your loyalty to Jesus
- sharing God’s blessings — “Lord, show me how to be a cheerful and generous giver.” “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”2 Corinthians 9:6
- practicing a weekly day of rest — “View the Lord’s Day as a gift from God, not as a duty to be fulfilled… Jesus is saying to you, in effect, “I would like to spend the day with you and give you a special blessing,” - S Cole
For what it may be worth, let me share with you a dream I had about exactly a year ago. It is the best dream I’ve ever had so I took time to write it down.
In it God was carrying me throughout the universe to show me what he had made and what people were doing.
In his arms we sort of “flew” from earth into space and as we passed what seemed to be a “planet” I asked if there was anything on it because the surface looked much like an empty ball. He said, “look” and as we drew near I could see lights of what was a vast city.
We came down to what seemed to be a porch from which we could look out on the myriads of stars much like you would see looking up on a clear night. In one area I observed a sea of stars and God said, “the earth where we came from is there.”
Looking out on that vastness I suddenly had a yearning to see Jesus so I asked him, “where is Jesus?” I immediately got two impressions simultaneously: one, that he was doing something somewhere in that vastness but that my time would come when he would come to me and, two, that at the same time he was with me right there in the presence of God who was right beside me.
Next thing I knew God was carrying me again and in an instant we were back to earth. As we were landing back on earth we actually startled a deer-like creature who bounded off but I could tell it ran off full of delight not fear.
It dawned on me suddenly how incalculably glorious it was to have the God of all creation carrying me in his arms to explore everything with him, and how much I was enjoying it. It was bringing me to tears when suddenly a bigger realization flooded my heart: how much more so God was enjoying carrying me and exploring with me, and how — beyond all measure — he yearned to do this with everyone.
The thought then occurred to me that he must feel terribly lonely that not everyone wants to do this with him.
I was just starting to say, “you must feel lonely that...” when — knowing what I was about to say — he began to sob so deeply that it was like unleashing an ocean of tears.
A person’s god is whatever they ultimately rely on in order to make themselves feel better. But if it is something other than the Lord, then the Psalmist is clear:
“The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply.” Psalm 16:4
In other words: without exception, so long as we keep relying on that god, we are making matters worse for ourselves — more painful and frustrating.
Next to Jesus himself, perhaps the most awe inspiring and precious gift God entrusts to us is the measure of positive influence we can have in the lives of others and the order we can bring to things around us.
Someone has pointed out that, “…sociologists tell us that even the shiest introvert will influence 10,000 people over the course of his or her lifetime.” -Maxwell
I can envision no greater or more valuable goal than to handle the opportunities of influence and orderliness granted to us each day in such a way that upon our life review with Jesus he can say to us, “well done, good and faithful servant.”
Every adversity in life is intended to be responded to in a way that protects us from something worse. So either we make good on it, that is, grow with it, or we make matters worse.
Hence the questions:
- What does it mean to grow?
- And how do we keep growing no matter what’s going on?
Whether we are growing or not is known by its fruit: we know we are growing when we are becoming more helpful to others.
How do we grow? When things are not to our liking it means asking Jesus straight up: “how can I be more helpful to you in what you’d like to do in me or through me in the face of this difficulty?”
When we help Jesus do his work in us or through us, he invariably makes us more helpful to others.
I am determined to have the last day of my life on earth also be the most helpful day I’ve lived, which is to say, the most prayerful.
But if that is going to be possible, I need to practice now how to keep growing in helpfulness even under circumstances of extreme duress when everything in me wants to quit. Why? Because the chances are good that barring a sudden fatal accident or event, the time will come when my body is going to fight shutting down every step of the way, leaving precious little mental energy for prayer or any selfless thoughts.
That Jesus was helpful to his dying breath, most notably helping his mother and the dying thief at his side, was not a given. Such capacity to remain helpful amid unspeakable mental anguish was the fruit of steady devotion to God amid all kinds of trials leading up to those moments.
During the rough and tumble of his daily life he had “learned obedience through what he suffered,” that is, through experiencing the heartbreaking resistance to the love of God he constantly encountered. He used those agonizing moments to learn obedience, that is, to be that much more focused on seeking and saving anyone the least bit interested. Practice made perfect, and on the cross he demonstrated a completeness of self-giving helpfulness that no amount of unspeakable brutality could curtail.
Hence, who I will be on my last day is being determined by who I am choosing to be today.
What the Bible refers to as the fallen “self” in us is whatever in us would favor what we want to think, say, or do over what God wants us to think, say, or do.
Hence Jesus’ call to “deny oneself” or “hate ones own life” or the apostle Paul writing that we are to “put to death” whatever belongs to our earthly nature is directed at that fallen “self” in us.
In Psalm 31:15 the Psalmist writes, “My times are in your hands.” What does he mean? It sounds like pure security to me. Let’s see if we can spell it out.
- The length of my life is in your hands.
- The quality of my life is in your hands.
- Who you would like me to be every moment of every day is in your hands.
- Where I need to be and when I need to be there is in your hands.
- What you would like me to think, pray, do, and say, is in your hands.
- How you would like me to react to difficulties and adverse situations is in your hands.
- How you would like me to deal with temptation is in your hands.
- How I can best help others is in your hands.
- My compete salvation is in your hands.
- My death is in your hands.
- Mt final destiny is in your hands.
“After extensive study, professor and author Dr. J. Robert Clinton concluded that more than 70 percent of [Christian] leaders do not finish well.” — McCooey
Why? I suggest the following two reasons:
(1) They had no ultimate and defined goal for themselves sufficiently lofty as to make its presence felt in the most mundane moments of each day.
(2) If they did have one, they increasingly allowed themselves to quit scrutinizing their thoughts and decisions in the light of that goal and suffer through making the needed course corrections to stay in line with it. Sadly, the net effect is the default mode of existence that seeks out what feels good in about five minute increments.
By contrast, listen to the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV) —
12 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Here’s what I would say is the loftiest goal we could ever set for ourselves.
It comes from 1 John 4:16-17 (NIV) — 16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”
So let’s consider Jesus’ primary motivation and goal.
I put primary motivation and goal together because it seems to me that your primary motivation for what you do reveals what you’re presently aiming for as your ultimate goal.
In other words, the more committed you are to something, the more it becomes your primary motivation behind all that you do.
So what motivated Jesus? What was his goal?
Hebrews 12:2 — “…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
We could well sum up all that Jesus did in fulfilling God’s will into one phrase, “the cross.” Everything he lived, taught, and suffered culminated in his death and resurrection. And we are also alerted to what motivated him to get through it: “for the joy set before him he endured the cross.”
So the question is, what was that joy?
I suggest it was this: the joy of becoming for us and to us all we could ever need to enter into the fullness of God’s joy.
I’d like to define being like Jesus as becoming a particle of his life in this world whereby we too constantly help others come into the fullness of God’s joy.
Now let’s confront ourselves on this:
- Do we so value being that person that we’re fully committed to keeping our eyes on Jesus? to practice bringing our thoughts constantly back to him and his presence with us? Are we all in?
- Are we ready to make the relentless sacrifices it will take to become that person? Suffering through making the needed course corrections to stay in line with our goal? with the prize?
- And perhaps even more pointedly, Do we really have anything better to do?
How do you know if you fear God? Here’s a question that you can ask yourself that I think can answer that:
“Am I growing more careful to do what I know would please the Lord than what I know would please me?”
If so, then be assured, you do fear God.
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” says the apostle Paul. Notice, not by the renewing of your lifestyle but your mind. Transformation is rooted in where we direct our thoughts, and the options are one of two: the desires of our selfish self, called “the flesh” or the desires of the Holy Spirit.
Here’s what I think the sequence looks like in either case:
- a desire that we think about about feeds the desire and strengths it
- a desire that’s getting “stronger” means it is generating more thoughts, more frequently about what is desired
- a desire that’s gaining strength prompts increasingly impulsive choices to think, speak, and act on it
- those repeated choices in turn generate habits
- and those habits are what shape our character
So what is going to be the primary reason for doing all that I do today? What’s going to be my dominant motive? If it’s going to be something other than indulging myself in five minute increments with what feels good, then three conditions seem absolutely essential.
First, I need to define for myself the kind of person I aim to be at all times and in all circumstances. That is, the kind of person I would so value being that I’m prepared to commit myself to making endless sacrifices to become that person.
Secondly, I pray something like, “Lord, today, according to your awesome power at work within me, I commit myself to being that person. Please make me that person.”
Thirdly, I cement the goal of being that person as my life’s dominant motive. That is to say, I use that vision as a light whereby I constantly scrutinize my thoughts and decisions to see if they line up with it. Then I make the needed adjustments. I want my aspiration to be that person to always explain why I do what I do.
The more my thoughts and actions correspond to my life’s ultimate aim — to the person I truly want to be — then, like a child, the more of me will be present in all I do. The more singleminded I will be. And, biblically, to be singleminded is to be pure in heart and joyful: As Jesus put it, “Blessed (gk. literally, “O how happy”) are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8) I also stand to “see” something more of God in his absolute purity. “To the pure you show yourself pure.” (Psalm 18:26)
This task is so demanding, however, that it can only begin to be addressed upon restricting my attention to today: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34) That is, I suggest, the trouble of overcoming being impure, of being divided, double-minded, of not being fully present in everything I’m doing. Hence, like the psalmist, I say, “My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.” (Psalm 25:15)
The more we practice something, the more impulsive it will become for us to do it, and the more control it will gain over our lives.
That goes for bad habits as well as good. Consider:
Galatians 6:7-8 (NIV) — 7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
We reap what we sow, that is to say, we will reap the consequences of whatever we practice doing. So what we sow — bad or good — will eventually dominate our whole outlook on life.
Sadly, we usually associate the concept of sowing and reaping with doing bad things and reaping the destructive consequences.
But consider the joy of being given that much control over our future! We have at our immediate disposal the chance to have our whole lives dominated by what is associated with eternal life and is stunningly beautiful.
All it takes is relying on the Holy Spirit’s power to turn our thoughts away from what we already know is sordid and ugly or a waste of time and deliberately thinking about what we already know is beautiful and good.
Thoughts are the precursors to our actions. So, “… whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
And, on account of the law of sowing and reaping, this is one way we can be assured of lifelong peace of mind, because, as someone has said, “Wrong does not result from right, and a good present cannot give birth to a bad future.” (James Allen)
In reference to the Pharisees and teachers of the law who chose to oppose him, Jesus said,
“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.
If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.” (John 15:22-24) (NIV)
Notice that Jesus lets even the hypocritical religious leaders of his day off the hook when it came to the sin of not believing in him — that is — up until they witnessed his works and heard what he said. As of that moment, all of their excuses were rendered null and void.
So we could say that to be guilty of sin is to have an answer come to our attention to where we know, or have enough evidence to know, how we could overcome a given temptation, but we keep on going, refusing to act on that knowledge.
What the Bible calls “self-denial” is actually a description of God’s nature, His life, the way he always is in all he does.
However, self-denial would be a meaningless concept to us were it not for Satan choosing to self-regard, and infecting humanity with it. We now all know what it means to be preoccupied with ourselves, assert ourselves, our plans, our will.
But now that self-regard is here, self-denial means something all-important. It sets before us the possibility –– the narrow gate and narrow road –– of a renewed participation in the life of God.
Here are some thoughts that came to me today and I offer them to you for your reflection:
The Most High,
must be the most worthy of praise;
The most worthy of praise,
must be the most helpful;
The most helpful,
must be the most self-disregarding;
The most self-disregarding,
must be God.
Or, another way of putting it:
Because he is God,
he is the most self-disregarding.
Because he is the most self-disregarding,
he is the most helpful.
Because he is the most helpful,
he is the most worthy of praise.
Because he is the most worthy of praise,
he is the Most High.
Trust is the key to obedience. The bottom line is not so much trust and obey but rather because you trust you obey. Apart from trust, obedience ends up being a measured compliance in the interests of avoiding negative consequences. Unbelievers can do that. The believer who trusts will end up obeying even when there are no readily apparent negative consequences to disobeying. Why? Because he’s learning that God’s paths alone — though often seriously challenging — are the paths of peace and joy.
In Mark 9:33 we read that while traveling with his disciples Jesus heard them arguing so when they got to where they were going he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?”
But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
What I see implied in Jesus’ words is this: greatness is measured by self-giving, self-sacrificial love. The more a person gives of himself, the greater the person and the more worthy of honor.
Now consider this: God constantly gives all of Himself away in love –– the Father to the Son, the Son to the Father, the Holy Spirit to the Father and Son and they in turn to the Holy Spirit and then the Godhead to all creation. This is why the greatness of God is incommensurable, that is to say, so great it can’t be compared to anything else. The infinite God infinitely gives Himself away keeping nothing for Himself. And this is why He is worthy of all praise and worship everywhere, at all times, by everyone, and everything.
Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
For the joy of becoming all that we could possibly need to be all that God has in mind for us, Jesus endured all the required suffering.
What did we need?
- “a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God,
- … “that he might make atonement for the sins of the people…
- …“empathize with our weaknesses, (having been) tempted in every way, just as we are
- and be “able to help those who are being tempted”
- and so that we could “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
- …be “the source of eternal salvation”
To be these things to us he endured the cross. “The cross” is just short hand way of expressing all the suffering it was going to take to make him the servant of God who would be perfectly qualified to help us.
Now, for the joy of becoming all that others could possibly need you to be to become all that God has in mind for them — insofar as it depends on you — you are also called to endure all the required suffering.
What do others most need you to be?
Someone who helps them become more aware of how precious they are to God.
What suffering is required of you to become that someone?
The suffering of constantly giving up the freedom to think and do whatever you want for the sake of the freedom to think and do what pleases the Lord.
We suffer through it, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, because the net effect of thinking and doing what pleases the Lord always results in helping us become that person who helps others experience something more of how precious they are to God.
And to be that someone is the fullness of joy God has set before you.
In Mark 4:24, 25 we read that Jesus said, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
What we want increased is not to be more loved to where we say, “I love you so that you will love me more.” I suggest that what we want to see grow is our capacity to love. We love that we might be made more loving — that more of God's love may flow through us.
And I’m convinced that our capacity to love is either growing or shrinking depending on my motives.
I suggest that when it comes to God's love, the law of giving reads like this: the more I am motivated by Christ’s love in what I do, the more my capacity to love will grow. In other words, when the love of Christ rules with in me and I practice being patient, I will made more patient. If I practice being kind I will be made kinder still, and so on.
Conversely, the more I am motivated by anything but Christ’s love, the more self-centered my life will be — the more narrow and empty until any capacity to love is altogether gone, taken from me.
So what does it take to grow our capacity to love? In other words, How do we keep our lives motivated by Christ’s love?
I think we can differentiate between what we could call routine habits that prepare our hearts and heart habits that open our hearts for God’s love to flow through us.
The routine habits are these:
- personal worship and prayer
- Bible reading and reflection,
- corporate worship and fellowship,
- giving of time and resources.
- and keeping a day of rest
Here are seven heart habits that I think keep our hearts ready to pass on God's love. Allow me to personalize them and perhaps one will stand out to you as being something to work on right now in your life:
- Decide to trust God with all your heart and tell Him so.
- Set aside your own understanding of the problems you are facing right now — all that you think should or shouldn't be happening.
- Reflect on Christ’s immense love for you. What have you noticed recently that reminds you of how deeply loved you are? Meditate on it. Take it to heart. Let it soak in.
- Unload all your cares on Him and thank Him that He has them in His hands.
- Put your plans for the day in His hands and ask Him to guide your steps.
- Practice remaining conscious of His presence as you move through the day.
- Look to the Holy Spirit to show you how to be a blessing to everyone who comes to your attention.
One of the exhortations the apostle Paul gave to the young minister, Timothy, in 1 Timothy 4:15 I think is applicable to all us regarding the truths of the Gospel. It reads, “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.”
Notice that it’s not satisfactory to the Apostle to just have Timothy think he’s making progress in his walk with God and feel good about himself. He wants everyone watching Timothy’s life to see it.
Here’s something I recently read, “Don’t be self-deceived into thinking you are making progress if nobody can see it.” (Andrew Bernhardt)
So if the people with whom you have routine contact were interviewed as how you’re doing, would they be able to say, “oh, you bet, I see progress all the time”?
Luke 6:38
Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Our capacity to love others will increase in the measure that we pass on God’s love for us. And seeing as love embodies every virtue means that patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, compassion, will all grow in us in the measure that we lavish them on others.
Here’s a thought to reflect on. It seems to me to come down to this that, ultimately, there is only one tragedy in life — to remain unavailable to God for his love to flow through us.
In our school weight room, a former teacher friend of mine posted a sign on safety. Then, at the bottom of the sign he wrote: “Help and encourage each other, make your friend great.”
That last phrase to “make your friend great” has captivated my attention ever since as expressing the heart of what the scriptures want of us in relationship to one another. In fact, we read something almost identical to that phrase in Romans 12:10 — “Outdo one another in showing honor.”
Why? Precisely because such a phrase, as with any moral standard in the Bible, flows from God’s very nature. It is what is true of him. So, for example, the Father lives to make his Son and his Holy Spirit great. The Son lives to make the Father and the Spirit great. The Spirit lives to make the Father and the Son great. That is to say, they live to “lift each other up” and magnify the other’s importance and draw attention to the other’s activity as being incalculably significant. In short, they seek to outdo each another in showing honor.
That highlights the fact that God completely embodies and lives true to the words of Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” All that either the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit receive from each other or from angels or any other creature they immediately defer to the honor of the others.
That way of being also serves as a definition of humility. True humility lives to make others great. And this too flows from God. Listen to this phrase from Psalm 18:35. Speaking to the Lord, the Psalmist writes “…your humility makes me great.”
Doesn’t all this strike you as being stunningly beautiful? To think that the one and only God should be like that! He is not role playing humility or adopting such a posture for the time being. This is by nature who he is! Little wonder, then, that he insists that we be like that ourselves. It is the DNA, if you will, of what possessing eternal life, God’s life, is all about and of living a life of boundless joy. Make your friends great!
Hebrews 12:1-3 — 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
So what stands to be our greatest joy? We may reply, “well, God, of course.” The problem with that short answer is that it leaves out this all-important point: that while our joy is God himself, it is based upon pleasing him. It seems to me that we cannot derive joy in contemplating God without simultaneously seeing ourselves fully pleasing him. In other words, joy in God and wanting to please God are indivisible. Our joy in God rests on knowing that we are pleasing him. So to know the one true God is to yearn to please him, and even when we just anticipate fully pleasing him, we start to feel a joy knows no bounds.
So how do we get there? We ask the question: What kind of person do I consider worth sacrificing anything and everything to become? Then we devote our lives to practicing being that person. Take note that practicing being that person must be something you could work on under any and all circumstances. So if you say, “well, I just want to be the best farmer or rancher I can be, or totally successful as a teacher or in my business or my marriage or as a parent” you need to go deeper because these external circumstances can be taken from you. You won’t always be able to farm or ranch, or teach or run a business. Your spouse may die, your children will grow and be gone, then what?
So it begins with a process of discovery. I start by asking, what is the most wholesome and cherished desire I have regarding who I want to be always and everywhere? If the Spirit of God is in me, then that most noble desire is born of the Spirit.
Then it means realizing that the essence of God’s purpose for me is that I become that person. The more I practice becoming that person, the more God is having his way with me, the more pleased he is with me, and the greater my joy.
The joy set before Jesus was that same joy — becoming the person the Father wanted him to be. Consider what it took: Hebrews 5:7-9 — 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
Now here’s an amazing thought: To see us full of joy in having God’s purposes completely fulfilled in us was the joy Jesus focused his attention on that got him through his sufferings on the cross. And when we also see the joy of having God‘s purposes fulfilled in us, then we too will have the stuff to endure our life’s adversities.
Allow me to personalize it: So when you fix your eyes on Jesus, what will you see? You will see your Savior enduring the cross by keeping his eyes are on the joy set before him. What joy? The joy of being able to help you stay focused on pleasing God and thereby endure and overcome everything that could rob you of the joy of fully pleasing God.
Here are some parables of Jesus recorded in Matthew 13
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.
46 When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
__________________
Notice that what Jesus is teaching here has to do with something of ultimate value. It is about seeking and finding what is worthy — above everything else — of our constant attention.
I suggest that to discover the kingdom of God is to happen upon the specific, intense, and loving interest God has in you and all that concerns you. Jesus is saying that such a discovery is worth more than everything you’ve valued up to that point.
And notice that what these seekers found radically changed them –– they sold all they had to acquire what they found.
To discover the specific interest God has in you doesn’t necessarily mean things change much in your routine activities, but rather a whole new world begins to open up to your vision that — while starting small — eventually becomes your all-consuming interest. You give up everything to possess it. And it develops within you right in the heart of your daily routines and duties. It grows bigger than all your physical desires and even bigger than death itself. It is a kingdom — the purposes of God — expressed in you and through you and it remains forever.
How do we live
creating optimum conditions
for the purposes of Jesus
to be fulfilled in the lives
of everyone we know?
I suggest to you that the answer is simply this: we stay true to our friendship with Jesus. That is, we tell him what’s on our mind throughout the day and stay alert for anything he may bring to our attention. Then we act on any guidance he gives us for what he needs us to think, say, or do.
Every temptation is a temptation to self-regard, that is, to regard the interests of self above the interests of Christ. Hence the important skill development of mentally rehearsing the interests of Jesus. That rehearsal refreshes my sensitivity to His Spirit and He can thereby shed light on the value of my prospective uses of thought, time, and energy. The question then becomes, What do I need to do to see to it that Jesus’ interests are increasingly embodied in my daily activities? That’s a question that the Holy Spirit will most willingly help us answer.
See if this makes any sense to you: the more I study the Bible, the less I feel I comprehend it.
It comes across to me as a burning light or like trying to capture sunshine in a bottle.
But the more I walk with Jesus, the more I understand what it means to care for others which, ironically, is what it seems who and what the Bible is all about!
In James 1:17 we read, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Absolutely everything that you can point to in your life that you call good, came down to you from God. Here’s a simple challenge for this week: every time you notice something you appreciate or enjoy, something that gladdens your heart, why not pause, glance upward, and say, “thanks, Lord.” See how many of such thank-yous you can pack into each day.
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all her strength, and with all our mind. Therefore, the greatest sin has to do with not loving the Lord with all that we are. That is the sin behind all sins.
Loving God involves two things like the two chambers of a beating heart: trust and obedience. Both of these are embodied in one word: faith. That is to say, the only kind of faith through which we are saved from our sins is a trust in God that expresses itself in love.
In the Garden of Eden, Satan attacked Eve's trust in God by leading her to believe that God was actually shorting her on what was most fulfilling for her. Once she accepted that reasoning, disobedience was easy for we all know how easy it is to sidestep God’s counsel and go with what we think is best for us.
Eve chose to do what she thought most fulfilling which resulted in disobedience instead of adopting a humble trust in God that only He knows what's best for her and which would have resulted in obedience.
And so with us, the antidote to Adam and Eve’s choice is this: faith — that is — trustful obedience while relying on God’s all-sufficient help.
In John 5:30 Jesus says to his antagonists: “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”
See if this makes sense to you: it would seem to follow that to the extent that we can say with Jesus, “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me,” then our assessment of the stuff of life — life’s decisions, behaviors, or lifestyles will be clear-eyed and just.
Think about that. Why might that be so?
What makes the will of God so completely desirable? Our perfect joy and peace?
As I see it, the reason is that it embodies the intentions of a Being who lives to see everything he has created beautifully, joyfully, fully alive, a Being who desires that all his rational creatures continually experience every conceivable delight and pleasure.
This is so much so the case that not a one of his creatures could ever improve on God’s will even if given all eternity to come up with just one improvement.
Good can do nothing but what is good. Pure self-sacrificial Love can do nothing but what is the absolutely the highest and best for all that it loves.
God, by definition, is the greatest conceivable being, and, by extension, he never does anything that is less than what is always and everywhere at once the greatest conceivable good and wisest thing to do.
It is impossible for God to have set conditions up in his creation to be better than what they are. Even the freedom God has given to his rational creatures to defy him and his will and do evil is still the most loving, wise, and best conceivable arrangement for all his creatures to thrive in if they do his will.
This is why we can trust him and obey him with our whole heart.
Here is what, at present, I consider my deepest, most cherished desire. I say to the Lord,
I want to be your true friend, Jesus,
and adventure with you today
in blessing others.
So I was thinking of this desire the other day and asked, “Lord, what in my thinking or attitude or use of time is the biggest danger to this right now? Or what do I need to pay closer attention to so as to not compromise this desire?
Here’s the reply that came to me:
- •All day long pay careful attention to my Spirit’s “avoid that” or “not that, this” or “do this now” or “do not fear or worry, leave that with me, I’ll take care of it.”
- •Also, heed my Spirit’s reminders to rejoice in the Lord always…give thanks in all circumstances…let praise be always on your lips…and pray continually.
- We always have multiple desires clamoring for our attention at any given moment.
- From a moral standpoint, they come either from you—"the desires of the flesh" or from the Holy Spirit—"the desires of the Spirit."
- If we are true believers, we will notice that we most want to do the "desires of the Spirit." That is to say, more than any other desire we want lives full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
- However, what we most want to do will only become what we choose to do by thinking more about the desires of the Spirit.
Why? Because thoughts are what feed desires.
- The more we think about a desire the stronger it gets, that is to say, it produces more thoughts about itself more frequently.
- The stronger it gets the more it begins to command our attention.
- The more it commands our attention the more our choice to act on it becomes spontaneous, impulsive, or even instinctive.
Consequently, notice how incalculably important it is to direct our thoughts to the desires of the Holy Spirit.
In this episode I’m am going to present the Gospel, as I understand it, in the form of a dialogue. So listen for the questions followed by the answers.
First question: so what is the problem with this world? Why do we feel miserable, lost, empty?
Because no matter how good we think we have it in life, we know we are going to die. That fact casts a long shadow reflected in how we feel deep within. But it's not just the death at the end of the road we feel. We feel the absence of life within us right now. We feel empty because each of us was created to have a unique friendship with God––the Source of Life––but He is absent from our lives.
Why is He absent?
Because either we don't believe He exists or we don't believe it would be rewarding to seek Him out. We might even attribute our misery or the evils we see to Him, so we are certainly not interested in friendship with Him.
But more than that, we act out our fear and frustration on ourselves and each other and thereby sin against Him and His love for each of us.
You mean we break His rules? What's with the rules?
First, He gave them to us to help defeat the deception in our lives about Him.
How so?
Read the rules and you will begin to see that He is on the side of good, not evil. Look more closely at them and you will realize that they are all about love––God's love for us, returning that love, and loving our neighbor.
And second?
The rules also help break the deception we are under about ourselves. We know we are going to die but we fool ourselves into thinking that it's not our fault, or that we're not that bad, or that in our case––at least––the punishment of death doesn't fit the crime.
So?
Well, we think we are loving until we see the kind of love those rules are talking about.
What kind of love is that?
Perfectly self-giving, self-sacrificial love for God, and for every man, woman, and child, 24/7.
Impossible. What's with the perfect-or-doesn't-count standard?
Because God loves like that. Our self-centered nature and God's perfect self-giving nature don't mix. Under those circumstances, friendship with Him is impossible.
All right, I've heard it said that if you don't keep the rules it's straight to hell with you!? Sounds like a manipulative ploy to me! Love me or else!
.....
Let me share with you some thoughts to reflect on:
- God, by definition, cannot ever do anything that is unimportant or insignificant, unloving or unwise.
- It is impossible for a perfectly good God to do other than what is always perfectly good.
- Everything God does at all times and in all circumstances is absolutely essential to the total possible wellbeing of everything He has made.
- God always makes available to all his rational creatures optimum conditions for them to choose life.
- So when a rational creature refuses to respond to those optimum conditions and receive abundance of life, it is not God who changes so as to remove those optimum conditions. He said of himself, “I, the LORD, do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” (Micah 3:6)
- What has changed is that, by refusing the source of life, that creature begins to die even while surrounded by every possible condition to choose abundance of life.
In Exodus 20:3 we have the first of the Ten Commandments. Do you know what it is? “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Have you ever wondered why is it so important to God to be first in our hearts and, for that matter, in all created reality? Over the years I have heard many attempted explanations given in lots of different ways. And to this day I am not comfortable with any one of them. They all seemed to have this one idea in common: explaining it as if to say, “Hey, he’s God, your creator, you’d better just bow to him, he won’t stand for anything that puts him in second place so better put him first or else!”
One time in my college years I even ventured to ask a powerful preacher after the chapel service on campus why God wanted to be first. Almost before I got done asking the question he replied, in effect, that it was demonic to even ask such a question. So much for getting my question answered.
But since then, thankfully, I have come to a personally satisfying answer. Here it is: God insists on being first in our hearts because only then will we listen to him teach us how to love others as he loves them.
You see, everything God does in the interest of exulting himself in the universe or among the nations or in seeking to have first place in our lives is motivated by His desire to see His self-sacrificial love rule in all things and in every way.
In other words, if we are ever going to know how to best care for another person we must give God first place in our hearts. That is to say, we must subject all of our deliberations and ways to His counsel and guidance.
Why? Because God expresses his love in a unique way to each person we know because each person is unique. Only He knows how to love each person around us, and only He has the love with which to love them.
To have been made in the image of God reveals that we have an enormous capacity — a godlike capacity — to live lives of self sacrificial love, for God is self sacrificial love. However, since God alone is the source of that love we do not actualize our value and — in a sense — make ourselves useful to Him until we relate to Him in such a way that his love first fills and then overflows our lives.
So when we put God first, we establish Him as the primary source of our strength and information as to how to love others. And because he cares so deeply for the people in our lives he insists on being first so that can happen. In such submission to him his love can flow freely and powerfully through us to every one we know, everywhere we go.
I have a couple of quotes for you to think about, and what I did with them is transport the principle they highlight into the Christian life. So let me give you the quote as is, followed by my modification.
The first quote is by Chuck Colson: He wrote, “The best way to reduce crime is not to react after the fact with punishments and rehabilitation but to discourage it before it happens by creating an ordered and civil community life."
Here’s the Christian principle: The best way to reduce [sin in one's life] is not to react after the fact with [self-condemnation] and [renewed commitments] but to discourage it before it happens by creating [under the Spirit's power and direction] an ordered and [godly] [thought] life.
Here’s the second quote by Dr M Scott Peck: “Health (is) not so much the absence of disease as it is the presence of an optimal healing process...
most disease may best be defined as a failure of the healing process.”
Here’s the Christian principle: [Victory over sin] (is) not so much the absence of [deceitful desires] as it is the presence of an optimal healing process [constant responsiveness to the Holy Spirit]...most [sinful bondage] may best be defined as a failure of [that] healing process.
Here are some thoughts to reflect on:
For sin to succeed,
temptation must succeed.
For temptation to succeed,
deception must succeed.
For deception to succeed,
I must believe a lie.
Where a lie is believed
there is bondage.
Where there is bondage
there is inner turmoil––
Your feelings reflect
what you believe.
Only Jesus can show me
the lie I've been believing.
Only Jesus can speak
the truth to my heart.
To hear the truth from Jesus
is to be set free.
Every attempt at an answer short of direct contact with Jesus is futile.
So Jesus calls to us: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28
In the light of the stunningly beautiful emphasis in the Bible on God’s amazing readiness to forgive us all our sins, it is truly a shocker when we read that in this instance he will not forgive us. Listen to Jesus’ warning:
“If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)
If we go into eternity with our sins unforgiven, isn’t that what it means to be lost?
Now it seems to me that all unforgiveness arises out of what I’m going to call “aggrieved self-righteousness”.
"aggrieved" means, “feeling resentment at having been unfairly treated.”
“self-righteousness" means thinking "I would never stoop to such insulting behavior!" In other words, I refuse to notice or tolerate the sense of my own evil and the pain it has inflicted on others.
Are you having trouble forgiving someone? O.k., so were you were unfairly treated? Well, what about your own evil and the pain you’ve inflicted on others? You, like the rest of us, have no excuse, but Jesus is saying that if we choose to hang on to our aggrieved self-righteousness anyway, we will remain unforgiven by God and lost.
We simply cannot take Jesus’s words too seriously. Take care of any unforgiveness in your heart right now. And here’s the key: first open your heart to the Lord in repentance, confessing your unforgiveness to him. Then tell the Lord that you are willing to have him forgive that person through you. Pray something like, Lord, I forgive so-n-so, now let your forgiveness from the cross flow through me towards them.
And here’s the good news: your very own sins will themselves be caught up in that flow of God’s amazing and complete forgiveness. You too will be set free.
During the Old Testament reign of King Jehoshaphat we read that on one occasion he was confronted with a large army coming against him and the people of Judah.
In 2 Chronicles 20:1-17 (NIV) we read,
1 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat.
2 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. .… 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.”
Jehoshaphat then prayed a prayer in which he confessed, “Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
Powerless and clueless. If we look honestly at our selves and our troubles we will realize that this is not just our occasional quandary. It is our constant situation. Let's face it: to be human is to be chronically morally weak and ignorant. Think about it: if we did better over time then relative to each new attainment we would need that much less dependence upon Jesus, right?
But we can breathe a sign of relief here to. Problems are not ours to solve. They never will be. We can be done once and for all with the stress of trying to come up with answers or strength.
Such honesty will keep us steadily looking up, listening once again for the Lord's reassurance and any specific instructions He gives us.
God responded to Jehoshaphat’s prayer,
14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on [one of the men in the assembly….]
15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 …17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’”
As it turned out, the Lord did fight for Judah by setting ambushes against their enemies to where they slaughtered each other down to the last man.
And so with each of us when we turn to the Lord instead of self-reliance. Here’s the assurance once again:
"You do not have to fight this battle. Position [yourself], stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. He is with you, ... do not be afraid or discouraged." (v17)
1 John 1:7-8 — “…If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
The Apostle John here highlights two realities that seem to me are essential for a heart to heart fellowship among believers: a shared submission to Christ, that is, we are walking “in the light as he (God) is in the light”, and the presence of truth within us, that is, a shared honesty about our personal foolishness and corruption — we confess we have "sin". To the extent that one or both of these is missing, there will inevitably be division in the body of Christ because hearts aren’t yielded to Jesus or there is arrogance within because we are not owning up to our sinfulness.
For that matter, these two realities are actually indivisible. If we are walking "in the light", not only are we yielded to Christ but we will certainly see in that same light how much we stand in need of forgiveness and renewal.
In short, surrendered and honest hearts always get along.
John 15:17— "These things I command you, so that you will love one another."
Everything Jesus commands is in the interest of mutual, self-sacrificial love.
Take every commandment that Jesus gave and fast forward it to its intended result and you will find love for one another.
For that matter, it is inconceivable that Jesus should say or do anything that doesn't have love as its root, trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit.
Hence if anything in my life — anything I think, say, or do — is not directly or indirectly in the interests of being more loving, and helping others more consistently, then I am at that point out of touch with Jesus.
1 Timothy 1:5-9 (NIV)
"5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers…”
If we would walk in righteousness — walk in the Spirit — then the law is not to be our reference point for action — to where we consider where we are at and what to do by processing God's law. Our reference point is the immediate presence of Jesus Christ. All we need to know is the next thing on His heart for us to do, and do that. And the net effect of such careful listening will be love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
“You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3)
That is the first of the Ten Commandments and being the first one no doubt suggests that it is the most important one.
What does it mean? Consider this: Since God is love, as the apostle John records, (1 John 4:16) to put God first in our lives would be to put self-sacrificial love first in our lives.
To submit ourselves to God is to submit to living a life of love. God — and therefore love — must rule our lives to where love is the reason why we do what we do at all times.
Someone put it this way: every interaction we have with someone else is meaningless if love is not attached to it in some way. In other words, the value of all that we do will be determined by the amount of God — of self-sacrificial love — is in it.
The more we live committed — at all costs and at all times — to our neighbors complete and ultimate wellbeing, the more God is first in our lives and consequently we have no other gods before him.
One of the biggest words in the Bible pertaining to all that God wants to see happening to us is the word “transformed.” It is the word used to describe what Jesus experienced on the so-called “Mount of Transfiguration” where we read that Jesus “was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” Matthew 17:2
This same word then appears in Romans 12:2, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” and again in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
In this last passage, the plan is revealed: we are being transformed from what we are into what Jesus is with ever-increasing glory. And we are also informed as to how it happens: by “contemplating the Lord’s glory.”
Just what is his glory? In short, it is whatever we see in Jesus that makes him worthy of our total and undivided devotion. The key word being worthy. Now ask yourself, what do I know of Jesus that — beyond all doubt — makes him worthy of my complete devotion?
I suggest to you that your answer to that is the amount of awareness of Christ’s glory that God has presently given you. And the more you focus your attention on that glory, the more transformed into his image you are becoming.
Forgiveness is perhaps the most selfless action we can agree to in the universe. How so? It requires totally relinquishing our take on stuff and seeing another person purely through Christ's eyes — their unspeakable preciousness to him — and then letting Him forgive through us because, frankly, only Jesus ever truly forgives. And we do it for His sake — we are getting out of the way so that one more avenue may be opened up for Him to work in that person's life.
Romans 13:8-10
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
To love is to live committed — at all costs and at all times — to another person's complete and ultimate wellbeing. That person is every person we think about or have any contact with.
God is love. I suggest that His supreme joy and blessedness is simply to be Himself — to love. In other words, God doesn't have to do anything to be loving or joyful, by nature of His being He just is that way.
Therefore it seems to me that to love God by keeping His commandments begins with our heart-attitude — with an act of submission, in which we "fear the Lord" by accepting Him as He is.
It is saying to God, "I accept You as You are revealed in Your Word and in Jesus and in all You teach me of Yourself. You need not explain anything to me or change anything in Your ways with me. I love and accept You just the way You are."
Then comes a second act of submission: we love him by trusting Him to "be Himself" towards us — to love us. That is, to fulfill His loving commitment to our complete and ultimate wellbeing.
Ironically, our complete and ultimate wellbeing which God is committed to — our supreme joy and blessedness — is that we also, like Him, live to love.
Consequently we are trusting God to "be Himself" towards us to the extent that we are trusting Him to "be Himself" in us by loving others through us.
It looks something like this.
We pray, "Lord, I'd like to experience Your love and joy."
God replies, "O.k., give your life to Me and walk with Me so that I can love others through you. Then you will know what My love and joy are all about."
The Scriptures are clear that God alone possesses perfect wisdom: In Daniel 2:20 we read, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.”
Therefore, it follows that God alone always knows what’s best at all times, in all things, for everyone.
The amazing thing is is that God has not left us without recourse whenever we need wisdom for some perplexing situation we’re facing. Listen to this from the apostle James in 1:5-8 (NIV)
5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”
Notice that God freely helps anyone know how to act upon asking him. The only condition for receiving has to do with believing and not doubting. What does that mean? Look at it this way: to ask for wisdom and then believe is to commit yourself in advance to do whatever God says to do.
To doubt, on the other hand, is to hold back a little bit as if to say to the Lord, “please give me wisdom for this decision and I’ll consider it.”
Do you see what’s going on there? That person has part of his mind set on hearing what God has to say, and part of his mind still reserving the right to do something else. So, the apostle James calls him out by highlighting the obvious: he his double-minded. And he says that person is unstable because you never know whether he’ll do what God wants or what he wants. He is “like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”
So the apostle’s counsel is clear: next time you need wisdom from God, know that he will freely share his wisdom with you, but then prepare your heart to receive it: that is, pre-commit yourself to do whatever God tells you and you will most certainly be given the wisdom you need.
Here’s another definition of love: to love is to live committed — at all costs and at all times — to another person's complete and ultimate wellbeing.
God, by nature, is like this. This love is intrinsic to Him which means He cannot be or act otherwise. God makes this commitment to all His creatures and it is a natural expression of His character. Even when God chooses to pour forth His wrath, it is what His love commitment looks like in the face of creatures putting other interests ahead of being an instrument of His love.
Interestingly enough, our complete and ultimate wellbeing is in fact to love as God loves. Or more specifically it is to allow God to express His love through us. We actually participate in His passion to live for the complete and ultimate wellbeing of others. Ironically, that means living that others may join in and also live participating in His passion. I suggest to you that that is what it means to be God’s friend.
Putting any other interest first is what sin is. God hates it for it results in self-disintegration — cutting off the flow of God loving others through us. Hence this sinful self is polar opposite from God's nature and is on its way out. God's wrath will see to it.
In love, however, God provided a way of escape from His wrath — He destroyed our sinful self when He made his Son, Jesus, who had no sin, to be sin for us. Everything in us that gets in the way of the love of God was destroyed. All sin was maxed-out in Him and condemned to its anti-love core. In utter horror, Jesus totally self-disintegrated in our place, under God’s wrath, as he took full responsibility for our rotten self-centeredness. On that cross we died with him. And he took it all “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 That is, that we might live life as God’s friends — full and overflowing with his love.
In James 1:2-4 we read, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (NIV)
Once we've made up our minds regarding a God-given assurance or a promise He's made, any "testing" regarding that truth ceases to matter to us. In effect, it is no longer a test because we’ve passed the test. In that area we are mature and complete. There’s no going back or even looking back to our old way of coping.
It is much like the testing that goes on to verify that a product is entirely what it purports to be. Once that is established, the testing is done. Its work is over.
Where we are being tested is in that in which we are still learning to practice a full commitment. So consider it pure joy, says the apostle James, God is using that test to bring you to the place where, having passed the test, any further testing in that area would be needless. Your commitment is unshakable, full and complete.
In view of that, perhaps a good exercise would be to envision what an unwavering commitment to God would look like in the area in which you’re being tested. Then set your sites on it and rejoice that in the testing you go through, God is getting you there as quickly as possible.
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said to his followers, “go and make disciples of all nations.”
Then in Acts 1:8 (NIV) we read Jesus’s instructions to his disciples just prior to his ascension. He said to them, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Note this overarching assignment given to them and to us. In effect, Jesus is calling us to bear witness to him — his life, teaching, death, and resurrection.
Then comes the promise of power. For our witness to be effective it requires praying what’s needed, and saying and doing what lines up with Jesus’ work in each person’s heart. Hence our need for the power of discernment, and that comes only from the Holy Spirit who enables us to hear and listen to the voice of Jesus.
But we also need the strength to act on the information the Spirit gives us. In this too, he empowers us so that we can follow through on his guidance.
Have you taken to heart Jesus’ call to bear witness to him? And to that end have you received the power of the Holy Spirit? If not, here’s an encouraging word from Jesus to you:
“If you … though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13
Here’s what I consider to be a wholesome exercise in what could be called setting another person free. What I mean is this: when you think of another person, what exactly do you think? What do you see? Generally we see a portrait made up of our opinions of that person. We see who we think that person is.
But try this: look at someone while you blank out all your thoughts and impressions of that individual. See only the truth that that person is exceedingly precious to God. Allow yourself no other thoughts except perhaps to pray God's blessings upon them.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if in thinking of you, others only considered how precious you are to God and prayed God’s blessings on you? Well, Jesus said, “do to others what you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31)
Read 1 Corinthians 13
In all our life’s relationships, we are either committed to living a life of God’s love, so that God’s love is what’s increasingly motivating us in all contact with others, or we are living a life of self-regard and that’s what’s motivating us in our contact with others.
The human default mode of existence is a life of self-regard. We are born that way. Paul: “I put away childish things.”
God’s initial goal is to help us become so fed up with ourselves, so disgusted by our selfish ways, we come to Christ for a new spirit and a new heart.
- Ezekiel 18:31 — “Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel?”
- Ezekiel 36:26 — “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
That new heart yearns to live a life of God’s love. That is one way we know that the Spirit of God is in us. More than anything else we want to learn to love others unconditionally.
Definition: God’s love — to love someone with God’s love is to work with Jesus to create optimum conditions for that person to choose to become God’s friend or to deepen their friendship with God.
1 Corinthians 13 helps us understand what those optimum conditions consist of — the parameters within which love functions.
They are essentially patience and kindness. ["Love is patient, love is kind."]
As well as the absence of self-regard:
- [Love is] “not jealous or boastful or proud or rude” — those reactions reveal that its all about me!
- “It does not demand its own way” — because if that is in me then it’s about me!
- “It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.” — otherwise it’s still about me!
Then it’s back to the positive parameters:
- “It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.”
- “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
I say, “parameters” because just because we may be patient or kind, for example, doesn’t mean we know what is the best thing to think, pray, do, or say, that will serve to advance God's purpose in another persons life.
So loving with God’s love requires God’s wisdom and guidance if we are, in fact, going to cowork with Jesus in drawing others into friendship with God.
And such receptivity in turn requires the routine disciplines of
- personal worship,
- prayer,
- Bible reading,
- corporate worship and fellowship,
- and giving of time and resources.
And just what will Christ have us doing initially? Precisely what he had to do to get our attention: we are going to be helping him help others become so fed up with themselves, so disgusted by their selfish ways, that they too come to Christ for a new spirit and a new heart.
Only Jesus knows what that entails, hence our need for wisdom and guidance.
In John 3:19-21, Jesus taught the following: “This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
Take note of the interesting contrast of behaviors. The contrast Jesus sets up isn’t between "everyone who practices wicked things" over against everyone who practices righteous things. It’s over against “anyone who livesby the truth”.
I take that to mean one who is truthful, is transparent, or is honest. This person "comes to the light" that is, he is honest about where he's at not because he sees himself as doing better than others, but because he has no qualms about revealing how unlike Jesus he is. It is precisely that transparency which makes it obvious that "his works (are) shown to be accomplished by God." Those who truly know that person know that there is simply no other way to explain that individuals self-giving lifestyle but that God is doing it.
Jesus said … “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” …“Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” John 5:17,19,20a
Consider this definition of love: To love someone is to work with Jesus to create optimum conditions for that person to choose to become God’s friend.
Note the assumption I am making in that statement, that God is always looking for friends. When Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work.” I’m persuaded that is what is meant — that day and night in each and every human heart God is looking for a new friend.
Jesus goes on to say, “And I too am working” and that he doesn’t take any initiative in what he does but only does “what he sees the Father doing.” Put that all together and we have Jesus co-working with the Father in every human heart, doing only what his Father initiates, all in the interests of making a new friend or deepening an existing friendship.
That to me is a perfect picture of what is to define our friendship with Jesus. He is always at his work — the work of his Father — and we join him in coworking with him to win friends for God too.
Notice what the upper limit of that work actually is, be it the Father’s work, that of Jesus, or our work: it is to create optimum conditions for a favorable response. Force in any way, shape, or form, is out, because that violates the voluntary nature of love. That is why we seek to only do what we see Jesus doing because in acting on his Father’s initiative only he knows just what those optimum conditions are.
What does it mean to “see” Jesus at his work? It would seem to me to be made up of two things operating in tandem. We listen to another person, paying careful attention to them and where they’re at while we simultaneously listen for guidance from Jesus as to what he wants us to think, pray, do, or say.
Not only are optimum conditions then put in place for that person to respond to Jesus, but we cement our friendship with Jesus too because he said, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:14
“I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” Ezekiel 18:32
For love to exist in God's creation freedom is a given. Essentially it is the freedom to repent and choose love over against self-centeredness. Choose love— other-centeredness towards God and all creation — and God goes to work to make that person an extension of his life. Choose self-centeredness and in the end cruelty results which is worse than death.
So God works ceaselessly to bring us to repentance and life, and no matter what he does, it cannot be done better. For that matter, it is impossible for God to do something — anything — that is not simultaneously the highest good possible for everything he's created. When he acts in justice, it is our highest good. When he acts in wrath, when he acts in mercy, when he acts in compassion, it is our highest good. When he exalts himself, withdraws himself, when he rejects, accepts, destroys, forgives, punishes, comforts — every act, every attitude, every reaction — it is the highest conceivable expression of his goodness at that moment towards all creation or any part of it.
To suppose otherwise is to have substituted a figment of one's imagination for the true and living God. A "god" believed to be capable of ever doing something less than the best for the least of his creation, simply does not exist.
So in the end, no one will be lost because God chose not to do something for them that he could have done. Everything is in place for each one of us to not die but repent and live!
Jesus said, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” Mark 7:15
How you react to some foolish thing you or someone else did or to some nasty thing that happened to you is what is actually either dangerous or beneficial to you over against what actually occurred.
The incident itself doesn’t do anything. It sits idling in neutral until you either throw it into gear and throttle it over the cliff of hurt, anger, discouragement, and the like, or — in dependence upon God — you turn him asking, “what can I learn from this, Lord? Use this to make me more responsive and useful to you.”
Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day,
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” John 5:39-40 (NIV)
So why were the Scriptures given to us? Not to think for us. Not to provide us with good advice. Not even to give us a plan of salvation. God gave us the Scriptures to bring us into the presence of his Son, Jesus Christ. Then, in his presence, Jesus uses the Scriptures to teach us what it means to walk with him as friend with friend, that is, to have life.
Psalms 34:17-19 (NIV)
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”
Let’s first of all define what a “righteous” person is. And here’s a definition that I think fits almost any reference: a righteous person is someone who maintains a growing friendship with God. So when we read, for example, that “the righteous shall live by faith”, it makes sense to me to understand those words like this: someone who maintains a growing friendship with God only does so by trusting in God.
With that in mind let’s have a look at these verses.
And right away let’s be clear on this, David certainly can’t be saying that God will always protect a “righteous” from hardship. No, it is undeniably clear in scripture that both God’s friends and enemies face stuff in life that no one in their right mind would ever want.
I suggest to you that what he is referring to is the effect those troubles could have on the righteous person’s inner life, specifically, that person’s friendship with God.
God will always help them stay true to what it means to be his friend in the middle of the storm.
We have to be completely convinced about this point or much of what the Bible says regarding our life’s difficulties will make no sense to us. Unpleasant circumstances have no power in and of themselves to draw out of us a certain reaction.
What trouble ultimately is in the eyes of God is a heart that does not trust him and seek to pleasing him in the middle of ugly stuff. Now that’s trouble.
We are the ones who decide how we will react towards what’s going on around us or to what’s happening to us.
And what the Lord completely delivers the righteous person from is a reaction of fear, frustration, anger, resentment, rejection, discouragement, hostility, unforgiveness, disobedience, defeat, outrage, revenge, bitterness, sadness.
But consider the verse that’s sandwiched between those two virtually identical assurances.
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Now allow me to sound cruel as we get to the bottom of this, all right? Based on all I’ve said so far I could actually confront the brokenhearted and the crushed in spirit.
“Why are you brokenhearted? What happened to you didn’t break your heart — it’s you, you reacted poorly!
Don’t blame your circumstances. You’re the one who allowed that nasty deal to crush your spirit. That’s why you feel the way you do!”
But when nasty things happen to us and we’re overwhelmed with the pain of it all, noticed what God does — he comes up close to the broken-hearted and saves those crushed in spirit. In another passage we read, “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.” (Ps 147:3)
Why, because we not only aspire to be his friend, he’s our friend too, tender hearted and full of compassion.
He gets us back on our feet — delivering us from staying stuck in a poor reaction to difficulty, helping us refocus on our friendship with him, to trust him, and stay loyal to him, in view of his love and loyalty to us.
Psalms 103:1-5 (NIV)
1 Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
While working on a painting, an apprenticed artist got to thinking that he could improve on a particular skill his master was teaching him. It seemed to him like a smart shortcut. But as he tried his idea, things literally got ugly. He kept going trying to correct the problems he was causing. But things quickly went from bad to worse. He finally gave up. He turned to his master, who, seated beside him, had been quietly witnessing the debacle and, humiliated, handed him the brush.
It was clear to the both of them that the initial idea for the painting must now be seriously modified to circumvent the mistakes.
Slowly and methodically, the master went to work. The apprentice looked on in stunned amazement as his mistakes were meticulously and perfectly integrated into a developing scene that was so beautiful, that there is no way the apprentice would ever want to go back to the original idea even if that were possible.
Friends, the messes we make in our lives seriously mar what God had in mind for us. And I consider it a grave error to imagine that the nasty things that happen when I disobey God are somehow ordained by God. No, like that artist apprentice, I think I can improve on what God is asking of me and end up generating a heap of trouble. I bring pain and heartache not only into my life but into the lives of many others as well.
That is not God’s plan based on the simple fact that he said, Don’t do that.
But what is God's plan is that he has anticipated every single one of my insolent decisions from eternity past and already has a way worked out for overcoming or integrating every single one of them into something so beautiful that it will amount to “…a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” Isaiah 61:3
Such is our great Redeemer.
Galatians 6:7-8 (NIV) — 7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
Have you ever considered the virtually limitless control God gives you over your future in these words?
I’m not referring to control over your future circumstances. Circumstances are the context of your day to day life whereas the apostle is referring to the content of your daily life, or, if you will, it’s quality.
By implication, what he is saying, in effect, is this: Don’t fool yourself. Because of the immutable law of sowing and reaping, you have full control over the quality of your life in the days to come.
And he gives only two possible outcomes that will describe our future. The first he calls, “destruction” and the second “eternal life.”
From the Greek, by destruction he means things that happen to a dead body — disintegration, decay, corruption, ruin. As to how it feels we could say sad, hopeless, despairing, lost, bound down, discouraged, regretful, guilt ridden.
Eternal life, on the other hand, is just the opposite. But it is not a static possession like owning a car. It is dynamic. It is essentially the life of God at work in you to increasingly fulfill what he created you to be, and to do the good things he created for you to do. As to how that feels we could say free, joyful, meaningful, enthusiastic, adventurous.
Whatever the case may be, here’s the universal law Paul is highlighting: be it destruction or eternal life, you will always receive tomorrow precisely what you sowed today, and not just seed for seed, but multiplied many times over.
Here’s another question we need to ask: just what is bad seed and what is good seed?
And I think the first thing we can say in answer to that is that good seed — related as it is to the Holy Spirit — is whatever we sow to that which is eternally valuable.
Bad seed, on the other hand, has to do with what the apostle refers to as “the flesh.” And the flesh is all about the here and now, what satisfies my earthbound interests and appetites.
Let’s dig deeper.
How do I know when I’m sowing to my flesh? I suggest the following: I ask myself, “in what I’m about to do, is pleasing God my greatest concern? In other words, is there anything in what I’m aiming for here more important to me than pleasing God?”
You see, anything we think, say, or do — no matter how harmless and even noble hearted it looks — that doesn’t have pleasing God as its primary motive is bad seed, and will eventually bring on a harvest of disintegration and decay even if our life’s circumstances are relatively comfortable.
By contrast, regardless of what may be perplexing circumstances, when we focus on pleasing God, we are sowing good seed in all that we do and a beautiful harvest of peace and joy awaits us in the coming days.
So don’t fool yourself! In this sense, your future is in your hands depending on what seed you sow.
Has the thought ever occurred to you that with everyone you meet you are actually been given a chance to care for that person? a chance to show them patience and kindness? a chance to reflect into their lives the truth that they matter to God?
I dare say these are our life’s greatest opportunities, and there they are at our very fingertips every time someone comes to our attention. Everything, and I mean everything else we do we may consider of value is secondary.
A challenge to that last assertion may be the fact that loving God is the ultimate priority. True enough, but the apostle John wrote, “if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?” (1 John 4:20 NLT)
So have a look around you. Your day is likely full of these premium opportunities to affirm the preciousness to God of everyone you meet. Live relishing these chances.
Let’s make no mistake about it: there are actions that are flatly, objectively wrong that no amount of good intentions can make right. The Ten Commandments and many of the other 613 commandments in the Bible can help us with that.
But then there’s a whole world of things we do day by day the moral status of which is determined by our intention — by what our motive is.
And in such cases, it seems to me that the determining question that has to be answered is this: why am I doing this?
Is my dominant motive to please God or am I being carried along by some other interest? Is this what God wants for me or am I just getting this for myself? Am I acting on God’s guidance here or am I just doing my own thing?
And if we are committed to do what God wants us to do, he will never fail to answer that question.
I’ve been reading Jesus’ exhortations and warnings to the churches in the book of Revelation. Today’s reading was regarding the church in Laodicea, and in the translation that I’m using, Jesus said this of himself: “These are the words of the Amen, of him who is the ever faithful and truthful witness, who is the ultimate source of God’s creation.”
I was interested in that last phrase because I’d not read of Jesus being the “source” of creation. So when I dug deeper, sure enough, the greek word carries the idea of “originating source.” As one commentator put it, Jesus was “God’s agent in creation [because] he began it.” (Gundry) Or, as we read in John’s Gospel 1:3, “All things came into existence through him.”
Jesus was referring to himself in this way because he was about to confront the Laodicean church with their self-deception: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17 (NIV) Then he proceeds to counsel them to, in effect, come to him for all that they lack. One commentator put it this way: "The Laodicean church will have to get the things they need from him through whom these things came into existence.” (Gundry)
So here’s something to think about: whenever you are in need of anything, there is only one place to go, or, more accurately, there is only one Person who can supply your need. Jesus — who is the originating source of everything that exists — He alone can meet your need.
I finished a book yesterday entitled, “A Journey to Hell, Heaven, and Back” by Ivan Tuttle. I enjoy reading of people’s Near Death Experiences (NEDs) and for some confirmation of the experience being real or not, I consider what effect the claimed experience had on the author. As Jesus said, a tree is known by it’s fruit, right? If the claimant’s life is transformed by their near death experience into a life that honor’s Jesus Christ and places a supreme value on the necessity of love, I am inclined to believe their story.
Ivan Tuttle’s experience certainly had a good transforming effect on him, but after experiencing what he did of hell, he also came back with some serious warnings regarding any level of compromise we may be accommodating in our walk with Jesus. And he made a statement to that effect on the last page of the book that caught my attention. It’s already providing me with light to help me scrutinize my behavior. Let me pass it on to you. Here’s what he wrote:
“I leave you with this final thought — don’t fall for the entrapment that the devil has laid out for you. The deceptions come in many forms, but trust me— if it feels just slightly wrong, it is wrong.”
Let’s be clear on this all-important point: Jesus does not minimize our difficulties. As often happens, when we are going through a hard time we can easily start thinking that we are on our own or that no one understands the degree of frustration or pain we feel. But that is false. The person who most cares for us and who most stands to help us understands our situation perfectly.
We are reminded of this in Hebrews 2:17-18 (NIV) — 17 For this reason he [Jesus] had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
And again in Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV) — 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Did you notice that the specific threat we are facing when going through a difficulty is not that we are being made uncomfortable. What makes trouble serious has to do with the fact that we are being tempted. Tempted in what way? Tempted to try and fix the situation in the way that we think is best.
It seems to me that every trial exposes this weakness in us.
That’s why it reads that Jesus empathizes with our weaknesses because he himself was subject to human weakness and when troubles came he was tempted to do his own thing too in the face of it.
Consequently, we are never alone in what we’re going through. Jesus understands. But his help is not necessarily to get rid of the adversity for us. It is to protect us from our weakness of trying to resolve the trouble we’re facing in our own way. Jesus keeps us submitted to God. He hears and understands our appeal for relief. He prayed that himself in the Garden of Gethsemane. But then he empowers us to say with him, “… not my will but yours be done.”
Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over — will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Mark 4:24,25
"And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
2 Corinthians 9:6
"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
Here's an application: every time we do something—anything—out of Christ's love for someone, He increases our capacity to do more of the same.
- Think the best, highest thoughts you can of others and Christ will make you more capable of such thinking.
- Walk in kindness and Christ will make you kinder still.
- Be transparent and sincere with others and Christ will make you more so.
- Forgive, and He will make you more forgiving.
- Consider everyone around you precious and He will deepen your awareness of their value.
- Act in gentleness and compassion and Jesus will make you more gentle and compassionate.
- Pray and you will pray more, and He will increase your effectiveness in prayer.
- Encourage others and Jesus will make you more of an encourager.
- Bless others and He will inlay your blessings with more and more of His power to bless.
To sum up, whatever Christ calls you to do—do it in the service of His love for others and your capacity to manifest His love will grow; "a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over — will be poured into your lap."
Here’s a truth that dawned on me a few years ago: Either the Holy Spirit is in control of me, or I'm out of control. Have you noticed that in your own life?
It is little wonder, then, why the Apostle Paul puts such a strong emphasis on living in complete, conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit in all aspects of our lives. Here’s a list that turned up in a commentary on Galatians:
"Christians are to
- •‘walk by the Spirit’ (5:16), to
- •be ‘led by the Spirit’ (5:18), to
- •‘keep in step with the Spirit’ (5:25, niv), to
- •‘live by the Spirit’ (5:25), to
- •‘sow to the Spirit’ (6:8).
The writer goes on to say, “All these are varied metaphors for what is essentially one and the same thing, a life completely and continuously under the control and the direction of the Holy Spirit." (Tyndale)
How do we grow in this? It seems to me to be rooted in one key thought habit: the practice of remaining conscious of the presence of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit will, of course, help us with this and bring his presence to our attention, but we must pause, acknowledge it, and do our thinking in Jesus’ presence in much the same way as we think while sitting in a room. In other words, just as a room we’re in is the context in which we’re thinking, so consciousness of the presence of Jesus is to become the context in which we do all of our thinking.
The more frequently we do that, the more of a habit it will become and it seems to me that it is out of that continual awareness of Jesus’ presence that more and more of our thoughts and consequently our decisions come under the control of the Holy Spirit.
The first line of Psalm 23 may very well be the essence of all we need to know for perfect peace of mind in this world: “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”
Here’s how that comes across to me: every problem I have had, have, or could have — spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical — is already resolved and redeemed. In what sense? In the sense that no problem has the power to undermine God’s intentions for me of making the story of my life a remarkable and perfect display of his shepherdly care.
So, because the Lord is your shepherd, and you lack nothing,when you see anything within or around you in which you feel troubled or tempted — a fear, a regret, a tempting thought — you can confidently say, “My shepherd, Jesus, has this covered. He has already dealt with this. And he will guide and counsel me in whatever I may need to do. All is well.” And you can thank him that indeed it is so because he is such a good shepherd.
Desires grow in the same way our bodies grow: by feeding them. What feeds desires? Thoughts. The more we think on a desire the stronger it gets. And what I mean by “stronger” is that it produces more thoughts, more frequently about itself. In other words, the more thoughts you direct to a particular desire the more you’ll find yourself thinking about that desire — that is — it gets stronger. Conversely, a desire that you refuse to think about begins to starve to death: it generates less thoughts, less frequently of itself.
So when the apostle Paul commands us to “Put to death … whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires … greed…” (Colossians 3:5 NIV) and so on, he’s basically saying: “quit thinking about them” as in Romans 13:14, “…clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” i.e., starve them to death.
However, we will find ourselves defeated in this until we acknowledge that the upper limit of our power against thinking unwanted thoughts is to say “no!”. That’s it. Beyond that, we are powerless against them as they proceed to march right onto the centerstage of our minds. Here’s the situation: only the Holy Spirit has the power to remove them.
So I recently made an arrangement with the Spirit that has become all important to me:
“Lord, whenever I say “no!” to a thought I don’t want, would you please consider that a prayer for you to sweep that thought away. Thank you.”
The apostle Paul wrote, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)
I can say with confidence arising out of my own experience that he instantly removes that unwanted thought. That is because the Holy Spirit was given to us precisely to help us get free of thoughts we don’t want — thoughts that we know compromise our deepest aspirations as God's new creation. The Holy Spirit is the power in the apostle Paul’s statement when he writes, “… we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV)
In a previous podcast I said, Never accept any excuse whatsoever, under any circumstances, to do something you know is at variance with the deepest longing in your heart.
Have you identified what that deepest longing is beyond your daily needs or wants of food, clothing, shelter, and preferred enjoyments and pleasures?
Can you say, “Beyond having all these things, this is what I want my life to be all about”?
God has committed himself to care for you in meeting all these needs including your everyday enjoyments. We have Jesus teaching us that God the Father, who cares for flowers and birds in meeting their needs most certainly cares for us and will meet our needs. And in Psalm 103 we read that beyond our basic needs God “… satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Ps 103:5
With all that taken care of what else is there? The most important thing: the deepest longing in your heart.
I believe that the moment we responded to God's call in our lives, he changed our hearts, and deep within that change a longing sprung to life that corresponds to his unique vision of who he created each one of us to be.
I’m persuaded that it’s going to be a uniquely precious expression of Jesus that arises out of our friendship with Him. It is something so exceedingly rare that no one will be able to experience it anywhere else but in friendship with you. In fact, no one will be able to fully grasp it because only you will know what you’re about.
Consider this from Revelation 2:17. Jesus says this of the one who overcomes what could compromise his faith, “I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.”
Names in the Scriptures meant far more than a label. They were definitive of a person’s character. When we praise the name of the Lord, for example, we are praising who he has revealed himself to be. So I suggest that in bestowing a new name on the overcomer, Jesus is defining who that person is — his idea of that person — and only that person will know it.
To me the deepest longing in our hearts are intimations of the vision God has of each one of us. Hence the incalculable importance of searching it out and then relying on the Holy Spirit and his counsel to bring it about.
A reading from 2 Peter 3:13-15a (N T Wright translation)
13 “…we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which justice will be at home. That is what he has promised. 14So, my dear family, as you wait for these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, in peace. 15And when our Lord waits patiently to act, see that for what it is—salvation!”
In view of Jesus’ immanent and sudden return, the Apostle Peter calls for a certain kind of lifestyle hedescribes as “holy and godly…without spot or blemish before him, in peace.”
What is it to be “without spot or blemish before him”? Is the apostle calling us to perfection? In a sense, yes. Now we may respond, “I can’t be PERFECT! No one can be.” That’s true too. But ask yourself, would you be satisfied to be anything less than perfect?
Just because the road to a place that’s breathlessly beautiful winds out of sight on the horizon up ahead, am I going to sit in a little comfy meadow off to my left and say to myself, “I’ve traveled far enough”? No, there is something in each of us that yearns, even with tears, for the lost paradise of being “without spot or blemish.” Can you feel it in you?
The apostle Peter writes, “be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, in peace.” Here’s how that comes across to me: keep traveling, that is, keepgrowing. Use absolutely every distasteful thing in your life as a ripe opportunity to grow. So what’s going on? sadness? disappointment? frustration? anger? something fearful or some other adversity? Look up and ask,
“Lord, how do I grow through this? What does it mean for me to respond well to this? What does pleasing you look like right now?”
And the apostle writes: “be found…in peace.” Inner peace may very well be the barometer of whether or not we are growing with what life brings us. An inner disturbance must never be tolerated or we will stagnate. Never leave off talking with God about something until your heart is at peace. The hallmark of when you know how God wants you to handle something is inner peace.
A Reading from John 7:37-39 (N.T. Wright's Translation)
37“On the last day of the festival, the great final celebration, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anybody’s thirsty, they should come to me and have a drink! 38Anyone who believes in me will have rivers of living water flowing out of their heart, just like the Bible says!” 39He said this about the spirit, which people who believed in him were to receive. The spirit wasn’t available yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
What an incredible promise! Think of this: “rivers of living water flowing out of their heart”. Do you know, from your own experience, what Jesus is referring to? Can you say without question that you have rivers of living water flowing from the depths of your heart?
If you cannot confidently say that then you are presently missing out on the fulfillment of what could arguably be the greatest promise Jesus made to his disciples: he promised them, and us, the overflowing, life-giving, empowering presence of the fulness of the Holy Spirit.
So what are these “rivers of living water” like? Here are some ideas: a distinct awareness of Jesus’ presence; a constant renewal of inner strength and stamina; the steady presence of inner rest, peace, and joy; a hope-filled attitude; endless patience and kindness; boundless forgiveness. Think of all that and much more flowing from deep within you!
Almost every promise we find in Scripture comes with conditions: “If you do this…then such ’n such will happen….” This promise is no different: “If anybody’s thirsty,…(then) they should come…” So just how thirsty are you? How much do you desire what Jesus is talking about? 1 (sort of desire) …… 5 (kinda interested) …… 10 (very thirsty — I don’t want to live a day without it)? Frankly, only a 10 will do here.
If you are a “10” then go straight to Jesus and ask him to (1) point out to you anything that could interfere in any way with him pouring out his promise on you, then (2) immediately surrender the matter to him or act on anything he shows you could be obstructing then, (3) ask him and keep on asking for this gift until, beyond all doubt, you know that he has answered. Something as big and precious as this doesn’t just happen to you unawares. You will know.
"Wherever there is a human being, there exists the opportunity for an act of kindness."
—LUCIUS SENECA, a Roman Stoic philosopher from the time of Christ.
We could go a bit further than that because we don’t have to be in the presence of someone else to be kind to them. There is available to us at all times the incredible helpfulness of prayer. So we could rightly say that every moment is an opportunity to help someone, somewhere by praying for them. Hence the Apostle Paul’s command to “pray continually.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
So here’s a good resolution: look to fill each day this year with more prayer going up for others than the day before. The opportunities to be kind to others truly are endless.
Today I got to thinking about my marriage and what precisely my responsibility is towards my wife. In short order, an answer came to me.
I asked, So what is my purpose in my marriage? Answer: I am to live for one thing: to pray, think, say, and do, whatever it takes to create optimum conditions for my wife to be all that Christ is calling her to be.
Then as I thought about that, I wondered if my purpose in marriage is any different than what my purpose is in any relationship in my life? In other words, isn’t it true about everyone we know that we are to pray, think, say, and do, whatever it takes to create optimum conditions for them to be all that Christ is calling them to be?
The only difference I can see is that each relationship is a different context, but the purpose, it seems to me remains the same. In short, we are to always be all that we can be, to help others become all that Jesus wants them to be.
I mentioned in my last podcast that I have a daily question in my journal for the Lord for which I want to discern an answer. I’ve since shortened it bit to this: Jesus, what did you teach me today that made this day better than yesterday?
Here was todays thought: Never accept any excuse whatsoever, under any circumstances, to do something you know is at variance with the deepest longing in your heart.
Is that even possible? Sure. We first give the Holy Spirit permission to remove all such excuses. Then, as often as they pop up, we make the split-second decision to say our firm “no!” to the excuse and the Holy Spirit will simultaneously remove it.
Does this require repetition? Sure. I don’t think anything can be gained in the Christian life without the perseverance of repetition anymore than a young man can get himself strong to play football while avoiding the dreary reps in the weight room.
However, it’s all a no-go if we haven’t identified and defined for ourselves just what the deepest longing in our heart is. The moment we responded to God's call in our lives, he changed our hearts, and deep within that change is a longing that corresponds to his unique vision of who he created each one of us to be. What’s yours? Is it on the tip of your tongue? I consider it absolutely critical to have that longing burning like a fire in our hearts and on instant recall.
Let me put it this way: if you want to know what thought-suggestions are lethal to your spiritual development, you have to have a firm grasp on what it is that you ultimately want. It is that vision that keeps you alert to what excuses must be met with an instant no upon which the Holy Spirit can sweep them away.
For the end of each day this year, I have a question in my journal for the Lord for which I want to discern an answer: “Jesus, what did you teach me of yourself today or regarding our friendship that made this day better than yesterday?”
One answer for today already came to me on my way to doing my exercise routine at the school. I was thinking about the fact that Jesus made it clear to us that we are to live our lives in 24 hour increments, indicating that each day has enough trouble of it’s own to deal with. So, this is really the only day I have to live. That was followed by this thought: then why not give this day the best I’ve got? That is, my best thoughts, my best prayers, be all there, bless others with everything in me.
It’s like if we knew that we were going to be dead before the day was done, how would we want to have lived the day between this moment and that moment? We would want to be all that we could possibly be in being true to our friendship with Christ, isn’t that right? So, let’s do it.
No doubt the title of this podcast it got you thinking twice: the permission of no? How is that permission? Well, let me explain.
In my last podcast I spoke of living a life that God loves and defined it as a life guided by Jesus. When our actions, thoughts, and words reflect Jesus’ influence we truly are living a life that God loves. And perhaps of those three areas, it is our thoughts that are most decisive.
The apostle Paul makes it clear in Romans 12:2 that what we do with our thoughts either advances our transformation in the Christian life or thwarts it. But here’s the problem — and I suspect that I’m not the only one — I don’t have the strength or whatever it takes to keep unwanted thoughts away. My earth-bound desires are simply too strong for me and they constantly serve up foolish thought-suggestions.
In the words of Jesus, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41
So here’s the situation: the upper limit of my strength to resist thoughts that I don’t want is to say no to them. But as usual they don’t listen to me. So I cut a deal, if you will, with a higher authority, a greater power than these thoughts that is able to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5b
I said to the Holy Spirit, “whenever I say no to a thought I don’t want, would you please simultaneously consider that permission for you to sweep it from my mind beyond my recall?” And sure enough. The Holy Spirit delights in doing what he came to do, one big part of which is to set us free from thoughts that, if harbored, would undermine our friendship with Jesus. In the words of the apostle Paul, “now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17
1 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (NIV)
9 “Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to (present tense: "constantly") live lives worthy of God, who (present tense: "constantly") calls you into his kingdom and glory.”
“Live a life that God loves.” = live a life that’s continually guided by Jesus.
Let me leave you with what I think are three all important questions that need to be asked in the interest of living a life that God loves:
- In what I’m doing or about to do — is Jesus guiding me to do this?
- In what I happen to be thinking about — is Jesus guiding me to think these thoughts?
- In what I’m about to say — is Jesus inspiring these words in me?
(Some personally helpful thoughts that came to me today. I write the first couple of paragraphs as if Jesus were speaking to me. In the last two I reflect on those thoughts.)
“Think of what it means for you to live under my blessing: it means everyone you think of, contact, pray for is blessed by me through you. That is unfailingly so when your heart is pure, that is, when your singular concern is to be all you can be to affirm the preciousness of others to me and lift them into my arms.
"And keep in mind that who you are in the presence of another is shaped “off site.” It is being decided by what most occupies your thoughts behind the ebb and flow of the days activities. Is your mind and heart orientated to “things above” or to “earthly things” — to what most matters to God or to some time-bound interest?"
So I ask myself — how important that is to me? Do I really want to think or do anything that would mean someone I stood to benefit in a one-of-a-kind, opportune moment remains unblessed?” And every moment is a one-of-a-kind, opportune moment, so not a moment can be trifled with.
And what matters most to God? That I constantly experience the joy of Jesus’s presence and friendship in the knowledge that he is making everything right in my life, and to where I freely talk with him about all that’s on my heart, and abide in his counsel and peace.
1 John 4:7-11 (NIV)
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
“As smoothly as I had ascended to that place of peace, I was away again. … It had only been a brief peak into something profound. And as I drifted away, there was only one overwhelming question, not asked by a voice, but with energy that echoed into every cell of my being. The question was simply: ‘To what degree have you learned to love?’ ” -- Jeff Olsen, NDE
"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again." —Og Mandino
Sin is not our biggest problem; the stupid is — trying to cover up and “deal” with our sin on our own. (Pastors Notovny, Sadler)
It’s not our actual sin that’s our biggest problem, it is believing the lie of thinking we can stay quiet about it, deal with it on our own, and eventually come out victorious.
Whereas the apostle James writes, “Be confessing … your sins to one another for your own benefit, and be praying for one another that you may be healed. …” James 5:16 (Wuests Translation)
We only know that the power of that lie has been broken when we consistently confess our sins to a trusted friend.
“A new study from psychologists at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario reports observations of the transition from one thought to another in fMRI brain scans. Though the researchers didn’t detect the content of our thoughts, their method allowed them to count each one. Referred to as “thought worms,” the team says that the average human has 6,200 thoughts per day.
“What we call ‘thought worms’ are adjacent points in a simplified representation of activity patterns in the brain,” said senior study author Jordan Poppenk. “The brain occupies a different point in this ‘state space’ at every moment. When a person moves onto a new thought, they create a new thought worm that we can detect with our methods.” thinkbig.com
6,200 divided by 3 = 2,066 x 2 = 4,133 thoughts
If 2,066 are used up while asleep, that leaves 4,133 thoughts — give or take — to work with.
Add to that the truth that what we do with our thoughts determines the development of our character and impacts our life after death.
The apostle Paul put it this way: be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” and he writes that “godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (Romans 12:2;1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV))
This brings us to the all-important question: what thoughts qualify as being so important that we must make sure to think them today?
The Apostle Paul gives us this general directive:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2
Notice that he repeats “things above.”
And what “things above” most matter?
It’s a multi-faceted diamond.
Here are some suggestions:
- Praise and thanksgiving
Psalms 34:1 (NIV)
“I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.”
- Make what (it seems to me) matters most to God matter most to me: helping Jesus help other people realize how precious they are to Him.
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18
- Know that God is going to guide you and give you specific instructions and direction so practice paying attention.
Psalms 32:8-9 (NIV)
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.”
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
What does it mean to seek the Lord with our whole heart?
Jesus associates our hearts with our greatest interest, with what matters most to us. Notice: he said, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21)
In other words, to spy out where your heart is, look for it in what you most treasure.
But then we have to ask, how do we know what it is that we most treasure? And the answer is rather simple: have a look at what you most think about when you are at liberty to think of whatever you please.
On any given day there are occasions when what you are doing does not require your undivided attention. In those moments or minutes you can think of whatever you’d like. And it’s during such moments that what you most treasure functions like a magnet for your thoughts and you find yourself thinking about it. That is where your heart is.
So let’s revisit the question: what is it to seek the Lord with all our hearts? Well, it’s going to mean that when we are at liberty to think of whatever we please, we start to deliberately direct our thoughts to Jesus — that is to say — to what matters to him.
And what matters most to the Jesus? I suggest it’s this: helping him help other people realize how precious they are to God.
So if we want to seek the Lord with our whole heart, let’s narrow that down to what we do with our free-thought time to three goals.
- First of all, praise and thanksgiving. Besides being a way of declaring how worthy God is of our devotion, praise and thanksgiving condition our hearts to receive whatever God sees we need to work with him in caring for others.
- Next comes prayer. Nothing helps other people realize how precious they are to God more than to pray for them. The reason being that in answer to prayer, God goes far beyond anything we might personally think would best benefit another person. He amps up everything in their lives in such a way as to make it increasingly likely that they find themselves feeling loved by God.
- Third is ideas or, if you will, God’s guidance. This touches on thinking of things we can do for others that helps them realize how precious they are to God.
To sum up: when behind the scenes of our every day activities our free-time thinking is preoccupied with praise and worship, with praying for others, and with working on ideas as to how to bless them, we are treasuring God — we are seeking him with our whole heart and we will find him.
One more question: how do we grow these aspirations? In the same way we grow any desire — we think about them. The Holy Spirit will faithfully remind us to give thanks or praise, to pray, to act. If we will respond to his influence and do it, the habit will grow. Such use of our free-thought time will become second nature to us.
I read an article today that presented some insightful adages that had to do with overcoming alcoholism, but I immediately could see parallels into overcoming any sinful habit.
One reason I think they apply his because Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34) I think we could say that the New Testament expression for “addiction” is “habitual sinning”.
One of the adages given was this one: Nothing changes if nothing changes.
The author went on to explain that, “If we continue the same patterns of behavior and thinking, how can anything change? … We have to remind ourselves that, if we want to see something change, we have to change something.” — Sobriety Sayings (Kerry Nenn)
So what is the answer to addiction? to habitual sinning? In a word, repentance.
John the Baptist once confronted some religious folks that were coming to be baptized, thereby making it look like they were repenting of their sins. However, he suspected that they were just going through the motions of repentance, so he rebuked them and said, “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” It was as if he was saying to them, you’re not really changing your mind regarding your behavior unless you produce fruit, unless you actually change your behavior in some way.
I think one way to understand that is this: when we sin and repent, part of our repentance needs to be that we carefully consider what facilitated our being tempted in the first place? And once we figure that out, whatever that behavior is must be cut off, removed, or made difficult to return to.
Only Jesus sets us free from our sins, but I think we could say that true repentance activates his power on our behalf. Jesus helps us build roadblocks to being tempted again in that area because to thwart sin, temptation must be thwarted.
I’d like to share just one quotation for you to reflect on that highlighted for me but we might call the premium apologetic. In other words, the way in which our faith is made most inviting to others. It comes from a New Testament commentary by William Barclay. He writes,
“The only real argument for Christianity is a Christian experience….No one is likely to attempt the experience unless our own lives show its value. There is little use in telling people that Christ will bring them joy, and peace, and power, if our own lives are gloomy, worried, and defeated. Men will be persuaded to try the experiment only when they see that for us it has ended in an experience which is much to be desired.”
One of my exercise routines is to walk the walking track at our school. About a couple of years ago I was doing my walk when a little girl from our church who was about four years old at the time waited for me on the track and took my hand to walk with me. As you can imagine, I was honored beyond words. Then after awhile off she went. But it was enough to stir up a thought in me as to what I would do if anyone tried to hurt her. I’m not known as a violent man, but I can tell you this that if anyone had come up to us on that track and attempted to harm her, you’d have witnessed some serious violence on my part to protect her, even if it cost me my life.
I’m far from being alone in these sentiments. I cannot think of a dad I know who wouldn’t lay down his life to protect a young child from danger or protect any vulnerable person for that matter. It seems to be a universal instinct unless we school ourselves into suppressing it.
Where did this powerful instinct to protect the vulnerable come from? I suggest to you that it is a minuscule embodiment of something in God’s heart — something he put in us. For that matter I would go so far as to consider it something he did in us to extend his own help to those who are vulnerable. That is to say, every vulnerable person we protect is in fact an act of God through us.
Take to heart what that means: when you take hold of God‘s hand to walk with him, his heart goes out to you with such deep affection that he would sooner lay down his life protecting you before he would see any harm come to you.
But then we have to ask how it is that even children can and do suffer from terrible cancers, for example, or tragic accidents that maim them for life, or unspeakable abuse? Where’s the protection? Where is God in the face of such horrors?
That is an important question, but if we leave it generalized, then I must say I don’t know. Nobody knows. But if we bring it up close, into our specific life situations, I think something of an answer emerges. That is to say, that if we will pay attention to our own passionate sentiment to protect the vulnerable, and in so far as possible, live to sooner die before we would allow anyone around us to suffer harm, then we become part of God’s protecting work in this dangerous world.
So instead of endless questions on the problem of human suffering in the presence of the fact that each human being is precious to the Lord, let’s at least make sure that we curtail the suffering we so easily inflict on others. In spite of our unanswered questions, by God’s grace, let’s make sure God can protect as many people as possible through each of us.
Have you noticed this?
That no sooner do you set your heart on something you consider exceptionally valuable and meaningful then the sacrificing starts?
You start to voluntarily give up interests or ideas that you know will not get you to where you want to go or that you know are in the way of getting there.
With that in mind, let’s ask the question: How is it that Jesus could come into this world knowing that he was going to experience a combined physical and spiritual suffering the likes of which no human being would or could ever experience?
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How could he do it?
Nietzsche — “He who has a why can bear any how.”
- If you know that your suffering is in the interests of your greatest aspiration, the highest good you can envision for yourself, your deepest longing then you will get through it no matter what.
- In other words, if your suffering is for the sake of something exceedingly meaningful and valuable to you, you will get through it no matter what.
- what do I mean by “you will get through it no matter what”? I mean you will not become bitter, resentful, angry, or discouraged over what you are going through. You will actually lean into it.
Analogy: suppose you have a young man whose deepest aspiration is to be a stand out tackle on the football team.
His coach gives him an intense, weekly weight room regiment to work on.
The more focused he is on his goal, the less the suffering in the weight room will bother him, right?
But if he goes into that weight room resenting the hours he has to commit to that and complaining all the while, doesn’t that call into question just how deep his passion is for being that outstanding football player?
Hebrews 10:5 — “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, my God.’”
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What was God’s will?
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In short, he went through all he went through so that we could be restored to friendship with God. His sufferings were not for him, they were for YOU.
“…Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21 (NIV)
So what were his steps?
1) To start with, what God really wants is not something external to you like your time or your possessions. He wants you, your whole self — your friendship.
2) Next he wants to imbue you with a vision for your life that is so beautiful, so valuable, so meaningful, so captivating, and that runs so deep within you that come what may you never complain, grow bitter, resentful, angry, or discouraged.
And we can say this much about that vision: that as with Jesus, it has to do with living and suffering whatever it takes to see others come home to friendship with God.
3) The third step has to do with the daily process. As with Jesus, he wants you to voluntarily give up interests or ideas that you know will not get you to where you want to go or that you know are in the way of getting there.
Jesus’ big sacrifice didn’t come out of nowhere. It rested on the shoulders of myriads of small ones where in the face of temptation he would have been constantly praying prayers rooted in the Psalms: “God, please deliver me” and, “God, have it your way, not mine.”
In my recent studies I read that “The Hebrew word for “deliver” or “save” and the word for “beg” or “beseech” combine to form the word that, in English, is “hosanna.” Literally, hosanna means “I beg you to save!” or “please deliver us!”” [gotquestions.com]
You will recall that Hosanna was what the people cried out upon Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem just prior to his crucifixion. They rightly identified him as God's saving answer to all that had gone wrong.
Consider the following verses and listen for who it is that does the saving or delivering.
Matthew 1:21 — “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Psalms 3:8a — “From the LORD comes deliverance.”
Psalms 37:39,40a — “The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The LORD helps them and delivers them…”
Psalms 62:1,2 — “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”
Jonah 2:8,9 — “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’”
Revelation 7:10 — “And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
I want to suggest to you that the essence of spiritual freedom is to rest in the truth that Jesus has come to save or deliver us from caving in to any and all temptation.
Our human situation is such that we are powerless against our particular weaknesses. I may not be tempted by what tempts you and vice versa, but we each have our vulnerable areas and if we’ve lived long enough and have faced the truth about ourselves, we know we have a miserable record of trying to overcome our own pet temptations. It’s just beyond us.
However, knowing this is the first all-important step we take towards freedom. Woe to those who think their doing just fine against their temptations. There are hard days ahead.
The next step it seems to me is vigilance. The deception that makes up temptation is generally not a frontal attack. More often than not it’s a minuscule and incremental appeal, and it takes an alert mind to see it coming.
Then, only one thing will suffice: to call on the Lord Jesus. We will preserve our inner rest if we remember that the battle is not ours. Jesus, and Jesus alone can save us from our sins. That is what his name means and that is what he came to do.
So here’s a simple appeal I’m working with in the face of my own temptations: “Lord Jesus! Please deliver me!” or, in other words, “Lord, hosanna!”
You are no doubt familiar with what’s called “The Golden Rule.”
We find it in Matthew 7:12 where Jesus said, — “…in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
I think its fair to say that no other moral principle is more universally and self-evidently true and right than this one, and yet no other rule is so widely ignored as well.
How can I tell when I am beginning to live according to that rule? Twelve thoughts came to mind. Let me read them, slowly, for your own reflection.
I know that I am beginning to live according to the Golden Rule
- when someone else’s peace of mind is just as important to me as my own
- when making someone else’s day a little easier is just as satisfying as when someone helps me
- when I'm just as patient with others as I would like them to be with me
- when I overlook a careless remark just as graciously as I'd like others to overlook mine
- when I offer my friendship to those outside my circle of friends just as readily as I'd like others to offer me their friendship
- when I listen to others just as carefully as I would appreciate being listened to
- when I'm just as encouraging to those I meet as I would like them to be with me
- when I forgive or disregard inconsiderate behavior just as promptly as I'd like others to forgive or disregard mine
- when I am just as prayerful regarding someone else's concerns as I am with mine
- when I welcome or accept others in social gatherings just as naturally as I'd like to be welcomed or accepted
- when I entertain the best thoughts of those who cross my mind just as I would like them to entertain only the best thoughts of me
- when I refuse to lose hope in what God can do in someone else's life just as I’d like the people in my life to always be hopeful for me.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19,20
It seems to me that all sins have this in common: they are an act of thievery. I am taking something that isn’t mine, without permission, and using it to make myself feel better.
Our bodies are not our own. Our spirit, soul, mind, and body make up the temple of the Holy Spirit. I literally have no right to think whatever I want, say whatever I will, do whatever I please, because everything I do, I do using the body — brain, eyes, tongue, hands, feet, etc.. And just as we don’t use someone else’s stuff without permission, we must not use our bodies without permission from their true owner.
This need not be burdensome. If we are committed to live in such a way as to “find out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10) then I think we’ll discover that much of what we are actually doing is under God’s guidance and meets with Christ’s approval. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 reads, “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.” That seems to me to sum up a lifestyle that pleases the Lord.
It’s only when we start to want more — more things, more pleasure, more recognition, that red flags appear on the horizon of our conscience. The voice of thievery is beckoning and the truth is that in our weakness we are powerless against it. Only a continual prayer will do: “Lord Jesus! Have mercy on me and deliver me!”
And when I fail, I need to practice confronting myself: “what was I expecting would happen if I don’t call on the Lord to help me?”
I received a letter the other day from a Jehovah’s Witness follower and I decided that I would reply to it. I’d like to share my reply with you in hopes that it might prove helpful to you in differentiating between historic Christianity and organizations that proclaim a different Christ and consequently another Gospel. My Scripture citations in the letter are taken from the JW’s, New World Translation. While it does contain some serious deviations in translation from the original languages, the passages I quoted were not in question other than translating the greek word for “Lord” with the name “Jehovah” which is unwarranted. So be aware of that.
In the letter the writer made reference to Romans 15:4, that reads, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
My reply was as follows:
Dear ___________,
I received your letter and tract with interest and appreciated your reference to Romans 15:4 — instruction, endurance, comfort, hope.
I am a follower of Jesus and he considers you exceedingly precious to him and so do I even without having met you. So far be it from me to reply to your letter in such a way as to come across as criticizing you as a person. But I do want to think with you if at all possible about the ideas that the JW organization holds to regarding the identity of Jesus.
I have come to a place in my life where I have very little interest in religious organizations, doctrinal systems, or systematic bible teaching. I am not suggesting that they don’t have a place at the table. What I am saying is that their value rests exclusively on whether or not they do nothing more nor less than point a person to living a sold-out friendship with Jesus Christ, period, full stop.
You perhaps know that Jesus indicted the Pharisees on this precise point: He said to them. “You are searching the Scriptures because you think that you will have everlasting life by means of them; and these are the very ones that bear witness about me. And yet you do not want to come to me so that you may have life.” John 5:39,40 (NWT)
This, I see, is the whole point of the Bible. When properly understood and followed, we will go directly to the Son of God and find “life” in him. And in the case of Romans 15:4, we will find “instruction, endurance, comfort, hope” from the scriptures directing us to him.
...
I recently read a brief article in which it seemed to me the author failed to distinguish between the reasons why we exist and why we were saved. He supplied a biblical reason for our salvation but lumped that together with why we were created.
The passage he quoted was this, from 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
That is a stunningly beautiful verse of scripture. But notice that it has to do specifically with why God chose us to be his people, namely, it was to declare his praises.
But when it comes to why he created us in the first place I think a more fundamental passage to consider is Colossians 1:16 where we read of Jesus that “all things” were created “for him.” That is, as I understand it, for friendship with him.
Then once we respond to his call to friendship and begin to talk with him about every part of our lives, we begin to find out how incalculably worthy he is of our praises. It becomes our highest honor to be commissioned to make others aware of how ineffably good he is. In the words of Peter, we declare his praises.
Notice how in Isaiah 43:21 the Lord puts the two ideas side by side — why we were created and why we were redeemed. He speaks of Israel as “the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”
This differentiation may be subtle, but I consider it paramount because God is perfectly humble. He did not create us to first use us to draw attention to himself and then in the course of it favor us with his friendship. No, we were first of all created to belong to him in mutual friendship, then, from out of that redeemed intimacy, to explode with a joy that cannot get enough of magnifying his goodness. Why? So that those we influence have a chance to know something of his goodness through us and how much he loves them too. And, for that matter, we soon discover that when it comes to declaring his praises, we just can’t help it.
Have you defined for yourself what you would consider to be so transcendently good and worthwhile that you would have no problem sacrificing anything that could get in the way of having it?
For the Jewish person at the time of Christ there was already a widespread longing and expectation that the coming of the Messiah was at hand. Perhaps that is why certain eccentric individuals could garner a following upon claiming to be the Messiah. And I think a major contributing factor that awakened this longing was that they were living under occupation. Roman soldiers were everywhere and the people were being severely oppressed.
When we are suffering difficulties and problems are mounting up, don’t we set our sights on what we see as being a way out?
And for the Jewish people, what could possibly be a better answer than the appearance of the Messiah?
Think about the two disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. They were utterly devastated by his crucifixion because, “we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”
So in his preaching, Jesus didn’t first have to stir up in his listeners an ultimate aim, a supreme goal or longing or desire within them. They already had that. They knew what they most wanted to see happen in their lifetimes.
But the longer I live the more I am aware of how few people I know have made clear to themselves what they ultimately want in life. Have you?
Let’s do a check: how would you answer the following question:
Considering where things are at in your life right now what would be the best news that you could possibly hope to hear? Or in other words, what is the highest good you can conceive of that you consider so valuable, so worthwhile, that you yearn to continually experience it in your life?
You see, if I could’ve asked that question to a group of Jews at the time of Christ they would have been able to answer it without a moments hesitation — the Messiah! The kingdom of God on earth!
They were that well attuned to the deepest longings in their hearts. Are you?
So, when Jesus came along preaching that,
“The time has come, the kingdom of God has come near.” (Mark 1:15). He was speaking directly to the supreme hope in the hearts of each of his listeners. So Jesus could go on from there in the same breath to tell the crowds how to prepare, how to step in to that reality. He went on to say, “Repent and believe the good news!”
You see, in that context repentance made sense because it was an act of getting rid of anything, sacrificing everything that could stand in the way of their entry into the the redeeming work of the Messiah — the kingdom of God.
Using the scriptures as my guide, I think I can boldly tell you what the deepest yearning of your heart is. Referring to Jesus, Colossians 1:16 reads that “all things” were created “for him.”
In spelling that out, I have taken “for him” to mean that we were created for friendship with Jesus.
So I’m persuaded that if we were to probe the depths of your heart to discern your deepest longing, the greatest possible good for which your heart yearns day and night, it is simply this: you want to be Jesus’ true friend.
Consider this: it seems that to not like someone you actually have to entertain unlikeable thoughts about them. Were it not for such thoughts, you would find you have no means by which to feel dislike.
Hence, satan –– who has watched all your reactions to that individual and listened to everything you say about them –– constantly refreshes your outlook with your own thoughts to keep you from feeling the value of that person to God.
Perhaps this is one reason why the first part of the armor we are to put on is the “belt of truth.” And when it comes to what we think of others, it seems to me the most important truth we protect our minds with is this: each person is exceedingly precious to God. If we constantly remind ourselves of this, the chances are good that we will not harbor any unworthy thoughts of them.
Additionally, the Apostle Paul taught that we are to give thanks “for all people.” (1 Timothy 2:1)
So what do you think? Is it possible to give thanks for someone and complain about them at the same time? I don’t think so. And if that is true then every time we complain about someone we are simultaneously disobeying God because we are not thanking God for them!
When Jesus said, “love your enemies” he wasn’t appealing to our emotions. He was addressing our will — our capacity to chose how we treat other people. And if we are committed to love the truth and live by it, we will practice enfolding our minds in how priceless everyone we know is to God, and we will practice thanking him for them.
Allow me to share with you what struck me as a wonderful quote from one of William Barclay’s New Testament commentaries.
He writes, “It is the very essence of faith that we should believe that what Jesus says is true. So often we have a kind of vague, wistful longing that the promises of Jesus should be true. The only way really to enter into them is to believe in them with the clutching intensity of a drowning man. If Jesus says a thing, it is not a case of ‘it may be true’; it is a case of ‘it must be true.’”
No other spiritual leader in the history of mankind is recorded as having done the kinds of miracles Jesus did. And we can be equally certain that no other spiritual leader ever said the things Jesus said of himself nor made such fantastic promises to those who would follow them. Consider just this one: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Who would ever say of himself, “I am the light of the world”? We have a place for caring for people who say such things while we try to restore them to sanity. And who would ever say, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”?
You see, either Jesus was completely out of his mind or simply lying or he was what he claimed to be.
How are we to know?
I suggest that one of the surest ways of finding out is to start with something he said and take him at his word. I have yet to meet anyone in my life who took Jesus at his word and yet failed to know if Jesus was telling the truth. However, earnestness means everything in this. It means that you hold on to what he said with “the clutching intensity of a drowning man.” Do that and you will know the truth.
Someone has suggested that God exists in the form of a gift. I like that way of putting it because, being love, means his heart is always flowing out to bless everyone and everything he has created with as much goodness as possible.
In fact, let’s think of God is a mighty river — vast and deep. Suppose you’re standing on the shore and let’s say that you want to give God something precious to you as represented by a little paper boat that you make. You go down to the rivers’ edge and say, “God, I’m giving this to you. From now on, it's yours. Do with it as you please.”
You proceed to set the paper boat in the river and you watch it until it disappears out of sight downstream. God has it. It’s all his now.
But let me tell you what he did with it. Further down stream unbeknownst to you a young boy is playing next to the river. He’s digging out a hole in the sand and stones at the rivers’ edge and making his own lake. He’s so focused on digging and watching the water swirl into his lake that he doesn’t notice what’s coming until the little paper boat suddenly comes sailing into his lake.
He looks at it in stunned amazement then looks up stream, where did that come from? Then in sheer delight is snatches it up and runs yelling about it to where his parents are.
They can hardly believe what he’s telling them. Where did that come from?
You see, God gave it to him. But at one time it was yours. It was something precious to you. Then you decided to give it to God and look what he did with it.
Ya, you can hang onto your life and by that I mean, do what you will, say whatever you want, work to just make things better for yourself. Or you can give your thoughts away to God in prayer, you can give your tongue to him in words that constantly bless and encourage others. You can give him your time in simple helpfulness everywhere you go. Give God what’s precious to you — your very own self — and He will empower you to live like him in gift form too.
And then one day you’ll see what God did with you as the river takes your gifts down stream into other peoples worlds to their stunned amazement and joy.
Writing of Jesus in Hebrews 5:8, we read that "though He was God’s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered."
One of God's greatest gifts — learned obedience — lies hidden in what we suffer, in obligations we’d gladly forgo and in adversities we couldn't get rid of fast enough if we could.
Now suffering in and of itself is of no value. It's not what happens to us that is of consequence, but what we do with what happens to us. Two people can go through virtually identical kinds of adversities and one can come out of it angry, bitter, resentful, while the other person comes out at peace.
But what does makes our sufferings valuable is that they make available to us a one-of-a-kind opportunity: the chance to stay committed to our friendship with Jesus when we'd rather not — the chance to learn obedience.
Jesus Himself learned obedience in that precise way — by what he suffered — and if that’s how he learned it then that is how we’ll learn it too.
The good news is that in him we have the best of friends with us right in the middle of our adversity, and he understands and empathizes with our weaknesses, and far from condemning us he prays for us, and will always help us through our ups and downs to keep growing in our obedience to God.
In a recent podcast I gave the following proposition, that to “glorify” God is to live each day seeing to it that God enjoys from us what he gave his life for — our friendship.
I’d like to spell that out as to what I think it means. Allow me to personalize it: What does the Lord want from you in the course of friendship with him?
First, I would say, companionship. And by that I mean a constant communication between the two of you.
Do you remember Jesus teaching that on the day of judgment there are going to be many who did remarkable things in his name. They will claim to have prophesied, done exorcisms, and even miracles in his name. But Jesus says that he will say to them, “‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” — Matthew 7:23
What happened? Didn’t Jesus know who they were and all about them? Sure he did. But they didn’t share their hearts with him. They didn’t tell him their ups and downs. They didn’t open up to him about their deepest fears, their aspirations, their failures, or successes. So, in that sense, he didn't know them. They shut him out of their daily lives, but lived using his name to just do their own thing.
Companionship with Jesus means we share with him all the stuff we naturally share with any trusted friend. And then of course we listen for his thoughts. He also wants to share what’s on his heart with us. He wants us to know him. And if we are determined to hear his voice we will — in the Scriptures, through what someone says to us, through circumstances, through dreams. He is exceedingly creative but he will make himself clear.
Another aspect of friendship with Jesus is loyalty. Jesus is always there for us. He will never fail anyone who puts their trust in him. For our part, loyalty to him means that we put his interests above our own so that he can trust is to be there for him, especially in the course of working with him to help others know how precious they are to him.
And this brings me to the third aspect of friendship with Jesus: usefulness. That is, adventuring with him on the cutting edge of what he’s doing in the hearts of people who come to our attention. He is always at his work of seeking to win their hearts, and he looks to us — his friends — for help.
I once saw a cartoon that depicted a stadium full of people intended to look like thousands. From the speck of a small podium down on the field a speaker was trying to encourage the sea of people before him. He called out, “Don’t think you’re just a number!” It was laughable, all right. How could anyone in such a crowd not feel like just a number?
But it is saddening beyond words when this mentality makes its way into our thoughts of how God thinks of us.
And yet, it’s understandable. We can’t conceive of a mind that doesn’t think sequentially and is not restricted to thinking in terms of numbers and categories. But God has just such a mind. He says to us:
“… my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” — Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
Far from being “just a number” God sees you and attends to you as if you were the only creature he created.
And Jesus said, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” — Luke 12:6-7
This is why when Jesus came into the world, he came with you on his heart. And not only just then, but you were on his mind in all his teaching, all his miracles, his sufferings, his crucifixion, his resurrection, his ascension, and his promise to come again. In all of this, he was thinking not of masses of people, he was thinking of you.
And what was he thinking? He was thinking of how precious you are to him, and how much he longs for your friendship. And he came and did all that he did so that you could say your “yes!” to him and he could take your hand and walk with you as friend with friend for time and forever.
This week I wrote down for myself a series of propositions regarding the glory of God. I must say that for what may be about 25 years I’ve sought to grasp what God's glory is over against what strikes me as a longstanding, common notion of his glory that I have found unworthy. What I mean by that is this, and I say the following with reverence, but many preachers and theologians seem to imply that when God does things for his glory his motivation is to make sure that we pay attention to him or else. In other words, his glory is about his getting satisfactory attention from us and when he does not receive it there is, in even a literal sense, hell to pay.
Serious bible teachers rarely put it that bluntly, but many a popular book or commentary I’ve read seem to peddle that assumption. And who dares question God demanding what he will from us for any reason at all? And so the notion gains traction even though it hardly sounds like anything Jesus is about.
I hope to write a lot more on this topic, God willing, supplying the biblical underpinnings to my propositions but for the time being I offer you the following for your reflection.
- The glory of God is his incommensurable goodness, which is to say, it is so great that there is no way to measure it or compare it to anything.
- His goodness is most clearly manifested in his self-sacrificial love.
- His motive for self-sacrifice was to restore each of us to friendship with himself.
- Therefore, to “glorify” him is to live each day seeing to it that God enjoys from us what he gave his life for — our friendship.
- Hence, God is most glorified in us when we grow in walking with him in heart-to-heart friendship.
- We know our friendship with him is real and growing the more our motives and actions embody his goodness — that is — reveal God’s glory.
- And for us too, God’s goodness is most revealed in us and through us by God-guided, self-sacrificial love.
Consider this: you only have so many heart beats left before your heart beats it’s last one and that’s it for you. Or look at this way: you only have a set number of days remaining before your last day arrives and you’re gone.
In either case, you may have many beats or many days left to you or just a handful — you could be gone before this day is done.
Jesus, said, in effect, restrict your perspective on your life. Limit it to a single day because each day has enough trouble of its own. He calls us to live like we have only 24 hours left to us with the corresponding fixed number of minutes and seconds.
But perhaps more significantly is that this means we have only so much time — just today — to think the limited number of thoughts that we can think in 24 hours. A new study I read about on the human brain suggests that the average person has about 6,200 individual thoughts every day.*
Add to that the truth that what we do with our thoughts determines the development of our character and impacts our life after death. The apostle Paul put it this way: be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” and he writes that “godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (Romans 12:2;1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV))
So we are to live as having only this day — only about 6,000 thoughts left to us — to think the thoughts that will profoundly impact our lives now and forever.
This brings us to the all-important question: what thoughts are so important that we must make sure to think them today?
The Apostle Paul gives us this general directive:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV)
Notice that he repeats “things above.”
What are those things? I suggest we could condense them down to these: the reality of God’s presence with us, his incommensurable goodness, and his self-sacrificial love.
Presently, I can think if no better mental activity behind the scenes of our day to day routines than to always be bringing our hearts and thoughts back to these.
- (https://themighty.com/2020/07/study-how-many-thoughts-per-day/)
The essential goal of temptation from whatever source is simply this: to make myself — how I feel or my time-bound interests and desires — more important to me right now than my friendship with Jesus.
How can we effectively counter this?
Someone has said, “Against Love temptation has no power.” (God At Eventide)
Why is that? Because love and temptation move in opposite directions. Love flows out and is exclusively attentive to how to live day by day, hour by hour, to best help others at all times and under all circumstances. Temptation flows in, looking to stir up our self-serving default mode of being where the flesh says, “how can I fire up pleasure chemicals in my brain right now?” or the world or the devil interject, “what can I do to make sure things go the way I’d like?”
In short, love asks, “what pleases Jesus right now?” Temptation asks, “what pleases me right now?”
Hence, if we are seeking to work with Jesus in the lives of others, we will carry around within us the burning questions, “Jesus, how can I bless this person? How can I help that person?” We will be employing our minds in the service of benefitting others, and leaving no idleness in our mental activity for our self-serving mode of being to seize upon.
In short, if our thoughts are preoccupied with the presence of Jesus and what pleases him, then our lives will be all about love, and temptation will have nothing left of our attention to snag with its self-serving suggestions.
A reading from 1 Peter 4:7-10 (NIV)
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
One thought in that passage stands out to me as being exceptionally beautiful is this: be a faithful steward of God’s grace. It is as if God has put in our hands something immeasurably valuable — his very own kind and tenderhearted attitude towards others. And so, writes the Apostle Peter, manage it well. In effect, be very careful what you do with it. Don’t let anything you think, say, or do, reflect anything less than the overflowing, freely given, helpfulness and encouragement of God.
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Have you ever wondered what God’s ultimate purpose is behind his activity in our lives? Allow me to give you what I think it is.
Consider this verse: Colossians 1:16 (NIV) With reference to Jesus we read, that
“… in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
Take note of those last two words: “for him.” All creation was created “for him”, that is, for Jesus.
But what does “for him” mean?
I suggest to you it means, “for his personal enjoyment” — which is to say — for his glory.
Then what brings him greatest enjoyment — greatest glory?
I suggest it is first to choose to be his friend and second to cooperate with him as he helps us grow in friendship with himself.
As the friendship grows his enjoyment of us grows which is to say, Jesus is increasingly glorified in us.
So, back to the question. Allow me to personalize it: What is God’s ultimate purpose behind his activity in your life today? Your friendship: he works day and night, works and works and works to be your best friend forever.
“LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.” Isaiah 26:12 (NIV)
Doesn’t that sound rather strange? “all that we have accomplished you have done for us”?
If someone approached you after a hard day’s work of sweat and even tears in getting a job done and said, “All that you’ve accomplished today, I actually did for you.” It would be shocking if not offensive. What on earth can they mean by that? you would think.
But, surprisingly and mysteriously, that’s precisely the way it is with God: all that we do that’s of any value, he does for us. Think of this:
- “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 (NIV)
And listen to Jesus:
- “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NIV)
Pride is always delusional and deceived and thinks, “I got this. I made this happen.”
Humility is always honest and truthful and says of every achievement and every blessing, “I was given this. God made this happen.”
Sunday, November 28, 2021
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).”
Matthew 1:23(NIV)
One of the most common expressions I hear from believers facing a difficulty is “God is with me.” It is usually said with gratitude and is clearly a comfort to them. And so it should be because it’s true. “In him,” writes the Apostle Paul, “we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) And Jesus promised, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
But has the thought ever occurred to you that not only is God with you, but that at all times you have his undivided and complete attention as if you were the only being in existence besides him?
You see, unlike us, God's mind is such that he is not limited to thinking of one person and then another, one event and then another. He can give undivided and complete attention to everyone and everything all at the same time.
This means that when you think of him, you are merely looking up to someone who has already long been thinking of you without a moment’s distraction.
So when you look up to the Lord today in gratitude or supplication or acknowledgement, pause for a moment and reflect: he is thinking of me — right now — giving me his undivided and complete attention.
I’m presently working on reminding myself of this very thing and already I sense something good in it that I can’t explain. Try it and I think you’ll notice it too.